Production tips
At Virtus Publishing, our goal is to provide guidance and assistance to authors to ensure that the highest levels of quality throughout all stages are achieved.
To this end, we provide this author resource section posts, which will include a wide variety of mostly short, focusing on various aspects of the publishing process.
These posts are based on decades of experience managing and producing publishing content.
David George
Director of Publishing
Virtus Publishing
Our tips
This includes tips related to the production phases of your book.
What is Front Matter? (Part 1)
In any published book there are pages that precede the regular text that are placed in a specific order and that are numbered separately, using lowercase Roman numerals.
What is Front Matter? (Part 2)
In any published book there are pages that precede the regular text that are placed in a specific order and that are numbered separately, using lowercase Roman numerals.
What is Front Matter? (Part 3)
In any published book there are pages that precede the regular text that are placed in a specific order and that are numbered separately, using lowercase Roman numerals.
What is Front Matter? (Part 4)
In any published book there are pages that precede the regular text that are placed in a specific order and that are numbered separately, using lowercase Roman numerals.
What is Page Makeup?
After copyediting has been completed, the approved final manuscript is typeset or composed.
What is Proofreading?
After copyediting has been completed and a manuscript has been typeset or composed into page proofs, the next step in the process is proofreading.
How Should I Submit Changes to Page Proofs?
After page proofs have been created, .pdfs are sent to authors for proofreading.
Should I Review Copyediting?
At Virtus, the first major production step is when the final manuscript is copyedited.
What is an Art Program?
An area of confusion among many authors concerns the artwork in their book: How to submit it, what can be included, and what to call it.
What Size Should My Image Files Be?
A very gray area among many authors concerns image size.
What Should I Name My Files?
One of the most neglected areas in any production environment (not only in publishing) concerns file-naming conventions.
eBooks Versus Printed Books
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, part of the New York Public Library system, holds about 15 million items, including medieval manuscripts...
Do I Need an Index?
Printed books come in all shapes, sizes, and formats and can not only serve different readers, but different purposes.
Best Practices for Email: Part 1
Whether you love it or hate it, for business purposes, email is here to stay for the foreseeable future for lots of solid reasons.
Best Practices for Email: Part 2
In Part 1, we looked at some email statistics, which demonstrated the importance of effective email subject lines.
Desktop versus Electronic Publishing
Along with looking at the confusion over certain words in our Language Tips section, in the coming weeks we’ll also be zeroing in on specific publishing terms that are often...
Kerning versus Leading
Let’s continue looking at specific publishing terms that can be confused (and that may be to some, a bit obscure.)
CMYK versus RGB
Let’s continue looking at specific publishing terms that can be confused (and that may be to some, a bit obscure.)
Digital Printing versus Offset Printing
Let’s look at two distinct printing methods still currently in use: digital versus offset.
Foreword versus Preface
Although this was covered previously in a previous post entitled What is Front Matter? (Part 4) available here, I see lots of cases where these two elements are confused.