How a book is created

Well, the first thing that's got to happen in the development of a book is that it has got to be commissioned, that someone has to have the idea for the book, and this can be the publisher, or it might be the author the of book itself and this comes in to the publisher, usually in the form of a typescript. So the complete manuscript or typescript of the book comes in and at an early stage there will be a meeting between the authors and editor which will be a briefing meeting the authors say how they would like the book to be produced and so on and how the editors would like to see it done and this briefing meeting would probably also include a designer as well.

After that, a small section of the book is probably taken away by the designer and he or she starts to specify how the book — how the material — should look on the page. They will decide on what typeface is used — what style of type — how the material should be placed on the page, what kind of illustrations are going to be needed and where they will be placed, and so on. When everyone's happy with the content, with how the style of the book is going to look, we can proceed to a detailed editing phase. So the typescript is discussed with the author to see that he or she is happy with it and then it goes to the designer, for the designer to mark it up according to the style which has been established already and then it goes to a typesetter and the typesetter takes it and keyboards it.

Now this stage — they're called galley proofs — they are proofs, which are not laid out in the form of the book page. The designer takes that material and pastes it up into the shape of the pages. At the same time the editor will be correcting the galley proofs, making sure that they come out correctly and the author will also be correcting the proofs at the same time. When the designer has prepared the paste-up we can then start to commission the artwork, if there are illustrations to be put in we have to go out and get the photographs, we have to get the illustrators to prepare the drawing or illustrations so that they will fit in the spaces that have been left by the designer.

The galley proofs are then sent back to the typesetter for them to correct and they will prepare a correct version of the typesetting.

These are then made up into pages — so they will look at how the designer has set out the pages and they will cut up the typesetting and put it down according to that arrangement. So we have page-proofs made up. The author and the editor can then check these page-proofs any final corrections and changes are made. Sometimes we have a final check at this stage where we look at that latest material. It's converted into film because printers work from film of a book and they carry out the printing process through a photographic process. It goes to the printer, the printer puts it on the machine and the book is printed. It comes out in the form of sheets, which are glued and cut — and then it has to be bound — that is, the pages have to be stitched or glued together and the cover put on, whether it's a hard cover or a paperback. That's the binding stage and after the binding stage the books can be shipped from the printer to the publisher's warehouse to, perhaps, the wholesalers and then to the end-user through the bookshop. So that basically is how a book comes from the idea stage through the writing stage, through the publishing stages to your local bookshop.

The stages of Book Production: From Writing to Bookshop

Editor commissions authors to write a book

Authors write the book and produce a typescript

Editors and authors discuss completed typescript

Designer designs layout and chooses typeface

Typescript is edited and marked up by designer

Typesetter producers galley proofs

Designer producers paste up Authors&editors correct galey proofs

Artwork and illustrations are commissioned to fit in spaces

Typesetter corrects galley proofs+makes them into pages

Final, minor corrections are made to page proofs

Page proofs are converted into film

The book goes to press and is printed

Sheets are folded, cut and bound+cover is put on

Books go to publisher's warehouse

Orders are shipped to wholesalers

Wholesalers supply bookshops

End- user buys book in a bookshop