Publication
Schedule
How quickly your book
will appear depends on several factors. First, the kind of book it is.
A complex encyclopedia with many illustrations takes longer to produce
than a straightforward text-only monograph. Manuscripts prepared according
to our guidelines are more likely to move smoothly and quickly through
the copyediting and production processes. Your meeting our deadlines
for review of copyedited manuscript, proofs, and photograph layouts,
will help us keep your book on schedule. The timelines below
are standards for average monographs.
Multi-authored or
highly complex works will usually take longer to produce. More time
is required for manuscripts submitted to the Aid to Scholarly Publications
Programme (a minimum of six months in addition to the times below).
- Submission of manuscript
for peer review to offer of contract: 2-6 months
- Submission of final
manuscript to completion of copyediting: 2-3 months
- Completion of copyediting
to receipt of first page proofs: 3-4 months
- Receipt of first
proofs to delivery of finished book: 6-8 months
The
Role of the Copyeditor
Once you have made
any revisions advised in the peer-review process, and the manuscript has
been accepted for publication and is complete, the manuscript may proceed
into copyediting. Your book will be assigned by the Managing Editor to
a copyeditor, whose role it is to ensure that the manuscript is well organized,
clear, consistent, grammatically correct, and conforms to house style.
The copyeditor also marks up the text for typesetting, according to the
type specifications provided by the book's designer. It's important that
all illustrations, texts, permissions, etc. be in hand at this point.
Checking
the Copyedited Manuscript Once the copyeditor
has finished his or her editing, the manuscript will be sent to you to
review. This is your opportunity to approve changes, answer queries, and
add necessary changes or corrections of your own. We don't expect you
to make major changes at this stage; this is primarily your chance to
correct errors that have slipped through. It is important that you review
the copyedited manuscript carefully, as it is very expensive to make changes
after the book has been typeset, and you may be charged for alterations
you request at that stage.
You will be asked
to return the copyedited manuscript to the Managing Editor. The
manuscript will be reviewed in house to ensure that everything is in
order and will then be passed to the Production department for typesetting.
Production
Casting
Off
One of the first things
that will be done with the manuscript is casting off. This is the process
of determining the final extent of the book based on the submitted manuscript.
A properly prepared manuscript is very important for casting off. Read
these documents: Final Manuscript and
Diskette Preparation and Casting Off. Design
At the same time that
the manuscript is sent to a copyeditor, a copy is also sent to a designer,
who will create an interior design for the text. He or she will choose
a typeface, and prepare layouts for all of the elements of the book: text,
chapter titles, headings, notes, quotations, etc. The designer prepares
complete type specifications as well, and a copy of these is sent to the
copyeditor who uses them to mark the manuscript for typesetting.
Later, when you have
reviewed the edited manuscript, and it has been checked again in house,
it is ready for typesetting. On its way to the typesetter, however, the
manuscript is first sent back to the designer to answer any questions
about markup and to size illustrations (if not already done). The manuscript
and illustrations are then sent to the typesetter to begin composition.
Soon after the manuscript
is sent to the typesetter, the designer begins work on rough cover sketches.
The Marketing department provides information on the book's market,
audience, and competition, and offers general direction on the "look" that
will be most appropriate. Your editor will consult with you for your
input, and may ask if you can provide a cover illustration, especially
if no illustrations appear inside the book. When the cover design
has been approved, your editor will send you a colour photocopy of the
sketch, on your request.
Typesetting
and Proofing
In
almost all cases, manuscripts sent for typesetting are composed in
pages as the first stage of proof. When you receive your set of page
proofs, proofread them carefully. The Press does check proofs, but
does not proofread them line by line. You should ensure that everything
in the final copyedited manuscript has been set accurately. Remember
again that changes in proof are expensive to make; this is not the
time to rewrite sections, but only to correct errors. Alterations that
you request (other than typographic or other editorial errors) may
be charged to you, and can add up quickly. Mark typos in blue or black,
and author's alterations in red.
You will be sent a
second set of page proofs to use in preparing your index (if you have
agreed to do so in your contract). Double-space your index manuscript,
and allow one column per manuscript page.
Return
your marked proofs and index to the Press by the deadline specified.
This is one of the most crucial stages in terms
of scheduling. Delays during the page proof stage will always delay delivery
of the final book.
When your marked proofs
are received, a master set of proofs is prepared by the copyeditor, combining
his or her corrections with yours. The master set is sent to the designer
for review before being returned to the typesetter for the corrections
to be made and the index to be set. Further sets of proofs are checked
by the copyeditor and in-house editors until the text is completely corrected
and approved for printing.
While the text is
going through its stages of proofs, layouts for the photograph section
are prepared by the designer. The layouts are checked by the Production
department, copyeditor, and in-house editor. A set will also be sent to
you for approval. Make sure the photographs are arranged in a suitable
order, and that the correct caption appears with each photograph. If you
have any concerns about the way a photograph has been cropped or sized,
now is the time to let us know. When the layout is approved, film or camera-ready
copy of the illustration section will be made. Changes after this stage
are expensive and time consuming to make.
Manufacturing
When the proofs of
the text and illustrations have been approved, and the designer has provided
camera-ready art for the cover, the Production department is responsible
for overseeing the manufacturing process: the film- and plate-making,
printing, and binding that will produce your finished book.
|
