Guidelines for Current Authors

Contents

Preparing Your Manuscript for Publication

Multi-author Works

Contributor’s Agreement

Securing Permissions
Sample Permission Request Letter (illustration material)
Sample Permission Request Letter (reproduction of archival document)

Selecting, Gathering, and Preparing Illustrations
Introduction
Organizing Your Illustrations
Photographs
Jacket/Cover Issues
Illustrations Supplied in Digital Form

The Editing and Production Process: An Overview

The Author and Marketing

Proofreading and Indexing

Preparing Your Manuscript for Publication

Once your book project has been accepted and contracted for publication, the Press requests the submission of the complete manuscript in two forms:

• Electronic word-processing files (preferably in Microsoft Word, though WordPerfect is acceptable also)
• One printout, made from the same files

Unless other arrangements are made with your acquisitions editor, the manuscript files should be saved to and submitted on a compact disc (CD) or memory stick (floppies and zip discs are discouraged).

Always make a backup of the final version of the electronic files before sending them to us. Keep this backup, along with a copy of the printout, as a safeguard against problems (shipping mishaps, for example, or defects in the discs that may prevent us from reading them).

Your acquisitions editor will turn the manuscript over to the Manuscript Editing Department for copyediting only when all components of the eventual book are in hand, so please also submit with the manuscript, preferably in the same shipment:

• All illustrative and graphic materials, including any photographs, maps, drawings, charts, and tables (see the section Selecting, Gathering, and Preparing Illustrations)
All necessary permission documents to cover illustrations and quoted text (e.g., poetry, song lyrics) (see the section Securing Permissions)
• Illustration captions (both an electronic file and hard copy), including credit lines

All text should be double-spaced, including epigraphs, extracts (block quotations), notes, bibliography, and illustration captions.

Particularly with regard to notes and bibliography, you should prepare the manuscript in accordance with The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th or 16th edition. Exceptions to the style recommended by the Chicago Manual may be made in consultation with the Press if followed consistently.

Please be sure that before submitting the final draft you have secured permission to reproduce images not in the public domain and permission to quote extensively from text (including unpublished material) that is not in the public domain. No publisher will set in motion the publication of a book without first being certain that it has the legal authority to do so. At the same time, we strongly support the concept of fair use and urge authors to take full advantage of it: no permission is required, for example, to quote brief portions of a copyrighted text (with the exception, usually, of song lyrics and poems). Include with the manuscript copies of all pertinent permissions agreements and correspondence.

The above outlines the bare essentials of final-manuscript preparation. Observing the following specific guidelines will greatly facilitate the editing and production of your manuscript. These guidelines are also reflected in Contracted Manuscript Checklist, which you should complete as you prepare your manuscript and should include in the package when you submit the complete manuscript for publication. For any question you may have that these guidelines do not answer, please consult your editor. 

Preparing Your Electronic Manuscript Files

We ask that you send your manuscript to your acquisitions editor in two forms—the electronic files (preferably MS Word) and a printout of those files. These files will be sent to the copyeditor, and later, after copyediting, they will be sent to the designer-typesetter. In preparing your manuscript electronically, please observe the following guidelines:

one computer. Prepare your manuscript on the same system—both hardware and software—from start to finish.

 

File Management

file naming. Name files sequentially, using numbers (with zeros) and ms. component abbreviations. For example:

00_fm 01_intro
02_ch1
03_ch2
. . .
11_notes
12_biblio

If possible, provide a list of file names with your disc(s).

separate files. Front matter, bibliography, captions, and other sections should be in separate files from the main text files. Please do not submit the entire manuscript in one file. One advantage of maintaining multiple files—for both you and the Press—is that if one file becomes corrupted, the others are not necessarily affected.

 

Text Formatting

keep formatting to a minimum. Unless you have arranged with the Press to design and typeset your own book, the designer-typesetter will determine treatment of text elements. Normally, most if not all formatting must be removed before typesetting can begin, so elaborate formatting, use of Word styles, or other embedded coding may well be wasted effort. Keep in mind that, except for some books (e.g., textbooks with lessons and exercises), once the book is typeset, it is likely to look very different from the manuscript. The plainer the formatting, the easier the manuscript is for the copyeditor, designer, and typesetter to work with. For the formatting you do use, make certain you treat similar text elements consistently.

hard returns. Please use the text-wrapping feature of your word-processing software. Hard returns should be used only at the ends of paragraphs and at the ends of table rows, items in lists, and lines of poetry.

headings and subheadings.Follow a consistent pattern for indicating headings and subheadings. Type all headings in capital and lower-case letters, never in all capitals. (If you use all-caps, it’s harder to tell which words should have an initial cap.) No terminal periods are necessary for subheadings.

double-spacing. Double-space the entire manuscript, including table of contents, notes, and bibliography. With such spacing it’s unnecessary to insert extra line space between paragraphs, notes, or bibliographic entries. Also double-space tables.

hyphenation and alignment.Turn off the automatic hyphenation feature of your word-processing program, so that words (other than hyphenated compounds) are not broken. Use left alignment in running text.

hyphens and dashes. For hyphenated compound words (e.g., open-ended), use just a hyphen (-) with no space before or after. Use two hyphens (--) for a dash (in copyeditor’s lingo, this is called an em dash, the length of the letter m), with no space before, between, or after the hyphens--like so. If your software automatically replaces two hyphens with an em dash (—) as you type, you may leave the em dashes.

block quotations (extracts). Set off direct quotations of more than ten typed lines from the text by indenting from the left and right margins, using no opening or closing quotation marks. Shorter quotations should be run into the text, with quotation marks used. When indenting extracts, epigraphs, and the like, use whatever commands your word processor has for changing the left margin. Do not hit the hard return or insert extra spaces to achieve the effect of an indentation.

 

Special Characters

0 and 1. Use letters for letters and numbers for numbers; i.e., do not type the lowercase “l” for the number one, or the capital letter “O” for zero.

diacritics and special fonts. If your manuscript has accented letters or special characters that are not available in your word-processing program, provide a list of them and indicate how you have manually marked them in the manuscript. All accents must show in the printout in some way, either as codes (e.g., <Tdot> for a T with a dot beneath it), computer-printed characters, or hand-drawn characters. Whenever possible, use the appropriate printed character for accented letters. If your printer cannot produce all the needed accents, or if your manuscript requires numerous special characters that are not available through your word processor’s standard character set, please let us know. For any manuscript with diacritics that are especially complex or require a special font for editing and printing, early consultation between the Press and the author is crucial.

 

Notes and Bibliography

note numbering. Number the notes for each chapter beginning with number 1, rather than running the note numbers sequentially from the beginning of the text to the end.

embedded notes. Whether your book will have footnotes, chapter endnotes, or (as in most cases) back-of-book notes, we encourage you to use Word’s (or WordPerfect’s) note-embedding feature (which links the note callouts in the text with the notes themselves). If you do so, please do not disembed the notes “manually” as this can introduce errors in note numbering. Instead, submit the files with embedded chapter endnotes, and the Press will disembed the notes for you and collect them in a separate file.

 

Illustration Captions and Call-outs

For guidance on obtaining reproduction-quality photographs and other illustrations, please see the section Selecting, Gathering, and Preparing Illustrations.

captions. Captions for illustrations should be saved to a separate electronic file, with maps, charts (graphs), and other illustrations grouped and numbered separately. Double-space all captions. Number all illustrations in order of appearance, even if these numbers ultimately will not appear in the book.

call-outs. Illustrations, figures, maps, and tables should never be embedded in the text (in other words, do not try to design the book page on screen). Instead, if illustrations are to be scattered throughout the text, mark placements by adding bracketed call-outs (e.g., <fig. 1 here>, <table 3 here>. Each call-out should be placed at the end of the paragraph where you would prefer to have the item appear.

list(s) of illustrations. Please prepare a list of illustrations and/or a list of tables to follow the table of contents in the front matter.

 

Tables

formatting tables.If there are tables in your manuscript, use only numerals, letters, and tabs—not spreadsheet programs such as Excel or the column function in Microsoft Word. Bear in mind that because book pages are in “portrait” rather than “landscape” format, very wide tables are difficult to reproduce, even when turned on their sides. Often the problem can be solved by transposing the columns and rows.

structure. Double-space tables and source information. Type the table number and title at the top and the source information beneath the table. Tables themselves should be submitted in a separate file from the text.

 

Printing Out

The printout should match the files and vice versa. If you make revisions after the printout has been made and you do not have time to make a new printout, please alert your acquisitions editor of the changes. Unless you tell us otherwise, if we find that the printout does not match the files, we will assume the files are up-to-date.

font. In printing out materials, use a standard 12-point font.

numbering pages. Number all manuscript pages consecutively with Arabic numerals, preferably placed at bottom center.

margins. Maintain consistent 1-inch margins on all sides, except on chapter-opening pages, where extra space may be inserted at the top.

Securing Permissions

Written permission should be secured for illustrations (including photographs, copyrighted maps and line drawings, and artwork such as paintings and sculpture) and for text quotations that do not fall under the doctrine of “fair use.” The production of your book may be delayed if you do not complete the necessary tasks before your manuscript is transmitted to Manuscript Editing. Your book will not be printed until you have delivered all licenses and forms to your editor at OU Press.

In the case of quoted text, both the length of the quotation in proportion to the whole and the purpose of quotation should be taken into account in judging fair use. Purposes generally considered acceptable for fair use include criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. More commercial uses may not be fair use. Also falling outside fair use is the reproduction of all or most of an archived document, such as a diary or journal. For poetry and song lyrics, permission is often needed to quote “even a snippet.” For more detailed discussions of fair use, please consult the Copyright Act of 1976 and The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th or 16th edition.

Permission must also be secured for the use of illustrations owned or copyrighted by others (i.e., not clearly in the public domain).

Authors should write for permissions as soon as they have a contract based on a complete manuscript, if not before. The Press provides two model request letters—one for text, the other for illustrations. These letters can be modified to suit individual circumstances, but be sure to include in full the paragraph concerning nonexclusive rights. Provide your editor with photocopies of the permissions you obtain and keep the originals for your records. If a permission agreement requires specific wording in acknowledgement, this should be followed to the letter in the credit lines of illustration captions.

All copyrighted materials require acknowledgment in the notes, the captions, or elsewhere in the book.

Selecting, Gathering, and Preparing Illustrations

 

Introduction

Before your manuscript is transmitted to Manuscript Editing, the Press must receive all original art, as well as clean manuscript drafts of any line images or maps you wish the Press to have redrawn for you. Photocopies of original art to come are helpful but not sufficient. An incomplete art program significantly affects every aspect of the production process and may cause major delays and additional costs. At the same time you send us the final draft of your manuscript, please ensure that your art program is complete, all original art is tagged, and any necessary permissions are gathered and organized.

In the case of rented images and books, the loan period must take into account the entire editing and production process, which takes on average thirteen months. We prefer to have access to the materials until after the book and jacket or cover are printed. Please arrange rental agreements accordingly.

Choose illustrations carefully, bearing in mind that they are almost always reduced somewhat in size in the finished book, and also that their quality is almost never improved in the printing. In general, the original illustrations submitted for production must be of the highest possible quality. We recognize, however, that sometimes it may be necessary to use historical illustrations of lesser quality. Illustrations furnished for reproduction should be the earliest possible generation. For instance, it is better to submit an original drawing than a photocopy of a drawing.

If you plan to provide any illustrations in electronic or digital format, please review carefully the section below titled Guidelines for Illustrations Supplied in Digital Form. Despite manufacturers’ claims, consumer-model desktop scanners cannot capture all the detail that you and we will want to see in your published illustrations. Therefore, whenever possible, we strongly prefer that you send us originals of your photographs and other illustrations, along with your manuscript.

 

Organizing Your Illustrations

• Never write on the backs of photographs if doing so can be avoided. Place a plain paper slip sheet between photographs to prevent any writing from offsetting on the next photo.
• Never use paper clips or binder clips on photographs. Never use tape or Post-It notes on the front of photographs.
• Original art and photographs should be provided flat (not rolled or folded), ready to be scanned.
• To identify a photograph, attach a written or typed identification on white paper to the back of the photo with Scotch Removable Magic™ tape or attach a gummed flap (Post-It™), with the sticky side on the back. If you must write on the back of a photograph, use a number-2B or softer lead pencil with light pressure and write as close as possible to the edge of the image. Using a taped-on label or post-it, indicate “top” at the top of all illustrations. Cropping is best done by the designer, though any concerns you may have about cropping may be conveyed in writing to the editor. It is most helpful to indicate desired cropping on a photocopy of the image.
• Use special caution when submitting illustrations printed in books or other documents. If you have found a significant photograph or painting in a book, look for a credit line that will tell you the location of the origi nal and obtain an 8-by-10 glossy print and permission from that source.
• Number each type of illustration in a separate sequence through the manuscript. Photographs and line art scattered throughout the text may together be identified as “figures” and through-numbered (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.); note, however, that author photos and jacket/cover art suggestions are not included in this numerical sequence. Illustrations gathered into a separate section, or gallery, are sometimes called plates and are numbered separately from scattered art (Plate 1, Plate 2, etc.). Maps are likewise treated as separate sequences (Map 1, Map 2, etc.). Very large art projects should be numbered by chapter rather than through-numbered in the manuscript (Fig. 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc.) to facilitate the renumbering and reordering that often occur in the editing and layout of complex illustrated books.
  Your numbering system should be used consistently for illustration tags, list of illustrations, legends, and on photocopies of permission letters.

 

Photographs

• Gloss-finish photographic prints are preferable, but matte finish is an acceptable alternative. Prints should ideally be 8 by 10, but 5 by 7 is an acceptable alternative.
• Original photos should be true black and white, ideally processed by a professional photo lab or by a library service.
• Color prints and transparencies, including 35 mm slides, may be acceptable for black-and-white reproduction, depending on the quality of the image and the range of color.

 

Jacket/Cover Issues

The Press is responsible for acquiring jacket/cover art and for designing the jacket/cover. We welcome your suggestions for jacket/cover art. If you wish to submit an image for consideration, full-color images should be submitted as 8-by-10 glossy prints, 4-by-5 transparencies, or 35 mm slides.

 

Illustrations Supplied in Digital Form

We are happy to work with photographs, color transparencies including 35 mm slides, and correctly prepared digital files. Be aware that when the Press scans images for reproduction, several factors are taken into account that cannot be known in advance: the actual size of the image on our book page, the properties of the paper on which it will be printed (color, surface, and opacity), and (ideally) the specific technical requirements for the kind of press on which it will run.

If your only option is to provide images in digital form, please follow these guidelines:

1. Find out what OU Press plans for the book page size, so that you can create the digital file at the correct dimensions. A typical 6-by-9 page can comfortably accommodate images not wider than 5 inches and not taller than 7 inches, for example. When in doubt, make the digital file larger rather than smaller.
2. Determine whether the image is suitable for scanning. Look at the image using an ordinary magnifying lens. If the image is composed of dots or speckles in any kind of pattern, it is going to require special expertise to reproduce satisfactorily. Most images that have been printed in books, journals, and other publications are in this category. Be aware that any image that has been printed presents special challenges that you may not be able to address on a consumer-quality scanner, and that the result may be disappointing even though it looks OK on your monitor and/or laser printer.
3. Any image that has been obtained by downloading from an internet location or web site must be checked for quality by the Press. Such files are nearly always in JPG format, and you must use special caution to avoid inadvertently corrupting the file. Do not open a JPG file and save it again in JPG format, as this format is designed to compress the file with each subsequent save, and you will lose image data.
4. Black-and-white photographic images must be scanned as 300 dpi (dots per inch) grayscale images. This pertains whether the item being scanned is an actual photographic print or a printed reproduction of a photograph. Resolution may also be expressed as ppi (pixels per inch).
5. Color images must be scanned as 300 dpi (dots per inch) RGB or CMYK images in TIF format. Files that are saved in RGB mode will be changed to CMYK or grayscale mode for reproduction, and you should be aware that the colors will shift in the transition from RGB to CMYK for printing. If color photographs are being reproduced in color, and if color fidelity is an issue, it is best to have the scanning done by our printer. (For example, an image obtained from an art museum may have stringent requirements as a condition of permission.)
6. Line art is defined as black-and-white illustrations that contain no shades of gray, dot patterns, or tonal variations (typically simple maps, charts, graphs, or other diagrams). If the illustration you are using has been printed, and you do not have the original art or electronic file, the image must be scanned at 1200 dpi (dots per inch) at or near reproduction size. If the image contains shades of gray or colors, it should be scanned by an expert. Save as TIF or EPS, not JPG.
7. Save the files in TIF or EPS format, and always use the correct file extension. Avoid long file names, and always use a sensible, short numeric naming convention such as “Fig 002.tif” for your file names. If your illustrations fall into separate categories, such as figures and maps, your file names should reflect those categories; e.g., “Fig 002.tif,” “Map 002.tif.” Create folders for each group to help organize them and to keep file lists manageable.
8. If you are engaging a draftsperson or cartographer to create illustrations of this kind, make sure they are working in an approved software and put them in touch with the OU Press Production Department for specifications and instructions. Illustrations should be created in a vector-based drawing software such as Adobe Illustrator, FreeHand, or CorelDraw, and saved in EPS format (not JPG), with all fonts embedded. Use no line element specified as “hairline” and use no colors unless your book is being printed in color. Assume that changes may be required during copyediting and production and that the draftsperson may need to be contacted for that work. The Press will want contact information including telephone number and/or e-mail address in case further work is required.
9. When you send your digital files to OU Press, include the following:
   • CD marked with the author/title of the book, date prepared, and “Mac” or “Windows,” indicating what system was used to create it. For multiple CDs, mark them “1 of 2” etc. A soft permanent Sharpie marker is ideal for this purpose. Never use tape, paper clips, or binder clips on CDs, and always put them inside a protective envelope.
   • Complete printed list of all the files on the CD, including file extensions
   • Hard copy (laser prints on paper at actual size) of all the images on the CD, labeled with the file name for correct identification.
   • Information about the hardware and software used to create the files (example: scanned in Adobe Photoshop version 6.0 using TWAIN software, on a Macintosh running Operating System 10.0)
   • For charts, maps, graphs, diagrams created using Illustrator or another drawing software program: include all of the fonts used in preparing the files, including “system” fonts if necessary.
   • Provide contact information for the person (or persons) who created the digital files, preferably telephone number and e-mail address, so that we can contact them if we have questions or problems.
   • Always back up your files in a safe place, in case the CD is lost or damaged in transit.
   • Do not use any kind of file compression.
   • Never embed illustration files in the word-processor manuscript.
   • Graphic files created in the following software programs are not usable for print reproduction:
     • PowerPoint or similar business presentation programs
     • Microsoft Word or other word-processing software
     • Microsoft Excel ChartWizard
     • Any software with the word “Paint” in its name, such as MacPaint or PaintShop
     • This is not a comprehensive list. Many applications commonly sold with desktop computers are designed for presentation purposes and do not yield acceptable graphic images for print reproduction. If you are using anything other than Illustrator, PhotoShop, FreeHand, or CorelDraw, the result will probably not be acceptable, and you will need to engage a draftsperson working in an appropriate vector-based graphic software to recreate them.

The Editing and Production Process: An Overview

After your manuscript is accepted for publication, the final draft is submitted to the Manuscript Editorial Department for an in-house general evaluation of its editorial needs. Based on this evaluation, the acquisitions editor may request further materials or revisions from you.

By this point, you should already have sent a completed Author Information Form to the Press, along with the signed contract. At the time your manuscript is turned over to Manuscript Editing, our Marketing Questionnaire (MQ) will be sent to you; the Marketing Department will ask that you complete and return the questionnaire within 3 weeks. The MQ is the chief means by which you as author can help our Marketing Department devise a successful marketing and publicity strategy for your book. (See The Author and Marketing.)

When we have received all manuscript and illustration materials (see Preparing Your Manuscript for Publication and Selecting, Gathering, and Preparing Your Illustrations), an in-house manuscript editor will be assigned to supervise its editing. The ms. editor will contact you to introduce her- or himself, review the proposed copyediting schedule, and discuss the publishing process. The manuscript editor—your primary Press contact from this point until bound books arrive in our warehouse—shepherds your manuscript through copyediting and typesetting. In most cases, this involves turning your manuscript over to one of the copyeditors in the pool of freelancers we maintain.

The Editorial Department at OU Press has long maintained a commitment to working closely with authors and has found that our writers generally regard the editorial process as a rewarding experience. Respecting the author’s thesis, flow of thought, voice, and tone, the copyeditor, with the book’s most likely reader audiences in mind, will read your manuscript objectively and with a fresh pair of eyes and will edit it with the goal of ensuring that the text coheres and clearly conveys your meaning.

The copyeditor will mark your manuscript with typesetting codes and edit for clarity of content, organization, style, flow, and mechanics. He or she will query you as necessary. Typically, manuscripts are edited electronically (in Microsoft Word); occasionally, special circumstances warrant a pencil-on-paper edit. When the copyeditor sends you the edited manuscript (that is, the printout or the write-protected Word files), please review the editing and queries carefully to make certain that your meaning has not been inadvertently altered in the editing process. Write directly on the printout (or, if so instructed, type directly into the files) to respond to queries and make any further changes to the text. Please do not update the manuscript files you submitted earlier.

It is important that you make any final changes to the manuscript at the time you review the editing, as changes made in proofs (other than necessary corrections) are costly; depending on the extensiveness of such author alterations and the terms of your contract, their cost may be charged to you.

Once you have returned the edited manuscript to the copyeditor, he or she will “clean up” the manuscript—that is, incorporate your responses to queries and any further revisions into the manuscript. Our copyeditors know to make every effort to honor your wishes as expressed in your responses to the editing (including, of course, the wish expressed in the term stet). If your copyeditor needs to follow up on unanswered queries or resolve any other editorial issues, she or he will contact you directly. After the cleanup is done, the copyeditor will return the files to your in-house manuscript editor, who will then transmit them to the Production Department.

The Production Department sends the copyedited-and-clean manuscript with instructions to the designer-typesetter. The ms. editor will then let you know when to expect page proofs. When they arrive, he or she will send them to you (as a printout or PDFs). When you receive the proofs, you will then have about three and a half weeks to read and mark them and return them to the Press. (See the section Proofreading and Indexing.)

While the proofs are being read and marked, the index will need to be created—in most cases, by you or an indexer you have hired. The Press maintains a pool of freelance indexers with whom we regularly work, and your manuscript editor will be happy to hire one on your behalf.

At some point during the editing and typesetting of the manuscript, copy for your book’s dust jacket or cover, the seasonal catalog, and other promotional material will be forwarded to you for review and comments.

Multi-author Works

permissions/contributors’ agreements. For a multi-author work or edited collection, the volume editor must obtain written permission from each active contributor. In this Contributor’s Agreement, the author of the essay or chapter assigns rights to the volume editor for reproduction of the author’s work. A contributor will not necessarily control the copyright if his or her contribution has already been, or is scheduled to be, published elsewhere; in such a case, permission must be obtained from the relevant book or journal publisher.

documentation. All authors must use the same form of citation. In contrast to single-author works, the notes may follow each chapter in the printed book.

bibliography. If the book includes a single master bibliography, the volume editor should ensure that each contributor has followed the same bibliographic conventions. If the author-date system of citation is used, the volume editor should check each bibliographic reference in the text after compiling the master bibliography, since the process of bibliographic consolidation often results in changes; for example, one contributor’s references to “Smith 2000” (which had originally been correct because that contributor cited no other works by Smith published in 2000) may later need to be changed to “Smith 2000a” (because other contributors have cited other works by Smith published in 2000).

numbering illustrations. Illustrations in a multi-author work should be numbered consecutively by chapter (e.g., fig. 1-1, fig. 1-2, fig. 1-3, fig. 2-1, fig. 3-1, fig. 3-2, etc.).

“about the contributors.” The volume editor should compile, at minimum, one or two sentences of biographical information for each contributor, including the contributor’s full name and professional affiliation. This information will appear at the back of the book.

The Author and Marketing

An author’s work is not completed with publication of the book. In many ways, the life of the work has only just begun. The author plays an essential role in making the book a success through marketing, promotion, and sales.

Promotion includes publicity, advertising, exhibits, and direct sales of the book. The Press employs sales representatives both in the United States and abroad to promote its books to the retail and wholesale markets.

Author participation in all these endeavors is essential. Much of what the Press can do and say about a book begins with the information the author provides on the Marketing Questionnaire. Please complete the questionnaire thoughtfully and carefully. The author also contributes to promoting the book by participating in book signings, by bringing books and/or handouts to meetings, and sometimes by making speeches and media appearances relating to the book. Many authors energetically publicize their books formally and informally.

All these activities should be coordinated with the Marketing Department so that supporting activities can be planned.

 

We promote University of Oklahoma Press books in many or all of the following ways:

• We send advance publicity to bookstores and trade media. Advertising is planned where it will have the greatest effect.
• We prepare promotional copy for the book’s dust jacket and seasonal catalog announcement.
• We send news releases and books to reviewers.
• We send complimentary copies to buyers, sales representatives, and other people to encourage bookstore placement.
• We schedule author appearances where possible.
• We exhibit Press books at appropriate academic and trade conferences and meetings.
• We list each book in a spring-summer or fall-winter catalog.
• We send seasonal catalogs to book buyers, journal editors, and academic and other professionals.
• We create and execute direct-mail campaigns when appropriate.
• We submit books to appropriate award competitions.
• We feature each book on our website (oupress.com).

We hope your publishing experience with us will afford you lasting pleasure and satisfaction. All the members of our staff respect and appreciate the privilege of producing your book under our imprint. We welcome inquiries concerning all aspects of your participation in the publishing process.

Proofreading and Indexing

The author again participates in the publication process when the book has been designed and typeset and is paged (we no longer prepare galleys). If you are indexing the book, two sets of page proofs will be sent to you, one for proofreading and one for the production of the index. No proofreading is done in house. You as author are solely responsible for both proofreading and indexing within a short period of time (usually three and a half weeks) set by the Production Department. Therefore, you may wish to hire professionals for one or both of these specialized jobs. The Manuscript Editorial Department can supply names of qualified indexers.

Instructions for proofreading and the preparation of indexes can be found in The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th or 16th edition. Please also see the guidelines below.

No rewriting should be done in page proofs. Any changes not due to printers’ errors may be extremely costly and may affect many lines following the line corrected. Because the typesetter charges the Press for changing lines, the cost of author alterations, including all of the lines affected, may be charged to you.

 

The following points should be considered in proofreading:

• If anything is unclear or any materials are missing, contact your editor immediately.
• Proofread the entire book, including front matter, text, back matter (any appendices, notes, bibliography), tables, maps, and illustration captions. Check the edited manuscript whenever something seems amiss; you do not need to do a word-for-word comparison of the proofs against the manuscript.
• Use a dark, sharp, colored pencil (preferably red) when marking the proofs. Indicate insertions and changes in the proof’s margins, using standard proofreaders’ marks (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th or 16th edition).
• Check the sequence of all headings, notes, tables, figures, and so on, and determine that each is referred to correctly in the text. Check that legends are in the proper sequence and correspond to the figures and to the list of illustrations.
• Check all part titles and chapter headings against the Contents page and running heads.

 

Index Preparation

An index often looks deceptively simple, but making one requires familiarity with the principles outlined here. An index should be adequate for the book and serviceable to the reader, who should be able to locate readily the information needed. Indexes range from a simple listing of proper names to a detailed listing of subjects with subentries. Most of the books the Press publishes require an index that combines names of persons and places with subject entries. You will be asked to limit your index to a certain length. (Note that one book page is roughly equivalent to two and one-half double-spaced typed pages.)

The following are general suggestions for assembling index items and instructions for preparing the copy according to Press style. A sample index page illustrates this style. For further information, please refer to chapter on indexing in The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th or 16th edition. If an alternate index style is used in a particular field, check with the in-house editor before proceeding.

 

General Suggestions

The simplest ways to prepare an index are by means of a computer program or cards of uniform size. If using cards, the 3-by-5-inch size is easy to handle. When you receive page proofs, first read over a whole chapter carefully, underlining or circling in a contrasting color all words to be indexed as general entries or subentries. Catchwords may be noted in the margin if the textual wording is not appropriate for the index.

When all the proofs have been marked, enter the items and their page numbers (with page numbers in numerical order) in the computer or on the index cards. When all entries have been made, alphabetize them manually or by means of your computer program.

Gather subentries together for each subject heading, check them for relevance and parallel form, and arrange them in alphabetical order under that heading or entry (see style instructions in this guide for further discussion of alphabetizing). Avoid sub-subentries. Consolidate equivalent subjects under one heading and insert appropriate cross-references (See or See also). Make a final, careful check of the index’s content and of alphabetizing, punctuation, and numerical order.

Type the final copy double-spaced, both within and between entries. Be sure to show proper capitalization, punctuation, and indentions. If the index must be shortened (or—less likely—needs to be lengthened), this is the time to do so. Check the completed index manuscript for accuracy of spelling and page numbers. Save the final index file on your computer. Attach the index file to an e-mail to the Manuscript Editor assigned to your book or send it to the Press on a CD.

You will not receive any proofs of your index. Therefore, it is especially important that the copy be carefully prepared and checked. It will be edited and proofread by an in-house editor.

 

Some Dos and Don’ts of Indexing

• Do include personal names and relevant place-names, as well as subject entries. (In alphabetizing entries, place-names need not follow personal names.)
• Choose entry headings the user is likely to look for.
• Keep entry headings and catchwords for subentries brief; don’t try to rewrite, summarize, or outline the manuscript in the index.
• Use a noun or noun phrase if possible, and use parallel constructions within an entry.
• Do not index anything in the front matter (pages with roman numerals).
• Avoid indexing illustrations or illustration legends, but if it seems necessary to do so (as in an art book or atlas), underline those numbers and note at the beginning of the index that illustrations are indicated with italic type (see sample index pages).
• Do not index authors and titles that are only in the bibliography or cited as references in the notes.
• Do, however, index substantive matter in the notes.
• Do provide cross-references (See) when an item could appear under several headings.
• Do provide cross-references (See also) to related topics.

 

OU Press Style for Indexes

• Double-space throughout. Leave 1-inch margins on all sides.
• Use hanging indents for all entries.
• Use run-in rather than indented style for all subentries.
• Underline expository words and phrases, e.g., See, See also. (They will be set in italic type.) Underline page references for illustrations if references to them are included in the index.
• Use strict alphabetical order for main or general entries. Entries should be alphabetized letter by letter up to the first mark of punctuation. “Mc” should be alphabetized as “Mc,” not as “Mac” ; “St.” should be alphabetized as “St.,” not as “Saint.“
• Capitalize the first word of each entry heading, whether or not it is a proper noun.
• In the case of a person’s name, put the last name first, followed by a comma and the given name. Alternate names, nicknames, or identifiers—such as (son) when several entries have the same name or similar names—may be placed in parentheses following the main entry.
• Identify all places fully, e.g., Cody, Wyo.; Paris, France. Names of states or territories following city names should be abbreviated according to Chicago Manual preferred form, not according to the two-letter form required by the U.S. Postal Service.
• Use full names of persons, even if they are not given in the text. If a full name is not ascertainable, use an identifying phrase if possible, e.g., Ely, Dr. (John Doe’s physician).
• Arrange subentries in alphabetical order by the first important word in the subentry (not an article or preposition); arrange page numbers within entries and subentries in numerical order.
• If there is only one subentry, try to make it a part of the general entry. If there are several subentries on one page, those subentries are not necessary.
• Collect miscellaneous page numbers at the beginning of an entry, preceding subentries.
• Use commas to separate page numbers within a subentry.
• Use a comma after an entry heading if a page number immediately follows it, and colon after an entry heading if it is followed by a subheading.
• Use a semicolon after miscellaneous page numbers before subentries.
• Use semicolons to separate subentries and multiple cross-references.
• Use a period preceding a cross-reference at the end of an entry.
• No punctuation is used at the end of an entry.
• Use a hyphen to indicate that an item carries over to other pages: 24-25. (These will be typeset as en-dashes.)
• Do not repeat the hundreds digit in a carryover unless omitting it would leave a hanging cipher or unless the digit changes: 109-10, 124-25, but 106-107, 199-220. (Note: If number spans are handled in a different way in the text and notes of a book, handle them that way in the index.)
• Avoid the use of ff. to indicate random mentions on succeeding pages. Passing references to the same subject on more than three consecutive pages may be treated as a span of numbers.
• If your book has footnotes (i.e., notes appearing at the bottom of text pages), use n after the page number (without a space between n and number): 126n; if the reference is mentioned both in text and in footnote on the same page and it is necessary to indicate both, use 126 & n. If your book has endnotes (i.e., notes appearing in one section following the text or at the ends of chapters) use n between the page number and note number: 134n14, or 172nn17-18. Nonconsecutive notes on the same page are treated separately (334n14, 334n16, 334n19). For all endnotes, be sure the page numbers are for the pages on which the notes themselves appear, not for the text pages on which the superscript note numbers appear.

 

Sample Index Page

References to illustrations are in italic type.

“California Joe” (Custer’s scout), 95, 105-106
Choctaw Indians, 27, 54, 171; lands of, 72; treaties with, 70, 72n1, 195nn4-5
Creek Indians, government of, 23, 66, 104-106, 203n3, 203n5
Custer, Elizabeth Bacon (Mrs. George A. Custer), 103n2

De Mezieres, Athanase. See Mezieres, Athanase de
Detroit, Mich., 29, 116, 226; trade at, 27, 98-102; traders from, 11, 279

Education. See Schools

Florida, state of: boundaries of, 110-12; exploration of, 17; French occupation of, 18; Spanish
colonization of, 18-20, 68; transfer to England, 74-92 Fort William (on the Columbia River), 263 Fort William (on the Yellowstone River), 203-204, 268 Francine (ship), 354, 356

Hudson’s Bay Company, 34, 3 82, 385; American officers of, 9; charter of, 31, 44-45; claims of,
in Canada, 7, 37, 102-105; objectives of, 289-301; trade on Great Lakes, 70-73, 79. See also Fur trade

O’Neill, James (father), 36 O’Neill, Mrs. James (Mary Ellen “Ella” Quinlan) (mother), 24 O’Neill, Mrs. James (wife), 45 O’Neill, James, Jr. (“Jamie”) (son), 70