Style and Usage Points

Capitalization

References to parts of the book (chapter, part, figure, table, appendix etc.) are lowercase: "see chapter 1"; "in part 4"; etc.

See CMOS18 8.160 regarding title-style capitalization. Capitalize all prepositions of five or more letters. Prepositions of four or fewer letters should be lowercase, except when they are used adverbially or adjectivally.

Avoid wherever possible the use of “etc.” Replace this abbreviation with “and so forth” or some other reasonable English equivalent.  

Names of diseases, syndromes, disorders, and treatment methods are lowercase, except for any proper nouns (for example, Sjögren’s syndrome).

Authors often wish to capitalize terms of art. Generally, the authors should be challenged on these uses, and the capitals should be changed to lowercase characters. Only if the terms in context could be genuinely confusing if lowercased, or the author has an otherwise convincing argument for capitalization, may you deviate from this rule and capitalize terms of art. In such cases, add the term to the book's style sheet, and ensure the capitalized form is used consistently throughout the manuscript.

Chinese words, spelling/transliteration of

Use the Pinyin system of transliteration, with one exception: tao, not dao. Do not use diacritic marks.

Colons, caps after

Per CMOS18 6.67, when a colon introduces one or more complete sentences, the first word that follows the colon should be capitalized. Note this is a deviation from previous editions of CMOS. When what follows the colon is not a complete sentence, the first word following the colon is lowercased (unless it is a proper noun or other term that would normally be capitalized).

Commas

Use serial commas.

Note we do not require commas after introductory conjunctions, like "Or" in the sentence "Or that constantly apologizing for small things doesn't make anyone like you better"), unless what follows is an independent clause within a sentence (ex., "Or, if you don't understand the question, you can ask her to repeat it").

Contractions

Contractions are okay and even encouraged in order to make the tone more conversational.

Cross-references

Avoid referring to specific page numbers. These are difficult to program in ebook formats. Instead, refer to chapters or to section titles within chapters. 

When referring to chapters, section heads, or other parts of the book that CMOS would recognize as such, like part titles, use both initial capitalization and quotation marks. 

If you're referring to elements of the book that could be considered NH-specific, like worksheets, activities, or meditations, use initial caps alone.

Dictionary definitions 

Authors sometimes opt to kick off a section by reporting the dictionary definition of a key word in their discussion. Such a strategy might look something like this:

Merriam Webster's dictionary defines "depression" as a psychoneurotic or psychotic disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies.  

In our opinion, this strategy is rather amateurish and often amounts to deadwood in the text that should be pruned away. Only leave these in the text if the author has a legitimate reason for needing to cite a definition or if, in your estimation, the definition adds something substantial to the section.

For proofreaders (and copy editors dealing with reference issues): If definitions are included in a text, don't include dictionaries in the book's reference. Instead, stick with the below modified version of CMOS17 14.247 (modified by including the citation in parentheses and not in a note). 

Merriam Webster's dictionary defines "depression" as a psychoneurotic or psychotic disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies (Merriam Webster, 11th ed., s.v. "depression").

Drugs

As mentioned above, when brand-name drugs are mentioned, they must be capitalized. Also include the generic name in parentheses.  

Dutch last names that include particles

Follow CMS17 8.11 to determine capitalization of the particles in Dutch surnames. In running text, if the first name is given, lowercase "van" or other particle. If the last name is used alone in running text, uppercase the first letter of the particle. Uppercase the first letter of the particle when the name is formatted last-name-first for reference style in all cases.  

Ellipses

In all cases and all fonts, use the ellipsis character (...) for ellipses in running text, not periods and spaces (. . .). If an ellipsis appears at the end of a sentence that would otherwise end in a period, it can be treated as terminal punctuation (no space to left, a single space to right before the next sentence/phrase begins). If an ellipsis appears within a sentence or phrase, spaces should be closed to either side. Note these points are contra Chicago, but they remain NHP style.

Epigraphs

Epigraphs should appear only as chapter openers, not in the middle of a chapter, and there should be only one per chapter. If any numbered chapters have epigraphs, they all should, for consistency. Unless the author has chosen especially good epigraphs, removing them from chapters that do have them may be preferable to adding them to chapters that do not.

For fair-use reasons, epigraphs should be clearly related to the topic of the chapter and should convey a relevant message; they should not serve just as decoration. 

Please style all attributions with em dashes, as below:

We become what we repeatedly do.
—Sean Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

As epigraphs are typically used to set a tone or theme, their sources are typically cited directly below the epigraph itself. No need for a formal citation.

Epigraphs should be brief: no longer than six lines, and preferably fewer than three.

Even short quotations from poetry or song lyrics require permission. As such, these are discouraged.

Authors are responsible for verifying the wording and attribution of their epigraphs. Quotations may not be included if these things cannot be satisfactorily verified.

Forewords

Note that foreword writers should be credited at the end of the foreword (i.e., not in the foreword title, nor as a headnote to the foreword title).

As for credentials, keep them relatively brief by restricting them. For professional books: provide the writer's name, followed by degree, plus position, if that's been provided. E.g.:

—Dermot Barnes-Holmes, PhD
Professor of psychology, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

For trade books, the writer's name should be followed by one relevant previous publication. E.g.:

—Sue Patton Thoele
Author of The Courage to Be Yourself

You might allow more than one publication if you deem it relevant or the author has a good case for it. But two is likely the upper limit.

Alternatively, the writer's name might be followed by a relevant position, as below.

—John M. Grohol, PsyD
Founder and CEO, PsychCentral.com

If a writer for a trade book foreword has provided a degree, you may include that as well, as in the above example.

Footnotes

Do not use footnotes in trade publications. (If you’re uncertain whether a book is trade or professional, ask.) Use author-date references. Elucidatory footnotes in professional books are acceptable within reason, but citations should still be made using author-date references. 

Gender

Transgender (adj.), trans (adj.), transgender man/woman, (n.), trans man/woman (n.) are all acceptable, depending on the audience. 

The shortened term (trans, either adj. or n. form) may be used if the audience is understood to be familiar with/part of the trans community and terminology. When in doubt, and certainly upon first use, use the full term (transgender). You may also consult your NH editor. Record choices in the book’s style sheet.

Cisgender (adj.), cis (adj.), cisgender man/woman (n.), or cis man/woman (n.) are all acceptable, depending on the audience. The shortened term (cis, either adj. or n. form) may be used if the audience is understood to be familiar with/part of the trans community and terminology. When in doubt, and certainly upon first use, use the full term (cisgender). You may also consult your NH editor. Record choices in the book’s style sheet. 

“Cisgender” and “cis” are less widely familiar than “transgender” and “trans,” so in all cases where the audience is not understood to be overwhelmingly composed of those familiar with the terminology, all these terms should be defined on first use as follows: 

• cisgender: non-transgender 

• cis: short for cisgender (which should have already been defined)

For other points on writing about LGBTQ+ people, community, or concepts, refer to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's Reference page, here. The full GLAAD style guide is available as a PDF at that address.

Gendered Pronouns

New Harbinger encourages authors to use the singular they to refer to people of unspecified gender (for example, when an author is referring to a hypothetical “client” or to a single client in the abstract as well as people who do not identify with a binary gendered pronoun). 

• Note the use of they/them does not preclude the use of he/him or she/her to denote a single nonspecific person.

• Note that if you are referring to a transgender person who uses binary pronouns, it is essential to use the pronouns they specify.

• Note also that plural forms of verbs are used with they/them even when the pronoun denotes a singular person. (Singular forms may apply to the same person when that person is named.) 

• For the reflexive pronoun in sentences using the singular they, use "themself." (For instance, "The best way to figure out a person's gender identity is to ask and listen to what they say about themself.") 

Pronoun Balance

In keeping with currently used measures against gender bias (CMOS 18 5.255 - 5.266), we encourage authors to avoid as much as possible the appearance of gender bias. CMOS suggests striving for a balance between “he/him” and “she/her” when referring to nonspecific persons, and we encourage you to add "they/them" to this mix. Generally speaking, the goal should be to avoid drawing the reader's attention to the mechanics of gender and pronouns. (That is why we do not use slashed constructions like “his/her/their” or “s/he/they.”) 

In many cases, you may be able to revise to avoid pronouns entirely. For instance, “Make sure your client understands the homework before they leave the session” could be revised to “Make sure your client understands the homework before leaving the session.” You might also consider the possibility of editing to write about people in the plural. For instance, “The shy person often feels compelled to hide their feelings from others” could be revised to “Shy people often feel compelled to hide their feelings from others.” 

It's not essential to alternate strictly between pronouns, especially if any particular context makes a specific gender an obvious choice. It's also not necessary to end up with an equal balance, if the topic being discussed tends to apply more to one gender than others. For instance, in a book about a disorder that is twice as prevalent in women than the rest of the population, it's fine for there to be more instances of female pronouns. When neither context nor prevalence are a concern and you are more or less alternating male, female, and nonbinary pronouns, the change can be made from one instance, section, or chapter to the next—whichever you think will be the least distracting to the reader. 

Hyphenation

First source: Webster’s 11th. Next source: CMS18 7.87 - 7.96.

When there is no reference in MW11 or CMOS, determine style from popular usage and document in the book’s style sheet. If  there is no clear preference in popular usage, favor the most closed form.

 For hyphenation in titles and subheads, follow CMOS16 8.162.

Some professional books make reference to diagnostic or psychometric instruments that 1) are prone to being made into acronyms and 2) can sometimes transform into new, numbered versions. When the full name of the instrument is used in heads or running text, separate the version number from the main title with an en-dash and spaces, and use an Arabic numeral to indicate the version. So:

Valued Living Questionnaire – 2

Lists

Please use colons to lead into vertical lists. Lists can be introduced with fragments if that’s what best fits the tone of the book; you do not have to recast fragments as complete grammatical sentences if that would make the tone fussier or more formal than desired for the target audience.

If you’re wondering how to punctuate a list, CMOS16 6.138 - 6.143 offers good guidance.

Avoid very complicated lists—like lists of more than one level, or unordered lists nested within ordered lists and vice versa, or lists with elements that contain multiple paragraphs—unless there is absolutely no alternative, editorially speaking. Such lists are very difficult to render in ebooks. If you encounter such a list, you might suggest run-in heads (d-heads) or boxed text, or just turn the list content into running text organized with a conventional heading structure.

Please reserve numbered lists for instructions meant to be done in a particular sequence, when numbers refer to a hierarchy, or when subsequent text refers back to items on the list.

References

See the References sections of this style site for details about reference styles and requirements.

Note that NHP has not adopted CMOS's convention of spelling out the author's first name in author-date style reference entries. Please use initials instead, as outlined in our references style guides.

Note all statistics must be documented with references.

Direct quotes require a page number within the usual author-date citation. Use page number only, without “p.” See CMOS18 13.117 for details.

Citations go inside the terminal punctuation, as per CMOS18 13.119.

Scales 

Again, use numerals for scales, even in running text. 

Also, use "to," not an en dash. "On a scale from 1 to 10..." 

Finally, our general preference is that scales begin with "1," though authors may use "0" as a value if they strongly wish to.

Slashes

Please avoid slashed constructions like "him/her" or "and/or" whenever possible, unless the slash is part of a recognized term (for example, "attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder"). That said, the occasional use of "and/or" in a professional book—say, in a list or table—is OK. (In trade books, it should be rephrased.)

Space to either side of a slash should be closed.

Special symbols

Use subscript numbers for vitamins (B6, B 12).

Use lowercase and periods for a.m. and p.m.

Split infinitives

These are okay unless they are unclear.

Tables

Use simple table/figure numbering when possible: table 1, figure 2, etc.

Tables of Contents

When formatting tables of contents, use Arabic numerals to indicate chapter and part numbers.

Website URLs

First and foremost, test all URLs that appear in text. If the URL is broken or directs your browser to something you didn't expect, query your author. If the site is as described in the text but you think it's inappropriate, amateurish, or confusing, notify your supervising editor.

When including URLs in text, set them in roman type, with no underlining. If a URL is ever included at the beginning of a sentence, revise.

If a URL in the text goes to the top level of a site (i.e., there are no forward slashes after .com, .net, .edu. or whatnot), style the URL in all lower case, regardless of how the author includes it or how the site renders the URL in their marketing material.

Include http:// at the beginning of all URLs. Although this style point departs from Chicago, we've adopted it to make it possible to find URLs and convert them to functional links in our e-books. The one exception to this rule is when an author is naming a website as an organization (ex., "John Grohol, CEO of PsychCentral.com").

Note that only http:// is necessary. No need for https://. This is because while http will always redirect to https when necessary, the reverse isn’t always true, so using http is best.

If the URL does not already include www., try typing it into the address field of your browser that way. If the page loads when the URL is typed in that way, include www. in the URL even if the browser defaults to not displaying it. If the page doesn't load, omit www. from the URL.

If a URL in the text refers to a subpage on a site (i.e. there is one or more forward slash followed by more characters after the domain), set the URL to match exactly the capitalization that appears in the address window of the browser:

            www.mindfulnessfortwo.com/About_MF2.html 

(Note the "A" and the "MF" are capped.)

The reason for this inconsistency is that, regardless of the hosting environment, the top-level URL will work regardless of case (and so we prefer lowercase characters). In the Unix or Linux environments, lower-level URLs are case sensitive. If you don't reproduce the cases exactly, the URL won't work when you type in into a browser address window. Any difficulties here will be revealed when you test the URL, though, so please do test the URLs. 

Words as Words

Use quote marks, not italics.