The Top 5 Submission Mistakes: How You Can Avoid Them

Transcript:

Hi. I’m Amy and I’m going to talk about the top five submission mistakes most likely to delay a book’s production.  I’ll tell you how to check for these problems and if necessary, how to avoid them. 

#1:  Problems with Image Size & Resolution

The number one mistake by a wide margin is problems with image size or resolution. Any images we receive need to have a resolution of no less than 300 ppi, or pixels per inch. Images also need to be the right size to fit in your book or on your cover. For interior images, roughly 4 by 6 inches or larger is recommended. For cover images, you want the size of the picture to be bigger than the cover itself. Watch our video tutorial on how to check image size and resolution before submitting any images for your book. 

#2:  Inappropriate Hard Returns

A hard return happens whenever you press the Enter key while typing. Not all hard returns are a problem, but if used incorrectly, they can make a manuscript difficult to format for publishing. Ideally you should only hit the Enter key when you intend to start a new paragraph. You should not hit the Enter key when you reach the right hand margin of a page to continue typing on the next line. 

Many of us learned how to type on a typewriter, where you had to manually shift the page down and back to the left margin to continue typing. Modern word processing software does not require this kind of effort. Just keep typing all the way to the right hand margin and when you reach the end of the page, the text will automatically continue on the next line down. 

If you hit the Enter key when you get to the right hand margin, just so you can continue typing on the next line, you are actually telling your manuscript to start a new paragraph, probably in the middle of your sentence. It may not look like the start of a whole new paragraph while you’re typing, but once your manuscript gets placed into the smaller text margins for your chosen book size, the problem will become more apparent. 

Here’s how to double check for them. If you’re using Microsoft Word, click on the Show/Hide Formatting icon at the top of your screen. It’s designated with a paragraph symbol, which looks like a backwards letter P. When you show the formatting like this, all the hard returns in your manuscript will appear as paragraph symbols, or backward Ps. You’ll want to make sure they only appear at the end of actual paragraphs, not in the middle of sentences at the right hand margin. If you see any inappropriate hard returns, you’ll want to click in front of each one of them, and then hit the Delete button. This may bring your words together, and if so, you’ll need to reinsert a space to separate them again. If you’ve inserted hard returns throughout your entire manuscript, this will be a time consuming but very necessary process. 

Here’s what it looks like when we begin formatting a manuscript with inappropriate hard returns for our most popular book size, 6 by 9. The lines break in odd places all over the page, but let’s look at three particular lines, and then we’ll look at the same three lines in the original manuscript to understand why this happened.  The lines break after the words “could,” “her,” and “she.” If we look in the original manuscript in Show Formatting mode, you’ll see inappropriate hard returns after the same three words, “could,” “her,” and “she.” These inappropriate hard returns are forcing the start of new paragraphs where the author did not actually intend new paragraphs to begin. This problem wasn’t noticeable until a change in the margins was necessary for publication. 

If your manuscript has inappropriate hard returns, you are welcome to repair the problem yourself, or you can have us do it. Contact a representative for a manuscript clean up estimate.

#3:  Special Formatting Done Incorrectly

There are a few different special formatting concerns that when done incorrectly in your original manuscript can pose special challenges to your book during production. If your manuscript contains tables, columns of text, or footnotes, you’ll want to be sure you’re creating these by going to the pull down menus at the top of your screen. If you’re using Microsoft Word, tables are created by going to the Table pull down menu. Columns of text are created by pulling down the Formatting menu and footnotes are created by going to the Insert menu. Please be sure to watch our tutorials on each of these specific subjects to make sure you have created them the correct way. 

In addition to these formatting concerns, I also wanted to mention page numbering and headers.   Headers are any information that appears at the top of every page in your manuscript, such as the author’s name or the title of the book. Your manuscript does not need page numbers or headers.  Even if you do them correctly, we will have to strip them out before beginning production on your book, but if they’ve been done incorrectly, they can be a problem. You should never manually type your page numbers or your page headers on every page of your manuscript. If you have, they will need to be manually deleted, and the text on either side of them brought back together before your manuscript can enter production. If you’ve created headers in this way, you can remove them yourself or contact a representative for a manuscript clean up estimate. 

#4:  Missing Materials

The fourth most common reason for production delays is missing material, so let’s discuss everything that should be included in your submission. 

The most important item is your manuscript. Please send only the complete final manuscript in a single merged file. We don’t need to receive any partial manuscripts or early drafts. If you are paying for file merging, please be sure to include a document explaining the order in which the files should be merged, or be sure the files are labeled in chronological order. 

If your manuscript contains images, we need each image sent as a separate electronic image file, preferably a .tif file that meets the size and resolution requirements we discussed earlier. Please note there is an additional fee for interior image insertion. 

Along with any images that go in your book, we also need image placement instructions, either typed directly into your manuscript or in a separate document. The instructions should refer to each image file by their exact file name. 

If your images have captions, we need the captions typed directly into your manuscripts, along with the image placement instructions or they can be sent in a separate document labeled Captions. 

You are welcome to send one or two images for your front cover. Please be sure to include the word Cover in their file names. Also, be sure they meet the size and resolution requirements we discussed earlier. If the images aren't your own, be sure you have legal permission to use them. 

We highly recommend you send a document detailing any ideas you have about your front cover design. Label the document ‘Cover Idea.’  I’ll discuss the front cover more in a minute. 

If you would like to include your photo with your ‘About the Author’ text, be sure to send a separate image file labeled ‘Author Photo’  Be sure the image meets the resolution and size requirements we discussed earlier. 

During our on line submission process, you will be prompted to enter your ‘About the Book’ synopsis and your ‘About the Author’ text.  After the submission process, if you feel there are any other materials or information that need to be submitted in order for us to complete production of your book, contact your representative and let them know. 

#5:  Tips for a Successful Cover

Number five is actually more like advice than a mistake. iUniverse will create a cover for your book, but nobody knows your book better than you, so your ideas and input are invaluable. If you have ideas about your cover, what you would like to see on it or what mood it should convey, please include this information in a separate document while you are submitting your materials. Here are a few tips for appealing cover designs that have the greatest chances of achieving your design and marketing goals. 

First, you want your cover idea to be simple. A complex cover design full of visuals can end up looking cluttered. Most people are first going to see your cover out of the corner of their eye or as a small thumbnail image on a bookstore Web site. In these circumstances, if the design is cluttered, the potential reader probably won’t understand what the cover means and they probably won’t find it attractive. If it doesn’t catch their attention out of the corner of their eye, or as a small thumbnail image, they’re probably not going to be interested in learning more about it. 

Another suggestion is not to show your characters on the cover, unless the book is a biography or an autobiography. Most readers don’t want to be shown exactly what a fictional character looks like. After all, one of the joys of reading is that you get to envision things in your mind’s eye. It can also be extremely difficult to communicate or create the exact physical characteristics that you imagine your characters having. For these reasons, if you feel the main character needs to be represented, we suggest keeping them in shadow or silhouette, or only showing a small part of them, just enough to pique the reader’s interest and spark their imagination. 

Finally, if your book is fiction, you don’t need to depict a specific scene on the cover. Instead, we suggest you think of a symbolic or iconic way of representing what your book is about. For example, if you have written a traditional crime novel, it would be better to draw upon an imagery like broken glass, rain, a detective in a trench coat, a gun, or handcuffs, than to depict characters or situations the reader may not understand until after they have read the book. 

Now you know about the five most common submission problems. If you have any concerns about what we’ve covered, please give us a call at 1-800-AUTHORS, and we’ll be happy to talk with you about them.