Bespoke Projects
Whether it's a school history, a leavers gift, a cookery book, a collection of poems, a hymn book or a book of prayers, we have the team to bring your project to fruition. We work with you to shape your project, sense check its feasibility, work on the content and design, and then produce something that your whole community can rejoice in.
Step One – Decisions
The process begins with you deciding what it is you want. You can discuss your ideas with us, we can send you samples and make suggestions, but you get to make the final decision on content, format, style and optional extras. The only constraint which may affect your decision is your budget and we will do our utmost to fit your project into your available funds. Along the way, we will explain to you what differences your choices can mean in terms of cost and time, including those costs and other issues relating to copyright permissions (see below).
During this early stage we will send you all the paperwork you need for placing your order, and this will include the setting preferences and order forms, which will enable you to tell us how you would like your books to look.
Step Two – Typesetting
The next step, once you have informed us of all your decisions, is to get your material typeset. We use a sophisticated database to xml model for typesetting, meaning the process is normally quick and accurate once the material is correctly uploaded to the database, but this will vary depending on the nature of your book. Once we know what you require and when you would like delivery of your books then we will send you a production schedule, to help you keep track of what is happening and when.
Step Three – Permissions
At this time, we also start the process of clearing permissions with other publishers to use any material in your book which may be in copyright. In order to include copyright material, be it text or images, we are required to clear permission with the copyright holder, which is something we have to do for every book we publish. If this is likely to incur a significant cost we will warn you, and will work to ensure that everything is both legal and affordable!
Step Four – Proofreading
Once we have the first proofs we will send them to you for proofreading. The main point of this is to give you the opportunity to thoroughly check that we have done what you have asked us to and to correct any typographical errors. Therefore precision and care should take precedent over speed, to ensure nothing is missed. When you have finished this, the proofs are returned to us and any corrections you have asked for are made. This is also when any acknowledgements are added to the proofs.
If necessary, we allow time for second proofs (if needed by you), final checks and passing for print. During this time we ensure we know all your requirements for printing, such as cover material and colour, crest/logo colour and any extras you may have chosen, such as spine blocking, ribbon markers or head & tail bands.
Step Five – Delivery
Around four weeks before your requested delivery date, we send all the files to the printer, and before you know it, your beautiful books are delivered!
