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How to get started.
What you need to provide us.
Absolutely Free Initial Consultation
Writing your own book and getting it published is one of the most exhilirating, exciting, demanding, and sometimes soul-wrenching experiences that you will have! The exhilirating and exciting parts are great. We can help you avoid a lot of the demanding and soul-wrenching if you talk to us early in the process. Ideally, you should contact us prior to producing your finished manuscript since we can help you avoid many of the common pitfalls that writers face.
Your initial consultation is absolutely free with no obligation, so why not take advantage of the service? You can call us at 862-520-4497 for a phone consultation. If you will be in our geographical area (Northern New Jersey) and would like to have a free face-to-face consultation you can call to arrange that too!
........Document Size & Format | Editing | Binding
..........Cover | Color Printing | Quote | Proof Copy
.................Ordering & Shipping | Fulfillment
The following information is presented in the typical order followed when developing a book. So you can scan through it sequentially or feel free to use the navigation bar above to quickly access a particular topic.
Document Size & Format<TOP>
You can create your rough draft on almost any document size, however, it is a really good idea to decide on what your finished book size will be prior to doing final editing and layout of the book. The two most common sizes used are Letter (8.5 x 11) and A3 (5.5 x 8.5)
Be sure to leave plenty of margin around the perimeter of the page. This white space is essential for both binding purposes and general presentation of the book. Narrow margins make the page look cluttered and hard to read. Good margins for all four edges are:
Letter Size Manuscript (8.5 x 11 Finished Page) 1 inch margins
A3 Size Manuscript (5.5 x 8.5 Finished Page) 0.75 margins.
Books are printed using both sides of the paper (duplex printing) so make sure you set your page format to (Outside.) Don't forget to include an inside title page and acknowledgements/ copyright page in the beginning of the book. Also, even if your book ends on an odd page, make sure that you pad a blank page on the end to wind up with an even number of pages in your finished document.
Do not include the cover of the book in the main book document. An ideal format to use for your finished document is Adobe Acrobat (.pdf file) since it is very stable and translates well without changes between computers.
EDITING<TOP>
You want to completely edit your book for spelling and grammar errors prior to submitting it for a proof. Don't rely solely on computer spell checkers since they do not catch the difference between 'there' and 'their.' Make sure that chapters always start on an odd page. If you can't edit we provide editing services that typically cost a base fee of $100 plus $1 per page.
BINDING<TOP>
We provide both Fast Binding and Perfect Binding for softcover books and foil-embossed hardcover binding for 8.5 x 11 books. A fast bound book lies flat and is ideal for items like training manuals that must lie open while the user is working on a computer. The perfect binding involves a slight premium and requires a full cover that wraps completely around the book. Therefore, you want to make the decision between fast bind and perfect bind prior to creating your cover file.
Cover<TOP>
The most economical cover design for 8.5 x 11 books has no graphics or print within 0.25 inches of all four edges. If you have to have a full bleed cover we can accomodate you by printing on oversize stock and then shearing all four sides. This obviously involves extra cost. You want to submit your final cover as an Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file. For fast bound books the most economical approach is to have a printed front cover and blank back cover. If you want a printed back cover, we can provide that for a nominal extra charge. You must provide a separate cover document for the back cover printing.
Color Printing<TOP>
We recommend our Riso printing technology for most training manuals, equipment guides, general books, and basic collateral marketing materials. The ink-based technology provides dramatic color fills on the 70 lb high white paper that we use at an extremely low price compared to digital laser color.
For reproduction of photographs and high-end art work we recommend our more expensive Toshiba digital laser color printing that produces a high end color product at a premium price.
Quotes<TOP>
We will provide you with a preliminary quote based on number of pages, size, number of printed covers, color process, and binding size.
Proof Copy<TOP>
When you have completed your manuscript and edited the copy, you will want to submit the book file and the separate cover file(s) for proofing at our facility. The cost of the proof copy is $20 plus the quoted price for 1 copy of the book. If you want us to edit your book or need us to make other changes like reworking a cover, etc. these costs will be quoted and added to the cost of the project at this time. We will also make any adjustments based on a change in number of pages, etc. to give you a final hard quote. Once you receive the proof copy and approve it we can begin producing books for you.
Ordering & Shipping<TOP>
We require at least one initial order of ten books. Books are normally sent UPS ground and you will be billed for the cost of the ten books and shipping when the order is completed. Your book masters will be kept on file and you can order additional shipments of books (minimum quantity 10) at any time afterward.
Fulfillment<TOP>
We can provide book fulfillment services for you. We typically ship to all continental USA destinations Monday through Friday via UPS ground. Expedited service is also available upon request. We ship to all international destinations using priority mail. Typical international delivery time is 6 to 10 days. Typical cost for the fulfillment service is $2 per book shipped plus cost of shipping. If you have a large volume of orders we can work with you to set up automatic order processing via email. You bill your customer and send us orders. We ship and send you a weekly bill listing all orders shipped. You never have to handle a book, buy packing materials, or worry about delivering the books to a shipper. We do all of the work!
