Information for Authors - Author FAQs

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• Copyright and permissions seeking
• Preparation of my text
• Indexing
• The production of my book
• Illustrations
• Cover/jacket design
• Sales, marketing and publication timing

 

Copyright and permissions seeking

Who seeks permission to use copyright material from third-party sources?

Unless agreed otherwise with your commissioning contact, it’s your responsibility to seek permission to use illustrations, graphs, extracts from third-party material. This can be a complex and expensive business, so we encourage you to avoid usage where possible. Please see the ‘Permissions advice for authors’ documents for further information – go back one page to get to a link to these.

 

What is a third-party source?

A work still in copyright and for which _you_ do not own copyright.

 

How do I identify which material from third-party sources does, and which does not, need permission?

Please see the ‘Permissions advice for authors’ documents for further information – go back one page to get to a link to these.

 

How do I go about seeking permission to use copyright material from third-party sources?

Please see the ‘Permissions advice for authors’ documents for further information – go to this page to get to a link to these.

 

What information does Palgrave Macmillan need from me during permission seeking and once it’s finished?

Please provide the information detailed in the Editorial Information Form. It is especially important that you complete the summary grid, detailing what permissions you have secured from whom.

 

Preparation of my text

What should I do if my text contains special characters or fonts?

Please give as much detail as you can about these characters and fonts on the Word-processing form we ask you to submit with your text. Please always use standard common fonts like Times New Roman or Arial when producing the text. If you have to use an unusual font for certain characters, please give details on the Word-processing form. Please either include the font with your electronic files or, if you have used Microsoft Word to prepare your text, embed the font in the Word file by doing the following:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Save tab.
2. Select the Embed TrueType fonts check box.
3. Save the document.

 

What are UNICODE fonts and should I use them?

As part of the typesetting process a setter will almost certainly replace the fonts you use to prepare your typescript, either because the fonts you have used are not suitable for printing or because they do not match the book design requested by Palgrave Macmillan.

If you are using only characters contained in the list below, you need not worry; the conversion will be robust. But if you are using any character not contained in this list you can prevent conversion difficulties by using a UNICODE-compliant font.

! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . /
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
` a B C d e F g h i J k l m n o
p q R S t u V w x y Z { | } ~
¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª " ® ¯ °
± ² ³ ´ ? · ¸ ¹ º " ¼ ½ ¾ ¿ À
Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð
Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß à
Á â Ã Ä å æ Ç è é ê Ë ì í î ï ð
ñ ò Ó Ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú Û ü ý þ ÿ

Each character in any font is identified by a numeric value. In a standard text font, for example, the lowercase letter 'a' has the value 97. If you type an 'a' in Arial and then select the character and change the font to Palatino, you still have an 'a'. However, if you select the character and change the font to Symbol, you get an alpha (because alpha has a value of 97 in the Symbol font). When you use a specialist font to achieve non-Latin characters (or Latin characters plus diacritics that are not included in the list above), the numerical value assigned to each character in the font is important in terms of the conversion for composition. This is where UNICODE comes in.

UNICODE is a system of font encoding that has a huge number of character values, each representing a specific character. The correspondence between value and character is fixed in all UNICODE fonts. Thus, if you use a UNICODE font in your typescript, the typesetter will be able to prepare proofs simply by changing the font to one that is suitable for printing and fits the text design.

Two readily available fonts have extensive character sets and are UNICODE-compliant. With the Windows operating system comes the font Arial Unicode MS. And there's also a useful shareware font called Code2000 with an even larger character set than Arial Unicode MS. It can be downloaded from www.code2000.net/code2000_page.htm, has a single-user licence and costs just US$5.00 (as at August 2007).

For maps of the characters covered by these fonts, go to the UNICODE home page at www.unicode.org and click on 'Code charts'. Clicking on any one of the range names will take you to a PDF document that includes character images for that range.

If you need characters that are not covered in either Arial Unicode MS or Code2000, try Googling on some combination of the alphabet/language name plus 'UNICODE', 'font', and 'download'. There are numerous special-interest sites, and many free font downloads, on the Web. When you download a font from the Internet, the site should make it clear that it is a UNICODE font. If you already have a font that you want to use but aren't sure whether it is a UNICODE font, there are ways that you can check: (a) The simplest way is to type out the set of special characters you are using from that font, select them, and change the font to Arial Unicode MS. If the original font is UNICODE compliant, then the characters will be the same even though the font is different. Try to type out as exhaustive a list of the characters you are using as possible for this test, and especially those with complex/multiple diacritics. (b) In Word, when you use the Insert Symbol function to type special characters, a dialogue box opens to show a map of the characters available in each font installed on your system. In the dropdown box at the top left of the character map, select the font that you want to use. If this is a UNICODE font, there should also be a dropdown menu at the top right of the character map (see screenshot below). This right-hand dropdown menu allows you to jump to particular character sets/alphabets, and it shows you the range of alphabets covered by that font. Ignore the bottom-right dropdown menu; this may misleadingly mention "UNICODE" even if the font is not UNICODE compliant.

(c) Microsoft provides a downloadable utility that extends the information available about the properties of fonts installed on your system. The extension can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/typography/TrueTypeProperty21.mspx. Once you have installed the extension, open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\Fonts, which will show the fonts installed on your system. Right-click on the name of the font you want to check for UNICODE compatibility and choose 'Properties'. For a UNICODE font, the dialogue box that opens will have a tab for 'CharSet/Unicode' and the Font Encoding Type will be 'Unicode', as in the example below.

UNICODE covers a wide range of alphabets and characters, but there are gaps in coverage. If you cannot find certain characters that you need, then you may need to fall back on non-UNICODE fonts to render them. In such cases, you can help us and the typesetter by providing a separate document that shows these characters and the name of the font you have used and by providing a PDF or printout to show how they should appear.

 

What should I do if Word won’t allow me to save my chapter notes in a separate file?

Please do not worry about this. As long as you are able to provide the notes in the chapter file with a clear indication of the numbering, the typesetter will be able to extract them and place them in the correct position in the book itself.

 

To whom should I send additions/amendments/corrections to my text?

Prior to delivery of the final version of your book to your commissioning editor, all queries regarding the text should be sent to him/her. Once production of the book commences, you will be contacted by a production supplier who will be your main contact during the editing, typesetting, proofreading and indexing stages. All queries regarding the content of the book should be directed to them. Any queries not directly connected to the content of the book should be addressed to your main commissioning contact.

 

The production of my book

Why have I been contacted by a freelance editor/project management company and what is their role?

All the production work on your book will be co-ordinated from in-house by a production editor. Palgrave Macmillan has a number of production suppliers of various types, and your book will be allocated to one or a combination of them.

The supplier will be either:

• a representative of a project management team, who might be in India, Malaysia or the UK, or
• an Editorial Services Consultant (known by the acronym ESC) who is likely to be based in the UK

and will be your main contact throughout the production process. The supplier will liaise with you about the production schedule and the content of your book, copy-edit, prepare the text for the typesetter, proofread, send proofs to you and liaise with you about your proof corrections and index.

 

What methods should I use to communicate with my production supplier?

Please use telephone, email or FTP rather than post, wherever possible, to communicate with and to send material to your production supplier. If you need to send a package to one of our suppliers in Asia please use a courier rather than ordinary post; post can take up to 15 days to arrive in Asia.

 

When will I get proofs of my book?

We aim to give you proofs approximately six weeks after production work starts, but the exact timing will be determined by the production route chosen for your book. If your book is on a fast production schedule the time span will be much shorter. Your production supplier will contact you as soon as they start work on your book, and will discuss with you a mutually acceptable timing for proofs. Please note that production work cannot start until your commissioning contact has assessed your final text, is happy with the content and has handed it over to the production department. That might not be immediately after you have delivered your final text.

 

I cannot meet the schedule agreed with my production supplier. What should I do?

Please contact your production supplier immediately it becomes clear you will not be able to meet an agreed schedule. They will sometimes be able to work with us to find ways of saving time elsewhere in the schedule but the important thing is that we know about any delay as quickly as possible so we have as many options left to us as possible, and so we can take steps to avoid too much damage to the desired publication date and thus, potentially, to sales of the book.

 

The version of the text being used by my production supplier is not the one I sent to Palgrave Macmillan. What should I do?

Please alert your production supplier as quickly as possible and they will contact the Palgrave Macmillan production department to seek advice.

 

Can I change the title or sub-title of my book?

It is almost always too late to do this by the time your book is in production, as these details will have been supplied to bibliographical databases and promotion is likely to have started, so a change of title might confuse potential customers. Please get in touch with your commissioning contact if the need to make any change arises, but beware that it’s usually not possible to make a change.

 

What do I do if I want to make changes to my text at copy-editing queries stage?

It’s still possible for you to make changes at this stage, though not ideal as the copy-editor will have ensured consistency and clarity of the text as a whole, and changes can often affect these. Please liaise closely with your production supplier if you need to make changes, in case they need you to make them in a particular way. If your changes are not just small additions, updates or amendments, the production supplier will refer them to Palgrave Macmillan for approval. Your commissioning editor might need to discuss major changes with you.

 

Why does the format of the copy-edited, tracked files I’ve been sent not match the format of the printed book?

At copy-editing stage your text is usually still in its original form, i.e. as you provided it. After copy-editing has been completed/approved a typesetter will style the type and make book pages.

 

Where should I mark the answers to copy-editing queries?

Please follow the guidance given by the person sending the queries to you. If they send queries in a tabulated format there will usually be a ‘Comments’ or ‘Remarks’ column for you to use to give your responses. If you are reviewing a Word-tracked document, your version of Word will provide help in how to view comments and highlighted queries, how to respond to those comments and how to accept or reject the editor’s comments/changes. It’s most helpful if you can use the Word functions rather than typing a separate list of comments. If you are really stuck, your production supplier will be pleased to help you.

 

Do I just answer the copy-editor’s queries or do I check the entire edited document sent to me?

It’s up to you whether or not you read through the entire document. The production supplier won’t be expecting you to unless you and they have agreed that you will.

 

Can I ask my production supplier to send copy-edited chapters and/or proofs direct to my book’s contributing authors if I’m a volume editor?

It’s usually your contractual obligation as a volume editor to mastermind all liaison with contributing authors yourself, so you can keep control of the content of the chapters. Our advice is not to send proofs to contributors for checking as this is likely to cause delay in the production schedule, but rather to ensure contributors are happy with the final version of their chapter, either before you deliver the final text to us or by showing them the copy-edited versions. If you do decide to show proofs to contributors it will be easier for you to keep control of the content of the book if you handle all dealings with the contributors yourself, to avoid confusion and conflicting instructions being given to the production supplier.

 

Am I responsible for the accuracy of the text at proof stage?

Yes, you are, though a proofreader employed by your production supplier will be checking the proofs, too.

 

Will it be possible for me to add text, tables or illustrations at proof stage?

No, unless your production supplier knows they are to come and has made provision for them. Adding unexpected material at proof stage inevitably means extra cost and delay in publication of a book, because the typesetter will have to reflow text, and indexing cannot usually be completed until that is done.

 

How do I use Adobe Acrobat Reader to mark up a PDF proof?

You need at least Acrobat Reader Version 7.0 to be able to insert annotations into a PDF supplied by one of our production suppliers. If you still cannot insert annotations, please check with the production supplier that the PDF has been correction enabled (set up to receive corrections).

 

Can I list proof corrections in a Word document rather than marking corrections on the proof pages?

Yes. If your production supplier hasn’t offered you a template form to use, please ask them for it.

 

Can the typeface or type size in my book be changed at proof stage?

No. The type style of Palgrave Macmillan books is fixed by the commissioning editor before the production work starts. Our monograph titles are given a family feel by the use of one text design. We do not like to vary from this and lose its strong branding. Design for our professional and college-level titles is carefully considered by the commissioning editor, taking into account the look of competing titles and market needs.

 

Will I see revised text proofs and index proofs and, if so, when?

It’s not our normal practice to show authors a revised proof of their text or a proof of the index. Revises and index proofs are checked carefully by the production supplier working on the book. If, for any reason, it is necessary to show you a revised proof, you can expect it approximately a fortnight after you have returned your first proof corrections and index. If your book is on a fast production schedule the time span will be much shorter. Please ask your production supplier for exact timing.

 

Indexing

At what stage will I be asked to prepare the index to my book?

The index cannot be completed until proof stage, when what we hope will be final pagination has been produced by the typesetter. But, as preparation of an index can take many hours, it’s as well to do as much of the work as you can ahead of receiving text proofs. We advise you to start thinking about key words and sub-entries and plan the structure of your index as early as you can. You might want to use Word or other software to produce key words automatically when you are writing your book, but please note that the page numbers produced then will not be the same as the final pagination in the book and there is no automatic way of translating them. For additional information please see our ‘Advice on indexing’ guide, available as a PDF or in paper form from your commissioning contact or production supplier or from the author section on this site.

 

What length should my index be?

Ideally, your index shouldn’t take up more than about 5% of the total number of pages in the main text of your book. If it is going to do so, please consult your commissioning contact for advice. For additional information please see our ‘Advice on indexing’ guide, available as a PDF or in paper form from your commissioning contact or production supplier or from the author section on this site.

 

In what format should I produce my index?

It’s most helpful if your index can be in Word format, please. If you need help with layout of the entries please refer to our ‘Advice on indexing’ guide (available as a PDF or in paper form from your commissioning contact or production supplier or from the author section on this site.), or, for a simplified version, ask your production supplier for a copy of the information sheet ‘Notes for authors: presentation of the index’.

 

How do I use a PDF file of the proofs to help in the preparation of my index?

You can use Acrobat’s search facility to find the page numbers on which the words or phrases you want to index occur. Acrobat can search just one file or across all files in a specified folder. It will then report the location of each occurrence of the word or phrase. Please refer to Acrobat’s Help files for further information.

 

I cannot, after all, prepare my own index, what should I do?

We can normally help you find a professional indexer who can compile your index at your expense. This may need to be invoiced directly, though in some circumstances it can be offset against royalties with the approval of your commissioning editor. For further information, please see the section ‘When someone else indexes my book’ in our ‘Advice on indexing’ guide (available as a PDF or in paper form from your commissioning contact or production supplier or from the author section on this site).

 

Can I use Word to prepare my index?

Yes, this is possible, but we can only provide you with PDF files from which you will need to make the conversion to Word. In order to allow you to do this, the PDF files will need to be prepared in a certain way, so please let your production supplier know before proofs are due if you would like PDF files for this purpose. For further information, please refer to the indexing software section in our ‘Advice on Indexing’ guide (available as a PDF or in paper form from your commissioning contact or production supplier or from the author section on this site). Please also see the question below.

 

How do I extract text from PDF proofs if I want to produce a Word file matching the pagination of the proofs to allow me to use Word’s indexing software?

When PDF files are prepared in the correct way, it is possible to extract text from them by using the Select All command, copying, and then pasting into Word. However the pagination of the PDF files will not be retained, while all header and footer text (e.g. running heads) will, so you will need carefully to insert page breaks in exactly the same places as they appear in the PDF file, and extract header/footer wording to ensure that any indexed word they contain doesn’t get collected in the index.

 

Illustrations

What software should I use to create graphs and charts?

There are many pieces of software which can be used to create this type of illustration. You are free to use whichever program is available to you, but if you do, it’s important that the illustration is saved in a generic file format which can be read by any computer system, e.g. .tif, .eps, .jpg, .bmp. If you use Word, Excel or a similar program to create the figure, you may not be given the option to save in these formats. If this is the case, please supply the file in the software’s native format and we will do our best to work with it.

 

Should I embed my illustrations in my text files?

If you want to embed your illustrations to show ideal position in the text, please feel free to do so but please also provide them separately. We need them separately because if they are embedded they will be compressed by the software program you’re using to write your text (thus reducing the quality) and, when extracted, the full quality of the original image cannot be restored.

 

Why do you need better-quality illustrations from me? What I’ve supplied looks fine on my screen.

Screen resolution will hardly ever be sufficiently good quality to get good results on a printing press. Please see the other questions and answers in this section for more information regarding quality and supply of illustrations.

 

In what format do you accept image (illustration) files for use in a book?

We can accept all common generic image file formats, the ideal ones being .tif and .eps. We can also accept compressed file formats such as .jpg, .gif, and .bmp.

 

What physical size should the digital image (illustration) contained in a file be?

As a rough guide, we would recommend that the physical dimensions of a digital image should be no less than 60mm wide and 40mm high. The resolution of an image should be no less than 300 dots per inch (or 118 pixels per cm) at the size it’s to be reproduced in your book. A simple test you can perform on JPEGs and GIFs is to view the image on your computer screen. If it is as large as your computer screen at a zoom level of 100% or less, it will be acceptable. If it is any smaller than your screen size (or you have to increase the zoom level past 100% to make it so), it is too small.

 

Can you accept images (illustrations) copied from websites?

Images copied from websites are almost always too small in physical dimension and resolution to be used in a printed book. You should also be aware that many images on the internet are subject to copyright and you are breaking the law if you copy them without permission. You should only provide us with images taken from a website if it offers a high-resolution version of the image and you have written permission to use it.

 

Can you redraw illustrations from my roughs?

Yes, our typesetters can redraw illustrations if you cannot provide them in a publishable or near-publishable form. It’s important that you tell us how accurate your roughs are. For instance, are they traceable or will the typesetter need to have a knowledge of the subject-matter to be able to interpret what you’ve provided?

 

Can I submit images, graphs and charts in colour?

Yes, you can submit these items in colour, but they may not be printed that way. You should check with your commissioning contact to establish whether your book will be printed in black and white or colour. The majority of our books are printed in black and white, so please check before using colour-coding in a chart or referring to the colours of an image in the text.

 

Cover/jacket design

Who designs the Palgrave Macmillan book jackets and to whom should I address queries about the design?

All monograph jackets are designed by the Palgrave Macmillan production department. Professional book and student textbook jackets are designed by freelance design companies. Queries about the design should be addressed to your commissioning contact. You will be shown the wording of the book blurb and your biographical details, and also the design of the jacket/cover, at an early stage during the production of your book.

 

Can contributing authors be listed and their biographies appear on the jacket of the book?

Contributor details normally appear in the front matter of the book rather than on the jacket, for reasons of space and convention. If there is a particular reason to feature contributors on the jacket please discuss this with your commissioning contact.

 

Sales, marketing and publication timing

 

How will my book be marketed?

Details of our sales and marketing operations can be found in our brochure ‘The Sales and Marketing of Your Book’, also available electronically from the author section on this site.

 

When will my book be published?

The latest approximate publication date will normally appear on the catalogue page on our website. If you need to know an exact date once the book has gone for press please address this query to your commissioning contact.