Submitting Your Materials: What Happens Next?

Transcript:

You’ve double-checked your materials, you’re ready to submit them to us, and we’re ready to get started.

Sending by Email

You can email your materials to submissions@xlibrispublishing.co.uk. If you send your materials to an individual representative’s email address, make sure you copy submissions@xlibrispublishing.co.uk. This will ensure that our staff will be able to access your materials immediately, especially if your service representative is not available right away. Be sure to include your full name and the title of your book in all email messages.

Sending by Mail

You can also mail your files on a CD or DVD to this address. Please be sure to clearly label your disks and other materials with your full name and your book’s title. Since materials can be lost or damaged in the mail, we suggest sending copies, not the original disks. If you’re mailing hardcopy text for data entry or hardcopy images for scanning, we again strongly urge you to send photocopies, not the originals. Xlibris cannot be held responsible for items lost or damaged in the mail.

After we have received your materials, what happens next?

Step One: Initial Check-In Evaluation

The first step is the Initial Check-In Evaluation, where we look for submission issues that could potentially delay your book’s production. We’ll be looking for the same things discussed in some of our other videos such as text formatting errors in the manuscript or low resolution images. If we don’t find any issues, your book will go to the next step. But if we do find an issue, we’ll contact you to help you resolve the issue and get your book to the next step as quickly as possible.

Step Two: Pre-production Services

Step Two is Pre-production Services. Pre-production services are any services which need to be completed before your Design Team can put your book together. This includes data entry, image scanning, and copy editing. Each of these pre-production services has its own unique timeline separate from the main production timeline. Some of the services like image scanning may only take a few days. But time-intensive services like copy editing or data entry can take a few extra weeks to complete. If you have not purchased any pre-production services, or after your pre-production services are completed, your book will go on to Step Three.

Step Three: Cover & Interior Design

Step Three is the main production phase, or Cover & Interior Design. At this point, you will be assigned an Author Services Representative and Designers who will work with you on the creation of your book’s cover and interior. For most books, this process takes two to three weeks, or three to five days if you have purchased an expedited timeframe. Your Author Services Representative will contact you after they have completed the first draft of your cover and interior to see if any changes are necessary.

Step Four: Corrections and/or Revisions

The next step is Corrections and/or Revisions. Corrections require few changes to the design while revisions require a major overhaul of the design. Corrections and revisions are a normal part of the creative process. Most of our books go through at least one round of corrections to get things just right. Each round of corrections can take a week to complete while a round of revisions can take between two and three weeks to complete. If you have purchased an expedited publishing package, you are allowed one round of revisions in two to three days. To minimize the time your book spends in corrections or revisions, we highly recommend you take the time to proofread your manuscript before you submit it for production.

Interior Corrections Fees: There is no charge to make design or layout changes to your interior. If you are fixing typographical or other author errors, there is a fee for every author correction.

Cover Corrections Fees: After you’ve seen the first draft of your cover and discussed it with your design team, you’ll have a free round of formatting corrections to make whatever changes are necessary. After the free round, there is a fee for further rounds of cover corrections.

It is important that you carefully review your first cover and interior and submit any changes simultaneously. Submitting multiple rounds of corrections will only add to your production time.

Step Five: Galley Review

The next step is Galley Review. This step need only take a few minutes of your time. ‘Galley’ is a term that refers to your book’s interior and cover. If you’re satisfied with the interior layout and cover design of your book, you can submit the Galley Approval at any time.

Help Along the Way

In any stage of production, help is just a phone call or an email away. You’re always welcome to contact our Customer Service Department for status updates, acknowledgement of receipt of materials, or any general questions. Another way to keep informed is by going to the MyXlibris website. This website is a password protected domain where you can check on your book’s status, book sales, and royalties. If you need help registering or logging into the MyXlibris website, just give Customer Service a call at 0800-644-6988 .

We trust that the information in these videos will help turn your manuscript into a professionally published book as quickly and conveniently as possible. But, we do realize that no two books are alike and yours may have its own additional needs.

Please visit our video tutorials where you can learn more about special formatting needs like footnotes, indices, or creating tables. If you’re publishing a color book, you’ll definitely want to check out the video Color Books: Guidelines and Design Options. If you have any other questions or concerns, you’re always welcome to reach us by phone at 0800-644-6988 .

Thank you again for choosing Xlibris as your publisher. We look forward to working with you on a book we both can be proud of.