If your eyes glaze over when someone mentions style guides, you’re not alone. One of the most common questions writers ask me is: What’s a style guide, and why should I care?

A style guide, simply put, is a rulebook for grammar, punctuation and formatting that ensures consistency throughout a body of work—and in between bodies of work too.

A lot of writers confuse style and voice. Every writer develops their own voice, but if every writer also had their own style the literary world would dissolve into anarchy and chaos. Okay, so maybe that’s a small exaggeration, but consistency of style is a beautiful thing. Trust me. It’s one of those things that’s largely invisible to most readers, like the “said” tag. A reader doesn’t care if you say “1 p.m.” or “1 P.M.” unless you flip-flop back and forth. To be honest, a lot of readers still won’t care, but the ones that do will get really frustrated about it. (And probably leave snarky reviews.)

As writers, we’re all about making the reading experience as pleasant as possible, right? To that end, here’s a quick and dirty introduction to the four most common style guides in the US.

The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White

The Elements of Style is more of a grammar handbook than a style guide, and it’s an invaluable piece of my writing toolkit. (Which also includes an ample supply of tea, a notebook & pen, a flashlight and a towel.) If you don’t have a copy of this little book—and I do mean little—go get one. It’s cheap. Read it, learn it, love it. You should care about The Elements of Style if you’re serious about your craft.

Modern Language Association (MLA) Style

MLA style is used in academics, and is usually the first (and often the last) style guide that a person is introduced to. If you attended high school/college in the US, you’ve probably been subjugated by the MLA. American teachers are sticklers for properly formatted papers with properly cited sources and properly formatted bibliographies. The good news is that as a fiction writer, you don’t have to give a shit about the MLA anymore.

Associated Press (AP) Style

As the name suggests, the AP style guide is used primarily in journalistic writing. If you took journalism in school, you might have had to learn about it. If you’ve done a lot of writing for blogs, you also might know a few things about it. It’s prevalent on the internet, since so much of what’s written online is news or newsworthy. I’ve known a few editors who edit fiction in AP style, but that’s never made much sense to me. One theory suggests that readers today are very used to it since it’s so widely used on the internet. Personally, I’d liken it to eating soup with a spork. Sure, it gets the job done but it might not be the best tool for the task.

Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)

The CMOS is the most widely used style guide in publishing in the US. It has a long history and a new edition comes out every few years. It’s huge. The print version will make your mail carrier cry. (Okay, probably not as much as that set of dumbbells did.) I prefer the online version, which is easily searchable and automatically updated when new editions are released. It’s not free, but the subscription fee is pretty reasonable. ($39/year at the time of writing, which is roughly a quarter of the cost of Netflix. You’d rather read the CMOS than watch binge watch Netflix, right? Maybe that’s just me. I’m weird.)

How much should you worry?

Here’s the good news: you can forget everything I just told you. (Okay, almost everything. I was serious about Strunk & White.) Your editor will determine which style guide is best suited for your project and recommend edits for consistency. You just focus on the writing, and we’ll gussy it up.

Aren’t you glad you asked?