Making the Right Choices —

Our standard paper is 50# bond. This paper is adequate for books that are primarily textual in nature. A 60# vellum is recommended when increasing book thickness is important. A newsprint may be recommend by our marketing department for certain types of publications. Since paper prices fluctuate, we are unable to give a price list for the various types of paper.

Your choice of text paper is critical in the planning of your book. Naturally cost is one of the biggest factors, but the first thing you need to think about in deciding which one to choose, is how the book will be used and what anyone who purchases your book will probably expect to see.

1. What quality level can your budget support?

2. How long will the book tentatively be expected to last?

3. Does the content of the book really determine what it should be printed on?

4. Should it have a certain look or feel to appeal to a specific market?

5. How thick or thin should it be…will it need to fit in a specific space on store shelves…or the buyer's shelf?

6. Is it expected to reprint frequently?

7. How is the book going to be distributed?

8. Are there environmental concerns…does end use require some restrictions or specific guidelines on the type of paper to be used?

There is such an enormous variety of books published, each with its own demands for uniqueness, and we have the experience required to help you make a paper choice which will ultimately assure the sale of your book.

Camera Ready Books

If you supply your manuscript as camera-ready, you will be fully responsible for all specifications for your work. Pages furnished to us as camera-ready means there is no additional typesetting or alterations to be done by us. Your pages are ready to photograph and print just as you sent them. If we are to do any work on your camera-ready pages, you will be charged accordingly.

Mechanical requirements you need to know when preparing your camera-ready pages:

Margins are to be between 0.5” and 0.75” on all sides and 0.25” extra on the binding edge for easier reading.

2. Trim (crop) and registration marks should be on each page. Allow 1/32” variance due to page creep.

3. When PMS (Pantone Matching System) colors are specified, we will match as close as possible within variations of press and dot gains.

4. Bleeds on cover or text must extend a minimum of 0.25” beyond the trim (crop) marks.

5. Final trim may vary if copy is tight to one edge or bleed copy is insufficient.

6. Photos on your cover will not reproduce well in any colors other than black ink or process full color.

7. You must be specific when selecting ink colors. Your “dark green” is never the same shade as ours. For the best results, send a color swatch for us to look at. We do not guarantee exact color matches but we will match as close as possible.

8. Paper prices will be based on the prevailing market price at the time of production.

9. Your job will not begin the process of being published until the first payment is made in full and the material is approved by our publishing committee.

Following are a few Camera-Ready preparation tips to help you be sure you are submitting the best possible copy for the best possible reproduction for your final product:

1. Submit camera-ready pages on white paper only. Type and images on colored paper usually will not reproduce very well.

2. Be sure your camera-ready copy is clean. This means no staples, transparent tape over text or illustrations, smudges, water spots, glue, rips or tears through text or illustrations or pencil- or penned-in corrections, etc.

3. Line drawings should be submitted in black ink on white paper. Inked drawing without penciled shading will reproduce most accurately. Mimeographed or newspaper copy will reproduce very poorly.

4. Be sure any pasted text or halftones or artwork is positioned straight. If you are doing this yourself, you will find a T-square helpful.

5. If your camera-ready copy is being output by a laser be sure that the toner is full. Check your type with a printer's loupe or magnifying glass for broken or faint text. If you find this to be the case replace the toner cartridge with a new one and reprint the copy you plan to send to us as your camera-ready copy.

6. If you are submitting your own halftones or creating illustrations using computer graphic programs, please check with us to find out the line screen to set before printing them out.

7. Consider justifying your text; it will make your pages look more professional.

8. Our standard point size for body text is 11. However, if you choose to use a different point size it is recommended that you do not go below 10 point type for body text.

9. Use an easy-to-read font for your body text. A script font is not a good choice for your body text because it tends to be difficult to read. Script fonts are elegant for headings and most easily read in upper/lower case.

10. Do not use type styles with very fine lines, especially on covers. When printing, the fine lines may fill in with ink and not look clean and sharp.

One Last Note: When you send us camera-ready work but request alterations on this copy, we will have to charge for the work we do. We will notify you of these charges, and they will need to be paid in advance.