Do-It-Yourself Publishing

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The rise ofprinting centers in Europe through the fifteenth century Since Gutenberg 9s day,count- less numbers ofbooks on every imaginable subject have rolled offthe presses and into the hands ofeager readers.Perhaps you 9ve even considered writing a book yourself.Before the time of personal computers and desktop publishing programs,you would have had to find a publisher to Do-It-Yourself Publishing 98 Lesson 17: Do-It-Yourself Publishing help you.Today 4with a little creativity,a lot ofhard work, and the right equipment 4you can do it yourself. The Publishing Process When you pick up a book in the book store or library,you probably notice the name ofthe author right away.Ifthe book has lots ofillustrations,you may also pay attention to the illustra- tor 9s name.Those names are important,but they don 9t tell the whole story. Many people are involved in creating a book.After the manu- script is complete,the author sends it to an editor in a pub- lishing house.The editor may accept the book as is,reject it,or suggest some changes.Once a manuscript is accepted,it goes to the designer .Then the pub- lisher 9s real work begins.The designer has many decisions to make regarding the specifica- tions,the layout, and the overall look ofthe finished product.

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book be? What will the typeface look like? How will the type be arranged on the page? How many illustra- tions will there be? Where will the illustrations go? Step2 Reading to Find Out More D uring the Middle Ages,most books were handwritten by people called scribes.Around 1400,though,more and more people were interested in learning,and the need for books was growing.The German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg developed a way to meet that need.He adapted a winepress to make a printing press and invented a mold to make the movable metal type that it used.He also invented a new kind ofink that would work with the metal type.Others followed Gutenberg 9s example,and the publishing industry was launched. Printing centers before 1471 Printing centers at the end of the 15th century Seville Avignon Rome Strassburg Paris Cologne Grenoble Self-publishing a book is a big job.Before you decide to become a desktop publisher,there are some things you need to know. Some ideas are just not appro- priate for desktop publishing.If your book is very long,is an unusual size,or ifit has a hard cover or many full-color pic- tures,it will be very expensive to publish.Ifyou think your book will be difficult to sell,you might prefer to go to a large publisher with a sales department.Ifyour book is under fifty pages,has a small amount ofmostly black and white art,or is being written specifically for a special audi- ence,it 9s a good choice for desk- top publishing.An anthology of stories written by you and your classmates,a cookbook with recipes from parents,or a history ofyour town,school,or family, would be easy to publish and sell. You 9ll need some special equipment for your desktop After these decisions have been made,the manuscript is sent offto a typesetter or to a type stylist who works with the electronic files the author has created.When the proofs are returned,the copy editor and the designer get started.The copy editor proofreads to correct typ- ing mistakes,grammatical errors,and wording that just doesn 9t sound right.The design- er checks the art and begins to make up mechanicals 4master pages that show where every- thing in the book belongs.Today the designer often makes the mechanicals with a computer. Before computers,designers cut out blocks oftype and copies of the illustrations and pasted them onto large sheets ofpasteboard manually. Then the mechanicals go into production, where the art and the pages are prepared for printing. The final proofs come in.After one last check,the printer prints the pages, binds them together, and adds the cover.The book is completed and ready to go on sale. Desktop Publishing cDesktop publishing dmay sound like something you might do on your desk at school,but it is the term for publishing on a computer,either on the job or at home.When you use a computer for desktop publishing,you become your own publishing company.You are the author, the editor,the copy editor,the designer,and,ifyou are artistic, maybe even the illustrator. Unit Three: New Technologies 99 publishing project.At minimum you 9ll need a computer with a word processing program.Ifyou have access to a publishing pro- gram to help you design page layouts,that 9s even better.For art,you have a few choices.You can buy computer clip art.That 9s art that is in the public domain . That means it is does not have a copyright, so anyone who buys the program may use the pictures.A scanner is a device that copies pictures right into your computer.Ifyou have a scanner,you might want to draw pictures and scan them into your document .Or you can use pho- tographs that belong to you.The one thing you must not do is put published photographs or draw- ings into your book.Those pieces ofart are probably copy- righted,and using them is not legal.Another essential piece of equipment is a printer.The bet- ter the printer is,the better your pages will look.Inkjet and laser are the best kinds ofprinters. Desktop publishing Printing Your Book After you 9ve prepared your pages,you 9ll need to have your book printed.For this phase of your project,you may need out- side help.Ifyour book is very short and you want to make just a few copies,you may want to take the completed pages to a copy shop.Ifyour book is longer,or ifyou want many copies,you 9ll need to look for a printer to print and bind your book.Take your completed pages to a few local printers and ask them to give you a cost esti- mate.Ask to see samples oftheir work,too.Talk with your print- er about the best way to bind the 100 Lesson 17: Do-It-Yourself Publishing book and how much binding will cost.Finally,ask whether you can visit the printing plant to watch the book on press and to catch any mistakes.Once your book is in the printer 9s hands, you 9re almost done. Your Own Copyright Would you like to copyright your book? A copyright is easy to obtain.To find out how, write to:Register ofCopyrights, Library ofCongress,Wash- ington,DC 20559. Then sit back, browse through your book,admire your name on the cover,and enjoy. The printing presses of today little resemble Gutenberg 9s early invention. Modern-day printing presses are a couple of stories tall and often more than a hundred feet long. They spit out pages at a blinding speed, and it takes a team of workers to keep them going. Did you know? Proofreading There are four errors in the sen- tence below.Write the sentence correctly on the line. After youve prepaired your pages you 9ll need to have your book printed __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ Keeping Sharp Web presses are used to manufacture newspapers,magazines, and books. " How a Book Is Made by Aliki.Harper & Row,1986. " How a Book Is Made by Carol Greene. Childrens Press,1988. " cThe Writer 9s Digest Self-Publishing Blueprint d by Eve Paludan. Writer 9s Digest ,December,1994. Questions, Anyone? 102 Lesson 17: Do-It-Yourself Publishing Step4 Applying What I've Learned Comprehension: Listing Details Look at the list ofpublishing professionals,and write their titles on the numbered lines.Then find words or phrases from the article that describe what each person does as part ofthe publishing process.Write the words and phrases in the boxes. printer author editor designer illustrator copy editor Comprehension: Compare and Contrast Now write a sentence or two comparing or contrasting the roles oftwo ofthe publishing professionals. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ? ? ? ? ? ?

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