Red Pill Press || How To Prepare Your Manuscript For Printing

Of course the very first thing you must do is to write your manuscript. If you've already done that then following the guidelines in this article before you send it to us. If you're still writing your manuscript then keep these guidelines in mind as you finish writing.

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Ok, now that it's finished, we need to prepare the manuscript for printing. To do this you'll need to check and possibly adjust some settings in your word processor.

We are providing this information to save you money. If you prefer to not deal with margins, headers, footnotes, page numbering, etc, we can help and there are additional costs for our assistance in this area.

We prefer that you send your manuscript in a Word, OpenOffice, or WordPerfect document, or as an editable Adobe PDF file. You can also send your manuscript in Rich Text format (RTF) or plain text file, however we'll need to convert that plain text to an acceptable format.

If you don't have a word processor then considering getting a copy of the free OpenOffice suite, available for most operating systems including Windows and Linux. If you use Mac OS X then you can download a free copy of NeoOffice, which is a version of OpenOffice designed to run on Apple computers.

We can do all the page layout work for you. Or if you prefer you can do it yourself, in which case remember that we typically print books with page sizes of 5.5" x 8.5" (14cm x 21.6cm) so be sure you set the page size in your word processor accordingly. If you want a larger book then we can give you a price quote for page sizes of 8.5" x 11" (21.6cm x 27.9cm). When you design the page layout in your word processor be sure to use a minimum margin size of 1/2”. If you want your book pages numbered then be sure to include page numbers in a page footer on all pages to be numbered.

Also be sure to perform a spelling check and have someone proofread the manuscript carefully. Alternatively, you can use our Editing and Proofreading services for that task.

Once you have prepared your manuscript up to this point you will then need to compress the manuscript using a Zip, Stuffit, or tar tool.

* Please remember to name your compressed file something other than simply "manuscript." The recommended naming convention is : <Your-Name-manuscript-version.[tar|zip]>

As an example: firstname-lastname-manuscript-1.zip

Now that all is ready, it's time to contact a Red Pill Press representative and place your order. Once you receive the go ahead from RPP you can attach your manuscript to an email message and send it to us, or burn it to a CD and express mail it to us. After it is received we will set it up for printing and then print an Editor's Copy (with a blank cover) and send it to you to look over and do some final checks. During this phase, if you have purchased our Editing and Proofreading services, the Editor's Copy will be sent to one of our professional editors.

After all editing is finished the cover will be prepared for printing. If you have purchased our cover design services for your book you will be placed in contact with one of our professional designers who will assist you. You may also create your own cover design, which is discussed in the Cover Design article.

Now that you have come this far it's time to print a proof -- the first copy of your book. After the manuscript has been edited and the cover design is complete an initial production copy (the "proof" copy) will be printed and sent to you for evaluation. If the book meets your satisfaction then the designated printing run will begin. Afterward we will archive your manuscript and cover design so that when you need more copies we can print them immediately. To learn more, read our Print on Demand and Online Marketing articles.