February 2008 MIPA Meeting: The Pre-Press Process

By Connie Anderson, Words and Deeds, Inc.

At the February 2008 MIPA meeting, Phil Freshman, freelance editor since 1999, talked about timing when a manuscript should be to an editor: 9-12 months in advance of deadline. He works primarily with art-related institutions on their books and art catalogs. He likes to see almost everything is done before he receives the content so he can check accuracy of all elements.

Dorie McClelland, Spring Book Design, has designed over 150 books. She spoke on book design and the importance of the overall concept to the design as well as the typography and formatting. She said no book should be designed in Word but in InDesign or Quark. She suggested that many designers have book publishers they work with and can recommend as the relationship between designer and printer is an important one.

Linda Strommer, StrommerGroup, spoke on providing the “buzz” for books. She said ideally the planning of marketing and publicity for a book should start a year in advance of publication. Start thinking about your market and where you can sell it. “Buzz” about a book is word of mouth—hand-selling.

Her handout listed the top ten things to do for your book:

1. Website
2. Media kit
3. Press release
4. Reviews
5. Newsletters/ezines
6. Articles
7. Be an expert/resource
8. Book awards
9. Start your next book

Dan Breyak of Catalyst Graphics talked about what printers want, need and expect. His handout of ten points covered both the technical and quality of what you send. Printers today want to see a PDF—and only the final version. The author needs to hire “experts” before so it is correct and approved before getting to the printer. If all is “perfect,” from PDF arrival to printed book could be 2-3 weeks delivery time.

A Q&A session followed that included:

1. Picking paper quality (price is based on weight)
2. What do different kinds of editing mean: developmental editors will rewrite, reshape; copy/line editing is finding simple mistakes.
3. Indexing—attendee Sue Nelson spoke on indexing and timing.
4. Cover design—Dorie said it pays to have a professional cover designer and that the cover design should be part of the whole design of the book.
5. What does it mean to take your book national? Trying to get reviews in NY Times, Kirkus, etc. They are not interested in self-published books. You have to develop your own theme and market.
6. How to pick the typeface(s) for your book. Dorie showed samples and says she thinks about it a lot so the type matches the book’s content/feel.
7. Setting the price for a book with a lot of 4-color photographs