Organizing Your Material to Send to Us

The books we publish at Aeronaut are complex, so organizing the material before you send it to me is a must. A well-organized book project helps me create the book the way you want it with fewer errors and greatly speeds the work.

• Please send me all the assets (text files, image files, etc.) for the book at one time. That is, please send only complete projects. I work on a number of book projects in parallel and need your help with the organization of your book project. If you send the book assets in dribs and drabs it greatly increases my workload and the chance for error. At present I am so busy I just cannot accept partial projects and take on the additional workload.
• Please include all the text files in a text folder and send each chapter and appendix as an individual file. I normally lay out the book one chapter at a time. Putting all the text in one file makes it very unwieldy and I have to break the text into chapters for layout. That is more work and can mess up the numbering of notes.
  • Speaking of notes, please use endnotes, not footnotes. I will lay out the endnotes for each chapter at the end of that chapter.
  • Footnotes are much harder to lay out and at least doubles the time to lay out the book. Also, any numbering errors can propagate through the entire book.
• Please put the text files for large tables in a separate file and name the file name with the table name.
• Please put image captions in a separate caption file.
• Please make a folder for each chapter’s image files and put all the images for that chapter in it.
• There are a couple of ways to organize the images in the correct order in the chapter:
  • Number the images in order in the image file name.
  • List the images in order in the caption file.
  • You can also list the images approximately where you want them in the main text file.
• Please use consistent naming. If you call a file “Ralph” in the text and use “George” as its file name, it makes it a lot harder for me. You know more about your topic and project than I do and you can more easily make these connections; I am relying on your consistency of names.Customer FirstAbove all, please be considerate of the reader when writing. In particular, that means being clear and consistent in style, spelling, abbreviations, punctuation, etc. Consistency of style, formatting, and presentation is important to help the reader navigate the book and make sense of the contents.The purpose of formatting, layout design, and punctuation is to help the reader. The recent trend in some publications has been to eliminate as much punctuation as possible to reduce keystrokes; this makes reading harder. Be consistent and unambiguous.Many of our readers have a primary language other than English, so please avoid slang, idiomatic usage, or references to cultural terms that may not apply to other cultures.

  Related to this is how to type numbers. Please use words for the numbers zero to ten (or twelve); Above ten (or twelve) please use the numbers; 13, 14, etc. The numbers are easier to read and understand, especially for those who are not native English speakers. However, you need to spell out the number of it starts a new sentence; for example, at the beginning of a sentence, use “Twenty-five”, not “25”.

  Use charts, graphs, or tables instead of text to present large amounts of data.

  Include a glossary for terms that need to be defined. If using abbreviations, spell out the full text at the first usage and include the abbreviation in parentheses after; from then on you can use just the abbreviation.

  It would be a big help to you and me if you would make a list of important terms [unit designations, etc.], key names, and other style decisions so we will know the preferred form. This list will help you while writing—if you make it at the start of the project [very highly recommended] instead of the end. Often there is more than one acceptable style for aircraft designations, unit names, etc. Please pick an acceptable style and use it consistently.

  When sending anything irreplaceable (e.g., original photos or artwork), please use a commercial service such as UPS or Fedex. Commercial services are more reliable, have package tracking, and the package can be insured as appropriate. Regular mail is less expensive for copies and other items you can easily replace.

  Text File Basics

  All manuscripts must be submitted as Word-compatible electronic files. All our books are designed and laid out on a computer, so electronic text files are essential for speed and accuracy. Depending on file size, the files may be sent via email, a service such as WeTransfer (you can get a free account with them), or a solid state USB Zip drive (aka USB thumb drive, USB memory stick).

  Please use text wrap within paragraphs rather than using a line return as you would with a typewriter.

  Please do not hyphenate words; we will do that when typesetting if necessary.

  Please run the spell-checking program for obvious errors. We use Americanized English spelling because we are American and they are easier for us to proof-read. We can accommodate English style English also.

  We depend on you for correct spelling of foreign words and names. Please pick a spelling or transliteration and use it consistently. We recommend entering the spelling of unusual terms in your custom spell-checker.

  Please use end notes, not footnotes. Footnotes are much harder to lay out and take an inordinate amount of time. Endnotes are far easier to handle.

  Using styles in Word can help keep your text formatting consistent and makes it easier when importing the text to the layout program. However, please avoid manually formatting text in tables, etc., to look right in Word; we have to remove all that in the layout program. If you are creating tables and want the columns to align, learn to do that using tabs or create an actual table in Word.

  If there are specific places where photos or tables should be, you can note them in the text file and highlight so they are easily seen. These notes will be removed and not appear in the book.

  Tables

  If you are including tables of data, please send the table file separately from the files with the body text. This avoids the problem of changes in one affecting the other.

  Please avoid use of endnote references in tables; the tables may be placed out of sequence of the body text endnotes during layout. Instead, all notes referring to tables should be placed below the table. Please note that once text files are placed in InDesign (the page layout application I use) all edits must be done manually, including re-numbering endnotes, etc.

  Text File Details

  • Please do not format your text file to make it look good on the page. During the page layout process I have to undo all that formatting, which takes me more work and more time. If you add a bunch of spaces to line up columns of text or indent paragraphs, I have to take all those spaces out.
  • Please do use tabs to help you create tables or do other minor formatting of your text files. I have to use tabs when formatting the text in InDesign (ID, the page layout program) so that speeds my work and eliminates the time involved if I have to undo your formatting in your word processor. Use the formatting in Word to create indented paragraphs, align columns, etc.

  Punctuation

  Punctuation is provided to assist the reader easily navigate through your wonderful book. So please use it correctly and consistently. If you are not sure how do use punctuation, please look it up. In general just be reasonable, correct, and consistent.

  There is one aspect of punctuation that I am adamant about; that is the Oxford comma. The Oxford (or serial) comma is the final comma in a list of things. For example, in the sentence: Please bring me a bell, book, and candle. The Oxford comma comes right after book.

  So, why do I care about this obscure punctuation? Because it makes sentences easier to read and understand — the entire point of punctuation in the first place.

  Omitting the Oxford comma can sometimes cause some strange misunderstandings.

  I love my parents, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty.

  Without the Oxford comma, the sentence above could be interpreted as stating that you love your parents, and your parents are Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty. Here’s the same sentence with the Oxford comma:

  I love my parents, Lady Gaga, and Humpty Dumpty.

  Note how the Oxford comma adds clarity and speeds reading and comprehension. The Oxford comma is a style issue and some oppose it, with one stated reason being redundancy. That is simply an excuse that is not correct; see above example.

  Those who oppose the Oxford comma often argue that rephrasing an already unclear sentence can solve the same problems that using the Oxford comma does. The problem with that is, most of the time writers do not do that because it is more time and work. It is just a lot easier and faster to add the Oxford comma for ease and clarity of reading.

  The Oxford comma provides consistent punctuation in a sentence, and consistency is key to understanding. Please use them!

  Image File Basics

  Please include photo captions in electronic text files, note their order, and identify them by file name. One example is like this:

  1-Filename1.tif

  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua.

  2-Filename2.tif

  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua.

  Another alternative is to group the images in folders by chapter. For example, a folder name could be “Chapter 2 Photos” and the photographs could be ordered by starting their file names with 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, etc. If you don’t want to edit all the file names, just list the file names in the order you want them used.

  Please use meaningful file names that have some relationship to the image content. Avoid cryptic file names like: “48.tif” which gives me no clue that the image is.

  • If it is a photo of a man, add his name so the file name is like: “Name_data.tif”.
  • If it is a unit, then “Unit-name_info.tif”.
  • If it is an airplane, then “Fokker_D7_info.tif” or “Spad 13_info.tif.”
  • Although many aircraft designations used Roman numerals, please use Arabic numbers in your file names (not the text file); they are much easier to read and use.
  • If you refer to the image file names in the text by notes showing me where you would like the images, please use the same file name as the actual file.
  • Longer captions are better than shorter captions; more information is better.

  Photographs

  Photographs are very important to our readers, and the higher the quality the better. Photographs may be submitted as originals or high-resolution scans, but please do not send Xerox copies! Xerox copies lose information and lack the subtle gray-scale graduation information needed to print a quality photograph on paper.

  Scanned photographs should be in TIFF format and scanned at a minimum of 600 dpi in gray-scale; higher resolution is better. When practical I use photos at full page width. At 300 dpi (optimum for printing) the image would be 2588 pixels wide.

  Photos come in many shapes/dimensions/sizes and so some guidelines are good to follow. A good guide to scanning for preservation and for restoration/publishing purposes is as follows:

  Transparencies:

  35mm slide = 4800 dpi

  2¼” x 2¼” transparency = 2400 dpi

  4”x5” transparency = 1200 dpi

  8×10 print or glass plate = 1200 dpi

  Photographic Prints:

  (2 inches to 3 inches) = 2400 dpi

  5 x 7 = 1200 dpi

  8 x 10 = 600 dpi

  Other considerations:

  1. Always use gloveswhen handling photos and transparencies. Oil from fingers damages the print and transparency and the emulsions on them.
  2. Always clean the glass of your scanner before using. Spray onto the cloth and then clean, never spray directly on the glass. If sprayed on the glass, capillary action can suck the solution into the scanner… not a good thing!
  3. Some photos have curled edges or are stiffened with age into a curved piece of paper stock. Use a heavy book like an encyclopedia to place on the scanner lid or on top of the items to make sure they lay flat on the glass. This will prevent odd reflections from curved surfaces and allow for a better scan.
  4. Always scan as a TIFF file, never as a JPEG, GIF, or PNG. TIFF is the archival standard when scanning and allows for maximum capture of information. The other formats lose fine detail when the files are compressed; TIFF does not lose any detail during compression.
  5. Always scan photos in RGB or Full Color mode even if they are gray-scale or sepia. Scanning in gray-scale limits the amount of grays captured to only 256 levels from black to white. There are a lot more tonal values in these old prints than 256. If you limit to 256 you are throwing away detail information that can be coaxed out during the restoration process in Photoshop or another editing program.
  6. When scanning line drawings, etc. NEVER use the line-art mode on the scanner. This causes the lines to be interpreted to either black or white… thus throwing out a lot of subtle detail and ruining the digital version of the drawing. Line drawings should always be scanned at a minimum of 600 dpi and as gray-scale. 256 levels of gray from white to black is perfect for scanning line art. Or, you can scan in RGB as well. Size will be huge, though.
  7. Archive to a backup hard drive and also use off-site backup in the cloud. If your computer goes down for any reason, it is important to have things backed up on multiple sources. If you experience the misfortunate that your computer is stolen or destroyed because your house burns or floods, the off-site storage provided by a cloud backup will be invaluable.
  8. Scanning printed materials. When scanning old photos from books, newspapers, or other printed sources, you have to consider the screened pattern and allow for that. To prevent “ghosting” from the backside which is caused when the text or images from the backside can be seen bleeding through the front side… use a black piece of card stock or construction paper. This will keep the light from reflecting back at you through the paper, which causes that annoying ghosting effect.
  9. When scanning from old books or other sources scan at 600 dpi (1200 dpi for small images). 300 dpi isn’t enough! You can scan in grayscale (256 levels) if it is page printed with black ink and is screened. That is adequate. (If it is a color image, then use RGB) You absolutely need the higher resolution to be able to work with the image to get rid of the screen pattern. De-screening filters don’t work well and higher resolution is the best starting point to be able to repair/remove the screen pattern to gain the continuous tone look of a real photograph.

  Illustration Files

  Files for maps or other illustrations may be in EPS format, Adobe Illustrator, or TIFF. PDF files can also be used but these are more difficult to work with so please use the other formats if possible.

  Typography

  Please read either The Mac Is Not a Typewriter (if you use a Mac) or The PC Is Not a Typewriter (if you use a PC). Both are small books by Robin Williams (no, not the comedian) and show you how to get more out of your word processor than you can out of a typewriter. If you don’t take advantage of these things, I have to do it for you which takes me a lot longer to lay out your book.