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Stories from Behind the Publisher’s Desk

As the president of a publishing house, some of the things that come across my desk are mind-blowing. People have told me I should have TV cameras following me around, and maybe at one point I’ll get a reality show displaying the craziness that goes on inside the publishing house. But for now I’ll resort to blogging.

In this series of blogs, “Stories from Behind the Publisher’s Desk,” I’ll share with you the stories, do’s and don’ts when trying to get your book published. What we are looking for and what we are not.

Since my background is in graphic design and I worked in the copy and print industry for many years in the Silicon Valley before going into publishing, I guess I think everyone else out there knows the difference in software programs—what they are for and what they are not. However, this is not the case. Let me break it down for you…

PowerPoint is NOT Design Software.

I can’t tell you how many people have come to me with their book all laid out and ready to go. They don’t need our design team, nope. They have it formatted with tables of content, photos, page numbers. It should be real easy for us, they saved us so much time. Then they tell me it’s in PowerPoint.

Huh? I ask, “Are you giving a presentation of your book for a workshop?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“Because that’s a demo/ presentation software, not a design program.” If I sent a PowerPoint file to my printer they would laugh me all the way to Egypt.

This is why you need professionals to format your book for you. Unless you are a graphic designer with print experience, even then, we still have to do it so the book matches our printers specific specs. So taking it from PowerPoint actually makes our job even harder. Things do not copy and paste over well.  Below is a list of software and the file formats we need books submissions to be in:

• Manuscripts must be typed in Word. (We do not accept handwritten or typed paper.)
• Layout of book for printing can be Word or Adobe In Design. PDF files are only accepted if we have already previously approved the print specs.
• Book covers must be in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and a minium of 300 DPI.  (Not  Publisher.)
• A book cover contains 3 elements; front, back & spine.  If you have a designer for your cover, we need more than just the front.

Hopefully this advice will help you on your writing and publishing journey. The easier you make it on us, the faster your book can be published and distribtued to the masses!

Tara Richter

President of Richter Publishing LLC