Dorrance Writer's Advocate: Bookmaking

P I C T U R E P E R F E C T

Artwork, one of the most basic forms of communication, can turn endless pages of words into an attractive visual package highlighting concepts, emotions, and insights. Pictures not only convey a variety of messages and information but they also add an extra dimension to the words of the text and can improve the appeal of a book. However many writers have difficulty incorporating artwork into their manuscripts due to a simple lack of know-how.

When an author decides to incorporate art in a manuscript, it becomes important for him or her to understand the basic concepts behind camera-ready art. All printing processes, including offset lithography, the printing process most often used in book printing, utilize specially prepared (camera-ready) art to produce near-duplicate images of the original art.

Camera-ready art, which includes text, illustrations, and photographs and is sometimes referred to as a layout or a mechanical, goes directly to a graphic arts camera for the creation of a negative. This negative is used to create the printing plates which are used to produce the printed page. The types of camera-ready art utilized in a book play a major role in a book's design and printing specifications, including inks, size, paper, and binding of the final product. Although camera-ready images can be reproduced in full color, this substantially increases the cost of producing the book; therefore, the reproduction of black and white camera-ready art is more common in book production for the sake of economy.

All artwork can be broken down into two groups: line art and continuous-tone art. Illustrations characterized as line art consist of definable black and white areas, with no shades of gray. Whether line art is created with an ink pen, black marker, or laser printer toner, it is generally less expensive from a printer's standpoint to reproduce and maintains more fidelity to the original art than does continuous-tone art.

Photographs, along with some illustrations--including pencil drawings and charcoal drawings--consisting of a variety of gray tones from black to white, make up the category of continuous-tone art.

Full-color art (drawings, paintings, or photographs) must be scanned on expensive computers to accomplish color separation and subsequently must be printed on color presses, thereby substantially increasing the costs of production.

Although color photographs and illustrations may be reproduced in black and white, black-and-white originals produce a higher quality, final, black and white image. Continuous-tone illustrations and photographs must be converted into black and white dot-pattern images (halftones) in order to be reproduced in black ink.

The following guidelines will help authors in producing camera-ready art:

It is usually best to prepare art in black and white.
Photocopies of art--especially color art--are not acceptable for reproduction. Always have access to original art. (Dorrance will accept photocopies of artwork in manuscripts for our initial examination; however we would ask authors to submit original artwork before moving forward with a subsidy proposal.)
Package original illustrations and photographs separately from the text pages of the manuscript. Place sheets of plain white paper between photographs and illustrations and package them so that they will not be damaged during transport.
Insert photocopies of the original illustrations and photographs within the manuscript to indicate proper placement. If illustrations and photographs are to appear on a page which also includes text, draw a box on the manuscript page to indicate proper placement. Please include on the photocopy of the illustration or photo:
- the "top" clearly identified as such
- cropping instructions (areas of the image that are to be printed)
- reduction in size desired (optional)
- exact wording for any caption you wish printed with photo or illustration.

Ball-point pens should not be used to render line illustrations because the thin lines created by ball-points often break up into small pieces when run on the printing press. Use medium-point felt-tip or "roller-ball" ink pens instead.

Do not write on the back of photographs; type captions on a separate label and attach the label to the back of the photograph.

Avoid using cracked or folded photographs; the crack and fold lines will appear when printed.

Transparent tape, staples, and paper clips should never be applied directly to original artwork.

Dorrance Publishing's production department will help you, as an author, achieve the quality art you desire. We would be happy to work with you to use existing or to create original text illustrations; we are also happy to accommodate color and composition ideas for your book jacket/cover ideas. As a Dorrance author, you will have approval of any artwork that will appear in your book.

For over seventy-five years, Dorrance has taken pride in the appearance of its finished publications, and we continue to see art and design as important aspects in defining the level of quality craftsmanship for which we strive.

(Recycled Paper in the Publishing Industry)

(The Little Known World of Bookmaking)