Publisher Talk

One of the services that Publisher Services provides complimentary to our book printing customers is a Pre-Flight check of printer-ready PDF files that have been provided to print book covers and interiors. What exactly is a Pre-Flight check? Pre-Flight is checking your book’s files to make sure they are good to print. Without carefully going over your files and approving them for the printer, there is a greater likelihood that something could go wrong and mistakes will be missed. A Pre-Flight check is just the kind of pre-printing look your files need before they go to print.

•  The trim size specifications match the print order. For example, if you’re ordering a 6×9 books, the page size shouldn’t be set up for 5×8.
• The cover file (and the interior file, if necessary) is properly set up with the proper bleed. If the pages and/or cover are not set up correctly, images or text could get cut off when trimming the book to size.
• Files do not have the fonts, graphics, and other inserted elements, properly embedded into the PDF. If we receive a file that contains fonts we don’t have here, the book may not print correctly, for example.
• Color elements are not saved in CMYK color mode. Most graphical programs have the RGB setting as the default. Printing is a four-color (full-color) process. Make sure you’re using CMYK.

After we check your book, we will do the following free of charge:

•  Convert to PDF from MS Word. While this will ensure that your fonts are embedded, we may not have custom or purchased fonts. If this is the case, we’ll let you know.
• Convert the cover and inside pages to CMYK if needed.
• Add your bar code to your back cover.
• Crop your pages down to the proper trim size. If your margins aren’t set for the right page size, though, we may not be able to crop. We’ll let you know if we can’t do this.

• All editing should have been checked, double-checked, and corrected before submission. One thing that tends to help is to print your manuscript and look at it that way instead of on your screen. You might catch things you didn’t see before. We also provide a printed proof copy prior to completing your full print run. You’ll have a final chance to check your printed proof for any last minute and missed errors, but you really should be confident that the editorial integrity is wholly intact.
• Page numbers match the Table of Contents. Changing up more than a few sentences inside the book can throw off whole paragraphs and pages. Check them over and correct them before submitting your files for printing.
• Images are matched to their appropriate captions, figure titles, etc.Another step that should be completed before submitting files for printing.

ISBNs are essential to selling your book. The ISBN is linked to essential information about your book: what the book is, who wrote it, and what the book is about. Since the ISBN is an extension of the book itself, you should be aware of what you are buying, and who you are buying from.

This may not always be the case with illegitimate resellers. When selecting who to purchase an ISBN from, there may be ISBN resellers who claim to sell “authentic” or “trusted” ISBNs. While these sellers are certainly tuned into buzzwords, unless they are an authorized Channel Partner, those very same buzzwords can mean the opposite of what they are. Please be aware that there are unauthorized resellers of ISBNs, and that this activity is a violation of the ISBN standard and of industry practice.

If you use one of these illegitimate ISBNs, you will not be correctly identified as the publisher of record in Books In Print or any of the industry databases, such as Barnes & Noble or Amazon, or in the databases of wholesalers such as Ingram. This will make it harder for your potential readers to find the book easily. Discovering the consequences too late can lead to extensive costs to apply for a new prefix and reassign a new ISBN, and can potentially lead to the application of stickers to books already printed and in circulation.

Think of an ISBN as a driver’s license for your book – it tells retailers everything they need to know about your book at a glance. However, if you buy an ISBN from an illegitimate source, it’s along the same lines as buying somebody’s driver’s license on a street corner; you’re certainly buying a license, but you don’t know whose you’re buying!

You have spent time bringing your book to life, make sure you obtain an ISBN from a legitimate source like Publisher Services to make it available to as many potential readers as possible!