Should You Send Your Editor a Style Sheet? (Free Template)
If you’re a new writer looking to strengthen your debut novel, or an experienced novelist searching for editorial feedback on your tenth novel—it’s imperative to polish your manuscript with one or multiple professional editors. But who’s responsible for the style sheet? And what is it? Technically, a copyeditor and/or proofreader will create a style sheet for their author— it’s part of their editing package. However, it’s good practice for every author to familiarize themselves with what a style sheet is, what it does for their novel, and how to utilize them.
Does an author have to create a style sheet? No. Can an author create their own style sheet? Absolutely. In fact, doing so could save you time and keep your work cohesive in the writing room, especially if you’re writing a series. If you want to create your own style sheet, you can and should send it to your developmental editor, line editor, copyeditor, and so forth to keep your novel consistent. (We’re giving away a free style sheet template you can use below.)
Are you ready to find out what’s most essential for style sheets in publishing? Grab a cup of tea and a notebook, and dive into the article! And stick to the end because we’re giving away a free template!
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Topics of Discussion:
What is a style sheet?
What is the difference between a style sheet and style guide?
What to include in a style sheet?
Examples of what to add to your style sheet.
Which book editor uses a style sheet?
Style sheet (free template).
What is a Style Sheet?
A style sheet is a document a copyeditor creates for an author to track style choices and other changes made within a manuscript. Think of the document as a key code for a novel. Every book an author writes will have a separate style sheet because they are specific to each project.
The style sheet is most crucial for your copyeditor and proofreader because they’re the editors making the formatting, spelling, abbreviation adjustments, etc., to get your book up to publishing standards. However, I’d argue it would benefit every editor to enhance context and consistency for your story.
What is the difference between a style sheet and style guide?
Every editor will follow a general style guide, which determines the overall standard rules for grammar, spelling, abbreviations, etc., within publishing. Fiction and non-fiction books published within the US utilize CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style) as the standard guide. Before you work with your editor, ensure you know which style guide they work in accordance with, and input that preference into your style sheet (if you’re creating it yourself). Here at Humming Hearts Publishing, our editors utilize CMOS as our style guide for books.
As we dive deeper into this article on style sheets, you’ll understand how different and essential this document is for you and your book editor. However for further clarification: a style guide are the standard text guidelines within publishing. You can find the behemoth of a book on Amazon.
A style sheet is a separate document created per book that holds an author’s specific grammar, character, timeline, and formatting preferences for that particular novel. You’ll want to utilize both to write your story because the style guide provides standard grammatical rules for the nitty-gritty within books, whereas your style sheet will showcase all of your stylistic preferences that differ from that guide within your book. This is why it’s most important for your copyeditor and proofreader, because they are the editors focused on the details of the text.
Here’s an example of a style sheet vs. guide scenario: if you have a character who uses slang within dialogue or narration, that note will go into your style sheet by either you or your editor.
What to include in a style sheet?
If you’re creating a style sheet to send to your book editor, you’ll include story specific information about your book such as: setting and character descriptions, your novel’s timeline, unique worldbuilding, and any grammar rules you’re utilizing in the book.
This is not an exhaustive list, but below are some ideas on what you may want to include in your style sheet. When you grab the template below, you can come back to this article and reference this list.
If you ever have concerns or notes about your manuscript that you want your editor to know prior to editing the book, they belong in the style sheet. The more information you can give your editor about your novel maintains consistency between the collaboration and overall flow of your narrative.
You can include specifics about your book in a style sheet such as:
American or UK English, or other
Character descriptions/names and role in the story
Story timeline
Locations
Worldbuilding terms
Any research pertinent about your novel
Slang
Numbers
Em dash
Oxford Comma
Italic/bold preferences
Inside your style sheet, you’re also going to want to include formatting preferences (if you’ve formatted your novel). This step is crucial for authors who are self-publishing and most likely formatting the book themselves because you don’t want an editor to make changes for something you did intentionally. If you’re traditionally publishing, the formatting is typically covered by your publisher. However, I’d personally add-in this step to your style sheet anyway, because when it’s time to send your book off to either a literary agent or an editor, it’s good practice to have your manuscript neat and tidy. (At least your agent and editor will thank you for it!) Also, noting your preferences keeps your book consistent, even if it’s just for you!
Again, it’s good practice to include the formatting specs of your manuscript in the style sheet for consistency, even if you end up changing it later. You always want your editor(s) and yourself to maintain the document’s integrity. It keeps your manuscript clean and intentional.
A quick list of formatting preferences:
Headings
Font
Spacing
Your alignments and indentations
Which book editor uses a style sheet?
The style sheet is crucial for copyeditors and proofreaders, but honestly, it’s helpful for every editor. At Humming Hearts Publishing, we’ll take a style sheet as your developmental editor and line editor, as well as the other editing services. The more information we have about your novel, the better aligned we are with your vision for the book. And if you don’t provide it, we will create one for you!
Again, the style sheets are intended for copyeditors and proofreaders. Its purpose is to keep track of all your style choices within your book, and to record any changes the editor makes to your text. These changes are noted to maintain voice, clarity, and consistency for you and all of your varying editors.
If you’re hiring a copyeditor, they will create a style sheet and send it to you with all of their notes and changes. Afterwards, if you’re hiring a proofreader, you will need to send that same style sheet to your proofreader to keep your manuscript consistent. (If you make any changes between editors, be sure to add them into your style sheet!)
Style sheets are imperative for editors, but they can also be helpful to you as the author. Keeping a key code for yourself will maintain consistency in the writing and self-editing room, because how many times have we all had a brown-eyed character suddenly gaze with green eyes? Yes, we’ve all been there.
Creating a style sheet is extremely helpful when writing a series. If you have your Scrivener project—or Word Document open—and you’re into your book at 80,000 words, how convenient is it to open up your style sheet to reference key information without re-reading the novel to find it?
My only advice is to ensure that you’re always saving your document, and don’t create multiple style sheets for the same project. That’s a sure way to send old information to an editor, or to lose track of the story yourself.
When you’re creating a style sheet, ensure it’s organized so that your editor doesn’t get lost in a sea of information. Create headings, bullet points, and page breaks so information isn’t jumbled around. We’re going to show you what we mean with this free style sheet.
Style Sheet Template (Google Doc)
We’ve created a free style sheet template you can copy and use when you’re ready to send your novel to a book editor! This style sheet template is designed for writers to customize and utilize for any book. You can drop this template right into your Google Doc and customize in accordance to your story’s preferences right now.
Lastly, if you’re ready for an editor, get on our schedule today! We offer free consultations.
Editing services we provide: editorial assessments, developmental editing, line editing, and copyediting for fiction writers. We’ll also provide a free sample edit after our consultation call if we feel like it’s a good fit!
* We accept fiction novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, and children’s books.
* (Fiction includes: literary, magical realism, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, westerns, speculative, and mystery.)
Happy writing!
