Book Style Sheet Template and Builder
This book style sheet template is a form you fill in once and download. It holds the spellings, names, hyphenation, numbers and punctuation choices that keep a manuscript consistent from first page to last. It's the editor's kind of style sheet, not a page layout or a writing template, so for trim sizes and margins try the page count estimator. The sheet downloads as plain text, and Copy pastes it into Word or an email.
How to use the book style sheet template
The title heads the sheet and names the file.
Spelling, style guide, serial comma, quotation marks, dashes and numbers each have a drop-down.
Use the six boxes, from Characters to Anything else, and add a reason when it isn't obvious.
It shows exactly what the file will contain.
Nothing is saved when you close the page.
What goes in a book style sheet template
The house choices
Most American trade books follow The Chicago Manual of Style, and news and business writing often follows the AP Stylebook. Your guide sets the defaults, so the sheet records only where you depart from them. The tool names a dictionary but doesn't check your spelling against it.
Names, places and spellings
Record each character's spelling, titles and nicknames, every place and proper noun, and any word with two acceptable spellings. Fiction writers can add continuity facts to Characters.
Hyphenation, numbers and dates
Write down your compounds ("half-brother" but "back yard"), when numbers are spelled out, and how you write decades and times.
What belongs under Anything else
The tool has no box for heading capitalization, italics, ellipsis style, abbreviations or citation style. Put them here.
Worked example: a short sheet
Here's real output for a made-up book, "The Long Ferry" by "Sample Author", for illustration only. The counters read 12 entries and 5 sections, and this excerpt shows part of the file.
STYLE SHEET
THE LONG FERRY
Sample Author
Prepared October 23, 2026
HOUSE CHOICES
Spelling: US, Merriam-Webster
Style guide: Chicago Manual of Style
Serial comma: Used
CHARACTERS
Ana Beltrán, never Anna
Dr. Okonjo, with the period after Dr
Marcus, Marc only in Ana's dialogue
SPELLINGS
gray, not grey
judgment
okay, never OKEach section is sorted A to Z, and the "Prepared" date comes from your device. If an entry needs a reason, keep it on the same line or indent the second line. An unindented second line is sorted on its own, so "never Anna, per the author" would land after "Dr. Okonjo", away from "Ana Beltrán".
How to use the sheet once it exists
Send the sheet with the manuscript to your copy editor, who will add to it rather than start from nothing. Then pass it to the proofreader and the designer, so a corrected spelling doesn't get flipped back.
Keep it for the sequel or a second edition. Anything the sheet leaves out falls back to the style guide you picked.
Anything the sheet leaves out falls back to the style guide you picked.
Common mistakes with style sheets
Recording the rule, not the decision
"Hyphenate compounds" tells nobody what you chose. "half-brother" does.
Letting an entry and its reason drift apart
Indent the reason, or keep it on one line, so the sort leaves them together.
Mixing spelling systems
The tool doesn't compare entries with your spelling choice. Choose US, then list "grey" as correct, and you've contradicted yourself.
Forgetting to update it
Nothing is saved, so when a decision changes, edit the line and download again.
Tips by situation
Fiction and series
Lead with Characters and Places. Log invented words and nicknames, since volumes can be years apart.
Nonfiction and business books
Fix the style guide first. Then put terms of art, abbreviations, capitalized job titles and citation style under Anything else.
Self-published authors
Fill it in before the copy edit and keep the final version for the proofreader and designer.
Related guides on the Author Resources hub
- The Types of Book Editing, Explained: where the copy edit sits.
- How to Self-Edit Your Book: the pass before an editor.
- How to Find a Book Editor You Can Trust: what to ask about style sheets.
When an editor keeps the sheet for you
Our copy editors build this document as they work and return it with your manuscript. A copy edit is $0.023 a word, or $1,840 for 80,000 words, and a proofread is $0.016 a word, about $1,280. Each has a $450 minimum a pass, and we read a sample before quoting. See the published editing prices.
Questions we get asked
What is a book style sheet?
It's a short working record of the decisions made in one manuscript: how names are spelled, which spelling system and style guide apply, and how compounds, numbers and dates are written. Editors build one as they go so that every later reader gets the same answer.
What should a style sheet include?
Spelling and style guide, serial comma, quotation marks, numbers, hyphenation, and every name, place and invented term. Nonfiction adds capitalization and citation style. In the builder, anything without its own box goes under Anything else, such as a note on how headings are capitalized.
Is there a free book style sheet template for Word or PDF?
This builder is free, but it exports plain text, not a Word or PDF form. Use Copy to paste the result into Word or Google Docs and format it there. Many editors keep theirs in an ordinary document.
Who makes the style sheet, the author or the editor?
Either one. A copy editor builds a sheet while editing and returns it with the manuscript. An author can start one earlier with this builder so the editor isn't guessing, and you should send it along with your pages. Our copyediting services include it.
Is a style sheet the same as a style guide?
No. A style guide, such as Chicago or AP, is a book of general rules. A style sheet is a few pages at most, recording the choices and exceptions for one book, and it overrides the guide where the two differ.
Do I need a style sheet if I'm self-publishing?
It's cheap insurance. An editor, a proofreader and a designer will each make small calls, and a sheet keeps them consistent. Without one, a spelling fixed in the copy edit is easy to undo at proof stage. Our proofreading services use the same sheet.
Is this the same as a book layout template?
No. A layout template sets page size, margins and type for printing. For that, try the page count estimator and the cover template generator. A style sheet records writing choices, such as how a name is spelled, and has nothing to say about page size.
Does the tool save my entries?
No. The sheet exists only on your screen, so download it or press Copy before you close the page. The tool builds the file in your browser and doesn't upload what you type.
Keep going with the next tool
Try the word count tool, chapter balance, or all author tools.
Tools will only take you so far
Send what you have. Even a half-written manuscript is enough for a reader to tell you what it needs.