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FOR AUTHORS: PREPARING AND SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS

These are guidelines for preparing and submitting a manuscript under contract. To submit a book proposal to Focus, go to Manuscript Proposal Guidelines.

1. Final manuscripts need to be submitted as both hard copy and electronically. Unless you are providing a manuscript as camera ready, there is no need to attempt to do any sort of layout.
   
   The text should be double space and numbered consecutively.
   
   The text should be double spaced, on 8 1/2 x 11" paper, single sided with at least 1" margins.
   
   You should indicate the word program and version (MS Word 97, etc).
   
   Only on rare occasions should you use any special or odd fonts. Best to use standard "Open Type" fonts. If you use any special fonts, include that in information about your files which you send to us.
   
   Tables can be included in the manuscript, or separately, but they should be created with tabs and not Word table documents. The same occurs with numbered lists; use tabs, and set the tab settings (as in Word) rather than use lots of tabs and the Word default tab settings. As with figures, tables should be named 1.1, 1.2, etc.
   
   
2. Art should be indicated in the manuscript, but not inserted. Thus, <Insert Fig 1.1 here>. Figures should be included in a separate folder, then, and they should be named as they fall in the book. Thus, the first figure in chapter 3 is Fig 3.1. You should also include a separate file for captions, tied in the same numerical way (Fig 1.1) to the figures. All manuscripts should contain both a text manuscript and a
   
   If a book has art, you should include an art manuscript with the final manuscript submission. The will include Illustrations photos or line art. Unless we have agreed otherwise, the author is responsible for providing both final art and permissions for use when necessary. Art from the web is generally not of sufficient resolution to use in a printed book, so originals are needed. Material that exists on the web is rarely free for use. Even Wikipedia has controls over the art insofar as its use in a textbook. Forms to help you when you do permissions. Click here for a sample permission control form.
   
   An art manuscript log includes a listing of the art, the nature of the piece (photo, line art, map), its position (cover, etc., and where exactly in the manuscript it is to be placed), the size of the piece that you suggest (half page, quarter page, etc), the source of the image, permission (assuming you have it) and what they require in the caption, the rest of the caption you want, and a photocopy of the image with crop marks. If there are fees to be paid for permission, we need to know that as well, and terms for payment (are we to pay them, etc). All of this will make it clear what it is we are to do with it.
   
   
3. Text permissions are the same as art permisisons and need both the documents (in word files), sources in a text permissions log, and permissions. We are happy to provide you with some guidelines on permissions, free use, etc.
   
   
4. We need to know the hierarchy of the heads and how the material is organized. If you can use Word styles, that is best, with the primary heads as h1, then h2, etc. If you don't use styles, then you must provide a detailed table of contents which indicates the hierarchy of the heads. The table of contents must be identical to the heads in the text. Thus:
   
   Head 1
      Head 2
      Head 2
        Head 3
        Head 3
      Head 2, etc.
   
   This heirarchy reflects the organization of your material so it is important.
   
   
5. You need to establish a system of emphasis for your material and use it consistently throughout the book. You might italicize words in a foreign language (or in English if the book is a foreign language text). You might emphasize key terms with boldface and define them at first mention. Use them sparingly.
   
   
6. We discourage the use of footnotes in textbooks with some exceptions.
   
7. You will be asked to provide frontmatter for your book: a table of contents, a preface and an introduction. The table of contents should be identical in level and text to the heads throughout the book. The preface should be to both the student and the instructor, identifying what it is that you have done in the book, the pedagogical strategy, why you have ordered the text as you have, ancillaries available if any, and the elements of learning in each chapter, etc. An introduction is a general introduction to the material. Although material in the book may be used in many different kinds of courses, the introductory material should be basic enough to fit all courses. Technical material, interpretative material, etc., should be included at the end of the book, if at all.  
   
   
8. Some hints on developing the material:
   
   Pedagogical elements throughout the book should be consistent and fit with a pedagogical strategy. If an element appears in one chapter (questions for further thought, questions for discussion, chapter opening outlines, vocabulary) they should appear in the same fashion for all chapters. 
   
   All chapters should be about the same length and should ideally include material that is covered in a typical course segment, such as a week. 
   
   
9. the manuscript you submit as final will be considered final manuscript. That means, if you decide to change it latter, you will have to work with us to determine how to include changed material or new material into your final manuscript. If we have worked on it, that work will be wasted if the author simply submits a new electronic file. Once the manuscript is submitted in final form as both hard copy and electronic format, changes can only be made on the copy at Focus. We will enter changes and formatting as we put the text into our system.

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