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Tag: self-publishing

Understanding IngramSpark Title Processing: Ensure that your POD files are print-ready

Published on June 24, 2017 | In Blog, Independent, Hybrid and Self-Publishing | 0 Comment

Quite a few people have asked me about self-publishing.  When they do, I tell them about print-on-demand and IngramSpark. The Authors Guild recognized IngramSpark with their Award For Distinguished Services To The Literary Community at their 25th annual gala on May 24, 2017.

Ingram Spark, self-publishing branch of Lightning Source, Inc. By Linda Austin, Moonbridge Publications, updated November 2015

Ingram Spark is one of the U.S. print-on-demand (POD) digital printing companies for print books and ebooks. It is associated with Ingram, a major book wholesaler-distributor, and is the self-publishing branch of Lightning Source, Inc., (LSI), Ingram’s book printing company. Many indie and small publishers used LSI because of its low cost and the Ingram connection, but now indie authors are being channeled to Ingram Spark instead. Spark books also go into the Ingram database that booksellers and libraries use to find and order books:

We offer the same products and services enjoyed by big-time publishers—superb quality and industry connections backed by decades of experience—all made easily accessible to the indie-publishing community from one simple-to-use platform.

by IngramSpark Staff (@ingramspark) Monday, June 19, 2017 Understanding IngramSpark Title Processing

There are many factors that go into making a printed product look ideal, and your files are important elements in the printing process. Ensuring that your files are print-ready is key. Knowing what IngramSpark's file specifications are and making sure your titles meet them will allow for a smooth review process and bring you one step closer to printing your book. Once you press submit on that file upload, you want to see your title approved, and so do we!

IngramSpark’s File Specifications

We offer a File Creation Guide that features our file specifications for both interior and cover files. Not all printers are the same, and we recommend even the most experienced publishers review our File Creation Guide as it contains important file recommendations and terminology you may not be familiar with but that are essential to successful IngramSpark title processing.

Common File Terms

Bleed: the area that goes beyond the edge of the page or cover before trimming. It is ultimately trimmed off. If you have an image or background that you want to print to the edge of the book, when it is bound and trimmed, you will need to extend the image or background past the trim. If you do not, the pages or cover may have white around the edges.

  • Covers require a 0.125” (3mm) bleed on all four sides (an exception is case laminate titles, and they require a 0.625” bleed on all four sides for wrapping purposes).
  • Interior files require a 0.125” (3mm) bleed on the three outer edges, but not the bind side (inside edge) of the page. If your text or artwork is not intended to bleed, you may submit your file at the trim size.

Trim: where the page is cut. The trim size is the final size of your book after trimming. Because our print-on-demand services allow for a 1/16” (0.0625 in/2 mm) variance in printing, any text or images that are too close to the trim edges could be cut in the printing and binding process. We recommend keeping images/text in the safety area.

Safety Area: where text and graphics are not at risk of being trimmed off or lost in binding.

  • For interior files, we recommend a minimum of 0.5” (13 mm) safety area on all sides of your text block.
  • For cover files, we recommend a minimum 0.25” safety area. Also, make sure that you have a 0.0625” (2mm) safety area on both sides of a spine 0.35” or larger. If the spine is smaller, we recommend a 0.03125” (1mm) safety area on both sides of the spine.

To calculate your spine width, you may use our Weight and Spine Width Calculator.

Embedded Fonts: IngramSpark requires all fonts to be embedded in your files. This ensures the look and placement of text on the page, and it is important for keeping the document fonts and layouts as intended. Keep in mind that when you are creating your files, the default Acrobat “Standard” PDF setting does not embed base 14 fonts, and we recommend that all PDF files are submitted as PDF/X-1a (2001) or PDF/x-3 (2002). This is an industry standard PDF format that embeds fonts by default.

To see if your fonts are embedded, open the PDF in Acrobat and select the File menu, and then Properties. The Fonts tab lists the names of all fonts in the file: (Embedded) or (Embedded Subset) should appear next to all fonts listed. If one of these tags is not listed, the font is not embedded.

Common IngramSpark Title Processing Error Messages

If your title has been placed on waitspecs, you may be wondering what that means and how to move forward. IngramSpark's waitspecs simply mean “Waiting for Customer Specifications” and indicates our file technicians may have discovered something in your file that could cause a printing issue. In many cases, the file will need to be adjusted by the publisher or designer to correct the issue, and it will be submitted as a revision on the account. (Any revisions submitted due to a waitspecs notice will not incur the $25 per file revision fee.) Here are some common waitspecs notifications we see:

Crop Marks on Interior PDF File: Crop marks, printer marks, and registration marks are unnecessary for our printing process, and they could appear when the book is printed. We ask that files are submitted without crop marks, printer marks, or registration marks.  

Complex Image in Interior/Cover PDF File: Complex images can sometimes cause delays in the printing process and should be flattened/rasterized.

Cover File Uploaded for Interior Part (or Interior File Uploaded for Cover Part): In order to ensure your book prints correctly, you may resubmit the files in their respective locations on the file upload page.

Corrupt Interior/Cover File: Typically, a corrupt file occurs when there is a bad font or image, but it can also be caused by a special character (such as an ampersand “&”) in the file name. The errors will need to be fixed to ensure your book prints as intended.

Barcode is Not Formatted Correctly: Barcodes are mandatory on all titles, and barcodes that will not scan will cause delays in the printing process. Barcodes should be black only (0 Cyan / 0 Magenta / 0 Yellow / 100 Black) and placed over a white box or background. Barcodes should also be large enough to scan (we recommend 1.75” x 1”) and should be a vector graphic or high quality rasterized. A barcode is provided for you when you use our Cover Template Generator.

Cover Layout Submitted is Not Built to the Correct Specifications: If the cover artwork is submitted at the wrong trim size or if it does not correspond to your title’s metadata (trim size, bind type, interior type, page count), you will need to submit a new file. If you are having difficulty formatting your cover to meet our specifications, we recommend using our Cover Template Generator.

Revised Interior/Cover Submission Did Not Fix All Issues: Although new files were uploaded, there are still issues that could occur in printing, and corrected files will need to be submitted.

PDF Document Size is Incorrect: The PDF document size refers to the entire document, including crop marks, measurement notes, and white space of our cover template. The PDF document size is noted in the white area of our cover template.  

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Could an Indie Picture Book Win the Caldecott Award for best U.S. illustrated children’s book?

Published on June 22, 2017 | In Blog, Recommended Books | 0 Comment

The Good, the Bad, and the Self-Published

May 11, 2017, for The Horn Book, by Rachel G. Payne

Right about now, the 2018 Caldecott chair is likely receiving a steady trickle of self-published books in the mail. Yes, these books are completely eligible for the award! As long as their illustrators are American, that is. But is this an exercise in futility? Could a self-published picture book actually win? To my knowledge, one never has, but if it did, it would be game-changer.

When I served on the 2009 Caldecott committee, self-published authors and illustrators who wanted to submit something for award consideration had to send it to every committee member and also to ALSC. That adds up to a whopping 16 books, and lots of postage. And if they are submitting the book to several award committees, that can really add up. Thankfully for the indie crowd, this rule changed a few years ago, and now only chairs and the ALSC Office are required to get copies. As chair, I got several of these submissions each week, and I even had a few waiting for me on my desk at work after my committee had deliberated. The submissions often came with heartfelt letters and self-generated marketing materials attached. While I can’t share any specific titles with you, they did indeed run the whole gamut: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Here are a few patterns that emerged in the submissions I received.

The amateur hour: If you are professional who works with children’s books, I am sure someone has said to you, “I have a great idea for a picture book…” Many of the books I received were labors of love by the author, to bring these ideas to fruition. There was often the kernel of a good idea there, but many fell down in the art department. It looked as if the authors had invited family members, next-door-neighborhoods, or college friends to illustrate their books. Or the writers themselves pulled out an old set of watercolors to create the art. They were amateur artists, and it showed.

Where’s the story?: There were a few books that had exceptional art, often by an art student or practicing artist, but the story was an afterthought. It seemed as if someone had told the artist they could and should create a picture book out of their portfolio. These submissions proved the point that a picture book is more than a collection of pretty pictures.

The slush pile: Whoever coined this phrase was a genius, because many of the books I received left me cold. A few were disturbingly racist and sexist. Others were extremely odd, and you have to wonder how anyone could think a children’s picture book on this topic was a good idea. Some everyday objects should not be anthropomorphized!

Diamonds in the rough: There were a few books that had interesting art and compelling stories to tell. They were also handsomely printed and bound. When I had enough of these stand-outs, which were few and far between, I would pack them up and send them off to my fellow committee members for a second opinion in what we called the “indie box.”

How far did any of these self-published books get in the award process? That I can’t share, but I think it is telling that a self-published book has never, to my knowledge, won the award. And, I’m sad to say, it is unlikely to happen. While the tools and services available to authors and illustrators to make their self-published books look their best are getting more sophisticated every year, indie authors don’t have the talents of professional editors, art directors, and book designers to draw on. They don’t have the funds to pay for high-quality paper, full-color endpapers, or even dust jackets; all of the things that make picture books beautiful physical objects that make children (not to mention committee members) want to touch, open, and pore over. When it comes to awards, publishing is not an even playing field.

A word of warning to authors or illustrators who may be submitting their self-published work for award consideration (and some major publishing houses could use a reminder, too): read award submission guidelines carefully. If your book is not eligible for an award, no matter how wonderful it is, don’t submit it. It is a waste of your time and money. Also. Committee chairs can’t return your book to you, and they don’t have the time to acknowledge that it has been received (get a tracking number from your courier). And no, the Caldecott chair cannot pass your work along to the Newbery chair.

While it may be difficult or even impossible for a self-published book to win a Caldecott, I hope independent writers and artists keep at it. In my career as a librarian, I have sometimes turned to indie books on topics that major houses were not addressing. Recently, to support one her students, a kindergarten teacher asked me for a simple picture book about a child who wears hearing aids. El Deafo was too long, and other titles were about getting cochlear implants, not this boy’s experience. The best book I found was Maxi’s Super Ears, written and illustrated by Maggie Klein and published by Maggie Klein. While it did not win a Caldecott, it is no less important or necessary to its readers.

So what’s your take? Could a self-published picture book ever win?

About Rachel G. Payne

Rachel G. Payne is coordinator of early childhood services at Brooklyn Public Library. She has written for School Library Journal, Library Trends, and Kirkus and was a contributor to Reading with Babies, Toddlers and Twos (2013) and Library Services from Birth to Five: Delivering the Best Start (2015). Rachel served as chair of the 2016 Caldecott committee and as a member of the 2009 committee.

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New Self-Publishing Platform: Authors Keep 100 Percent of Royalties

Published on March 9, 2017 | In Blog, Independent, Hybrid and Self-Publishing | 0 Comment

March 8, 2017 featured article in Publishing Perspectives, by Porter Anderson

Called Type & Tell, Bonnier’s new self-publishing platform has been quietly tested in Sweden since September 2015. Its English edition launches during London Book Fair.

Some publishing corporations have acquired existing self-publishing services—as in Macmillan’s purchase last year of Pronoun in the States. Bonnier’s team has created its own self-publishing platform with interesting distinctions.

Led by Bonnier Books Ventures chief Rebecka Leffler, Type & Tell’s initial Swedish site has been quietly growing longer than you may think, since autumn 2015. The English edition of the site is launching during LBF, and you’ll find the Type & Tell stand at 1F50E.

And on the Swedish site, we get a sense for an interesting conceptual basis for the platform, as we read:

“We live in a country where freedom of expression is every individual’s right. But what is the state of press freedom?

“Anyone can publish a book? According to us, yes!…The time when only a handful of publishers decided what we read and what stories reached us is past.

“It’s time to open the floodgates for all the hidden stories out there. Now we are democratizing literature.”

  "Children's Books" is one of the popular topics to browse on the international Publishing Perspective website.

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