This page is a work in progress. It was last edited on Dec 23, 2024.
Publication Style Guide
This section outlines our editorial standards and preferences.
PDF Issue
Type & Background Color – Black on white.
Page Size – 6″ x 9″
Page Margins – Varies depending on line length. Most prose will have .5″ margins. Margins vary from .25″ to 1.5″, depending on line length.
Typefaces
- Bylines are 14 point Josefin Sans Light Italic (We use Title Case unless you specify otherwise.)
- Work Titles are 15 point Josefin Slab Bold (We use Title Case unless you specify otherwise.)
- Content Standard is 11 point Josefin Sans, with 16 point Leading
First Line Indents – We prefer NOT to use First Line Indents, but we may do so upon request. We use white space between paragraphs.
Double Spaces – Using double spaces between sentences was a practice developed when writing was done on typewriters. Modern typesetting doesn’t require this outdated practice. We will remove all double spaces between sentences, except in cases where extra space characters are required for non-standard formatting.
We reserve the right to adjust all page and type elements, including margins, columns, type size, leading, letter spacing, kerning, hyphenation, and any other element, as we see fit. This is to achieve as much stylistic consistency as possible throughout each issue.
Special consideration may be given for any and all of the above at the request of the author.
A PDF Proof will be provided for author approval before publication.
Website
Formatting type on web pages is drastically limited compared to print. We cannot accurately typeset any writing with the kinds of specificity that are possible in writing software. These are general guidelines, but due to technical limitations, we cannot guarantee any particular formatting or appearance for text-based works.
Type & Background Color – Black on white. Violet for links, which are also underlined.
Page Size – Width varies depending on line length.
Page Margins – Web pages don’t have margins but ours include white space on the left and right sides. How much varies, depending on the viewers device.
Typefaces – We're still figuring this out. Type size varies too much depending on the viewers operating system, user preferences, and browser version, for us to specify anything to exact specs. We do the best we can.
First Line Indents – None. Tabs don’t exist, so please don’t ask us to use them.
(There are ways that indents can be simulated, but it’s not usually worth the effort. If you feel strongly that your work needs this, talk to us.)
Text that requires non-standard formatting, such as tabs or extra spaces, cannot be set to exact specifications on the web. Extra spaces can be used but doing so requires us to format your work in a monospace typeface.
Important Caveat About Line Breaks – Line length on web pages cannot be controlled the same way it can be for PDF or print. This can cause poetry formatting to break, especially on smalll screens. There is very little we can do about this. Web pages are viewed on devices whose screen widths vary from very narrow to very wide. We do our best to format poetry to appear consistently on mobile and desktop, but it is not always possible.
In some cases, we will post specially formatted text-based work as a JPG image and/or a downloadable PDF file. This cannot be avoided for some work.
Special consideration may be given for any and all of the above at the request of the author.