After the acquiring editor responsible for your manuscript has obtained favorable reports from outside readers and the manuscript has been approved for publication by our Board of Governors, the manuscript is assigned to a project editor. The project editor will be your primary contact at the Press as the manuscript goes through copyediting and production. The project editor prepares an editorial appraisal of the manuscript, looking through the version that was approved by the board in order to advise the author of changes that will be necessary before the manuscript can enter copyediting. The changes called for at this time are usually of a general or mechanical nature (i.e., please double-space the bibliography, please move the notes to the end of the text, please consider simplifying the current system of subheads, please add an epigraph to Chapter 4 since all of the other chapters have epigraphs, etc.); finer points of style and substance are addressed in the detailed work of copyediting. The appraisal is sent to the author, who will have reached an agreement with the acquiring editor on a date for submitting the final version of the manuscript for copyediting.

The final manuscript is submitted to the Press on disk (see Section 2 on the submission of electronic manuscripts) and in duplicate hard copy. The submission of two hard copies is very important in enabling us to work efficiently with your manuscript since it is not uncommon for more than one individual at the Press to need to refer to your manuscript at the same time. The electronic files and one hard copy go directly into conversion and coding (i.e., we convert the files to our word-processing software and code them electronically for later typesetting). The other hard copy remains with the project editor for copyediting. For some manuscripts, the project editor and copyeditor will be the same person (an editor working in-house). For others, the copyeditor will be a freelancer who is assigned the manuscript by the in-house project editor (typically the managing editor or an assistant managing editor).

Virtually all manuscripts are edited on computer, although occasionally special circumstances may dictate that we edit on paper instead. Once copyediting begins, the project editor lets the author know when to expect to see the edited manuscript for review and when we will need the reviewed manuscript returned to us.

If the manuscript was edited on computer, the author receives a new printout incorporating all of the editorial changes as well as the original manuscript. If the manuscript was edited on paper, the author simply receives the original manuscript marked by the copyeditor. In either case, all of the author's responses to the copyediting are written directly on the edited manuscript (meaning the new printout for computer-edited manuscripts). It is never necessary for the author to update electronic files for the manuscript. Once we have received and converted the files, we make all changes needed in them during the copyediting process. A detailed set of instructions for reviewing the copyedited manuscript will be sent to the author along with the manuscript.

When the author returns the edited manuscript, it goes to the copyeditor for cleanup—that is, for the copyeditor to see how the author has responded to queries made during editing, to check the author's changes or additions for consistency with the style established during editing, etc. If the manuscript was edited on computer, this cleanup also entails the final round of changes to the disk, so the manuscript is ready for production when the cleanup is finished. If the manuscript was edited on paper, after the copyeditor completes the cleanup, the hard copy goes to an updater who enters on disk all of the changes marked by the copyeditor and author. The updated files and hard copy are then transmitted to the Production Department.

In the Production Department the manuscript is designed and readied for the typesetter. Although the hard copy is sent to the typesetter for reference, the book is set directly from disk. A production schedule is sent to the author by the project editor once the manuscript has gone to the typesetter (see Section 8 on scheduling and proof).

The author receives page proof for proofreading and indexing and sends the corrected page proof and index manuscript to the Press by the date indicated in the production schedule. The edited index is sent to the author for approval and returned by the date indicated. The project editor checks the revised pages and typeset index, any necessary final corrections are made, and the finished pages go to the printer. (Again, see Section 8 for more detail.)

Manuscript Preparation & Submission
The most important qualities of a well-prepared manuscript—with regard to both its logical and its physical presentation—are clarity and consistency. Whether in capitalizing certain terms, setting up tables, devising a hierarchy of subheads, or structuring an argument, a careful author will be as clear and consistent as possible. Some general guidelines for submitting a clear, consistent manuscript follow (and can be supplemented, where indicated, by subsequent sections of this handbook).

1. All elements of the manuscript must be double-spaced. This includes the table of contents and other front matter lists, block quotations, tables (heading, body, and notes), appendixes, notes (there should be double space within as well as between notes), and bibliography (there should be double space within as well as between entries). The manuscript should be printed, in type large enough to be easily read, on one side only of good quality 8 1/2 X 11 paper. (Authors outside the United States who have access only to A4 paper should stop well short of the bottom of the page in printing their manuscripts, so that no lines will be lost in photocopying from their pages to 8 1/2 X 11 sheets.) If one of the hard copies being submitted is a photocopy, it must be clear and dark, and the author should check to be sure that all pages from the original manuscript are included. (See Section 2 for further details on printing the manuscript.)

2. The manuscript pages should be numbered consecutively from beginning to end, not chapter by chapter.

3. The author should bring the manuscript up to date, making all desired revisions and supplying any missing information in text or documentation before it is turned over to us. Names of people and places, dates, facts, and statistics should be checked in the manuscript; it will be expensive, if it is possible, to change them in proof. (Please read Section 9 with care.)

4. Whether they are to appear as footnotes or endnotes in the finished book, all notes should be printed separately from the text and placed as a group (still numbered by chapter, of course) at the end of the text. (For our preferred style of note citations, see Section 4.) This general rule does not apply, however, to edited collections, in which the notes should appear at the end of each essay rather than at the end of the text as a whole.

5. We much prefer that our books include a complete bibliography of the works cited in the notes. Such a bibliography increases the usefulness of the book, and it also enables us to use the abbreviated note style described in Section 4.

6. All quoted material should be carefully checked in the manuscript to ascertain that it has been recorded accurately and that the reference to its source is complete, always including the page number. Problems with quoted material that has not been accurately transcribed can result in time-consuming delays in copyediting or expensive alterations in proof.

7. No part of the manuscript should be submitted later than others. One of the copyeditor's primary functions is to ensure consistency throughout a book, and the ability to perform that function is significantly impeded if the manuscript is edited in piecemeal fashion. In particular, all tables and illustrative materials (photographs and figures, complete with captions) should accompany the manuscript when it is submitted for copyediting. (See Section 5 on tables and Section 6 on illustrations.)

8. Letters of permission granting the author the right to reproduce quoted matter or illustrative materials should accompany the manuscript when it comes to the Press for copyediting. The author will receive from the Press a blank permissions log that will serve as an aid in tracking permissions requests; it should be filled out and submitted along with the final manuscript. Obtaining permission to use any material that cannot be reproduced within the bounds of "fair use" is a vital part of getting a manuscript ready for submission. Permissions that are not received at the start can cause serious problems and considerable delays later on. (Please review Section 7 carefully; if you have specific questions about permissions, let us know.)