When you submit your completed manuscript, it will be evaluated for completeness and reviewed by your acquiring editor before being sent to the Prepress/Editorial Department. A project manager will be assigned to shepherd your manuscript through copyediting, typesetting, and printing. As a person who is seeing your manuscript for the first time, the project manager will provide freshness and objectivity. The project manager will work with the copyeditor, proofreader, designer, compositor, and you to ensure that the manuscript is complete, clear, consistent, and grammatically correct.

Clear communication is the key to developing realistic production schedules. Please keep your project manager informed of your schedule. If at any point you cannot be reached at your regular mailing address or will not have access to your e-mail, let us know.

Blackwell Publishing is committed to producing books in a timely and cost-conscious manner in order to meet the market timing at the appropriate price. The stages of book production are outlined in the following sections. In some cases, a stage may be added or subtracted

Copy Editing

It takes roughly 8 months from receipt of a manuscript until it arrives in the warehouse. This can vary depending on the size and complexity of the book, the availability of the author for prompt review, and the number of titles in progress. Manuscripts are edited on computer, then are designed and typeset in page format for your review before printing.

Stages of Editing, Typesetting, and Printing

   1.   Copy editing

   2.   Possible author review of edited manuscript

   3.   Book design

   4.   Typesetting, formatting pages

   5.   Page proofreading and editorial scrutiny; author/volume editor review

   6.   Revision of pages; index preparation

   7.   Prep for printing and binding

   8.   Cover (design, edit, proofread, etc.--if not done during previous stages)

   9.   Printing and binding

Author Review

You will receive either a printout or electronic file of the edited manuscript. Review the editing and answer ALL editorial questions. You will later see page proofs and check that all elements are present and that illustrations are properly placed and oriented. Please be aware that a professional proofreader will be reading the pages at the same time as you are doing your review.

In checking the proofs, you should be particularly alert to any inadvertent omissions of figures or text. Pay particular attention to math and dosages. You should correct any major errors of fact, but should not be seeking to revise or update the text at this stage. Non-essential corrections are very expensive to make and extensive corrections may be disallowed by Blackwell Publishing or charged to your royalties.

Indexing

Most books require an index. It is the author/volume editor’s responsibility to complete this index.