Sample Materials
We urge you to send samples of your text and art in as early as possible for testing. In this way we can solve any potential problems BEFORE you finish writing and before the urgency of the schedule becomes critical.

A final word: We hope that this new edition of the Author's Guide will be as useful as past editions have been. If you come across any errors or have any observations on the content of the Guide, your editor or your production editor will be happy to have your comments.

Workflow Once You Submit Your Final Manuscript

In the meantime, the editor considers the manuscript in terms of its potential market: For what level is it best suited? What is its competition? What is its trade appeal? The editor has an intimate knowledge of these factors and will also call upon the knowledge of fellow editors and marketing managers, whose experience in related fields may prove invaluable in assessing the market. Much of the information gathered will not only be helpful in editing the manuscript but will also provide the basis for planning the book's physical format.

After all reviewers' reports are in and you have responded to them—and the editor has made preliminary decisions on estimated sales, format, number of copies to be printed, selling price, and so forth—the decision is made by the publisher that the manuscript is ready for production. The manuscript is then turned over to the Production Department. A production editor examines the manuscript to become familiar with the entire project and to determine whether any problems exist.

Before the Launch
If you would like, before you get too far into the writing of your book, the production department can provide you with templates or macros. Ask your editor to make this request for you or you may get in touch with your production manager yourself. We have templates for several different programs, including Word for Mac, Word for Windows, FrameMaker for any platform, QuarkXPress for Mac and WIndows, LaTeX for any platform. These templates have been created to make it easier for you to concentrate on the writing task and lets you format your book according to Prentice Hall standards. You are not bound to use the templates, although we suggest you do. If you would like to change the template or design in any way, ask your production manager about the specific changes you would like to make. Chances are we will not have a problem with your choices.

Whether you use our templates or a design of your own, you must submit a sample file for testing as soon as possible. The sample need not be final manuscript, but it should contain all elements that will be found in the book, including heads, tables, code, and figures of every type. Early testing will help us avoid rework of elements and will alert us to potential problems.

The Launch Meeting
The production editor then calls a meeting to set up an editorial and production program for your book. The editor, the production editor, and the manufacturing buyer attend this launch meeting. They discuss such matters as the nature and extent of copy editing required, the number and types of illustrations, what software was used to create the manuscript and art manuscript, the physical format and the typography, the kind of paper on which the book will be printed, the style of binding, and the type of composition and printing equipment to be used.

All parties at the launch meeting, each in a different area of responsiblity, air their views; each leaves the meeting with an understanding of the approaches to be taken in progressing from the manuscript to a bound book.

Scheduling
At this meeting a production schedule is drawn up, establishing key dates that must be met to ensure that the book will be published as close as possible to the most advantageous time for maximum sales. This schedule shows, among other production details, when copy editing and artwork must be finished, when edited manuscript must be released for keyboarding, if necessary, and makeup, the dates for receipt and return of proofs, and the dates when printing and binding will be completed. At each stage of production, your production editor will inform you of the dates you must meet to help maintain this schedule. Because the publication date is critical, you have a vital responsibility for adhering to the deadlines that have been set.

Cost Estimates and Approvals
After the launch meeting the production editor assembles all information regarding manufacturing and design specifications and may send a duplicate manuscript and files to a compositor for a determination of the cost of setting and makeup and for a castoff (an estimate of the number of printed pages the manuscript will make).

If you have submitted your illustrations in rough form, our Art Department estimates the cost of preparing finished drawings and selects an artist for the work. The production editor will send you copies of the finished drawings for checking before they are finalized and imported into the book files.

When the compositor's quotation for setting is received, the manufacturing buyer adds it to costs of art preparation, paper, printing, and binding to determine the total manufacturing cost-the figure that controls the selling price of the book.

A number of weeks are required to prepare specifications and layouts, to obtain compositor's, printer's, and binder's manufacturing prices, and to work up the cost of producing the book. When all format details are settled and a manufacturing budget has been approved, the manufacturing buyer issues an order to the compositor for making pages and importing the art or for setting text and rendering and importing art, if this is the agreed upon method of production.

If you have provided us with your electronic files (and we strongly advise that you do as soon as possible), a disk or tape with the electronic files will be tested in-house and/or sent to a compositor for testing. At that time, the files will be evaluated for compatibility with composition software and equipment, and conversion routines or macros to translate files into an appropriate form may need to be created. Even if you have laid out the book electronically using page-makeup software, such as FrameMaker, there may still be a need to recalculate the castoff. Small changes in the text or layout can cause the overall page count to change significantly, so the final page count is not certain until all edits have been made.

Copyediting
While manufacturing costs are being computed, the copy editor edits the manuscript for spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, consistency, organization, and like details. The copy editor queries you about changes in phrasing and questions of fact and suggests additions or deletions. The copy editor also checks the organization of tables, the consistency and completeness of footnotes and bibliography, the sequence of all numbered parts of the book and the accuracy of references to them in the text, and flags items that may need permissions or trademark identification. If agreed upon in advance, depending on scheduling and file format compatibilities, the copy editor will set all of his or her changes directly into the electronic files, while also writing all changes on the hard copy. For some software, redlining (a feature that allows you to view what the copy editor has changed in your electronic file) may be used.

Ordinarily we return the manuscript to you for approval of the editing and for action on queries and editorial suggestions. But sometimes, when the editing is very light, with few queries, and it is important to save time, we may ask your permission to set the manuscript directly into pages without returning it to you first. When this is done, any minor editorial questions are settled in proof. Please answer all queries without fail-except those about page references, which must be left for page proof-and supply all missing information. Consider the editorial suggestions very carefully. Perhaps the copy editor has misunderstood your meaning; but if so, a reader is even more likely to misunderstand unless you make the meaning clearer. Make all changes directly on the manuscript using colored pencil (use a color other than that used by the copy editor); do not use proofreader's marks on the manuscript. If you have submitted your manuscript in electronic form and the copy editor has not made the changes in your files, please do so now. Anything that is not in the files that we provide to the compositor and is changed later will be considered Author's Alterations (AAs), which are discussed elsewhere in this document.

If any art you have provided electronically needs to be changed, please do so at this time. Return the original manuscript to the production editor with updated files and hard copy. This printout must come from the same files that you submit. It is a benchmark of accuracy for our output.

Typemarking
In addition to being copyedited, your manuscript may also be typemarked. Either the copy editor or the production editor marks each element in the manuscript with an identifying letter or number so that the compositor will have explicit instructions on all typographical details. The manuscript is then sent to the compositor, who verifies that the proof dates on the production schedule previously drawn up will be met. If the book is to be set in-house, the production editor will verify that the book is set on time.

Proofreading
Proofreading is an important skill. When it is done correctly, it not only makes a better book, it also cuts down that distressing item in the compositor's bill, "Author's Alterations."

One thing to remember about proof is that it is not manuscript. In manuscript you rightly make every correction within the line at the point of correction so that the compositor can read along line by line and set the type while reading. But once the type has been set and the proof marked for correction, the compositor does not read each line to see where changes have been made. Instead, the compositor looks in the margin to find the appropriate proofreader's mark opposite the line in which the correction is to be made.

If proof is not manuscript, neither is it the quality of the printed book. Inexpensive paper, never that on which the book will be printed, is used for proof. You may receive proofs in which the type is faint or a whole type block slightly askew on the page. This is not how the finished book will look and is nothing to be disturbed about; in the actual printing great care will be taken to ensure a perfect impression of both type and illustrations.

When the pages of your book reach you, check them with scrupulous care. It is not enough to read only for sense and accuracy of facts, dates, and statistics. Each word and each mark of punctuation should be examined. The eye has a way of seeing what it wants and expects to see, and it is very easy to skip over misspellings and even omissions. It is wise to read the proof word for word. We will simultaneously proofread here, but we are not experts in your field. In order to meet tight schedules, we often ask our authors to read the proofs blind while our proofreaders read the pages against the manuscript.

Occasionally you may see other proofreaders' marks on the pages; they are not marks you will use in your own proofreading, but their meaning will be readily apparent. A set of proofreader's marks and sample corrected copy can be obtained from your production editor. Review the proofreaders' marks and the corrected page carefully before you read proofs. There are a few general things to remember. Use pencil of a color different from any marks already on the proof and take care to write legibly. Put all marks in the margin, left or right, whichever is nearer the point of correction, opposite the line in which the error occurs. Separate one correction from another on the same line by a slanted line (for example, lc/tr/cap) and arrange them in order so that they read consecutively from left to right. If the same correction is to be made in two places in the line, with no intervening correction, write the correction once and follow it with two slant lines. When there are many corrections in one line, begin in the left margin and continue in the right.

When material is to be added to a line, put a caret (^) in the text at the point of insertion and write the addition in the margin. Do not put a caret in the margin-the compositor may think you want it set in type. When material is to be deleted and nothing added in its place, just cross out the unwanted characters and put a delete sign in the margin. Don't put the characters to be deleted in the margin following the delete sign. When material is to be substituted for a deletion, don't use the delete sign; just cross out the unwanted material and write the substitution in the margin. Circle any notes to the production editor or compositor to indicate that they are not to be set in type.

Occasionally you may change your mind about something you have crossed out. To restore it, put a row of dots under the deletion; in the margin cross out the delete sign and write "stet" (let it stand).

Be sure to answer all queries on the page proof. A query usually consists of a suggested change followed by a slanted line and a circled question mark. To accept the change, cross out the question mark; to reject it, cross out the entire query.

Never make any change or answer any query on the original, dead manuscript. Make all your changes on the page proofs so that your notations will not be overlooked.

If you detect an error made by the compositor and not so indicated by our proofreaders, please mark it with a circled "PE" (printer's error). Initial each proof in the lower right-hand corner in pencil of the same color you used to make corrections.

Tips for Reviewing Page Proofs
As part of your review of the page proofs, first make sure that all corrections indicated on the manuscript have been made. Verify the position of all tables and illustrations (but remember that the compositor cannot always put them exactly where you have indicated and still produce a balanced page) and read all captions and credit lines carefully. Check all text references to tables and illustrations; don't overlook correcting a reference such as to "the figure below" in a line that follows the figure referred to. Finally, check the running head at the top of each page and the page number.

These page proofs reflect the layout of the final book; do not overlook anything that seems out of place with the idea that it will be "fixed up" in production. The exception is the quality of artwork and shading. Page proofs from an office laser printer are normally rendered at 600 dots per inch (dpi), which gives a reasonable level of detail, but cannot produce fine lines or delicate shading with great accuracy. The final output, at 1200 dpi or above, gives much greater accuracy and detail. Also, if your book contains halftone art or art that has been scanned from hard copy you have supplied, only a low-resolution image will appear on the page proofs. This low-resolution image will not show as much detail as the final, high-resolution output the printer can get when film plays out.

When you have done all this, give the proofs a final critical reading. Extensive changes at this point are impossible, but you still have an opportunity to correct misstatements of fact, to check the spelling of proper names and the accuracy of dates, and to substitute vital last minute statistics.

Front Matter Proofs
Before the last of the text pages come from the compositor, the production editor will work out a front matter design that is in harmony with the text design and prepare final front matter copy. The compositor sets this copy into pages. We read the master set here and send you a duplicate set for checking. Be sure that your name and affiliation, if necessary, appear in correct form on the title page; check carefully the spelling of all names of people to whom acknowledgment is made; verify the accuracy of all other information. If you find any errors, phone or e-mail your production editor immediately and indicate what changes must be made. The front matter is distributed widely throughout the marketing and editorial departments, who use the information contained there for sales purposes (we use your materials on our web site, possibly in print or e-mailed ads, on the back cover copy, etc., to help sell your book). Please make sure this material(the preface and/or foreword(is as informative as possible.

Covers
Early in the process the Art Department puts into motion the creation of the design for the cover. This is done in conjunction with your editor and marketing manager. Your production editor will work with you to get the back cover copy finalized.

A great amount of attention is paid to the cover because the reader gains the first impression of the book through this element. The cover must be aesthetically appealing, eye-catching, compatible with the interior format and content, and correct for the audience the book is to reach.

Once sketches of the cover have been approved, the designs are completed, back cover copy is written and approved, and mechanicals are then prepared and sent to the printer, so that the finished will be available when the book has been printed and is ready to be bound. The sketches are also used for sales purposes-they are put into our catalogs, our sales reps may get copies of them to show to their accounts, etc. The cover is one of the most important elements of your book.

Author's Alterations
Every publisher's contract contains an "author's alteration" or "AA" clause. This is to protect the publisher against the author who rewrites or makes excessive alterations to the book in proof. It invariably gives the author an allowance for proof changes-for no one is perfect-but provides that corrections in excess of a stated percentage of the original cost of composition are to be charged against royalties. In order to minimize the risk of unnecessary AA charges, we urge you to read this section with care and to be guided accordingly in your page review.

Correction costs mount up quickly because the compositor charges for changes at a higher rate than for original composition, in compensation for the additional time it takes to set the changes, remove the old material from the pages and put in the new, possibly rerun the pages, and proofread the corrections. For this reason, a change of 10 percent of the text in proof involves a total cost far in excess of 10 percent of the original cost of composition.

The best way to hold down corrections is to submit a perfect manuscript-or as nearly perfect as you can make it by following the instructions given in this Guide. Especially important is the final check of the manuscript. To change a word or delete a comma in manuscript takes only the stroke of your pen; to make the same change in proof may involve the work of two or three persons and considerable expense.

Sometimes errors that have escaped everyone's notice in manuscript become glaringly obvious in proof. Also, information that makes changes necessary sometimes comes to light after the manuscript is in pages. The problem then is how to make the changes as economically as possible.

To make a correction in page proof, the compositor must disturb the carefully balanced page makeup. Suppose you add three lines in the middle of a page. The last three lines on that page must be transferred to the top of the next, and so on to the end of the chapter. Often it is not even as simple as that: tables, illustrations, or headings may intervene, making it impossible to balance the pages merely by adding or subtracting lines of type. If there is no room for additional material on the last page of a chapter, the change will affect the next chapter, and so on. Thus a seemingly minor change may alter the makeup of a substantial part of the book and result in a heavy bill for alterations.

In addition to the cost involved, heavy corrections in proof may seriously affect the production schedule, resulting in a delay in the publication date and, ultimately, in a loss of sales.

Media
Oftentimes we have media accompanying a book, or even a book accompanying the media. While this is a very important feature in many of our titles, it is often one of the items put off for last and given the least amount of attention. This is a serious mistake, as a delay in a CD or disk can seriously affect the schedule and marketability of a project. If you are in the process of creating a mastered CD, you may find the following items useful.

Premastering software to create cross-platform CD-ROMs is getting better every day. Today there are just a few premastering software packages that can create cross-platform CDs and preserve every feature of existing computing environments. These CDs can be accessible in the native environment of Windows (3.1, 95, and NT), Macintosh, and Unix systems (many flavors). The formats we use are:

• PC: ISO 9660
• Mac: HFS
• UNIX: ISO 9660 with Rock Ridge Extensions

We are in the process of evaluating new generations of premastering software packages as an on-going R&D process, so we can continually be on top of the technology and upgrade our systems, as well as making sure that our vendors do the same.

You may find these tips helpful in putting together your materials:

• Use DOS-compatible 8.3 naming convention for all filenames regardless of platform
• Use only capital letters for file and directory names, including links inside HTML documents
• Use only these filename characters: 0-9, A-Z, _
• Directory names cannot have extensions
• You should have a maximum 8-level deep hierarchy
• Make sure that the number of files within directories is no more than 50-100 files
• Set up logical, easy to understand file and folder/directory names
• Use proper file type extensions - ie, mov, avi, wav, pct, tif, bmp, eps, jpg, gif, htm, etc.

If you have questions while you are getting the materials together be sure to contact your editor or production manager.

When you submit your files, either on separate media for us to premaster or on a premastered CDR, please include a printed directory listing.

The Index
The key to your book is the index, and it is important that it be a good one. Readers refer to it constantly, and reviewers often comment on its adequacy. A book's usefulness-and consequently its sale-can be increased or diminished by its index.

Who Compiles the Index?
As the author, you are responsible for providing the index. But should you compile it yourself? Certainly you are more familiar with the contents of the book than anyone else could be. If you also have a firm grasp of the principles of indexing and can work well under time pressure, you are the best person to prepare it. If your book is technical or scientific in nature, we urge you to prepare the index yourself or at least to have a colleague do it for you. Most professional indexers will not have the technical knowledge to do justice to such an index. If necessary, some authors have the publisher charge for a professional indexer.

Many word-processing systems allow you to create your own index as you prepare the manuscript. This section's general guidelines for index preparation still apply to electronically-prepared manuscripts, but there are a few special considerations.

As you go along placing index markers, you may wish to create a reference file of your main headings and the style of your entries. This will help you avoid going back to fix redundant headings in the index. If, for example, you mark some entries under the heading "Networks" and others under "Networking," you will have to go back and change the reference at each insertion point. It is important that you update the in-line references, and not just the output index. This way, when the index needs to be regenerated to accommodate editing changes, it will not need to be corrected again. It will also save time and effort for revised editions of the book.

As with any electronic file operation, check with your production editor to make sure that the index created by your software will be compatible with the software used for the final version of the book. Many times the software is incompatible and the work that has been done by the author has to be undone and redone. It may be easier to mark the hard copy manuscript and have the items tagged during composition, if the composition program will accommodate this. Otherwise, it will be easier to wait until pages are set.

If you prefer to have a professional indexer compile your index, we will arrange to have it prepared here by one of a number of experienced freelance indexers we have on call. We will pay the indexer directly, advancing the cost against your royalties.

If you compile the index, the following notes will help you:

When to Index
Page proofs are usually sent to you in small batches. Because the index is the last part of the book to be set in type and delay in preparing it may delay publication of your book, begin indexing as soon as you have read the first batch of page proofs and keep the index up to date as further batches arrive. But don't try to combine indexing with proofreading; each is an exacting job that requires your undivided attention.

Unless you are marking index entries in your files, you won't save time by indexing from manuscript, rather than from pages. The attempt sometimes results in confusion or in doing the same work twice. You may want to wait until you receive page proofs with final page numbers. We sometimes encourage an author to start indexing in manuscript if there is an indexing function in the software that is used and if it is compatible with the page makeup software to be used. Check with your production manager or production editor first, however, so that you do not do the work only to find out it cannot be used and must be redone.

What to Index
The first thing to consider is what to index. Indexing requires imagination. Put yourself in the reader's place; of every item ask yourself, "If I were the user of the book and not the author, would I be likely to look this up?" If the answer is "yes," include it; if the answer is "no," don't let a false ideal of completeness tempt you into putting it in; you will only overload your index. (If the answer is "maybe," put the item in. In indexing, the worst sins are those of omission.) If your book is organized with a system of headings and subheadings, they will provide the nucleus for your index, though of course you cannot index the book from headings alone but must read the page proofs through carefully to catch every topic of importance. Break down every main idea into the individual details readers are likely to look for; they will seldom look in the index for the subject of an entire section or chapter, which appears conspicuously in the table of contents. Moreover, an unqualified entry followed by a long string of page numbers will only irritate them. Obvious items to index are names of people, organizations, institutions, events, places, and so on.

How to Index
If you are tagging the entries into your word processor or page makeup application, please see your documentation or on-line help files for specifics. Your production editor may be able to help you with this if it is a program that we are familiar with, but please do not assume that we would be able to help you with this specific task. If you do not have the knowledge, time or capability to do this in your electronic files for any reason, but want to prepare the index yourself, here are some steps to guide you:

• Write the entries on cards.
• Arrange the cards in alphabetical order.
• Edit the cards and indicate indents by means of dots.
• Keyboard the index as a separate word-processing file.
• Edit the index and provide the file and hard copy to your production editor.

Some important rules to keep in mind are:

1. Alphabetize items beginning with Mc or St as though the full form-Mac or Saint-were used.
   
   
2. Alphabetize entries beginning with figures as though the figures were spelled out-"400 Club" under the Fs.
   
   
3. Alphabetize abbreviations of government agencies, broadcasting companies, publications, and so on, according to the order of letters in the abbreviation, not as though the names were spelled out.
   
   AAA
   ABC
   Abilene
   AFL-CIO
   Agriculture.
   
   
4. Alphabetize subentries according to the first principal word, ignoring any preceding prepositions and articles:
   
   Parallelism:
   
   for coordinate elements
   with correlatives
   defined
   in outlines.
   
   
   
5. Capitalize the first word of each main entry; lower case all remaining words unless they require capitalization for other reasons.
   
   
6. Separate each entry from its page number(s) by a comma; use a colon after an entry.
   
   
7. Combine similar entries and provide cross references where necessary. For example, you may have one set of cards for "National Humane Society" and another for "Humane Society." Since these are different names for the same organization, it is wrong to list some of the references under one name and some under the other. List all the references under "National Humane Society"; for "Humane Society," provide a cross reference, "See National Humane Society." A good index also directs the reader to pages where aspects of the same subject are discussed under different key words. After listing the page numbers for "National Humane Society," you might well add a "see also" reference: "See also animals" or "See also shelters."

Finally, after, you have edited all the cards, keyboard the index one column to a page, double-spaced. Then check the accuracy of the index against the cards. Send the index file with a hardcopy printout to the production editor.

As soon as the production editor receives the index (from you or from the indexer who has been commissioned to prepare it for you), the copy is sent to the compositor to be set into pages. There is seldom time, or need, for you to check proofs of the index. Our proofreaders give it a thorough reading. We do, however, send you a duplicate set of proofs for your file.

Printing and Binding
Page proofs are the last proofs you will see; rarely are corrections so extensive that it is necessary to send an author revised page proofs. However, the production editor receives final proofs before the book is printed to make certain that all corrections indicated on the page proofs have been made.

With the advent of desktop publishing, where postscript files can be provided to the printer, the need for "camera copy" is unnecessary most of the time. Using the old method, the compositor would pull a reproduction proof of each page of type. This proof was of extremely fine quality, and was pulled on a special paper designed to give optimum clarity and sharpness to the type. Line illustrations and proofs of the halftone negatives would be integrated with pages by pasting them in place. The resulting "camera copy" then would be released to the printer, who would photograph the camera copy and strip in the film negatives of the type with the film negatives of the illustrations.

Electronic publishing allows for an easier, more cost-efficient means of preparing pages for the printer. Once the final proofs of a book are checked and approved, a disk or tape containing all of the electronic files (which include art) is sent to the printer. Because both art and text are electronic, they have already been combined during composition. This makes the printer's job easier, since the intermediate stages of turning repro proofs into film and stripping in halftones are no longer necessary. The printer plays out film directly from the electronic files. Sometimes, when halftone or other art is scanned, a low-resolution marker will be put in place in the electronic file. Because of space constraints, we will ask the printer to swap high-resolution art files with the low-resolution files, thus providing the best quality output when needed for the final book, and acceptable quality for proofing during the production of the book. The file sizes of high-resolution art can sometimes be astronomical, especially if color is involved.

The printer makes blueprints or "book blues" (proofs of the page negatives) for our final check before plates are made and the book goes to press. At this point, your production editor will be checking to make sure that the pages are in order, the margins are correct, and other such quality controls.

Offset Printing
The principle involved in reproduction by offset is a chemical one: grease and water repel each other. The type, art, and photographs on the printing plate (a positive image) is grease-receptive, and the printing ink has a greasy base. After the plate is fastened to the plate cylinder of the press, it is dampened with a watery solution and inked simultaneously. The grease-receptive image repels the water and accepts the ink. The blank areas of the plate accept the water and therefore repel the ink. The inked image is then transferred to a cylinder around which is wrapped a thin sheet of rubber, called a "blanket," which is also continuously dampened with water. The greasy ink adheres to the rubber blanket. The blank areas on the blanket remain free of ink because they are coated with water. The inked image on the blanket (a mirror image) is then transferred to the paper, faithfully reproducing the image on the printing plate. Thus the plate itself never touches the paper. Rather, the image is transferred-or "offset"-from plate to blanket to paper.

Offset presses are of the rotary type-that is, both the impression and printing surfaces are cylindrical. These presses may be either sheetfed (flat sheets of paper move into the press individually) or roll-fed (paper is fed to the press from a continuous roll).

Binding
Binding is the final stage in the manufacture of a book. Various methods are employed, depending on the kind of finished product we want.

Each printed sheet that will make up the book is folded so that the pages on the sheet appear in proper sequence. These folded sheets, consisting usually of thirty-two pages, are called signatures. The signatures are then gathered so that each collation contains all pages of the book in proper order.

The term "paperbound" books encompasses a wide assortment of bindery styles. The collated signatures are placed in a set of clamps, with the folded or "spine" edges up. One-eighth of an inch is then trimmed from the folded edges so that only single sheets remain. Glue is applied to this end surface; then the paper cover is put in position and folded around the book. The entire covered book is then trimmed at the top, bottom, and outside edges to final size. This method, called "perfect binding," is also occasionally used for case-bound books. Another method, "RepKover," is a process of "Lay-Flat" binding which uses cloth as a reinforcement media. This is a method of paper binding which improves functionality of manuals because they "lay flat" easily for constant no-hands reference.

Copyrighting the Book
The books are now ready, and the production editor rushes an advance copy from the bindery to you. (The "author's copies" called for in your contract follow shortly, after the books have reached our warehouse.) We also send two copies to the Register of Copyrights, Washington, D.C., together with a copyright application and a fee, thus fulfilling the requirements of copyright law.

Original Manuscript and Files
Once the book has been published, the production editor will return all the original artwork, photos, and manuscript, if you would like, to you. You may have to return some of this material to the sources from which it was borrowed. Otherwise it should be safely filed away for possible use should it ever be necessary to re-use for any purpose not yet known. We will keep a set of files here for any possible reprint corrections or perhaps for translations into other languages.

If your book is eventually published in a new edition, some of this material may be usable again, with a saving of time and expense on your part and on ours.

Reprints
Your production editor will ask you to keep our reprint editor up to date on any misprints or other minor errors that you may discover or that may be brought to your attention from time to time.

When the stock of the first printing reaches a minimum and a second printing is anticipated, the reprint editor may notify you and request additional minor corrections, if any, by a certain date. These changes will be included if they are minimal and arrive on time. A warning is in order here. The reprint editor may not have enough time to warn you of an impending reprint. Therefore, we advise that you send in corrections as they come up. If possible, we will make the corrections in the files ourselves. However, depending on the number and type of corrections, we may need to go back to the compositor for these changes. Extensive changes should be saved for a possible revision (or new edition).

Illustrations

All this is not meant to discourage illustration, but only to encourage careful selection-a chart, a picture, a diagram may do the work of several pages of description and also add greatly to the sales appeal of your book. By all means, however, cut out illustrations that do not relate to the text. Your book will have a greater chance of success without them.

Bear in mind, incidentally, that today's books have a sophisticated, worldwide audience. Try to draw upon people of all races and colors for your subjects. Use illustrations representative of other parts of the world-not just the United States-if they are otherwise suitable.

At the time you start work on your manuscript, discuss with us the question of whether your book requires illustrations and, if so, how extensively they should be used and how they will be provided. If you are considering supplying the illustrations yourself, you must send in samples to the production department before you get too far. In this way we can make certain that your work does not go to waste. We need to make certain that your files are both compatible with the page makeup program that we will be using and that, from an artistic point of view, they meet our standards.

Gathering Illustrations
Once it is determined that your book needs illustrations, the next questions are: where do you find them and how do you choose them?

You, of course, are the best judge of what is suitable illustration material for your book-whether a photograph, a chart, a graph, or a drawing most clearly expresses what you wish to convey in an instance. Our advice is to start early and to explore your field and your sources thoroughly so that your ultimate choices are as well considered as the words of your manuscript. All too often, an illustration is chosen as an afterthought, conveniently picked from a ready source or sketched in an offhand manner. Again, we urge you to consult with us if you have any questions about what would be suitable illustrative material.

Our Art Department is always glad to suggest sources of artwork and to help you judge the quality of the work done and the reasonableness of the fees charged for it. In fact, if you are going to purchase artwork, YOU MUST SUBMIT SAMPLES or other indications of what you propose to use before spending time and money in obtaining what may be unsatisfactory art. This is especially true if you are planning to draft the art yourself. There is no way we can overemphasize the need for you to submit samples before producing more than a handful of pieces of art. We need to discuss the software program you are planning on using, as well as the different ways of saving the files to make sure that they are usable.

If you are planning on using art that is not new, possibly from a source other than yourself, you must secure written permission from the source to reproduce the illustration (see our section on permissions elsewhere in this Guide). Be certain to supply a credit or courtesy line, however, for all such illustrations, whether or not permission is required.

Color
Illustrations in full color represent a very substantial expense, both for the preparation of a suitable drawing, or for the procurement of a photograph, and for the cost of four-color separations. In addition, for satisfactory reproduction such subjects must be printed on a special grade of paper that normally has to be inserted into the book by hand after printing.

These added costs may make the pricing of a book difficult-even impossible. Therefore, before you decide that you would like full-color illustrations in your book, be sure to consult with your editor to determine whether use of color can be justified. If, for instance, it is absolutely necessary to show a spectrum in a physics text or an example of a famous artist's work in a book on watercolor painting, obviously we would have to use full color. But such needs are strictly limited.

Preparing Illustrations
Illustrations in a book are one of three types. The first type is the line drawing, which consists only of lines or of areas of solid black or white and areas of shading consisting of uniform patterns of dots, squares or other lines. Unshaded drawings, charts, and graphs are examples of line illustrations. The second type is the halftone, which reproduces gradations of shading or tone between black and white, found, for instance, in photographs. A third type is a screen capture-very similar to the halftone in appearance. These are captures of an image that is on your computer screen. Note that screen shots are by nature low resolution (72 dpi), which means that illustrations from screen captures will also be low resolution.

Line Drawings
Artistic worth alone is not a sufficient criterion for judging whether a line drawing is suitable for reproduction. The fine and feathery pencil strokes of a Renaissance master may be impossible to reproduce by ordinary printing methods. It is extremely important that an artist understand how the materials and processes of mechanical production affect the preparation of illustrations. Therefore, if you plan to have drawings prepared, be sure to submit samples to your Production Manager for approval or criticism. If you prefer, we will be glad to arrange for the services of a professional artist who will render finished drawings from your detailed sketches. We will submit one or two samples of finished artwork for your approval before going ahead with the job, depending on the type and difficulty of the art. As drawings are finished, we will send you copies for checking before we release them for reproduction. These should be checked with care to ensure that all details, labeling, and figure identifications ("Fig. 1-4") are correct. The copies must then be returned promptly with any changes.

Preparing Electronic Art
Line drawings can be prepared with a variety of illustration programs including Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw, although there are plenty of others on the market that are also good. Our preference is that you use Adobe Illustrator. Some word-processing packages also have drawing packages built into them that may be used. Make sure you check with us before you draft more than a handful of illustrations. Provide printed and digital samples for testing as arranged with your editor or production manager. Supply 3-4 samples of each type of graphic. As you create your art, follow these guidelines:

1. All figures should be proportional in size. Similar elements in different drawings should be approximately the same size. Art sizes vary depending on a book's trim size, so check with your editor for maximum width and height guidelines.
   
   
2. All figures must be submitted final size. Check with your editor about your type page, but your art should fit within a 5 x 8" space.
   
   
3. All type should be cap and lower case (sentence style), set in the same typeface throughout. A sans serif typeface, such as Helvetica or Univers is preferred. All type, including headings & callouts, must be 9 pt., final size. You MUST USE ADOBE PS fonts only. Do not boldface, italicize or capitalize to accentuate type. If your art contains headings of varying sizes, ask your editor or production manager for more customized instructions. If your art labels are to be consistent with equations and text using italics you should be consistent in style.
   
   
4. Produce figures in black and white only, unless otherwise specified. If your black and white book uses 4-color screen captures, check to see that the black and white image displays all the detail you need. Make sure that you submit samples early so that the Art Production Manager can advise you if you need to change your screen colors or save as grayscale.
   
   
5. Use simple fill patterns or 20% and 40% gray tints to show shading for black and white books. Do not use tints darker than 40% or colored tints.
   
   
6. Draw rules 1/2 pt. or 1 pt. wide. Lines in graphs should be heavier than outside lines. Style should be consistent throughout.
   
   
7. Arrowheads and leaders should be proportional in size with type, and should be consistent throughout.
   
   
8. Do not include figure numbers or other identifying information in the illustrations, but use this information when naming the files. Name the files with the actual figure number and use the appropriate extension (i.e., Fig_2-3.eps).
   
   
9. Carefully proofread art for consistency and typographical errors.
   
   
10. Save final files as EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), TIFF, or PICT. TIF & PICT formats are bitmapped and okay for screen shots, but you may not be happy with the quality for line art. For that reason, we prefer to work with EPS files (except in the case of screen shots-which should be saved as tiff, bmp, gif, or pict. Send us the application files as well as the EPS files. We may need to make changes to art, and for that we must have the original art files in a program we can work with (such as Adobe Illustrator, Aldus Freehand, CorelDraw, or Canvas).

Preparing Art Disks
Prepare each piece of art as a separate document. Identify each figure by following a consistent file-naming convention, such as Fig. 1-1, Fig. 1-2.

If you integrate art with text in a page-makeup program, you will need to also supply us with the original art files separately, especially if the art was created with a different program. For example, if art is created with Adobe Illustrator and EPS files imported into Quark XPress or FrameMaker, we will need the Illustrator files as well as the Quark and Frame documents.

When art is included with text in FrameMaker files, be sure that the art is in an anchored frame, anchored in the correct position in the text. Otherwise, even minor reformatting may cause the illustration to be separated from the appropriate text. FrameMaker will allow art frames to overlap text frames and vice versa. Be especially careful about the placement of frames to one side of text copy, since reformatting may cause overlaps or leave gaps.

Avoid using file-compressing software, unless you can also provide us with the means to decompress your files.

Unless you are providing us with "camera ready" files, keep the art on disks separate from those containing text files. Label each disk with the author's name, title of book, hardware and software (include version), all typefaces used (for example, you might use Helvetica for type and Symbol for Greek characters or math symbols), and the format files are saved in. Or include all the information but for the author, title, and hardware on a readme file on the disk.

Include a printout of each piece of art with the following information written on it: author's name, title of book, figure number, hardware and software (with version number).

Supply a font suitcase (copies of screen and printer fonts). Don't use TrueType. You MUST USE ADOBE PS fonts only.

Halftones
A satisfactory halftone can be made from an original photograph, wash drawing, airbrush drawing, or slide and sometimes from another printed picture. A halftone simulates the gradations of tone in a photograph.

The method of reproducing this type of art also makes it inevitable that some of the detail of the original will be lost. Therefore it is important that the original copy be the best you can find. Select clear, sharp, glossy photographs with good tonal contrast. Be sure that details are as distinct as the larger elements of the picture. Avoid dull or matte finish prints, which are harder to reproduce satisfactorily.

Select your pictures with an eye to composition and dramatic emphasis on important details; a good picture tells a story and elicits a response from the reader. Study each picture carefully to determine whether cropping-eliminating unimportant parts at the top, bottom, or sides of a picture-would improve its effectiveness. Indicate lightly the areas to be cropped on a tissue overlay on the illustration; never mark the photograph or artwork itself or cut it to size.

If any lettering, arrows, or numbers are to be added to the face of the photograph or if any special instructions should accompany it, indicate them on a tissue overlay. Never make any mark on the face of the photograph itself. Write the figure number in the margin of the picture, or if there is no room, very lightly on the back. Even the slightest dent marks from the back will show through onto the surface of the print and will appear in the reproduction, as will smudges, cracks, and scratches caused by careless handling. Do not mount photographs and never paste, clip, or otherwise insert them in the manuscript or use clips to fasten them together-the mark of a paper clip can ruin a photograph.

Capturing Screenshots using HiJaak
HiJaak is one of the most popular programs for capturing screen shots. The guidelines here are specific to this piece of software, however, most of the others work in a very similar fashion. If you have another program, please save a few images and send them in for testing by our production department.

1. Keep in mind that all screen shots should be captured at the same size so that we have a uniform and consistent look throughout your book.
   
   
2. Capture screen images at same size-100% only.
   
   
3. Select grayscale or B&W mode. Use Index or RGB color for color files (or if you cannot change the setting to grayscale or B&W). In the Windows control panel be sure to specify the color setting of screen capture as blue or the Windows default. If other colors are selected, moire patterns may develop.
   
   
4. Select 72 dpi for resolution-it is important that you do not change this setting or it will affect the physical size of the screen.
   
   
5. Select file format of pict, tiff, bmp, or eps.
   
   
6. Do not change any size settings- the art will be sized during page makeup.

Figure Numbers and Captions
Number the illustrations with Arabic figures consecutively throughout each chapter, using the compound system described earlier in this Guide. It is best to include in a single sequence all the types of illustrations photographs, line drawings, graphs, charts, and screen captures.

Some books require no figure numbers for the illustrations, but even then a temporary number should be assigned to each of them and keyed into the manuscript to enable the production editor to identify the illustrations and place them correctly if you are not already doing so yourself.

If, as you are keyboarding the manuscript and if we are to make pages later, you know where the figures are to go, type, for instance, (((Fig. 3-4 here))) on the proper page on a separate line, centered from left to right. Otherwise, when the typing is completed, make a marginal note (circled) on the manuscript page to show where each illustration is to be placed.

Generate a list of captions for each chapter and place the list at the end of each chapter file, identifying captions by figure number or temporary identification number and including any necessary credits. Be sure that spelling, symbols, capitalization, and so forth, are consistent with the style used in the text.

Revisions

Your editor will notify you when your book requires revision and will advise you when the manuscript must be completed to meet a proposed tentative publication date.

Once a revision is decided upon, as much care should go into it as went into the original edition. In general, the length of revision should not exceed that of the previous edition. A longer book manufactured at a cost far higher than that of the previous edition may be very difficult or impossible to price competitively.

Preparing the Manuscript
Before you start work, we will send you the review file on your book-comments and criticisms on the strengths and weakness of the text and recommendations for improving it. Study these carefully; they may be helpful in preparing your copy. It is a good idea, too, to study all recent competing books-not with the idea of imitating them in form or content, but merely to make sure that your book compares favorably on all important points. With the review file we will send you two copies of your book, as well as electronic files when and if possible, so that you may make changes directly in the files.

We suggest that you work directly in the files as much as possible. Make all your changes without regard to formatting issues. Focus on the new content. If pages are to be made by Prentice Hall, we will worry about the formatting later, just as we did for the first edition. Follow the same procedures as in the first edition of your book. When you are ready to submit your files to us, make sure that you also submit 2 copies of complete, up-to-date, and accurate files. If you need to make any changes after that stage, mark them on the hard copy. The files must match the hard copy (before you handwrite anything in the margins).

If you originally provided your book as a finished electronic file or if we made pages using a desktop program (in Microsoft Word, Quark Xpress, FrameMaker, LaTeX, or another page-makeup program, for example) it will be easier for you to do the revisions to the file yourself and submit the new file for the next edition.

If you did not originally submit an electronic file, but you now have the ability to produce a book electronically, speak to your editor about the possibility of getting the electronic files of your book to revise electronically yourself. We may have produced the book utilizing a desktop system ourselves or we may be able to provide you with ascii files that will minimize the need to re-key everything.

Checking the Manuscript
Give the manuscript a complete and careful reading, paying particular attention to the following points:

1. Make sure there are no awkward breaks, no difference in style or method of treatment between old and new matter.
   
   
2. Watch out for "dated" references in the original material ("recently," "a few years ago") to people, places, or events.
   
   
3. Bring tables up to date.
   
   
4. Delete ancient references in footnotes or supplement them with later material; change "ibid" references that are no longer applicable.
   
   
5. Revise all bibliographies rigorously, weeding out obsolete and out-of-print titles (unless they are indispensable references that have not been superseded) and adding new books and the latest editions of old ones.
   
   
6. Check the presence and numbering of all tables, illustrations, footnotes, equations, and other items numbered in sequence, particularly where changes have been made in their order and number; verify all cross references to them.
   
   
7. Delete page cross references ("see page 68") and substitute "see page 00" so that the necessity of supplying a corrected reference will be called to your attention in page proof, if your references are not tagged in your files.
   
   
8. Make sure that all last-minute changes and substitutions are reflected in the table of contents and in the lists of tables and illustrations.
   
   
9. Assemble new illustrations and the original art for the illustrations being picked up from the previous edition. Provide a new file containing captions for the new illustrations; indicate in the manuscript any changes in figure numbers or captions for old figures. If you are supplying new electronic art files, be sure to include the application file for each figure as well as an EPS version of each.

When your manuscript is complete, make two copies. Send the original to us and keep the copy for your records.