UMass Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press

Welcome to the University of Massachusetts Press. We look forward to working with you on turning your manuscript into a book. The process involves many people: your sponsoring editor, the managing editor, copy editor, designer, compositor, and printer. To help things go as smoothly as possible, please read and follow these guidelines for preparing your manuscript for editing and production.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Some manuscripts are edited on paper, some onscreen. Electronic edits are done using Microsoft Word, so we prefer Word documents to start with, although Word Perfect is acceptable.

The electronic files for multicontributor volumes must be in one word processing program only. If you are the volume editor, it is your responsibility either to make sure that all your contributors submit their essays in that program or to take care of having the files converted.

The manuscript should be submitted on CD (we also accept Zip disks and PC diskettes, but we cannot work with Mac diskettes) or via e-mail attachment, together with two double-spaced, single-sided, unbound hard copies. The hard copies must match the electronic files exactly. In other words, do not make any further changes to the computer files once you've printed them out. If you make corrections on the hard copy, use bright colored pen or pencil and provide a list of page numbers with changes. Use the same hardware and software for the entire manuscript. Please label the disks with your name, type of hardware (PC or Mac), type of software (program and version), and date.

FORMATTING

Create a separate file for each chapter and major element of the book. Do not put the entire manuscript in one enormous file; we cannot work with it.

Label the chapter files by chapter number (e.g., Ch01) not by title; label the remaining files according to their contents: front matter (which includes title page, dedication, epigraph, table of contents, list of illustrations, preface, acknowledgments); introduction; conclusion; epilogue; afterword; appendix; bibliography; tables; captions. Part title pages should each be a separate file.

Margins should be set at 11/4 inch all around. Set left justification, ragged right margin. Let lines break automatically according to the margin setting. Use hard returns only at the end of a paragraph, section, subhead, and block extract. Turn off the autohyphenation feature; the only hyphens that should appear should be in hyphenated compound words.

DOUBLE SPACE EVERYTHING. That means epigraphs, extracts, notes, bibliography, tables, captions, list of abbreviations. Everything.

Page numbering should be sequential through the book. If you don't know how to do this electronically, number pages by chapter on the disk and sequentially throughout on the hard copy by hand.

Chapter numbering should be consecutive using arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). Introductions and conclusions should not be numbered. Preferably they should have a descriptive title. Chapter titles should be typed cap/lowercase, NOT all caps (for specifics, see below under Headings). Use a colon to separate subtitles from titles. Chapter number, title, and epigraph (if there is one) should be typed at the top of the first page of the text, not on a separate page.

Chapter epigraphs are separate elements, not tied to the text. Brief source citations are given at the end of the quotation. Full bibliographic information is not required. DO NOT cite epigraphs with a text note.

If you include chapter epigraphs, it's preferable, for design consistency, that you supply them for all chapters, not just for some. We discourage the use of section epigraphs; they can create difficulties in page makeup.

Headings
Please DO NOT fall prey to the temptation to use all those fancy formatting features your software includes; we'll just have to strip it out. Use one font in one size throughout: we prefer 12-point Times New Roman. Please do not use sans serif.

Headings and subheadings should be in regular type, not underlined, bold, or italic. Flush left. Indicate major subheads by inserting <A> before each, then <B> for secondary heads, <C> for tertiary heads. Please do not use all capital letters; capitalize them following the guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style:

In regular title capitalization, also known as headline style, the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (if, because, as, that, etc.) are capitalized. Articles (a, an, the) and prepositions, regardless of length, are lowercased unless they are the first or last word of the title or subtitle. The "to" in infinitives is also lowercased.

Subheads should not carry text notes. Please append the note to the appropriate sentence in the text.

Section breaks without a subhead should be indicated by the word "<SPACE>" on a separate line. (Use of ornaments for this purpose is the designer's prerogative.)

New paragraphs should be indicated with a tab indent. Do not insert extra line space between paragraphs, notes, bibliographical entries, or to set off block extract.

Long quotations (more than 8 lines of prose or 2 lines of poetry) should be typed as block extract, indented one-half inch using your software's block quotation feature or by resetting the margin at the beginning of the block. Do not use tabs and hard returns to indent each line. Type poetry with line breaks as they occur in the original; if special formatting is required, please provide a photocopy of the original poem with the manuscript.

Endnotes
Generally we set notes as endnotes at the end of the book (with running heads that give the span of pages covered); in edited volumes, they appear at the end of each essay. In manuscript they should be gathered at the end of each chapter. If you have a strong preference for footnotes, please let your sponsoring editor know. In manuscript, in any case, they should not be printed at the bottom of the text page.

TABLES

Tables should be created as text files rather than with a table-formatting feature. Avoid boxes, shading, and snaking columns. Print out each table on its own page. Gather all tables into a single file rather than integrating them into chapter text. Tables are separate elements and carry their own source credits and notes; table notes must not be included within the sequence of text notes. Number tables sequentially throughout the text, except in edited volumes, where they should be numbered by chapter (table 1.1, for example). References should be inserted in the text ("see table 1" or simply "table 1") and locators supplied "<table 1 near here>." Give the table a title that fully and clearly explains what it's about. Create a list of tables to follow the table of contents in the front matter.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Please consult with your sponsoring editor if you are including illustrations to decide the appropriate handling of the program, gathered into a gallery or interspersed in the text.

If illustrations are to be interspersed, insert parenthetical text references—"(figure 1)," "(map 1)"—and locators "<fig./map 1 near here>," and provide a list giving the manuscript page location. Please create a separate, single document of illustration captions, including source credit lines. (Make sure that credit lines are given exactly as stipulated by the grantor of permission to reproduce the illustration.) Include a list of illustrations to follow the table of contents in the front matter.

PERMISSIONS

As stated in your contract, you are responsible for securing all permissions for the use of illustrations and quoted material under copyright or otherwise protected by law, and for payment of any fees involved.

Please consult chapter 4, "Rights and Permissions," of the Chicago Manual of Style, 14^th or 15^th edition, for information.

Letters of permission or photocopies should accompany your manuscript or follow as soon as possible. All permissions must be in hand before we can proceed to production with the manuscript.

Below is a sample of a letter seeking permission to reprint, which you can adapt to your specific needs:

Sample Permissions Letter - Corel WordPerfect format

Sample Permissions Letter - Microsoft Word format

STYLE AND PUNCTUATION

In general we follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 14^th or 15^th edition. Where appropriate, MLA Style is acceptable as well. Webster's Collegiate, 11^th edition, is our primary spelling guide.

Use underlining for emphasis, titles, foreign words—any text that will eventually be set in italics. Punctuation following an italicized word (except quotation marks and parentheses) should be underlined.

If you use accents or special characters that are not available in your software, provide a list of them and let us know how you have marked them on the hard copy and indicated them on disk.

Use bullets only with the understanding that lists may be designed without them.

Use only one space after periods and colons.

Use two hyphens--without space before, between, or after--for a dash (or Word's —).

IN DOUBT?

If you have any questions as you're preparing your manuscript, please ask your sponsoring editor or our managing editor, Carol Betsch.

PREPARING ART

In general, we far prefer to work with black and white glossy prints rather than digital files. JPEG and GIF files are not acceptable in any case.

Instructions for submitting art to be reproduced in black and white:

The best way to submit art is as an 8 x 10 black and white, photographic quality glossy. High-resolution printouts from laser printers or inkjet printers are not acceptable as they have already been "rasterized" or "screened," both processes make it difficult to get a good reproduction in the book.
If necessary we can work with color slides or transparencies but they never reproduce quite as well as a good black and white print. There is also an added internal cost of scanning or printing a slide which can run from $10-$20 each.
If photographic art is submitted digitally the quality of reproduction will be directly related to the experience and professionalism of the person who does the scanning as well as the resolution and format of the saved image.

We have received some very poor quality scans from authors in the past, so if art must be submitted digitally, please contact our Production Manager, Jack Harrison.

Please do not send images "captured" from web pages as these are usually very low resolution and are not good enough for professional reproduction.

For more information, please contact your sponsoring editor.

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