Preparing documents for layout

The information below will help you to prepare your documents/files only if you decide to use our layout service. If you plan to take care of the layout yourself, we will only need the final PDF files with all book elements!

Correct your text before submitting it to us!

It is very important that we receive the final, corrected version of your manuscript, before we start working on the layout. Major revisions of the text after the layout has been created are very time-consuming and therefore more expensive for you!

Source text documents

File formatting. Manuscripts should be prepared in a standard word processing software, such as Microsoft Word or Open Office Write. Manuscripts delivered as pdf’s are less suitable because it is difficult to extract formatting from this file type. Please make sure that all basic character formatting (bold, italic, underlines, subscripts and superscripts) are just as you wish them to appear in the book. Paragraph formatting (or paragraph styles) that you apply throughout your manuscript will be preserved (after some adjustments).

Fonts. If you have a specific, non-standard font that you’d like to be used in your book, please make sure to deliver it in one of the Windows font formats.

Chapter title pages. We need to know the exact content of the pages separating the subsequent chapters, for each chapter. It is best to deliver them in a separate document. Based on this content and your suggestions we will design the layout of the title pages.

Running title. Running title is simply a shortened version of the chapter title. The running title should not be longer than 15 words, preferably less than 10. Please provide the running title for each chapter.

Local text formatting. All ‘local’ text formatting (bolds, italics, superscripts, subscripts, etc.) will be preserved during layout. Please make sure that the text is formatted as you intend it to appear in the final version of the book.

Figures and tables

Figures. We accept figures prepared by all major software and formats, but make sure you use a vector graphics-based software (Microsoft Powerpoint, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc.). In simple terms, vector-graphics means that no matter how much you magnify the resulting figure, the text, shapes, axes, lines etc. will always remain sharp and crisp. This is very important for the printing process, which requires high-resolution elements. Make sure that you embed all the images or other objects. Do not drag-and-drop, use the ‘insert’ or ‘place’ menus (depending on the program). Non-embedded images need to be delivered together with the main file. Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw are excellent choices for figure preparation. They require a little training, but once you master them, they provide extensive control over your creations. Make sure your figures are created using the fonts you want to apply in the book. All line must have thickness of at least 0.5 pt. Do not use Adobe Photoshop or other image processing software to create figures or at least make sure they are saved in high resolution (300 dpi or more). Use image processing software only for what it’s built for – enhancing or adjusting images. A great way to deliver figures is exporting them as PDF’s, because they will look in the book exactly as they do in the PDF. If your figures contain images, please make sure that you select high resolution (at least 300 dpi) when converting to PDF’s. Do not use image compression or set it to maximum quality.

Tables. Please deliver tables in Word processing documents (.doc, .rtf, etc.). We cannot alter tables that are delivered as PDFs, so they cannot be adjusted according to the style used in your book.

Images

Resolution. Please deliver high-resolution images (at least 300 dpi), so that they don’t appear as ‘pixelated’. Do not use image compression or set it to maximum quality.

Colors. Ensure that your images have high contrast and color saturation. If the original images are ‘dull’ and their contrast low – use image processing software such as Adobe Photoshop to enhance them. Please note that the colors that you see on your screen will differ from those in the printed book. The color profile of each computer screen or printer varies, and it is therefore difficult to faithfully reproduce colors between different machines. Furthermore, the pre-press requires converting all images to CMYK colorspace. This usually results in slightly less vibrant colors.

References

References must be pre-formatted as required. Preferably reference style should have the same format throughout the book. All local formatting (bold, italics, etc.) will be preserved during layout.

Manuscript delivery checklist

  • Thesis ‘university pages’ – prepared according to your University’s rules
  • Table of contents
  • Title pages for each chapter
  • Running title for each chapter (usually displayed in headers or footers)
  • Chapter contents – separate files containing contents of each chapter
  • Figures – separate files containing individual figures for each chapter
  • Tables – separate files containing tables and legends in word format
  • Figure legends, best in a single file, separate for each chapter
  • Summary in English and Dutch, if required
  • Acknowledgements (Dankwoord), if required
  • Contents of the invitation(s) and bookmarks

Dimension guidelines

Click here to view a guide showing page dimensions and layout recommendations for all book elements.

Cover

Please send us your cover as a single-page PDF file, prepared according to these instructions. Please do not upload front, back or spine as individual elements. We also don’t need the source materials, just the single PDF.

Are you interested in professional cover design? Please check this page.

Creating high-quality PDFs on Windows

Click here to download instructions for creating press-quality PDFs.

Calculate spine thickness

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