| provider
of publishing services to both traditional book publishers
and individual authors, our clients demand a wide
variety of genealogy and family history publishing
services. We provide a full portfolio of excellent
genealogy and family history publishing tools, production
services and promotional vehicles. Transform your
ideas into a truly unique and professionally published
product.
What is genealogy and family history
publishing?
You and your family
have a unique story - a family history that has made
you who you are. Bring that story to life - your editor
at Dog Ear Publishing will help guide you and help
you assess your genealogy and family history publishing
needs. We will help you identify what type of product
and services will best meet your goals. Our comprehensive
editorial, design and printing technology solutions
will create the best possible experience for your
readers, while maximizing the profit from each sale.
Dog Ear Publishing
is committed to delivering a superior genealogy and
family history publishing experience for both our
clients and their readers through offering truly unique,
flexible and creative solutions.
The genealogy and family history publishing services
from Dog Ear include professional editorial expertise,
high-quality book design, fully customized and professional
cover design and the marriage of both on-demand printing
and offset printing.

Genealogy and family history publishing
with Dog Ear -
It doesn't matter if you are a new author or a veteran
of the publishing game - Dog Ear guides all of our
clients through the maze of the genealogy and family
history publishing process. The end product will be
a book that truly exceeds all of your dreams.
We've compiled some brief information about our genealogy
and family history publishing process that will help
you along the authoring process and to understand
the various stages of book production.
Dog Ear genealogy and family history publishing
support provides:
- A single point of contact - your Editorial Manager
will be your personal liaison throughout the process.
- Professional custom design - both your interior
pages and book cover will have a truly custom design
from our professional design staff. Our designers
have create award winning book designs for many of
the largest traditional publishers in the world. They
will create (with your input) an attractive and effective
page layout and a beautiful cover that enhances your
book and complements your professional reputation
- Marketing Strategy conferences - genealogy and
family history publishing is all about creating and
expanding marketing opportunities. Your Editorial
Manager will collaborate with you in developing strategies
to reach local, regional, and national sales opportunities
for your book as well as helping to build a highly
effective marketing and promotional campaign. Click
here for more information on Dog Ear targeted
marketing campaigns..
Genealogy and family history publishing
manuscript guidelines
These quick notes are design to ease the entry of
your manuscript into our editorial and production
processes. Our processes are designed around the standards
of the publishing industry, and your review of the
material below will ensure your genealogy and family
history publishing project flows as smoothly as possible.
All manuscripts should be delivered to Dog Ear electronically
- either via email or on a CD/DVD. Your Editorial
Manager will give you the email address to which to
send your manuscript.
Manuscript Elements -
Table of Contents-
A Table of Contents is critical in successfully producting
your manuscript - it is essentially the 'road-map'
for your book. Upon completion of your 'core' manuscript
content, please prepare a Table of Contents(TOC) listing
each part, section, chapter, and headings that you
feel are appropriate. Most genealogy and family historys
list at least the primary heads in each chapter (called
"A-Heads" or "1-Heads"). Your
manuscript must match the order, context, and titles
of the TOC.
Cross-Referencing-
Cross references are a common element in genealogy
and family historys. Unfortunately, we won't know
exactly where each element will land until production
is complete. Please use cross references sparingly,
or discuss with your Editor a strategy for identifying
them within your manuscript. This will help you and
our production department update the reference number
when the final layout is finished.
Book Element Order for Books-
You may most certainly set the order of elements within
your book - but there are standards for professional
books and genealogy and family historys that are accepted
within the industry. "Nontextual" material
(those standard elements found in most books) should
be in the following order:
Front Matter (occuring prior to
the core content of the book)
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Copyright Acknowledgments (for titles with reprinted
/ permissioned material)
- Dedication (if included)
- Brief Table of Contents (if included)
- Table of Contents
- Foreword (if included - usually written by someone
other than the author)
- Preface (if included - by the author)
- Acknowledgments (if included)
- Introduction (if included)
Body Matter (the core content of
the book)
- Parts / Sections / Chapters - in that order
End Matter (optional materials at
the back of the book)
-Glossary (if included)
-Bibliography (if included)
- Index (if included)
Notes on genealogy and family
history publishing book elements -
Front Matter
All books include front matter - at minimum a Title
Page, Copyright Page, and a Table of Contents. Your
Title Page will show the full title of the book with
subtitle, your name and any affiliations you want
us to list.
Text
Parts, Sections, and Chapters are the elements that
break up the text by topic. Your Chapters should be
divided into various levels of headings - usually
not more than 2 or 3 levels deep. Chapters that contain
similar content are 'chunked' together in Sections
or Parts. A Section is a set of Chapters that are
related closely, and Parts are Sections that are related.
When organizing your manuscript, think of it as a
loose outline of your content and the order in which
you want your readers to progress through the book.
End Matter
Some books contain End Matter like a Glossary, Bibliography,
and Index. These elements sent as part of your full
manuscript. Dog Ear can discuss a variety of options
for creating an index for your book.
Manuscript Preparation for
genealogy and family history publishing Projects-
Your manuscript must be your final manuscript. Editorial
changes or alterations - other than to correct errors
- will significantly slow the process and will incur
a charge to the author.
Art, Images, Figures, Graphs, Tables, etc
-
"Non-text" elements will be placed as close
as possible to where they are referenced within the
text (your Art Reference). These elements will fall
AFTER the reference, at the top or bottom of a page,
typically within (1) page of the Art Reference. Tables
are considered text and will be positioned within
the text. Images will appear in the printed book as
submitted (both in size and quality). Graphs or figures
should use text printed as solid black and white with
no shading. Shading causes images to lose quality
when books are printed digitally. Art or images that
require manipulation will increase our production
time and costs to the author. All "non-text"
elements should be numbered consecutively and must
be referenced within the text..
A note on graphic elements
Graphics reproduce best when submitted as an original
digital file in high resolution. Any scans should
be submitted at 300 dpi as grayscale.
Author Page Proofs-
Every electronically produced Dog Ear genealogy and
family history publishing book is delivered to you
several times throughout the process as a 'digital
proof' in PDF form. Once you receive your Page Proofs,
the final layout of pages, please take no more than
five days to check the copy and return them to Dog
Ear Publishing.
Post-Production Alterations -
Upon review of your Page Proofs, we recommend you
only correct 'egregious' errors or any errors that
may have been introduced in production. Any other
alterations will be considered Author Alterations
and will incur a charge (as well as significantly
slow the process).
We understand that authors need the ability to change
their content - and our process is very accomodating
of changes - but removing or adding even one line
or paragraph to a page is not nearly as simple as
it may seem . Even a single word change can change
the length of the text block and thereby affect each
following page. In some cases the entire book would
have to be reformatted and repaginated - forcing us
to an entirely new production schedule, incuring significant
cost, and completely throwing your book off-schedule.
Here is what we need you to do upon receipt of your
proofs - we suggest you print them out for convenience.
- Check EVERY page.
- READ all the text, looking specifically at unusually
spelled words.
- CONFIRM the placement of images, art, graphs, tables,
poetrys, etc.
- MARK DIRECTLY ON THE PAGE any required alterations.
You will fax these back to us.
- FAX your corrections to us. You only need to fax
those pages that contain changes. You can also send
them via the mail.
It has been our experience that author who closely
follow the above information will have a positive
and rewarding experience in the production of their
book. We truly are here to help you build the book
of your dreams.
MS Word Styles for
author manuscripts
Your Editorial Manager can forward a Word template
with these styles embedded.
1-Head: The 1st level of head within
text
Article Title: Refers to titles of
articles only, not chapter titles
Author: Original author(s) of article,
if any
2-Head: 2nd level of head within
text, usually denotes a subhead
Boxed Text: One way of highlighting
a phrase/quote
BL: Bulleted list
3- Head: 3rd level of head in text,
usually a sub of a subhead
CN: Chapter numbers
CT: Chapters titles
4-Head: 4th level of head in text,
usually is a bold title at the start of a paragraph
Intro: Introduction paragraph to
either an article or the chapter
Notes: Includes footnotes and endnotes
NL: Numbered list
Quote: Quotes from people
Ref: Usually bibliographic references
at the end of chapters/articles
Table Head: Usually title of table
Table Source: Permissionable source
of table
Table Subhead: Usually headings over
table columns
Table Text: Text to be indented in
tables
Text: All text within document
Common Questions surrounding
genealogy and family history publishing-
I want to use previously printed material. Do
I have to clear permissions and do all the paperwork?
You will need to secure permission to use any material
that doesn't specifically belong to you - including
art and poetrys. Your Editorial Manager can supply
the needed permissions forms. If you do decide to
use previously printed material, you should not use
more than 10% of the total content of the originating
source. Please note that using material for 'Education'
is not all needed to have something defined as "fair
use".
What if I want to change material printed previously?
You should never change reprinted material. So let
our experts determine whether copyright clearance
should be obtained.
Will my genealogy and family history publishing
project look like a real book?
Your book WILL BE a 'real' book - and will stand with
the best products produced by the largest and most
successful publishers. Each and every part of your
project will be created with the highest level of
professional design and production.
How much money do I make on each sale?
Most of our authors are invested in the success of
their book, and also expect to be rewarded for their
hard work. As a genealogy and family history publishing
author, you are in complete control of your profit
level. You can make as little or as much as you like
on your project.
How much should I charge for my book?
The retail price of your custom text is dependant
upon many factors - including the printing costs,
market factors, and your desired profit level. See
our Retail
Pricing page for strategies on setting a retail
price and your author profit. The final customer
price is set by the store.
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