WE’VE GOT STYLE, YES WE DO!

We’ve got style, how ‘bout you?

CHP Style Guide | rules to ensure consistency

Chicken House Press strictly follows The Canadian Style guide book.

 MORE SPECIFICALLY, AT CHICKEN HOUSE PRESS WE:

- are advocates of the Oxford Comma and Canadian/British spelling, using The Oxford Dictionary of English as our dictionary of choice

- generally prefer 'our' spelling over 'or' (colour rather than color) and double ‘el’ over single ‘el’ (travelling rather than traveling)

- don't place spaces after em-dashes (text—text)

- capitalize all words in the titles of books, broadcast programs, films, plays, poems, songs, speeches, works of art, and other compositions, except for articles (such as "an" or "the")

- italicize the names of television shows, films, magazines, newspapers, albums, books, plays, paintings, and long poems

- put title of stories, songs, articles, TV shows episodes, and shorter poems within quotations, not italics, to show they are part of the larger whole

- place occurrences of inner dialogue within italics

- show short form occurrences of morning and evening as a.m. or p.m. (never AM or P.M.)

- show ages using numerals (7 years old rather than seven years old) and use words for indefinite ages (she was in her thirties, rather than in her 30s)

- in most cases, write out numbers from one to nine and use numerals for numbers greater than 10 unless that number begins a sentence (Three thousand fans filled the stadium, rather than 3000 fans filled the stadium)

- ensure punctuation is always contained within quotes

- nouns like mom or dad are only capitalized if used as proper nouns (I introduced my mom to my teacher vs. I don’t know why Mom wanted to meet my teacher.)

This list is fluid and will continue to grow as we implement new rules or feel like communication regarding CHP existing rules needs further explanation

  • A: Yes, you have! We are constantly learning and improving and fine-tuning our style guide. We reserve the right to change our mind and forge new paths. The main goal is that each book is consistent in its own style, thus providing a smooth reader experience.