From the Tool Shed Getting Your Book Into Production

Here in the Tool Shed we'll deal with various aspects of book production. We're talking about the most expensive stage in publishing a book. First item up is the important RFQ, or Request for Quotation.

(Disclaimer: Cat's-paw Press cannot vouch for the reliability or price of the services; the Tool Shed itself is a service from Cat's-paw Press where we firmly believe in assisting neophyte publishers compete as strongly as possible in a sometimes daunting environment.)

• What Goes Into An RFQ?
  
  
• Looking at Printing Bids
  
  
• Bar Codes
  
  
• EAN Bar Code Providers
  
  
• Universal Product Code
  
  
• Bar Coding Software
  
  
• Printing on Demand
  
  
• Savings from Short-Run Printing
  
  
• Print On Demand --Greater Agility for Publishers  
  
  
• Galleys
  
  
• Software Programs for Publishing
  
  
• Production Services
  
  
• Talk to the Cat

An RFQ is a Request For Quotation, where you ask a vendor what will be the costs for items of your specification. For the publisher, the RFQ of greatest importance (because of the money involved) is that sent to get bids for the printing of your book. Several points are important here. The first is that if you are producing a book, deal with book manufacturers. Just as teachers are teachers, printers are printers. But if it's a high school chemistry teacher that's wanted , a fourth-grade teacher won't fill the bill. You want a book manufacturer to do just that--manufacture books, and that should be kept firmly in mind. An article by Welmon "Rusty" Walker, Jr., of That New Publishing Company, Which Book Printers Should You Contact? Why You Should Bid Them All lays out a thorough look at the costs, break-even points, and the importance of securing a large number of bids.

Typically, in an RFQ, you include the name of the book (this becomes a job identifier for a printer), a physical description of your book (NOT the content), stating the number of pages (this means everything between the covers), the trim size of the book, the type of cover (paper, hard cover) you want, the type of paper for the interior of the book (acid-free, color, weight), the weight of cover stock (if a paperback), the type of finish on the cover, the number of illustrations or other graphics material, the print run sizes you are considering, estimated shipping costs. In a cover letter, you should indicate whether this is a preliminary RFQ (responses may have a major effect on your plans), what your time requirements are (an indication of whether you are interested in going to press almost immediately or at a somewhat later point in time), and what the credit terms are. Many printers' Web sites include a form for your submitting an RFQ.

Expect that the response to your RFQ will be time-limited; paper prices tend to fluctuate, with definite effects on bids. Be aware also that the items stipulated in the response may not be exactly what you specified. It's fair game to discuss these points.

With the emergence of a growing independent publishing industry, many book manufacturers have begun to specialize to meet their needs. Typically, they are equipped to do short print runs (1,000 to 5,000 copies); they do perfect binding in house; increasingly they are taking the book materials in electronic storage (as opposed to the traditional paper camera-ready copy), and they tend to turn the work around within 4-6 weeks. Some specialize in faster turn-around.

Welmon "Rusty" Walker, Jr., of That New Publishing Co., wrote a highly pertinent book, Book on printing bids, Save More Than $1,500 by Finding a Quality Low Bid for Your Short Run Book, in which he details how to save money on print bids.You can find a condensation of the book at BookZonePro.com in an article entitled "WHICH BOOK PRINTERS SHOULD YOU CONTACT? WHY YOU SHOULD BID THEM ALL." This site in addition has some forty other article, making it a site well-worth bookmarking.

LithoQuoter is a site where you can fill out a form with your specs, and within 24 hours get a list of competitive printing quotes.

This slick site provides an easy, fast and efficient way to obtain competitive printing quotes. Fill out the form with your specs and this free service recommends printers from a database of pre-qualified printers. Click on one button and your specs get sent to all printers specified who bid on your job. Outstanding!

Many of these short-run printers have web sites that can help educate you. You'll want to check out Malloy Lithographing, Inc. and Thomson-Shore for their archived articles on various aspects of the process. Marrakech Express has a good section on how to create PostScript files; print-to-disk files. Visit Gilliland Printing and check their on-line version of the Printing Connection. Walsworth Publishing Company, Inc has a portal, Hot off the Press, that leads to the sites of several organizations publishers should know about, including the Printing Industry of America. Other printers will no doubt also be adding instructional or informational material to their sites.

Several sites have other information to educate the neophyte publisher or to keep the veteran current on new technology. Phoenix Color, which specializes in color work, used to have on their site a Prepress Manual outlining their expectations and requirements for electronically-submitted jobs. Unfortunately, it's no longer up. However, their Hot Links connects with a number of technical articles on paper, color and prepress.

Bar codes have revolutionized some aspects of marketing by making it possible for a vendor to track sales and maintain inventory. Bar codes can carry manufacturer information, product description, and perhaps even price. Bar coding of books speeds up the entry of information on for store inventory, pricing at the checkout point, etc. For the publishing industry, there are two codes of concern. The one most useful for the book trade (particularly bookstores and libraries) is the EAN Bookland code; the other, the UPC or Universal Product Code used by more general merchants or mass marketing. Every book sold in chain bookstores should have an EAN Bar Code printed on the lower right corner of the back corner.

The ISBN numbers are assigned by R.R. Bowker in groups of 10, 100, and 1,000; ask for the number block that you think will do you for the next 10 years. When preparing a bar code, either by ordering one or creating it yourself, you should have the ISBN and the price as well as the full correct title of the book. Check "A Guide to Barcoding, a thorough and enlightening discussion of the subject. It ranges from an introduction to the subject, through a bar codes uses and structures, including technical issues of getting a good scan of a bar code, different types (why EAN, what is UPC), and concludes with a glossary of Bar Code Terms. Not surprisingly, the home page points you to how to get the necessary formats of the bar codes.

For more information on industry standards and where to place the bar code on a book, see the following;

Book Industry Study Advisory Committee

The BISAC is a committee of the BISG.

Book Industry Study Group, Inc.

160 Fifth Ave.

New York, NY 10010

Phone: 212-929-1393; Fax: 212-989-7542

Several companies provide bar code masters (the little piece of film) that the cover designer places appropriately on the page layout for the cover. The following provide this service (or perhaps a printed sticker for those who published books without a bar code and have since found it absolutely required for bookstore sales). The companies have been used and recommended by numerous publishers.

Generally, you can call one of these providers up, provide the necessary information for an EAN Bookland bar code, give your credit card number, and for between $12 and $20, you will have the requisite piece of film within a couple of days. In some instances, you may order a bar code and then be able to have it e-mailed to you as a .GIF file.

EAN Bar Code Providers

Traditionally, bar codes have been provided on film by the supplier. Increasingly, however, you can get your bar code as an email attachment. The wonders of modern technology!
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BAR CODE GRAPHICS

875 N. Michigan Ave. #2640

Chicago, IL 60611

Phone: 312-664-0700 or 800-662-0701; Fax: 312-664-4939

http://www.barcode-graphics.com

FOTEL, INC.

1125 E. St. Charles Rd., Suite 100

Lombard, IL 60148

Phone: 1-800-834-4920 or 630-932-7520

Fax: 630-932-7610

E-mail: sales@fotel.com

http://www.fotel.com/

J & D BARCODES

1821 S. Myrtle Avenue

Monrovia, CA 91016-3453

Phone: 800-456-2926 or 626-357-2926 Fax: 626-303-5432

J & D Barcodes do film masters, diskettes, UPC barcode labels, and consecutive barcodes. Barcodes is all they do.

PRECISION PHOTOGRAPHY, INC.

1150 North Tustin Ave

Anaheim, CA 92807

Phone: 800-872-9977 or 714-632-9000

Fax: 714-630-6581

Like Fotel, Precision Photography will provide you with the necessary bar code film; you make the phone call, provide the necessary information and your credit card number and you will get your desired product within a couple of days.
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PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION & PROCESSING SYSTEMS, INC. (PIPS)

436 East 87th Street - New York, New York 10128

Phone: 888-783-7439 or 212-996-6000

Fax: 212-410-7795

E-mail: info@pips.com

http://www.pips.com/

For those who are interested in more about bar codes and some of the nuances on using them, check some of the internal pages of PIPS' site.

Universal Product Code

Like the famed hula dance, every little movement (or character) has a meaning of its own. UPC bar codes come in the short, 6-character (UPC-E) and the long, 12-character (UPC-A) formats. (The short format is generally used on products literally too small for the full UPC-A format.)

Information conveyed in the 12 characters of a UPC-A format are first, the Number system character, which tells what class of bar code is to follow (e.g., general merchandise, health care products, manufacturer's coupons). The Manufacturer's Number take the next five digits (much on the order of the Publisher's number in the ISBN format). This number is assigned by the Uniform Code Council (when membership in the program is accepted) and all items produced by this manufacturer will bear this Manufacturer's Number.

The next five characters in the code are the Item Number. This corresponds to the title identifier in the ISBN. Just as a publisher assigns a new number to each title and to each edition of that title (see /PubCip.html), the manufacturer is responsible for insuring there are no duplicate item numbers assigned. Just as a different ISBN distinguishes between a hard cover edition and a trade paper, the Item Number indicates different sizes of a particular product.

And like the final digit in an ISBN, the last digit in the UPC bar code is the Check Character. Its purpose is to help insure the integrity of the code.
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Uniform Code Council, Inc.

7887 Washington Village Drive, Suite 300

Dayton OH 45459

Phone: 937-435-3870 Fax: 937-435-7317

http://www.uc-council.org/

For the neophyte publisher, it's more cost-effective simply to order the film for the bar coding of a new book. However, publishers who produce several titles a year may be interested in acquiring software that will enable them to produce the codes.

Some that hve been used and recommended by independent publishers include Bar Code Pro software (Synex Technologies Inc.), Azalea Software, Printbar (Bear Rock Technologies), and Riversedge.

Azalea Software, Inc.

219 1st Ave S., Suite 410 

Seattle WA 98104-2575 

Phone: 206-341-9500 or 800-48-ASOFT Fax: 206-341-9881 E-mail: azalea@igc.org

http://www.azalea.com/

Azalea Software is a digital type foundry specializing in bar code and OCR fonts for Windows, the Macintosh, and other platforms.
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Bear Rock Technologies

http://www.barcodeworld.com/ Try 1-800-232-7625

You'll find a neat overview of components of bar code at http://www.bearrock.com/overview.htm.

SNX (formerly Synex Technologies Inc.)

692 10th Street

Brooklyn NY 11215-4502

Phone: 718-499-6293 x103

E-mail: snx@snx.com

http://www.snx.com/

SNX has not only bar code software, Bar Code Pro, for both PC and Macintosh, but also scanners and other related hardware.
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Worth Data

623 Swift St.

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Phone: (US) 800-345-4220

http://www.barcodeHQ.com/

They have offices and service covering North and South America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
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Another possibility is the free online ISBN bar code generator at http://www.cgpp.com/bookland/isbn.html. You can generate the bar code online using a simple form or download the program and run it on your own machine. The program is completely free but the programmer emphasizes that there is no warranty. This site also has a number of useful links to ISBN bar coding information.

From time to time on publishers' forums, heated discussions have raged over the merits and demerits of word processing programs and page layout programs and what is best for what purpose. In a recent post on the Bookmarket forum, in response to the question that Adobe InDesign is taking the place of PageMaker, which Adobe plans not to update any further. I have heard that it will also replace FrameMaker, since PageMaker and Frame are very close to being the same program anyway. As to Adobe's plans regarding the widely-known and used PageMaker, FrameMaker and their new InDesign programs, Michael Thompson's reply (which follows) covered the subject quite clearly. He kindly consented to its inclusion here as a point of reference. Thanks, Michael!!

Adobe InDesign is supposed to replace PageMaker only in high-end graphics applications, while they have said they plan to maintain PageMaker as a tool for business users. There has been some griping on the InDesign list about certain graphics features available in PageMaker which were not retained in InDesign, so in some ways it may be more limited than PageMaker, rather than less. PageMaker will be around for a while at least, so I plan to hold on to it until I see a more stable installed base of InDesign or something else.

As far as the broader discussion, here's some summary remarks which may be helpful.

PageMaker, InDesign and Quark XPress are professional quality page layout programs. They specialize in controlling the placement of elements on a page and typesetting. Most experienced users seem to agree that PageMaker does the typesetting thing better than XPress, while XPress handles color management, especially trapping, better than PM. We'll have to see how InDesign stacks up.

Ventura Publisher, MS Publisher and the like are low-end design programs. They can do a lot of the same things as the higher end programs mentioned above, but are very sketchy when it comes to high-resolution output, especially involving Postscript, which is the industry standard for high-resolution output. Because of this, they are frowned upon by service bureaus and professional designers, but are widely used for newsletters and such that can be done on a laser printer.

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are the industry standard graphics programs, Photoshop for photos and Illustrator for other artwork and specialized type effects. Corel Draw, MS Draw, and other programs like them are the low end versions and the same provisos apply to them as to the low end page layout programs.

Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect are the high-end word processing programs. They handle information, rather than appearance, as a page layout program does. That's why they do footnotes, cross-reference indexes, headers and footers and such better than a page layout program. They are limited in their ability to handle the location and appearance of graphics and layout elements such as columns and text blocks, though power users manage to handle most of these tasks in one manner or another. Both can be very powerful in publishing books and pamphlets which have a consistent appearance and few graphics, such as novels and historical treatises, but they take a lot more work than a page layout program to produce text books, how- to manuals and other books with a lot of illustrations and such

Adobe FrameMaker seems to be in a class by itself. I have never used it, but many people who do, love its ability to handle long, complex, text-heavy documents. It is well-liked by people who do technical manuals and database publishing. It seems to handle long documents far better than any page layout program, while retaining the ability to manipulate information like a word processor. It does reportedly have a steep learning curve and is not as widely supported by service bureaus and pre-press houses.

So my recommendation is: figure out what your end result is supposed to be and use the program best suited for that result. You could use something else if you're accomplished at it or have a lot of time and patience, but most people don't.

Michael P. Thompson
Director of Communications
mthompson@resourcenter.com

These programs, as I said, create considerable discussion. Gwen Henson, who is a designer and typesetter, added some qualifications and additional detail. She says,

Just wanted to clear up one misperception, but let me state clearly that I'm NOT starting one of those my-software-is-better-than-your-software discussions. Ventura Publisher is a professional-quality page layout program that falls somewhere between PageMaker/Quark XPress and Framemaker--stronger than PM & Quark, but not as tricky to use as Framemaker. It handles PostScripting beautifully--at least on all the books I typeset. It is specifically intended for long documents, which makes it ideally suited to books. I will admit it tends to be used more by professionals, because it has a steeper initial learning curve. For those of us with great experience using it, it jumps through hoops. It handles tables, ToC generation and indexing quite nicely. It also imports files from all the major word processing softwares.

Microsoft Publisher, a low-end, casual-user package ($70-85 on a deal), isn't in the same league with Ventura (v. 8 @ $429.95). That isn't to say that it isn't the correct choice for some users.

As several posters stated, determine your needs, your apptitude, and your comfort level. Then choose the software right for you.

The same applies to Corel Draw (v. 9 for $429.95)--more comparable to the professional Illustrator (v. 8 @ $359.95) than to the low-end MS Draw.

Gwen A. Henson / sagebrsh@mindspring
SageBrush Publications, Book Design/Editing/Typesetting

Robert Goodman (Silvercat) likewise weighs in on behalf of Ventura.

Ventura is comparable to Frame in its capability and its market. It was the first dtp program for the PC and, like Frame, it has always been targeted toward the long, text-heavy document. It includes page, frame, paragraph, and text tags; master pages; automated table, index, header/footer, and TOC features; frame anchors, etc. Pagemaker and Quark and even InDesign started out aiming at a broader audience, so they emphasized color and design over text. They have since added long document features. Ventura, especially since it was purchased by Corel 4 or 5 years ago, has added design-intensive features. I continue to discover new features that I never knew about.

Questions about Ventura have pretty much been raised because it was not marketed well prior to Corel's purchase. It lost a lot of market share and didn't keep up with its competition. Corel gave it new life and lots of new features. Ventura integrates well with all but the most recent versions of Corel products. The idea that Ventura doesn't do postscript is myth. It handles postscript quite well and, I might add, a lot faster than InDesign does (and InDesign was developed by the people who developed postscript!). One of the main reasons service bureaus don't like Ventura, I suspect, is that they don't have it.

With one exception, every book I have done since 1988 has been done with Ventura. I did a book last year with InDesign to see how the programs compared. Ventura won the comparison by a significant margin.

Robert Goodman, Silvercat, info@silvercat.com,
a San Diego company offering editing, design, and publishing services and publishing consulting.

A galley and its close kin, the reading copy, frequently are poorly understood by neophyte publishers; it may not be clear just what is a galley, what is it supposed to do, and how does it differ from the finished book. A galley is a late (but not final) print of the book that is bound and sent to key reviewers some four to six months ahead of the publication date. You might compare it to the dress rehearsal of a new show; you get a strong idea of what it is about, the character of performances, and the whole "look" of the production, but understand the opening night will be a bit different. It is understood by all those who receive galleys that it is not the final (hopefully) polished version. They recognize that the publisher is meeting the insistence of reviewers to get the work in their hands as early as possible and between galley creation and final book, the final editorial polishing is happening.

Traditionally, galleys were bound in a plain, white cover, but in recent years, many publishers have chosen to have a colored stock for the covers.

A reading copy is similar to a galley. In addition, on the back cover it will carry the words "Uncorrected page proofs" and a fairly extensive listing of the bibliographical information used by the promotion people for the benefit of reviewers and potential buyers.

This shelf of the Tool Shed should clarify those questions and offer appropriate vendors for preparing them. The various companies have been recommended at one time or another by independent publishers or are known to the Cat.

AD&P Inc.

Digital Printing Solutions

7405 Washington Ave S.

Edina, MN 55439

Phone: 612-944-6050 Fax: 612-944-9683

http://www.adnp.com/

Several publishers in Minnesota have used AD&P for galley production.
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BookMobile

Attn: Publisher Services

2402 University Avenue, Suite 206

St. Paul, MN 55114

Phone: 651-642-9241

Fax: 651-603-9263

E-mail: service@bookmobile.com

http://www.bookmobile.com/

BookMobile is a short-run (25 to 1,500 copies) printer specializing in Print-on-Demand and bound galley printing.
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Commercial Documentation Services

Lynnwood, WA 98037

Phone: 206-742-6876

This company has been described as great to work with, with good prices. The rep who helped achieve this reputation is:

Tom Newbourne, rep

Medford, OR

Phone: 425-814-9514 Fax: 425-481-0449

The Country Press

PO Box 489

Middleborough MA 02346

Phone: 508-947-4485 Fax: 508-947-8989

http://www.bowker.com/lmp/home/entries/the_country_press_inc.html

They specialize in printing and binding galleys, books, textbooks and workbooks. Recommended or used by several small publishers.
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Crane Duplicating Service

17 Shad Hole Road

PO Box 99

Dennisport MA 02369-0020

Phone: 508 760-1601

http://www.craneduplicating.com/

Crane made its own niche by producing galleys and consequently their name is virtually generic for galleys.
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DeHART's Printing Services Corporation

3265 Scott Boulevard

Santa Clara, CA 95054

Phone: 408-982-9118; 800-982-4POD

Fax: 408-982-9912

http://www.deharts.com

Customized Book Publishing: DeHART's is one of the few printers on the West Coast prepared to handle the needs of on-demand book publishing. Print-on demand provides powerful tools to meet the publishing community's needs for high quality, short run books and has allowed them to focus on the printing and binding of print runs from one to several thousand cost effectively and turned around with the highest quality.

We are currently working with several national and regional book publishers printing college text books, often customized by professors or authors for individualized university courses.

Meeting the needs for promotional copies and pre-release books, [translation: galleys] and final manufacturing of books, we print the text and covers and offer a wide variety of bindery options including perfect and case binding. International publishers who author projects in distant cities send them via the internet. Their process for First Article proofing has worked well to assure that the end product is exactly what is expected.

On our website publishers can find useful tools such as Request for Quotation via the site, a Customer Zone with downloadable Adobe Acrobat, print drivers and Preparing to Print files.
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Print Partner

1155 West 23rd Street # 10A

Tempe, AZ 85282

Phone: 602-967-7650

Recommended or used by several small publishers.

Publisher's Graphics

1100 Elm Hill Pike # 140

Nashville, TN 37210

Phone: 615- 256-3006

Recommended or used by several small publishers.

Sterling Pierce

422 Atlantic Avenue

East Rockaway, NY 11518

Phone: 561-593-1170; Fax: 516-593-1401

BNDGALLEY@aol.com

Will do bound galley with color copy of book cover.

The Cat is very happy to have two articles examining the usefulness of Print on Demand Technology which takes advantage of new technology; essentially a high-speed laser printing process, it reduces the number of copies that need to be in inventory at any one time and permits frequent updating. The first is an article by Layne Moore, formerly Marketing Coordinator for Gilliland Printing and who now has his own printing company The Layne Moore Group and editor of "The Printing Connection" newsletter, who has kindly consented to its reproduction here. The second is an article by Robert Goodman which was originally published in a small magazine; he has kindly consented to its reproduction here in the Tool Shed.