Your contract will include a due date for the final manuscript, illustrations (and permissions), maps, figures, etc. complete and ready for editing. Once you deliver a final manuscript to us, you can expect your book to be published within a year.
The Final Manuscript
Please see the Checklist for a detailed explanation of how to prepare a final manuscript.
Manuscripts submitted should be prepared according to the guidelines given here. Even if the book is to be typeset from diskettes provided by the author, two hard (paper) copies of the manuscript are needed.
Hard Copy:
- Typed or printed, double-spaced on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper, one side only, with at least one-inch margins on all sides. (Once a contract is signed, we need one hard copy of the ms.)
- Manuscripts should be on good quality paper; no erasable bond.
- Word-processed manuscripts printed with letter-quality or near letter-quality printer. No dot matrix.
- No right-justification or proportional interspacing on word-processed manuscripts.
- Number pages consecutively through the manuscript; DO NOT begin renumbering with each chapter.
Computer Disks:
- Use the same hardware and software systems from start to finish. Indicate on the disk label whether you use a PC or Macintosh and the name of the word processing program.
- Keep formatting and fonts to a minimum. Most of it must be removed before typesetting.
- Once you have printed out the hard copy, do not make further changes on the computer disks.
- Name files sequentially ("A. Front matter," "B. Ch 1," "C. Ch 2," etc.) Submit a list of file names with disks. Do NOT put an entire manuscript in a single document. It is ok to embed notes using Word, but if you do, you MUST send the final manuscript as separate chapters and not one file.
- Front matter (title page, dedication, book epigraph, table of contents, lists of illustrations or tables, preface, acknowledgements, introduction, and foreword) and back matter (notes, bibliography, appendixes, index, and/or glossary) should be in separate files.
- Use endnotes, rather than footnotes at the bottom of the page.
- Double-space endnotes and bibliography.
- Do not put two spaces after periods and colons as you do in a typewritten document. This causes formatting problems.
- Do not doublespace between paragraphs.
- Use tabs, not spaces, to indent paragraphs.
Illustrations:
- UNT Press prefers electronic images but also accepts hard copy glossy photo prints (but not inkjet or laser printer copies). Electronic images must be high resolution 300 dpi minimum (do not copy images from websites, they will always be less than 100 dpi). You may check the resolution of an image by right clicking on it and look under Properties. Preferred format is TIFF images, with JPEGS as a lesser acceptable option. If you will be scanning hard copy photos yourself, please contact your acquisitions editor for specific scanning advice.
- Type a numbered List of Illustrations bearing only a short, one-line title for each illustration and key to the supplied illustrations.
- If supplying electronic images, save on CD or flash drive each image with a filename starting with the number from the List of Illustrations and then a short title (For example: 1. Alamo; 2. Santa Anna.)
- If supplying photo prints, label the back of each illustration with this number and short title by affixing a label, NOT by writing directly on the back of the illustration (this leaves an impression on the front).
- Type a separate sheaf of Captions bearing the full name and/or descriptive information of each illustration, and ending with a credit line: "Courtesy of …" or "Reprinted by permission of …" (see the permission letter for the correct language to insert).
- If your manuscript has charts, tables, or graphs, or if you have line art originally drawn in Word, then you will need to convert any and all to TIFF images and supply with final manuscript. A designer friend may need to assist you.
- If you have maps in your manuscript, please consult with your acquisitions editor. If you are unable to supply professionally drawn maps yourself, UNT Press can put you in touch with cartographers we work with to draw up maps at your expense.
Permissions:
- Once you have a signed contract and are working toward a final manuscript, begin writing for permissions immediately. These take time and should not be done toward the end of submitting the final manuscript.
- The author should obtain written permissions to use illustrations and any text or other material owned and copyrighted by another party, when use of such material is beyond fair use. Please ask your editor if in doubt about whether material is "fair use." For more information, please consult the Copyright Act of 1976 or the latest edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.
- Note that by contract the author is responsible for paying any permission fees.
- A sample permission request letter may be downloaded in Word or PDF.
- Once you have obtained written permission for use, provide your editor with a photocopy and keep the original in your files. Note specific credit lines for use and acknowledgment and insert such credit in the copyright page, notes, captions, or elsewhere in the manuscript as appropriate.
Style Manual:
The University of North Texas Press follows the Chicago Manual of Style. However, we like to remain flexible to the needs of each manuscript, so alternate styles are open for discussion.