Two online style guides that will help you with your writing, without breaking the bank.
1. The Associated Press Stylebook
The online version of the AP
Stylebook, the bible of US journalists, costs $26 for an annual subscription
— more than the print version — but it features bonus benefits, including email
notifications of style updates and access to new entries and recent changes. It
also includes a search function and a personalization feature. Subscribers can
use the Ask the Editor feature and search its archive, which is more voluminous
than the Stylebook itself. The subscription policy includes multiuser and
renewal discounts.
Print version: $19.95
2. Chicago Manual of Style
The primary resource for US book publishers is offered online for $35 per year
(with multiuser and government and corporate discounts), but several free
features are available on the site, most notably the Chicago Style Q&A,
which offers responses to queries either from the manual itself or from a live
(and sometimes snarky) respondent. You needn’t pay for a short-form (but still
substantial) guide to citing sources, either, and a guide to preparation of
electronic manuscripts and a chart of proofreaders’ marks are also available to
all site visitors.
The subscription cost includes access to the entire text of the fifteenth and sixteenth editions, as well as an online forum and a personalization feature.
Print version: $65