THE PRODUCTION PROCESS – An Overview

The following is a summary of the production process in commercial publishing:

• Manuscript – this may be an unsolicited manuscript sent ‘on spec’ to a publishing house, or a manuscript sent by a literary agent, or a book or publication commissioned by the publisher
  
  
• Editing – a copy editor edits and marks up the manuscript
  
  
• Design – a designer commissions illustrations, designs the text, sizes and places the illustrations, and designs the cover
  
  
• Typesetting – a typesetter or desktop publisher sets the text and non-text material according to the editor’s and designer’s mark-up
  
  
• Galley Proofs – the typesetter provides galley proofs (proofs of the typeset text before they are divided into pages); the editor, author and proof reader check the galleys for errors
  
  
• Page Proofs – the corrected galleys are pasted up into pages by the designer, or laid out using desktop publishing software
  
  
• Index – the author or indexer prepares the index from the final page proofs
  
  
• Dyelines – the printer films the pages and sends a set of dyelines to the editor and designer for checking
  
  
• Color Proofs – the designer checks and corrects the color separations
  
• Advance Copies – these are provided for publicity and review purposes; the editor checks for any significant printing errors.