This is a flowchart that explains
each step of the book printing process. It's color coded:
BLUE
is things that YOU need
to do, RED
is things 48HrBooks does, and
GREEN
is decisions to be made. Each step is detailed below.
Step 1: You WRITE and FORMAT your
book
You've probably already written
your book, but it may not be formatted properly.
Is it the right page size?
Maybe you typed it into a word
processor (like Microsoft Word) using the standard 'Letter size' paper, but you
want your book to be printed on half-size paper. Don't worry. There's an easy
way to change it, without re-typing the entire book. First, use a copy of your
Word file, putting the original in a safe place. Then open the copy and select
"File > Page Setup". On the "Margins" tab, make sure it says "Apply to: Whole
Document". Choose the "Paper" tab and change the paper size to 5.5" x 8.5". Go
back to the "Margins" tab and change the margins to: Top, Left and Right: .5 for
Top, Left and Right, and .75 for Bottom, to leave space for your page numbers.
Hit "OK" and Word will reformat your book. Now, you'll have to go through the
entire book, page-by-page, to fix any awkward breaks that may have been created.
Are you using the right fonts? There are
two basic styles of type: "serif" and "sans serif". "Serifs" are those tiny
tails Most books use a serif font for the body copy, like Times, in 10 or 11
pt., and a bold sans serif font for headlines and chapter titles. If your
audience is older, you may want to use a slightly larger font to make it easier
for them to read. It's your book, so the final decision lies with you. You can
use whatever font you'd like, but there are certain accepted standards, and you
should think twice before deviating from the norm.
Once you've finished the WRITING
of your book, you've got to put it into a reader-friendly format. The following
is instructions for setting up the most standard size and format. If you've got
a specific book layout already in mind, that's great. You can still look over
these instructions and taylor them to fit your preferred format.
The most common size is 5.5" wide x 8.5" tall with margins of 0.5" on all 4
sides. And since most writers use Microsoft Word, we'll use that in our
examples. For other programs, the steps should be very similar.
A) Make a BACKUP of your book file, and only work on the
backup copy. If you completely screw things up, you can always throw the backup
away and go back to your original.
B) Open your book file, go to File > Page
Setup ... and hit the "Paper" tab. Change the paper size to
"letter half" if it's available, or just manually change Width to 5.5" and
Height to 8.5". A little lower on the same "Paper" tab, make sure this is
applied to "Whole Document".
Now select "Margins" tab and change margins (top, bottom, left and right)
to 0.5".
(Note: You may want to make the bottom margin
.75 to leave space for page numbers.)
Make "Gutter"=0, "Gutter position"=Left, "Orientation" = Portrait,
"Pages" = normal, and "Apply to" = whole document. See the sample below.
Click "OK", and see if it completely screwed up
your book file. Don't panic yet. It may LOOK messed up, but it can be fixed. You
probably have spacing issues, because you set up your pages to look good at 8.5
x 11, but they're going to be printed at 5.5 x 8.5. You may need to reduce font
sizes of some of your headlines, delete some forced spaces or tabs that you used
trying to center certain lines, things like that.
C) Add "Page Breaks". Whether your book is a chapter
book, a book of poetry, or a cook book, it's simply a collection of "entries".
An entry may be a chapter, a poem, or a recipe. But regardless
of what type of book it is, you'll want to put page breaks before each new
entry. This will force a new entry to start on a new page. Simply click in front
of each entry, then select Insert > Break ... > Page Break
and hit OK.
D)
Select an agreeable font combination. This is up to the individual author, but
most people find a very basic serif type (like Times New Roman) to be easiest on
the eyes for body copy, and a sans serif font (like Arial) for headlines. What
is a serif, you ask? Serifs are the tiny tails on letters, circled in red below:
As a general rule, you'll want to split your headlines and body
copy. Use a serif font for one and a sans serif font for the other. Since sans
serif fonts are generally bolder, they work better in headlines. And since serif
fonts are easier to read in large paragraphs, they work better in body copy. But
again, it's your book ... if you want to be different, go right ahead!
Step 2: You EDIT your book until
it is perfect
You've probably spent many months,
even years, writing your book. We HIGHLY recommend that you spend an
extra hour or two looking it over one last time before you send it to us. Our
prices are very reasonable, but they do NOT cover corrections to your files. If
you only have a few corrections, it's usually cheapest for US to make the
changes on our system (we charge a very reasonable $75 per hour, so your changes
may only cost a few dollars.) But if you have a lot of changes, you'll probably
want to make the changes yourself and send us a new file. You can send revised
files for a $50 fee. If we need to re-format or re-convert your
files to PDF, there will be additional charges for that, so you really want to
get it right the first time.
Step 3: You CREATE PDF files
Alright, you've finished writing,
editing, formatting and editing some more. You're ready to convert your Word
document into a PDF for printing. Here's how:
If you have the full version of
Adobe Acrobat (not just the free "Reader" version), you should have a menu
item within Word titled "Adobe PDF". Choose "Adobe PDF > Change Conversion
Settings" and choose "High Quality Print" from the drop-down menu. This will
automatically do the two most important things when creating your PDF: include
your graphics at high resolution and include the fonts.
If you need a conversion
program,
download PDF Factory here and select "Run" when prompted. This installs a virtual printer
named "PDF Factory" on your computer. With it, you'll be able to "Print to a PDF" from any Windows application.
But it's important that you use the correct settings, or your PDF may not print
the way you want it to. You want your graphics to be 'high resolution' and you
want the fonts embedded. Make the following changes to your 'Printing
Preferences' once, and it remembers those settings for the future:
- Open the file that you want to convert, and
select "File > Print"
- Choose "PDF Factory" as your printer, and hit
the "Preferences" button
- Under the 'Metrics' tab, change 'Resolution' to
600 dpi and set all 4 margins to zero
- Under the 'Graphics' tab, turn OFF all three
check boxes
- Under the 'Fonts' tab, check the 'Always embed
all fonts' checkbox in the lower left corner
- Hit 'OK' and your Preferences are all set
- Hit 'Print' and it will start to save your PDF
file.
Depending on the size of your file, it may take a
couple seconds up to several minutes. Eventually, you'll be shown a PREVIEW of
the PDF file. Hit 'Save ...', give it a name, and tell it where to save your new
PDF file. (Make sure you remember where you saved it.) You're done with the Preview window, so you can
close it.
Find your new PDF file, open it, and look through
it very carefully. You'll see a line of type at the bottom of each page that
says "PDF created by PDF Factory trial version ... ". Don't worry about that
line -- we'll get rid of it. Of course, you could buy the full version of PDF
Factory, and that line won't show up again. It's only $50, a bargain if you plan
on writing more books.
IMPORTANT:
Keep in mind, we print directly from the files you send us, so if there's
a mistake in your file, that same mistake will be in every one of your books.
So check your files, then check them again, then have somebody else check them
... you get the idea.
Step 4: You place your order at
www.48HrBooks.com
A)
From our homepage, use our simple
cost calculator to determine what your costs will
be. To place an order, simply hit the "PLACE
AN ORDER" button to the right of the cost
calculator.
B) Enter information about YOURSELF. Under "Shipping
Information", you can either: (a) pick up the order
in Akron, Ohio, or (b) ship it to your account
address, or (c) ship it to a different address. Then
hit the "Next >" button.
C) Enter information about YOUR BOOK.
You will see question boxes
next to some fields. If you have
questions about an item, hover your mouse over the question
box and more detailed information will appear. Some
fields have drop-down boxes: just click on the arrow
at the right of the box, and a list of choices will
appear. When you're finished, click the "Next >"
button.
D)
Enter payment information. We accept PAYPAL Visa,
MasterCard, Discover and American Express.
- If you select "PAYPAL",
you'll log in to your Paypal account, and initiate the payment
there.
- If you select "Credit Card",
you'll enter the card number, expiration date, etc.
- Your card will be AUTHORIZED when
the order is placed.
- If you need to make other payment
arrangements, select "Other" and then contact us.
When you're finished, click "Next
>".
E)
Enter your method of shipping. We generally ship UPS
Ground, but have faster choices available, too. When you're
finished, click "Next
>".
F)
Review the information that you entered. If everything
is correct, click "Submit Order" and your order is placed.
Please don't hit your browser's 'Back' button, or your card could be
pre-authorized twice.
Step 5: You SEND us files
As soon as your order is submitted, you'll be
taken to your order page. Click the "Add Files" button on the right, near
the top of the page. Then simply browse your computer hard drive, find the files that you
want to send us, give each one a short description (like "inside pages" or "front
cover", etc.), and hit "Upload". Depending on the size of your file, it
may take some time to upload, so be patient. If you've got extremely large
files, or if you're using a very slow "dial-up" connection, you may want to put
your files on a CD or thumb drive and ship them to us (Next Day Air if you're in
a hurry, regular mail or UPS Ground if you're not in a hurry.)
Step 6: We SEND you a PDF Proof
We will immediately start working on your files.
When we're done, we'll upload PDF Proofs of both the cover and the inside pages.
Then we'll send you an email with a link to your proof files. Select the link
and you'll be taken to your Order page. You will see a "Files" section. The
files marked with a Yellow box are your PDF proofs. Click on each file, select
"Save", and remember where you saved them. When you are done saving them, hide the
browser window, open each of the PDF proof files, and look through them VERY
CAREFULLY. Again, if there is a mistake on the files, and you don't catch
it, that mistake will be on all of your books. It is YOUR responsibility to
proofread these PDF proof files carefully. Sometimes the author can be the worst
person to proofread his/her own words. You might want to get a second set of
eyes to look it over before you give your OK.
Step 7: Is your PDF Proof OK?
After you've looked through the entire book and
cover, you've got to determine if the proof is OK or not. Go back to your Order
page on our website, select the "sign-off" link near the top, and either "Accept"
or "Reject" the proof. If you accept the proof, go to step 8. If you
reject it and 48HrBooks made the mistake(s), let us know in an email what
we need to correct. As long as it's our mistake, we'll fix it for free. If you
reject it and YOU made the mistake(s), go back to Step 2, where you'll
edit your book to correct the errors, convert to PDF again, and send us revised PDF files.
Step 8: Did you ask for a Printed
Proof?
If you asked for a Printed Proof, we'll print and
bind a single book, and send it UPS Next Day Air. You'll receive it the next day
by 10:30 am (business days only, no Saturday or Sunday delivery). If you did NOT
ask for a printed proof, skip to Step 11, where we will immediately start
printing your full run of books.
Step 9: We SEND you a Printed
Proof?
We try to ship all Printed Proofs the same day
that you OK your PDF Proof. If it's after noon EST, or you have special elements
to your book, it may take an extra day.
Step 10: Is your Printed Proof OK?
After you've looked through your printed book,
you've got to determine if the proof is OK or not. Go back to your Order page on
our website, select the "sign-off" link near the top, and either "Accept"
or "Reject" the proof. If you accept the proof, go to step 11, where we
print and bind your full order. If you reject it and 48HrBooks made the
mistake(s), let us know in an email what we need to correct. As long as it's our
mistake, we'll fix it for free. If you reject it and YOU made the
mistake(s), go back to Step 2, where you'll edit your book to correct the
errors, and send us revised PDF files.
Step 11: We Print your full order
of books
Here is where the "48HrBooks" clock starts
ticking. Keep in mind, we don't count Saturdays or Sundays, and each day's
cut-off is 5:00 pm EST. Any approvals after 5:00 pm EST will be counted as the
following day.
Example: If you OK your proof Monday at 4:45 pm
EST, your books will ship Wednesday. But if you wait 20 minutes longer and don't
OK your proof until 5:05 pm EST on Monday, the approval will be counted as
Tuesday, so your books won't ship until Thursday.
|
Proof OK'ed
before 5:00 pm
EST on ... |
Standard
Production,
Books Ship ... |
Rush
Production,
Books Ship ... |
SuperRush
Production,
Books Ship ... |
|
Monday |
Wednesday |
Tuesday |
Monday |
|
Tuesday |
Thursday |
Wednesday |
Tuesday |
|
Wednesday |
Friday |
Thursday |
Wednesday |
|
Thursday |
Monday |
Friday |
Thursday |
|
Friday |
Tuesday |
Monday |
Friday |
|
Saturday, Sunday |
Wednesday |
Tuesday |
Monday |
It's very important to keep these things in mind.
Using the table above and the map below, you should be able to calculate exactly
what day you'll receive your books. If you're not sure, just call us. We can
help. And if you need to expedite either the printing and binding of your book, or use
urgent delivery (Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air, etc.), call us or email us
IMMEDIATELY and request a change. We'll let you know if it can be done. Also,
don't forget that Spiral Coil binding and Case Binding (hard cover books) takes
1 week to produce.
Our standard shipping method is UPS Ground from
Akron, Ohio.
This map shows travel times from Akron, Ohio to
anywhere in the U.S.A.
For example: 2 days to New York, 3 days to
Florida, 4 days to California. (Please call for international shipments.)
Step 12: Celebrate when UPS
delivers your books right to your
door
The day your books are delivered represents the
culmination of weeks, months, even years of hard work on your part. So go ahead
and celebrate. You've earned it! We've heard stories of people doing a dance,
jumping up and down in excitement, we've even had a couple authors hugging their
UPS guy!
When you get a little free time, we'd appreciate
it if you could drop us a note (email is fine) and tell us how you like your
books. We always love hearing from our clients.
Thanks,
Your friends at 48HrBooks
