Advice for writers

Advice
for writers

Atmosphere Press House Style Guide

At Atmosphere Press, we believe great books are built on both strong individual voice and clear, consistent presentation. This style guide explains the editorial standards our team typically follows during proofreading and production—and, just as importantly, how those standards interact with your preferences as the author.

Think of this guide as a reference point, not a rulebook set in stone! If you have strong stylistic preferences or intentional deviations, Atmosphere Press’s editors are happy to follow them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How to Use This Guide

➥ These guidelines reflect the default conventions Atmosphere Press’s editors use.

➥ Author preference always takes priority when it is clearly communicated and applied consistently.

➥ Creative, genre-specific, or voice-driven choices are preserved whenever they support clarity and intent.

➥ When a question isn’t covered here, we rely on established industry style manuals.

Primary Style Authorities

Because Atmosphere Press publishes authors from around the world, we work with both U.S. and U.K. English standards.

U.S.–Oriented Manuscripts

We typically follow The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition), the standard guide for U.S. trade publishing. It governs grammar, punctuation, capitalization, numbers, and general editorial practice.

U.K.–Oriented Manuscripts

We typically follow the Oxford Style Manual, including the Oxford Guide to Style and Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, for British spelling and punctuation conventions.

Your preference matters!

➥ If you indicate a clear preference for U.S. or U.K. English, we follow that.

➥ If no preference is stated, we determine the most appropriate standard based on setting, audience, and usage within the manuscript.

House Style Supplement

No single style manual covers every situation. Where standard guides allow multiple acceptable options—or don’t address modern or genre-specific cases—Atmosphere Press applies a small set of internal preferences to ensure consistency across published books.

In practice, this means:

➥ We choose one acceptable option where multiple exist (unless you prefer another).

➥ We aim for consistency within your manuscript above all else.

➥ If a house preference conflicts with your established voice or stylistic intent, your choice wins.

Key Style Guidelines (Quick Reference)

Spelling (U.S. vs. U.K.)

Consistency is the most important rule.

➥ U.S. English: color, organize, traveled (referencing Merriam-Webster)

➥ U.K. English: colour, organise, travelled (referencing Oxford)

Intentional variation—such as dialect in dialogue—is always respected.

Commas

➥ Serial (Oxford) comma: Always use the serial comma before “and”/“or” in a series.

▻ apples, oranges, and bananas

➥ Introductory phrases: Place a comma after introductory words, phrases, or clauses.

▻ After the meeting, we left.

➥ Nonrestrictive clauses: Use commas to set off nonessential information.

▻ My sister, who lives in Boston, is visiting.

➥ Complex lists: Use semicolons if list items are complex or contain commas.

▻ The committee included John Smith, CEO; Mary Jones, CFO; and Alan Lee, COO.

➥ Salutations / direct address: Use a comma between the greeting and the person’s name

▻ Hey, Sarah.

Capitalization

➥ Proper nouns & official names: Always capitalize the official name of a place, organization, institution, or product

▻ Oxford University, Mount Everest

➥ Family terms & personal titles: Capitalized when used as a proper noun or direct address; lowercase when used generically or with possessive pronouns.

▻ I asked Mom for help.

▻ I asked my mom for help.

➥ Job titles & honorifics: Capitalized when used before a name; lowercase when used generically or after a name.

▻ President Harris spoke today.

▻ Harris, the president, spoke today.

➥ Generic vs. official references: Capitalize official names; lowercase generic references.

▻ the University of Oxford vs. the university

Other common capitalization rules

➥ First word of a sentence → always capitalize.

➥ Days, months, holidays → capitalize.

➥ Nationalities, languages → capitalize.

➥ Compass directions → lowercase when generic; capitalize when part of a proper name.

▻ She drove south. / She moved to the West Coast.

Quotation marks

➥ U.S. style: Double quotes for primary dialogue; single for nested quotes.

▻ “I asked, ‘Are you sure?’ and he nodded.”

➥ U.K. style: Single quotes for primary dialogue; double for nested quotes.

▻ ‘I asked, “Are you sure?” and he nodded.’

Dialogue

➥ Dialogue tags: Lowercase when continuing a sentence (unless it’s a proper noun).

▻ “I’m ready,” she said.

➥ Multi-paragraph dialogue: If one speaker’s speech runs across paragraphs, begin each paragraph with opening quotation marks; do not close the quote at paragraph breaks until the speech ends.

▻ “I remember the day clearly. . .

“The sky turned silver and the dogs would not stop barking.”

Dashes & Hyphens

➥ Hyphen (-):

➱ compound modifiers (well-known author)

➱ ages (a twelve-year-old)

➱ prefixes (pre-marriage)

➥ En dash (–):

➱ numeric / date ranges (1999–2005)

➱ linked terms (New York–London flight)

➥ Em dash (—):

➱ breaks or emphasis (She waited—patiently—for the phone to ring.)

Ellipses

➥ Atmosphere Press prefers use of the ellipsis character (three nonbreaking periods) with spaces on either side.

▻ This ellipsis … is preferred.

Exclamation & Question Marks

➥ End direct questions with ? and exclamations with !

➱ CMOS prioritizes clarity and traditional usage, suggesting strong contextual writing (speaker tags, word choice) can convey the same emotion without stacked punctuation.

Atmosphere agrees:

➥ Do not use multiple marks (!!) for emphasis.

➥ Do not use interrobang (?!).

Numbers/Numerals

➥ Numbers vs. numerals: Spell out one–one hundred; numerals for 101+.

▻ Fifty-six participants

▻ 256 participants

➥ Fractions: Spell out simple fractions in text and hyphenate when used adjectivally.

▻ one-half; two-thirds; a two-thirds majority

➥ Thousands: Use commas (1,000).

Times

➥ CMOS: Lowercase a.m. and p.m. (with periods); use colon to separate hours and minutes.

▻ 8:30 a.m. / 5:00 p.m.

➥ Oxford: Lowercase am and pm (without periods); use point or colon to separate hours and minutes (keep consistent).

▻ 8.30 am / 5.00 pm

➥ Ranges: Use an en dash with no surrounding spaces.

▻ 9:00–5:00 p.m.

Dates

➥ CMOS: Month day, year (with a comma after the day and after the year if the sentence continues).

▻ July 14, 1989, was rainy.

➥ Oxford: Day month year (with no commas).

▻ 14 July 1989 was rainy.

➥ Do not use ordinals in formal dates: 24 July, not 24th July.

Decades

➥ CMOS: ’60s (drop apostrophe for leading numerals).

➥ Oxford: 60s (no drop apostrophe).

Centuries

➥ Spell out (twenty-first century).

“That” vs. “Which”

For clarity, Atmosphere Press usually follows Chicago’s distinction:

➥ that → restrictive clauses (no comma)

▻ The books that are hardcover are on the top shelf.

➥ which → nonrestrictive clauses (with comma)

▻ The blue book, which is hardcover, is on the top shelf.

U.K. authors may use either in restrictive clauses if consistent with voice.

Titles of Works

➥ Italicized: books, novels, plays, films, albums, fine artwork, newspapers, journals, video games.

▻ Pride and Prejudice (book)

▻ Hamlet (play)

▻ The Godfather (film)

▻ Abbey Road (album)

▻ The New York Times (newspaper)

▻ Starry Night (painting)

▻ The Thinker (sculpture)

▻ Call of Duty (video game)

➥ Quotation marks: articles, essays, poems, short stories, songs, chapters, TV episodes.

➱ CMOS: double quotes

➱ Oxford: single quotes

▻ “The Tell-Tale Heart” (short story)

▻ “Hey Jude” (song)

▻ “Chapter 3: The Journey Begins”

▻ “The One with the Embryos” (TV episode)

Units, Measurements & Symbols

➥ Use numerals with units (10 kg, 30°C)

➥ Spell out percent (U.S.) / per cent (U.K.)

➱ In data tables, % is acceptable.

➥ Currency symbols with numerals ($5.00, £12.50) – except in dialogue, in which case amount should adhere to number/numerals rule and currency type should be spelled out (i.e., “I need five dollars.” / “I need 500 pounds.”).

Other Common Edge Cases

➥ Compound modifiers with adverbs ending in -ly → do not hyphenate.

▻ a highly regarded author

➥ Suspensive hyphenation → use suspended hyphenation for series.

▻ first-, second-, and third-round winners

➥ Open compounds → use an en dash to join multi-word modifiers (adjectives or compound phrases) that together modify a noun.

▻ post–World War II era

▻ New York–London flight

▻ pre–Civil War tensions

How This Affects Your Manuscript Submission

When you submit a manuscript to Atmosphere Press, you don’t need to pre-edit your work to perfectly match every detail in this guide.

Here’s what does matter at the submission stage:

➨ Clarity and consistency matter more than strict rule adherence.

➨ Choose U.S. or U.K. English and apply it consistently, or let us know if you have a preference.

➨ Preserve your natural voice, genre conventions, and stylistic choices—we are not looking for neutrality or uniformity.

➨ If you have intentional deviations (nonstandard punctuation, capitalization, formatting, etc.), that’s absolutely fine.

Once a manuscript moves forward:

➥ Our editors use this guide to ensure consistency and readability.

➥ Any stylistic questions or potential changes are discussed collaboratively.

➥ Your preferences always take priority when clearly communicated.

This guide exists to support the editorial process—not to gatekeep submissions!

Final Note for Authors

Atmosphere Press’s goal when editing is not to impose rigidity, but to remove distractions so readers can focus on your story or ideas. Clear communication between author and editor ensures the best result—and your voice is always the priority!

Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press!

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Atmosphere Press is a selective hybrid publisher founded in 2015 on the principles of Honesty, Transparency, Professionalism, Kindness, and Making Your Book Awesome. Our books have won dozens of awards and sold tens of thousands of copies. If you’re interested in learning more, or seeking publication for your own work, please explore the links below.

Atmosphere Press House Style Guide