Preparing the Manuscript for Production
Wesleyan University Press
Please ask us if any of these instructions are not clear.
About Your Manuscript
Once your manuscript reaches the production stage, we assume that it is complete and that all major decisions that are likely to affect editing, design, and typesetting have been settled. That is, the risk of errors and delays increases if we do not have the following:
• All the text material to be included in the book is on disk files submitted to the production department. Each chapter is in a separate file. Other parts of the manuscript that should also be single files are the tables, bibliography, and captions. The front matter (title page, dedication, acknowledgments, table of contents, etc.) is collected in a single file. All text material is prepared using the same word-processing program and the same (minimal) formatting.
• The files have short, descriptive names (e.g., chap1, part2, glossary, biblio, or author’s last name for multiauthor books) and a printed list of file names for each disk (i.e., a disk directory) is provided. If for some reason the file names do not reflect the contents of the files, then the list should also include a short description of each file.
• The document uses a standard roman font (if you use different font types or sizes for special effect, we’ll check with you and the publisher about reproducing them). To indicate italics, either italics or underlining is used (never both). Few designers use boldface in running text, and underlining is not used except in very special circumstances. We will query you about formats that might be hard to reproduce.
• The formatting of the manuscript is as simple as possible. Remember your book page will be smaller than the manuscript page, so any formatting you apply will have to be deleted. Formatting titles and headings with different fonts or sizes, all caps, small caps, boldface, italics, extra spaces or line spaces, or extra tabs only adds to the copyeditors’ and typesetters’ work. The designers will make your book look distinctive, attractive, and readable. If you have more than 1 level of subheading, please just indicate clearly (by labeling A-head, B-head, etc., or some other such system) which is which. You may use the Hanging Indent feature for the bibliography if you like.
• One printout copy is submitted with the disk files. Everything on the printout is double-spaced, including notes, bibliographies, tables, acknowledgments, permissions, etc. Printout is on standard white 8.5 x 11” paper, printed on one side only. It is very important that the entire printout, including the notes and bibliography, be double-spaced and that all the elements, again including the notes and bibliography, be in the same size and font style.
• The printout and disk files are identical.
• All documentation follows a standard style and is complete and internally consistent.
• Copies of all illustrations to be used in the text are interleaved in the manuscript on the page after the spot they are to be inserted in. Each illustration is clearly marked with the number used in the caption.
• You have marked in the manuscript approximately where each illustration has to go.
• We will need original photographs and camera-ready illustrations, or top-quality electronic files or scans. We’ll assess what you give us and work with you to get the best material for printing.
• All captions for illustrations are present and in their final form, including appropriate credit lines. The captions are gathered in a separate file. If you plan to use a list of illustrations in the front matter, it is inserted in the right place in the manuscript, after the table of contents.
• All references to figures, tables, and photos use the same number and title.
• All permissions for reprinted material and illustrations are complete and those that need to be printed in the book are in their final form in the relevant section of the book.
• If your word processor does not have characters that you need to have typeset (e.g., accents, mathematical symbols), please write them in clearly by hand and let us know that you will need special fonts.
• The document has been created with the minimum amount of automated formatting. For example, it is not formatted with spaces above or below each paragraph or with indentations for paragraphs (use the tab key instead). It IS preferred to apply indents to special indented material such as extract or lists by using word processor format features (but not by using tab keys).
Numbered lists have real numbers, not “dummy” numbers inserted automatically by your word processor. Tables are constructed with tabs, not using the table menu. Such programmed formatting reacts unpredictably when imported by typesetting software and usually conflicts with the design of the book. You can undo formatting in Word by selecting all the text and then choosing Normal 12 pt in the format box on the toolbar.
Parts of a Manuscript in the Order in Which They Should Appear
&Mac183; Front Matter:
1. Title page (title, name of author(s) and/or editor(s) as he, she, or they wish it to appear)
2. Dedication or epigraph (if desired by author)
3. Table of contents (front matter, text [part and chapter titles, but not subheads], authors’ names if it is a contributed volume, and back matter [appendixes, notes, bibliography])
4. List of figures, tables, and photographs (number and title of figure, table, or photo and page number on which it is found; not needed if there are fewer than five of each)
5. Foreword (if desired by author), brief and usually written by an authority in the field. Byline and affiliation are added at the end of the text.
6. Preface (if desired by author), stating the purpose of the book and specifying the intended audience. A short paragraph or two of acknowledgments may be included at the end, if desired.
7. Acknowledgments (if desired by author and not included in preface)
8. Introduction
9. List of abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms (only if use of these is extensive; otherwise, spell out the first time one is used and enclose the abbreviation, acronym, or initialism in parentheses, and use it thereafter)
&Mac183; Text:
10. Chapters, grouped into parts if so desired
&Mac183; Back Matter:
11. Appendic(es)
12. Glossary (if desired by author; arranged alphabetically)
13. Endnotes
14. Bibliography or References
15. List of contributors (if applicable), with name and short biography of each (including vol. editor)
16. Index
Checklist: Production
Mac or PC format? ___________________________________________________
Word-processing program used?_________________________________________
Other programs used (e.g., for illustrations)? _______________________________
Any special fonts used (e.g., Greek, symbol)? Please specify. __________________
___________________________________________________________________
Complete, final, double-spaced printout supplied? ___________________________
New disk with complete, final copy of work supplied? _______________________
All necessary permissions secured?_______________________________________
Does the work contain the following?
photographs (specify how many and if color or black and white) ___________
_______________________________________________________________
captions ________________________________________________________
graph or line illustrations (specify how many) __________________________
tables (specify how many) _________________________________________
dedication _______________________________________________________
acknowledgments _________________________________________________
preface __________________________________________________________
footnotes or endnotes (please specify) _________________________________
table of contents ___________________________________________________
index (to come) ____________________________________________________
biographical note ___________________________________________________
other elements (please specify) ________________________________________
Notes _________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________