GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING YOUR MANUSCRIPT FOR LAYOUT

In order to produce your layout, we will need you to follow these simple guidelines for preparing and submitting your manuscript to Pneuma Books.

Final Manuscript?

Your manuscript should be in the most recent draft form. If Pneuma Books will be editing your manuscript, then what you submit should be the most recent draft. You should not make any changes to it after you submit it to us until we have completed the editing process entirely.

If it is considered the final version, then all substantive editing and copyediting should be completed and the manuscript updated with all final changes. You should not make any changes to it after you submit it to us until we have completed the layout process entirely. However, editorial changes to the final manuscript once it is in production should rarely occur. Edits at this stage are costly because they tend to reflow the layout causing additional production labor. There are 2 levels

Copyedits -- $1 per. These are simple corrections and don't affect the page flow.
Content Edits -- $75 per. These are content changes (sentence insertion / deletion / restructure) that reflow the design. If repagination is necessary, your per-page layout fee will be re-applied for repaginated pages.

The StyleTagging Option in Preparing Your Manuscript

Your manuscript should be clearly formatted to indicate stylization and presentation of content. A crucial part of the page layout process is the typesetting of Client content. While it is our responsibility to do this correctly, it is equally the responsibility of the client to editorially check the ms to ensure all levels of content are consistent with each other and similarly developed PRIOR TO PRODUCTION.

StyleTagging is the process of using little codes in the manuscript to indicate shifts in hierarchy or style. It is easy to do and very effective in preserving your intentions for your content. StyleTagging helps you get a better book. To learn more, visit our StyleTagging page...

>>I want to learn about StyleTagging

File Preparation for Editing or Layout

Whether you plan on Styletagging the manuscript yourself or plan to have us do it, please follow these simple instructions to prepare your manuscript for layout. These steps preserve em dashes, italics, quotes, transitional breaks, and footnotes. Steps 3, 6, 7, and 11 are mandatory StyleTagging functions that you may have already performed in the Styletagging process if you elected to do it yourself.

1. No Word Perfect files please. If using Word Perfect please save the file as an MS Word file in your File Type options after you have completed these steps and just prior to saving it as a Text Only file.
2. ITALIC words or phrases must be encoded with a <I> before AND after the instance. Save.
3. If using number or bullets in your ms, DO NOT use your word processor's numbering or bulleting feature. Those elements will be lost in file translation. Please renumber or bullet manually. Save.
4. Please use a SPACE DASH DASH SPACE for all em dashes. Save.
5. Please encode story transition paragraph return breaks with an [BK] code. Save.
6. If you are using sidebars or extracts, you must clearly indicate their usage and placement within your manuscript using an [SB] styletag code. Save.
7. If you are using extraneous items such as photos, graphics, illustrations, or other; then please clearly indicate the exact placement of them within the manuscript. Please also label the items and use those labels as the placement reference in the manuscript. Save.
8. BEFORE saving your manuscript as a Text Only file, please print a copy. Send it via postal mail. This allows us to see the formatting as you intended prior to file translation.
9. AFTER you have completed these steps, please save the document as a TEXT ONLY file.
10. Please Close and Reopen the Text Only file.
11. Highlight all the text and change your Point Size to 12. Save.
12. Highlight all the text and change the paragraph spacing to Double. Save
13. If using footnotes, then please ensure your word processor exported your Footnotes correctly when you created the Text Only file.
14. If using Footnotes, and you are StyleTagging the ms yourself, you must encode the Footnote number AFTER you have saved it as a Text Only file. This is a StyleTagging function. Please encode the FOOTNOTE NUMBER with a <V> before AND after the number. Resave the file as a Text Only file.
15. Please provide both the prepared files, the MS Word file and the Text Only file. These can be emailed to us or sent on disk.
16. Email address is gettingstarted@pneumabooks.com

Tabular data must be set up so that a Tab is used between columns and the Paragraph Return is used to indicate a new row. Word Processors usually convert tables correctly when saving as Text Only.

Contact us if you have questions. Thanks for doing your part to ensure the layout we produce for you presents your work accurately and efficiently.

DISCLAIMER: This information is the opinion of Pneuma Books, LLC and is presented for informational purposes only. It is not meant to replace the advice of legal, financial, or other professional counsel. Individuals should consult an attorney, accountant, and additional publishing consultants for specific applications to their individual publishing or writing ventures. Individuals should always gather and consider more than one source of information in order to make well-informed decisions. Pneuma Books, LLC reserves the right to rescind any free offer at anytime for any reason. Free offers by Pneuma Books are not a contractual obligation between any party and Pneuma Books, LLC. Pneuma Books, LLC is under no contractual obligation to provide any free goods or services of any kind to anyone for any reason at anytime. Pneuma Books, LLC specializes in producing books of a traditional and conservative nature. This may include: business books; books on finance; how-to manuals and handbooks; technical tradebooks; textbooks; biography and autobiography; history and historical fiction; children's books; inspirational and self-help; and Judeo-Christian devotional and theological books. Pneuma Books, LLC will consider some traditional, conservative fiction. Pneuma Books, LLC reserves the right to decline book projects that are not within our specialty. Pneuma Books, LLC reserves the right to reject any manuscript for any reason.

Pneuma Books is not a Publisher, Subsidy Publisher or Vanity Press.
Pneuma Books is a Book Producer. Pneuma Books does not issue ISBNs.