Submitting Your Manuscript
We prefer to receive your manuscript via computer disk, USB drive or email, along with any hard-copy documents. This saves time and helps to ensure that the final published work will be as error-free as possible.
Man at Arms magazine and Mowbray Publishing use Apple computers. We also use the Microsoft Word word-processing program, so, if at all possible, this is the format in which you should send documents. We can also read word processing files created with most other common programs (either Macintosh or Windows) if they are saved on a computer disk or USB drive. Please do not send us your only copy (save all of your work!). Emailed files should be sent to stuart@manatarmsbooks.com.
When typing your manuscript, do it in the simplest way possible. There is no need for fancy formatting, since all this will be lost when we transfer your file to our typesetting program. Also, please do not put anything in your document in all caps and never use double spaces.
Digital Photograph Requirements
Photographs should be submitted on a CD, DVD, USB drive or sent via email in .jpg, .tif, or PDF format, at no less than 350 dpi. If saving as a .jpg, please choose the highest quality setting resulting in the largest possible file. Photos should be kept at the highest resolution possible. Photographs lifted from the internet are generally too small for us to use. Please do not submit photos embedded into a Word document.
If you do not have photographic experience, it might be best to hire a professional photographer to take the photos for you. When taking pictures of weapons, remember to include close-up views, particularly ones of the most interesting parts (i.e. any markings, the lock), which are very popular with readers. Try to avoid backgrounds that clash with the gun or sword you are photographing, and don’t use any background that has a pattern — please use a plain white background whenever possible (other acceptable options are light blue, gray, or cream, but we always prefer white).
Do not, under any circumstances, “touch up” your pictures. We use very sophisticated (and expensive) software to do this, and the settings change depending on who will be printing the job, the paper it will be printed on, etc. Because this involves information that we will only have when the job is nearly done, it is impossible for you, or even your professional photographer, to edit properly. If you hire a photographer, and they insist on doing this, ask that a copy of the “raw” photographs be included.
If You Absolutely Cannot Provide Digital Photographs…
Hard-copy photographs can be submitted in either black & white or color. For black & white, 5″x7″ or larger glossy prints are best; please do not use matte finish. For color film, the bigger the better. 4″x5″ transparencies work wonderfully, and 120 roll film is fine, too. Color pictures taken with 35mm cannot be enlarged to fill the whole page, but are often perfect for smaller pictures.
If sending photographic prints in the mail, please do not write on the backs of your photos. This can damage the image on the other side, and the ink often smears onto other photographs or artwork. And please do not send us your only copy of a photograph! Photos can get lost in the mail or otherwise ruined, so it is best to play it safe.
Captions
Presuming there are captions, it is best to provide them in a separate Word document. Please credit all artwork that does not belong to you, and get permission when necessary. Please rename your image files as numbers (i.e. 1, 2, 3…) to make sure that they are put into the book/article in the correct order. Number your captions to correspond with the appropriate image file. In the text of your manuscript, write “insert image [1]” where you want each image to go, so that we know exactly where to place your images in the layout.
Footnotes
Please do not under any circumstances use your word processor’s “automatic footnoting” feature. This feature seems useful, but actually causes all kinds of problems for the typesetters who will work with your manuscript.
If you are using a large number of endnotes in your manuscript, please make sure to start your numbering over at the beginning of each chapter.
Editing & Corrections
We always recommend that you have your manuscript read by other experts in your field before it is submitted. We are all shooting for a top-quality article or book, and the more people who proofread it, the better.
At some point during the process, you may want to send us additions or corrections to your originally submitted work. If you would like to do this, please save all the individual changes in one neatly organized Word document, with clear and specific instructions as to where each addition should go. Additions will no longer be accepted after the layout process has been started.
Questions?
If you have any questions about article or book topics, writing style, photography or publishing in general, please feel free to call one of our editors. We are always happy to talk to authors, and we look forward to hearing from you. Our editor can be reached via e-mail at stuart@manatarmsbooks.com, by phone at 800.999.4697 (domestic callers) or at 401.597.5055 (international callers).
While these instructions are specific to our own publishing operation, the logic is the same no matter who your publisher is. We all use pretty much the same equipment, and these suggestions will serve you well. If you follow these guidelines, your job will take much less time to complete and your work will get into print sooner!