Style Guides
Indie Review: The Art of Traveling Stranders + Short: Lizzie’s Story
Headline: Style Guides
If you went to college, you were probably instructed to use guidelines for your papers: MLA (Modern Language Association) for humanities or APA (American Psychological Association) for psychology or sociology. Style guides set standards for how works are presented (format), as well as rules for grammar, citations, and many other details.
I’ve been editing a really well-written novel by a journalist. Because journalists are guided by the Associated Press Style Guide, there were several little things I had to adjust to fit the Chicago Manual of Style, which is the standard for most non-news publications and the most detailed of all these style guides.
If you are writing fiction, memoir, or non-fiction books, Chicago rules apply. My hardcover copy of the Chicago Manual of Style is about two inches thick, and I refer to it regularly. Some of the most commonly checked rules are those about numbers, titles, abbreviations, and citations. But it also provides guidelines for manuscript preparation, copyright administration, and much more.
So it is important than any editor you hire be familiar with Chicago. It’s helpful if you learn the rules that apply to your work – for example, numerals vs. words – when do you use which for numbers? The general rule is to spell out numbers 0-100, but in my 17th edition, there are sixty-six more rules, including 9.60, which told me it was okay to say 0-100 rather than zero to one hundred. I expect it’s about the same in the current, 18th, edition.
An online option is offered by Purdue Owl. They also offer the other style guides.
Another short cut you might use in a time crunch or for your first draft is to search for “Chicago rules for” whatever you need to know. A decent search engine (or AI) will know to look specifically for the rules as per the Chicago Manual of Style. However, for the final draft, I recommend going directly to the source.
Heads Up
Some readers are using AI to create their own stories. See this study.
Writing Opportunities
Chicken Soup is looking for stories for Count Your Blessings (deadline extended to September 15), and Humorous Stories (deadline October 15). All submissions need to be true and no AI should be used - not even Grammarly. Check their specific guidelines. They pay $250 and 10 free copies after publication of a book with your story in it. If your story is chosen, they’ll have you sign a contract that specifies they get non-exclusive rights to publish, reprint, or use the story in other ways.
On the first weekend of each month, the Australian Writers’ Centre offers the Furious Fiction Challenge. They post specific criteria and give you 55 hours to write 500 words or less. It’s free. Later in the month, they showcase the best stories online. You retain rights. It starts at midnight on Thursday, August 6, if you’re in California. There’s a countdown clock at the challenge link.
List verse - pays for lists. Ten items minimum per list - if they like it, they pay $100. Your list should be at least one or two paragraphs per entry. Any topic and link to reputable sources (see Section 7 of their author guide for more details) so we can verify the facts of what you’re saying.
Education: Conferences and Webinars
Northern California Sisters in Crime present:
William Kent Kruger discussing “Seven Reasons to Write” (FREE)
Saturday, August 1
1:00-3:00 PM PT/ 4:00-6:00 EDT
How to Improve Metadata to Sell More Books
Thursday, July 30, 2026
5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT
FREE to attend - You don’t have to be a member.
Elk Grove Writers Guild is holding a half day seminar on Oct. 24, 2026. There is a fee of $60, but if you are within an easy commute, it may be worth it. Check it out.
Free Advertising
Each month, BookLife runs the Indie Spotlight feature, a thematic roundup of self-published books both online and in print in Publishers Weekly magazine and BookLife. Industry professionals, media professionals, and librarians read these magazines. There is no charge, but the competition is enormous. Fiction or nonfiction, adult or children’s, secular or religious, written or graphic - all types of books will be considered IF the subject matter matches the month’s topic.
In July, they’re accepting Sci-Fi/Fantasy for the August Spotlight.
Send your otherworldly fiction! Email your submission info to booklifeeditor@booklife.com with the subject line “Indie Spotlight: Sci-fi/Fantasy.” Provide all the info listed in these directions.
The have other free promotions, too, also with stiff competition. Scroll down for First Lines and Behind the Story.
Awards, Etc.
Book Life Prize for Fiction is open now through August 31. The $119 entry includes a critic’s report written by a Publishers Weekly reviewer, which provides scores across editorial categories and a brief critical assessment of the book, which can be quoted if you credit the BookLife Prize. While my novel didn’t make the finals last year, I have some great quotes from that assessment.
Call to Action - Get your indie book reviewed!
If you’d like me to consider reviewing your indie/small press book, details are explained in this website blog.
Free Books
Writers: Let me know when you’re doing a free or reduced price promotion and I’ll post it here! Readers: Enjoy and post reviews!
Those with Kindle Unlimited may read these books for free:
Tom Huggler’s The Woman She Left Behind - reviewed here January 13.
Geri Krotow’s A Midsummer Murder - reviewed here January 27.
Angela Page Conti’s Enrico G - I haven’t read this yet…
Joan Griffin’s Force of Nature - reviewed on my website blog
Depending on the day, these are free or 0.99 with an audible membership:
Sheri McGuinn’s All for One - Love, War, & Ghosts
Deborah Derrickson Kossman’s Lost, Found, Kept - A Memoir - reviewed here June 23
Book Review:
A Deadly Performance by Lynn Franklin
A Deadly Performance is a delightful cozy mystery with realistic senior citizens and a nice twist at the end. As you can tell by the cover, there’s also a poodle in the mix.
Lynn is a true DIY self-publisher. “One of the things I like about POD is that I can update the ‘also by’ and back matter in the books whenever I release a new one.” So she took it in stride when I mentioned formatting issues – she can fix them herself. The book is well-edited. She has a background in layout and design, so she enjoys taking her own photographs and designing the covers, which are eye-catching and genre-appropriate.
I really like the way she’s used back matter to promote her other mysteries. She has a well-established Kimberley West Gemstone Mystery Series. A Deadly Performance is the first book in a new cozy mystery series with Nick and Lexie as the primary (senior) characters. She also has the first book in another series: Top Dog Detective Cozy Mystery Series.
In her back matter, Lynn offers a free book if you go to her website – which means she’s engaging the reader beyond reading one book and collecting their information to send them the free book. Next time I update my back matter, I need to do this!
If you enjoy cozy mysteries, check out her website and decide where to start!
Fiction: Lizzie’s Story - a Novel Echo
Novel Echos are short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. In this case, it may be part of a new novel. Maggie and Peg have had their stories told in my previous books. The little sister, Lizzie, played a key role in Peg finding Maggie. For one thing, she’s the one who figured out how to get past school authorities to talk to the boy who helped Maggie run away. I haven’t quite figured out the rest of her story, but this is part of it.
You can listen here or read here.
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Request for help!
Please vote for All for One - Love, War, & Ghosts in the Kindle 2026 Reader’s Choice Awards, Mystery/Thriller category. You can only vote for one book in each category. Scroll down and you’ll see the cover, probably the original:
The cover color’s been updated, but may still display this way for the vote.
If you haven’t read it yet, voting is open until October.
The audio book has been released.
Here’s the new sample clip from InAudio:
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Buy my books.
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Thanks, Sheri, for all the useful info! My volume of Chicago became my constant companion during grad school. Now it's so much easier to search online. Less serendipitous fun, though-- when using the physical book, I often would run across another rule that was much more interesting than whatever I was supposed to be looking up for the paper I was writing at the time.
The information about style guides is totally important for all writers, both aspiring writers and experienced authors. I'm always shocked when I'm reading a novel or memoir to find glaring errors. Sheri, do you know about BookSweeps? Your audience might be interested in what they offer readers and writers.