Author Guide to Interior Graphics

What They Are

“Interior graphics” are anything inside your book that is not words or numbers. They include photographs, line drawings, charts, logos, cartoons, sketches and so on.

They do not include design elements created by the designer themselves, such as boxes around text, or created using tools within Microsoft Word, such as Word Tables.

When & How You Deliver Them to Us

We collect your graphics all at once, as a group, separately from your manuscript, and most important:

You will submit them after you have locked your manuscript with the Editor in Chief.

After you have uploaded your edited, locked manuscript for publishing (using an upload link we provide), the Editor in Chief will introduce you to your Publishing Manager.

He or she will collect your graphics from you and send them to the design team for assessment. (You will upload them to a folder your Publishing Manager will share with you.)

Note: When You Submit Your Manuscript for Editing

You can embed graphics in the manuscript when you upload it for editing, but you do NOT have to. This is often useful for the editor working on your book. These files can be screen shots, image files, and so on. Quality and format are not important, as these images are only for the editors, not for publishing.

When You Submit Your Manuscript for Publishing

Step 1: Make sure you have proper permissions for work

If you want to use someone else’s work—a logo, photograph, or graphic—you must acquire their permission. Your publishing manager can tell you more about the legal requirements if necessary.

Step 2: Get the best possible image
Always send us the original/best quality image files stored on your computer—do not try to “extract” images that you’ve embedded in Word, as they will be lower quality. Use the best quality version of your graphics that you can, in the original file creation format if possible.

Step 3: Name each graphics file in a clear, consistent fashion

For example:

“Chart #1: S&P 500 Historical Performance”

“Image #1: Me in First Grade.”

Step 4: Tell us where to put each graphic 

In the body text of the manuscript, leave a clear indication of which graphic goes where, using identical names and numbers that correspond to your graphics files. The insertion look like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit curae cubilia lobortis hendrerit, facilisis nec porta fermentum ante magnis rutrum torquent erat pulvinar.

[INSERT Image #1: Me in First Grade]

Netus eget sapien nunc litora sit posuere nisl laoreet lorem donec, est maecenas scelerisque risus id consectetur lobortis facilisi tincidunt iaculis, curae fusce adipiscing praesent accumsan mattis suscipit suspendisse inceptos.

Step 5: Save all your graphics files in a single folder

Put them in one folder for ease of use.

Step 6: We assess your graphics

Our design team assesses your graphics to determine if they will reproduce clearly and effectively in the published book. If they will not, we will recommend one of the following:

  1. That you replace certain graphics with higher resolution or quality
  2. That you have a designer optimize or customize your graphics

Custom Graphics

If you opt to have us optimize or customize graphics, your Publishing Manager will tell you how much we will charge to build new versions that will work. You may choose to work with your own designer if you prefer.

Whether you decide to work with us or your own designer to create custom graphics for your book, we recommend waiting until the front cover design is locked so that the designer can develop the interior graphics following the same aesthetic.

Pricing
The price to build new graphics depends on the complexity of the work at hand. Cost is usually between $200 and $400 per graphic.

Placement
Our designers will place your graphics as close to the designated spot in the text as is mechanically possible. They are limited by page size, layout, and other constraints. Your graphic may come on the page following the relevant text, for example. Be sure to avoid phrases in your text that refer locationally to a graphic, like “the image above” or “the graph below,” since your image may end up in a slightly different location.

We will place up to 25 graphics at no charge. If you have more than 25 graphics, your Publishing Manager will tell you what the additional cost will be before we begin designing your book.