AUTHOR GUIDELINES

If you are submitting a proposal, go to Manuscript Proposal Guidelines. The following are guidelines for preparing and submitting manuscripts.

Manuscripts need to be submitted as both hard copy and electronically. The initial production process deals with your hard copy. The electronic copy must be an exact copy of the hard copy. A neat manuscript and clear instructions facilitate the production process. If you have questions, call us at (800) 848-7236. 

1. Type the manuscript double-spaced on one side of 8-1/2 X 11" white paper. Indicate new paragraphs by indenting one tab space. Allow approximately 1" side margins. (It is not necessary to justify the right-hand margin.) This spacing allows us to copyedit. It also allows you to respond on the manuscript to queries. 

2. Number pages in the hard copy. If you insert pages, number them as A, B, etc. For example, a new page inserted between manuscript pages 27 and 28 becomes page 27A.

3. You should indicate where illustrations are to be inserted, etc., but do not format the material other than bold and italics. Always leave just one space at the end of sentences, rather than two, and when you do numbered lists or items like the table of contents try to format using tab settings, not numerous spaces or numerous tabs. Such things have to be removed. If you can use style sheets in Word, that is excellent, since we can then change the formatting to fit our needs. 

4. Set tables in rows and columns using tabs (single tabs to separate rows). It is best to set tables in separate files and print them out on separate sheets of paper, noting in the text where the tables best fall. Tables should be referenced by chapter and number within chapter: i.e., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, etc.

5.  If your text requires a special font or special characters, please take note of that. We will need fonts that are non-standard (Russian and Greek especially). If you require accents in your file, use some consistent method of indicating that.

6. Any instructions to us or to the typesetter must be clearly indicated, using a special color pencil and circling your notes.

7. We will type spec your manuscript, but it is important that you be consistent in setting up your manuscript. You should follow the same pattern when you do A-level heads (most important) throughout the book, and B-level heads, etc. Consistency is the most important thing. You should construct a table of contents that uses the levels of head and check to make sure that you are submitting a manuscript that is accurate as to this hierarchy and that the heads in both the table of contents and in the text are the same.

8. 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.

9. Footnotes should be minimal in textbooks, although texts in the Focus Classical Library and other translations use footnotes extensively.

10. Front matter should consist of 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.  

11. 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. 

12. 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. 

13. All manuscripts should contain both a text manuscript and an art manuscript. Illustrations may be either photos or line art. Whether they are numbered in the book or not, all illustrations should be numbered as they are submitted (and they are submitted simultaneously with the final manuscript of the text. The first figure in Chapter 3, for instance, would be identified as Figure 3.1 In the body of the text a marker should be placed to indicate the location of that figure. For example,  [Insert Fig 3.1 here]. These forms will help you when you do permissions. Click here for a sample permission control form.

14. An art manuscript should include final drawings, or sketches, glossy photos or photocopies, depending on what arrangements have been made with your editor. Each figure should be on a single sheet of paper with its figure number.

15. 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.

16. 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.