Are movie titles italicized?
Should titles of books be italicized?
Do you put song titles in quotes?

I get questions like this all the time from writers!

Of course, I’m a book editor at Lucky Author, and if you just hire us for a copy edit, we just correct everything in your manuscript for you! But I decided to do a quick guide on what titles go in italics and what titles go in quotation marks.

Just to be clear, I’m going to go over the generally accepted rules for books. Almost all of book publishing follows the Chicago Manual of Style guidelines.  But you may see titles handled differently in articles or academic papers, which follow different style guides. 

Be sure to bookmark this post or pin it to Pinterest for future reference! Let’s get into it!

Are film titles italicized?

Yes! Always italicize movie titles, regardless of the genre or the length. Like this:

At Sundance that year, The Station Agent won for best feature film, My Flesh and Blood won for best documentary, and Terminal Bar received the prize for best short film.

Are book titles italicized?

Yes! The names of books go in italics. For example:

I re-read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova for my book club.

If you have one of those double titles connected with an “or,” the “or” is also italicized, like this:

Many people forget that the full title of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.

If a book is unpublished, the title still goes in italics.

Are TV shows italicized?

Yes! For instance:

Before she was one of the stars of How I Met Your Mother, she was well-known for her role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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These also go in italics…

Magazine titles, album titles, plays (even short ones), operas, musicals, the names of artworks (such as paintings, sculptures, and photographs), video games, and the names of podcasts.

If a word like “journal” or “magazine” is part of the title of the journal or magazine, it’s italicized. Otherwise, it’s not! For instance:

I submitted four poems to Another Chicago Magazine.

She was trying out a new serum she read about in Elle magazine.

And here’s an important point: don’t put something in italics and quotation marks. Generally speaking, it’s one or the other!

Now, let’s take a look at what titles go in quotes (and by that, I mean double quotation marks.)

Do song titles go in quotes?

Yes! They should look like this:

The children sang “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

Do the titles of short stories go in quotes?

Yes!

In a book, these titles also go in quotation marks…

The titles of poems, articles (such as online, newspaper, and magazine articles), academic essays, speeches, fairy tales, cartoons, blogs, and individual episodes of podcasts, radio shows, or TV shows. For instance:

My favorite Friends episode is “The One With All the Resolutions.”

The Chicago Manual of Style makes an exception for book-length poems, like Dante’s Inferno. Those go in italics, not quotes. 

Here are some things that don’t go in italics or quotes.

I sometimes get questions about these. They do get capitalized, but that’s all you need to do!

Business names, including restaurant names…

Here are a couple of examples:

She’s the manager at O’Donovan’s Pub.

They used to work at Walmart, but now they work at Costco.

The names of places…

Again, a few examples:

Meet me at Buckingham Fountain.

We rented a cabin in Yosemite National Park.

The tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, is in Dubai.

Seasons of a TV show…

Note that The Chicago Manual of Style shows an example with an Arabic numeral, like this:

This review contains spoilers for Season 5 of The Diplomat.

Brand names.

Like this:

I bought a pair of New Balance running shoes.

He had a Starbucks to-go cup in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other.

And social networking platforms and apps.

For instance:

He started a YouTube channel. 

The next time you ask yourself a question like, “Are movie titles capitalized?” or “Do song titles go in quotes?”, you can check back here for reference!

Do you find these easy to remember? Or do you have to look them up? I don’t really have to think about them, myself, but that’s because I’ve been editing books for such a long time! 

Thanks for reading! If you’re a writer, I hope your writing is going well, and either way, I hope you have a good week!