Publication Planning Process (Revised February 2010)  

Prospective authors must submit a written proposal to the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Publications Committee (600 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ 07430) that includes the following information. Contract negotiation and agreement to follow the Trail Conference's Style Sheet are part of the acceptance process.

All proposals must indicate

• Author's contact information
• Overview of content
• Target audience
• Schedule of materials delivery
• Estimated number of pages
• Sample materials
• Competing titles 

Proposal Guidelines  

Type of book - classified by the dominant means of description.

• Guide- a mile by mile description of a trail or trails. example: Long Path Guide
• Trails - description forindividual trails which the reader will link together to make a hike, example: New York Walk Book
• Hikes - descriptions of dfhikes including information about what one sees. example: Circuit Hikes in New Jersey
• Other - coffee table, stories of hiking experiences, informational, children's, etc

Scope:

• Geographic area - example: Bear Mountain-Harriman State Park (Harriman Trails)
• Theme - example: history (Iron Mines Trails)
• Intended audience - example: residents of Westchester County (Walkable Westchester) 
• Outline - what the book will cover including chapter headings
• Introductory material - outline or list of what is likely to be included, which is be 10% or less ofthe total number of pages
• Side bars - whether or not included and if so, what topics 
• Background material - whether there will be information about geology, flora, fauna, and history,etc. and the format in which it will be presented such as separate chapters, orwithin each chapter as text, as side bars, or at the end of a chapter.

Illustrative materials

• Drawings - who supplies
• Photographs - who supplies
• Maps - topographic or schematic

Proposed

• Time frame - length of time you expect to take
• Size - approximate pages

Sample chapter

• Text of at least one chapter or representative hike that includes driving directions and  public transportation
• information about the park(s) such as parking availability, fee if charged, contact information, web site address, restrictions, other services,etc.

Optional

• Suggested title
• Bibliography or further readings
• Index - whether or not you want to include, but is necessary for "trails" types ofbooks

Note: The Publication Committee will assign a project manager/editor and material will be checked by someone other than the author.

Sample Materials Submission:

Each project being considered will have a complete proposal form, a sample chapter that includes all elements that intend to be included: illustrations and graphics, maps, sidebar material, and manuscript representative of all type sections. See Example.

MarketAnalysis Component for Book Proposals

1. Develop print specifications for proposed book
   • Dimensions
   • Number of Pages:
   • Number of Illustrations
   •  
     • Black & White
   •  
     •  
       • Photographs   
   •  
     •  
       • Maps
   •  
     •  
       • LineArt
   •  
     • Color
   •  
     •  
       • Photographs
   •  
     •  
       • Maps
   •  
     •  
       • LineArt
   • Cover art description
   • Other special features
   • Companion maps, etc.
2. Research competitive titles
   • Identify as many other similar publications (current or out-of-print) and complete the "Researching Competition" form (from manual).

Analysis

1. Estimate cost and price of proposed book using cost calculator spreadsheet.
   • Determine the optimum length of time before publishing the next revision
   •  
     • When will the author be ready?
   •  
     • When will the information be obsolete?
   •  
     • Is it a brand new book (lot of errors) or a stable revision
   • Determine the monthly sales average over the period before the next release.
   •  
     • Compare to other similar books in similar markets (i.e.Walkable Westchester and Hiking Long Island are both geographically limited compared to the Walk Books.)
   •  
     • If no comparables available, consider
   •  
     •  
       • Popularityof hiking area covered?
   •  
     •  
       • Untapped markets?
   • Multiply the monthly sales average times the optimum revision timeframe (this is the print run)
   • Estimate total production costs (editing, indexing, layout, cartography, artwork, covers, printing, etc.)
   • Choose a price based on a multiple of 4x-5x times printing and production costs
2. Compared to books on the market
   • Compare to competition
   •  
     • If no competition, ask why
   •  
     •  
       • No market for this publication?
   •  
     •  
       • Great opportunity to publish?
3. Make decision to publish or not based on cost feasibility and degree to which the proposed book fulfills mission.

Acceptance/RejectionCriteria:

Proposals will be presented at the monthly PublicationsCommittee Meeting for review and voted upon. Members will consider how the proposed title would enhance or duplicate current Trail Conference offerings, impact production resources in use, and affect Publication Budget funds allocated for the fiscal year. Publications Chair will review the sample materials for acceptability.

Preliminary BudgetDevelopment/Costing/Sales Projections:

Prior to final acceptance, all materials will need to have a preliminary budget prepared, including projected sales, to justify development and production. Preliminary budgets will be approved by________________________ prior to final acceptance.

Author Contracts/Agreements:

All materials published by the Trail Conference need to be covered by an agreement or contract. Without an agreement or contract, copyright and rights cannot be determined and payment (if any, strive for donations)cannot made. Written agreements and contracts protect both the Trail Conference and volunteers by delineating responsibilities as well as establishing schedule parameters. 

Scheduling

• Establish Market-Driven Publication Date
• Revision Cycle
• Form

Electronic Text Preparation

• Manuscript Development Guidelines
  • Accuracy
  • Field Checking
  • Style
• Manuscript Specifications

Visual Material Preparation

• Maps, Photographs, Line Drawings
• Digital Repurposing Considerations
• Technical Specifications
• Identification Methodology (Coding)

Preliminary Product Launch Meeting

• Covers Design, Editing, Production, Manufacturing ofProduct
• Schedule Development (see sample schedule on p. xx   )

DESIGN

-Sample Pages/Cost Estimates

--Analysis

--Approval/Signoff Procedure

-Designer Contract/Agreement

-Changes and Alterations to Approved Design

-Electronic Design Sample Pages/Specifications

-"Flight Check"

-Final Electronic Format for Printer

-Final Electronic Format for Archival Use

Cover Design:

-Development of concept/design

-Use of Branding Elements/Marketing Information

-Approval

-Proofing

EDITORIAL

Editing:

-Copy Editing vs. Line Editing

-Editorial Style Sheet Development

-Book Map

-Editing Guidelines and Responsibilities

-Approval Process

Permissions,Rights, and Restrictions

-Use of quoted material

-Use of visuals/digital materials

-Copyright Procedure

Following is the copyright that should be used on the copyright page (back of title page):

Copyright © 2009 by New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, Inc., Mahwah, New Jersey.  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.This publication is protected by copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission, write to NewYork-New Jersey Trail Conference, 156Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ  07430,or e-mail at: [email protected].

--ISBNs

CIP Data

Cataloging in Publication data is prepared and sent the Library of Congress as part of the front pages in a book. It appears on the copyright page of the book (located on the back of the title page).

CopyrightRegistration

Copyright registration is filed electronically through the U.S. Copyright Office at www.copyright.gov. once a work has been physically published. The Trail Conference has an access account with registered user name and password. Three copies of the final product must be sent to the Copyright Office once it has been registered online and the registration fee has been paid.  It is essential that the copyright be filed as soon as possible to the product being produced as it affords proof of ownership. Revisions must also have copyright registration to protect any new material.

Stages

Cost Containment/Quality Control Editorial Production

Print materials produced by the NY-NJ Trail Conference go through several stages of production: Manuscript, page, and manufacturing. Once a proposal is accepted and approved, a project manager is assigned. The project manager is responsible for all stages of production to final finished product. While the project manager may not do all of the stages, he or she oversees others doing each stage.

Manuscript

All changes and revisions made during manuscript are free and every effort should be made to make all changes during this stage. All map labels should be cross checked with the text, as should all field checking be incorporated. Manuscript is not final until all elements are complete and edited. While accuracy of the manuscript is the responsibility of the author, all reviewing the manuscript should be aware of nconsistencies.

-Level of edit (line vs. copy edit)

Manuscript should arrive so that it needs only a light edit (copy edit). Should it require line editing (rewriting,excessive structural changes), additional time and resources will be needed. Representative sample manuscript should uncover this problem. The Publications Chair should be notified in this event.

Pages

-Establish Number of Review Passes

Each pass of pages, which require the input of the designer, editor, and author, costs time and money (duplicating pages, postage, file manipulation). Often seemingly small changes can increase the production cost significantly. A change to a repetitive element, such as punctuation, map standards, or additional illustrations will have fiscal impact. The schedule will clearly indicate how many passes of pages are allowed for a project which is based on the approved project proposal.

--Scope of Page-Checking Responsibilities at each Pass

It is the responsibility of the project manager to communicate what the designer, editor, and author should check during pages. All changes should go through the project manager for consistency and quality control. Should changes be excessive (rewriting, new page layouts, additional maps illustrations requested) the project manager will advise the Publications Chair prior to releasing any proofs.

-Index Development Guidelines

The index will be prepared from final approved pages.

Proof Checking

-Types of Proofs

Designer Prior to release to the printer proofs will be digital, often in the form of a pdf. These proofs are created from electronic manuscript (MS Word, WordPerfect) that has been put into a page make-up program (Quark, PageMaker). Any editorial or design changes made at this point require the designer to go into the page make up program and input changes. Designer proofs are checked by the author, editor/project manager, designer.

Printer Proofs from the printer will also be digital but be created from an often proprietary program that uses the page make up program from the designer. Changes made at this point are very expensive and should not be considered unless by not doing so would incur a lawsuit or bodily injury. Any change must be approved by the Publications Chair. Printer proofs are checked by the project manager.

-Checklists

Each stage of production should have a checklist (based on the schedule) of steps to be checked at each pass.

SAMPLE CHECKLISTS

Manuscript Checklist

_____File named according to agreedconvention

_____Copyediting

_____Field checks input

_____Map labels verified withmanuscript

_____Copyediting reviewed byauthor/edits input

_____Style sheet updated

_____Author changes input

_____Final ms. proofed

_____Illustration/photos/final ms.with edits to designer

Page Checklist (1^stpass pages)

_____Pagination (check against bookmap)

_____Illustration/map placement

_____Design (facing page alignment,element placement, etc.)

_____Widows, orphans, line breaks,rivers

_____Footnote, cross-referenceplacement

_____Author review

_____Proofread against final ms.

_____All edits to designer

Page Checklist (2^ndpass pages)

_____Pagination (recheck againstbook map)

_____Verify 1^st pass pagecorrections

_____Return to designer for finalproofs

Final Pages

_____Pagination (recheck againstbook map)

_____Verify 2^nd pass pagecorrections

_____Return to designer forflytecheck and release to printer.

Printer Proofs

_____Pagination

_____Design elements (missingscreens, illustrations, stray marks, broken type)

_____Release to print

Manufacturing

-Estimating Process

-Cost Approval

-Cost Monitoring

-Interim Cost Changes

-Product Acceptance/Review Form

-Final Cost Approval and Documentation

The Post Production Review is held once a project is manufactured, approved, and shipped.  As the Project Manager has the greatest familiarity with the product, the logical assumption is for him or her to assume the role of the coordinator.  Members of the publication committee attend as well as members of the production team (project manager, cartographer, illustrator). This is an opportunity to rejoice in the completion of the project, as well as determine what went well and identify what did not.

Financial

In order to fully review a product from the financial standpoint, the following documentation should be available: original approved publication proposal, original estimates from all sources (cartographers, illustrators, designers, paid writers and editors, color separators, printers, special packagers), interim or partial payments records, and final payments. Utilizing these sources, compare the original budget based on the original approved publication proposal with the actual costs.

Editorial Production

By analyzing the production process the team can distinguishwhich processes were effective, efficient, and economical.  A close comparison of the original schedule,which was prepared when the approved publication proposal was completed,against the actual schedule enables the team to determine the effects of anydifferences. The addition of extra steps or changes to the original productionpath may be the result of necessity once the project was underway. Factorscontributing to changes in production methods may be caused by graphicsproduction, manuscript condition, and availability of sources.

GraphicsProduction

Projects may contain maps, illustrations, and photographs. Sourcing may come from stored images, volunteer supplied images, or be newly created. It is important to compare the initial number of graphics listed on the approved publication proposal with those that were finally used.  Any deviation should be accounted for as cost can be affected. A close examination of the process used to prepare the graphics components can be effective in identifying problems such as file format and incompatibilities.

Archiving

The Project Manager can list materials that have been returned and archived to date, as well as review the distribution list of complementary copies.

Post ProductionReview Summary

Based on the documentation, discussion, and analysis completed during the Post-Production Review, the Project Manager will create a written summary listing which processes worked as well as those that didn't. The written summary will become part of the final file for the project.

-Cost vs. Budget

-Procedural Review

-Quality Analysis

-Material Types: Books, Maps, Brochures

-Storage Mediums

-Locators/Cross-referencing Methodology

-Repurposing Guidelines

ELECTRONIC FORMAT PUBLICATIONS/ONLINE WORKS

BOOKS/BROCHURES

MAPS

All map projects will be archived with the following: electronic specifications, final map files, listing of changes for reprint, all files labeled with version and year. The Trail Conference will house all materials.