Book Division
BLOOMBERG BNA BOOKS’ WRITING STYLE GUIDANCE
I.
AUDIENCE
The principal audience for your book will be legal practitioners in the area of law the
book covers. Our buyers will be looking for a readable and authoritative text on your
topic. Of course, the book should also be of value to those in the academic world, but it
will not be tailored to that audience. Non-lawyer, sophisticated professionals working in
the area of law covered should also find this book of value. Thus, we hope to keep the
text clear and readable and free of unnecessary legal jargon. Nonetheless, the principal
audience for your book remains the active practitioner in the field. Consequently, we
encourage you to add practical advice for the practitioner whenever and wherever
possible.
II.
WRITING STYLE
As suggested above, the ideal manuscript has a text that is clear, highly readable, and free
of unnecessary jargon. One of the main challenges in meeting this goal is bringing clarity
to a dynamic area of the law. Ambiguity in the law should not be reflected in the writing.
Nor should complexity in the law result in complex, compound, or unreadable sentences.
Where there is a prevailing view and a minority view, for example, identify each as such
and discuss each separately. If there are a number of disparate views, state as much and
discuss each together with a sampling of relevant citations.
III.
SUBHEADS
Break up the text with appropriate headings and subheadings, using outline format. This
makes the text more readable, if not done to excess. This also assists the practitioner in
finding the precise point that he or she is searching for in the text. It also allows for a
sophisticated legal analysis through ordering of information in hierarchies of information.
Finally, subheads make it easier to find material in annual supplements, where updates
are keyed to the subheads in the main edition.
IV.
FOOTNOTES AND CITATIONS
To keep the text clear and clean, put all citations in footnotes. Put case names in the main
text only if the case is being discussed in the text. But please limit footnotes primarily to
citations, and brief parentheticals after the citations. This keeps the discussion in the
main text, where it belongs, and citations in the footnotes. Please do not insert lengthy
peripheral discussions in footnotes, which distract the readers from the main text. This
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separation makes it easier to read the text, since readers do not continually have to
examine the footnotes simply to make sure all the discussion is read. If possible, provide
parentheticals following case citations in footnotes when cases are not discussed in text,
to assist the reader in understanding the relevance of the decision.
When discussing cases in text or in footnotes, you must identify the court deciding the
case.
V.
BLOCK QUOTES
Use block quotes when particularly helpful to the reader, e.g., for frequently quoted
passages or concise statements of the law. But avoid lengthy block quotes; it’s preferable
to summarize and analyze them, rather than have huge chunks of indented text.
VI.
CROSS-REFERENCING
Cross-reference to other chapters whenever possible; do not repeat what can be covered
elsewhere. Many cases will address issues that may be the subjects of two or more
chapters in the manuscript. Limit your discussion to the claim that is relevant to your
chapter.
Please supply the final manuscript as an electronic file that can be emailed to the editorin-chief and to Bloomberg BNA. Include a detailed table of contents (with manuscript
page numbers) with the manuscript. Page numbers in the table of contents are not
necessary, as the page numbers will change when the text is typeset. Keep a copy of your
work. The most important thing to remember in preparing your manuscript is to be
consistent both in your writing and in your editorial style. More detailed style guidelines
are available.
If you have any questions as you proceed, please contact Elizabeth Turqman:
Bloomberg BNA
1801 S. Bell Street
Arlington, Virginia 222202
Phone: (703) 341-5774 Fax: (703) 341-1610
email: eturqman@bna.com
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