Policies and Author’s Guidelines

Acquisition/Submission Process

The McWhiney Foundation Press and State House Press have established respected lists in history publishing and will continue to build on their strengths by publishing books in the following fields: military history (especially books on the American Civil War), Texas and frontier history, and, more broadly, books on American history that support our general mission to make history more accessible to the reading public. Currently, the McWhiney Foundation Press offers the Civil War Campaign and Commanders Series, while the State House Press publishes titles in Texas history.

If your manuscript or book idea seems to fit in one of these categories, or if you think it is on a subject either Press might wish to explore, your first step is to complete an author’s questionnaire, which can be downloaded in an Adobe Acrobat file from our web site; or we can mail you a copy. This questionnaire will include information about the book you are writing or have written and the audience for which it is intended. It will also include a table of contents, with a short synopsis of each chapter. With this questionnaire, you should also send the introduction and a sample chapter if they are available.

Inquiries should be addressed to

Amy Smith
Executive Director
McWhiney Foundation
Box 818
Buffalo Gap, TX 79508

We will respond to your query promptly to let you know if your book is a candidate for full consideration by the Press. If it is, we will invite submission of two complete copies of the full work, which should include an indication of illustrative materials (but not original photographs or art work) that may be available

The manuscript will be evaluated first by the Press staff. If it seems appropriate to our list, we will then send it to one or more outside reviewers — specialists in the field — who usually remain anonymous to the author. The outside reader or readers will be asked to provide specific recommendations for revision of the manuscript, if such are necessary, as well as general comments on its overall potential. The review process may take four to six weeks.

We will provide copies of the readers’ reports, and you will be given the opportunity to respond to them. If extensive revisions are recommended by the readers, we may ask that you make those revisions before we continue with the process. If the manuscript receives favorable reviews and does not need revision, or if recommended revisions are satisfactorily handled, the Press will offer a contract.

When the contract has been signed, you will submit the electronic files on a computer disk(s) and two hard (paper) copies of the final revised manuscript as well as all illustrative material and copies of all permissions. The manuscript should be submitted as flat, loose sheets — unfolded, unbound, and unstapled — in a box.

Publishers normally divide the year into two publishing seasons: spring (February through July) and fall (August through January). We must work well ahead — sometimes as much as two to four seasons — and take many factors into account before deciding which season would be the appropriate time to publish a particular book. Because of these complexities and the unique requirements of every book, there is no rule of thumb to determine how long after acceptance a manuscript can be put into production and, ultimately, offered for sale. Be assured, though, that we make every effort to produce every book that bears our imprint in a timely manner.

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Overview of the Publishing Process

Copyediting

The manuscript will be edited by a copy editor, and the author will review the edited manuscript. When the copy editor has resolved all editorial issues with the author and prepared a manuscript “package” of the book’s parts, the manuscript is ready to be designed. This process of copyediting, review, and resolution normally takes three to four months. More time may be required for large or complex books.

Design and Production

A book designer will specify type and layout for the book and design a dust jacket. Although the specifications and jacket design are ultimately the designer’s and the Press’s prerogative, authors are invited to make suggestions to their editors.

The manuscript will be typeset, and the author will then proofread the typeset pages and prepare an index within the time agreed to in the contract.

The Press staff will check all subsequent proofs. After the book is printed and the bindery ships the finished books, the author will be sent the number of complimentary copies stipulated in the contract. The entire production process, from design through shipment of the books, normally takes six to eight months. More time is needed for books that are large, very complex, or heavily illustrated.

Marketing

It is imperative that authors give full and complete answers to the questions on the author questionnaire, as these details will be used in marketing the book. These responses will also serve as a reference for the copy editor and the Library of Congress.

Books are promoted through the McWhiney Foundation Press’s consortium agreement with the Texas A&M University Press. TAMU Press handles all advertising, publicity, direct mail, exhibits, online activity, and trade sales programs; and is supported by national and international sales representation.

Postpublication

Authors should contact the McWhiney Foundation Press if they wish to buy copies of their book at a 40 percent discount.

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Physical Preparation of the Manuscript

When you submit your manuscript to the Press, please be sure all copy is typed, double-spaced on good quality 8½" x 11" white paper. Do not justify the right margin. The manuscript should be typed on one side only and should have at least a one-inch margin on the top, bottom and sides of the page, with approximately twenty-four lines per page. Please do not submit a disk only or electronically transmit the manuscript. Hard (paper) copy is required for review.

Manuscripts accepted for publication by the McWhiney Foundation Press and submitted for copyediting should be prepared according to the guidelines given below. Even if the book is to be typeset from the author’s diskettes, two hard (paper) copies of the manuscript are needed.

The Hard Copy

All elements of the manuscript (including indented quotations of ten or more lines, epigraphs, captions, notes, and bibliography) should be typed or printed double-spaced on 8½ x 11-inch paper, one side only. Each of the four margins should be at least one inch wide.

Paper should be of good quality; you should not use erasable bond.

All pages should be printed or typed with twelve-point (i.e., pica) nonproportional type if possible, and word-processed manuscripts should be printed with a letter-quality or near letter-quality printer.

Manuscripts should be printed with left justification only; it is difficult to make an accurate character count of the manuscript when lines have been justified.

Late corrections may be made on the final copy by neatly writing them above the line in which they should be inserted. Longer revisions may be inserted as separate pages. Pages that have been corrected and reprinted using a word processor should be matched carefully to the preceding and following pages to be sure the newly printed page does not drop or duplicate any lines. To match such pages, it may be necessary to insert a temporary hard page code.

Computer Disks

Except under special circumstances, disks should be submitted along with the two required hard copies of the manuscript. Disks may be either 3-inch or zip disk format. The Press can accept most IBM-compatible word processor formats, such as Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. Acceptable Apple Macintosh formats include Microsoft Word for the Macintosh.

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Parts of a Manuscript

Front Matter

The completed manuscript should contain a title page, dedication (if desired), book epigraph (if desired), table of contents, lists of any illustrations or tables; and a preface, acknowledgments, introduction, or foreword, if desired. Authors should note the differences among a preface, introduction, and foreword. In a preface the author gives details about the writing of the book; it may include brief acknowledgments. An introduction, as the name implies, introduces the subject of the book and background for that subject. A foreword is written by someone other than the author of the book. It provides another viewpoint and should attest to the book’s value in the field.

Text

The text consists of all material through the end of the last chapter, epilogue, or postscript. Chapter epigraphs, if used, should be kept brief; you should cite only the author of the words quoted and perhaps the title of the work in which they appeared. Epigraphs should not be documented with endnotes or footnotes.

Back Matter

Back matter comprises the notes, bibliography, and any appendixes or glossary that will appear at the end of the book. In a manuscript, as opposed to a finished book, tables and captions are usually the last pages.

Page Numbers and Running Heads

Pages should be numbered consecutively through the manuscript, not by chapters. It is not necessary to add a running head (a top-of-the-page label such as chapter title or author’s name) to the page number.

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Elements to Be Aware of When Preparing a Manuscript

Rights and Permissions

Authors who are in the process of writing book manuscripts should take care to see that their work does not violate copyright laws.

If any substantial part of your work has been previously published, you will need to show evidence that you have the right to allow us to republish it. Such evidence should be available to the Press when the manuscript is submitted for consideration and must be submitted at the same time as the manuscript for copyediting.The term fair use in the copyright law designates the way in which copyrighted material may be quoted without permission. Although no hard number is established, authors may generally quote without permission up to five hundred words in order to illustrate a point, substantiate a position, clarify an argument, or fulfill some such scholarly need, assuming the material is taken from an average-sized book. Letters of permission should be submitted with the manuscript.

Always obtain written permission to use:

Any copyrighted material that is an entity itself, such as a map, table, photograph, chapter of a book, article in a journal or newspaper, short story, poem, essay, or chart. Permission should be obtained from the author or copyright holder as well as the publisher. (In the case of a private letter, the letter writer, not the recipient, holds the rights).

More than one line of a short poem or one stanza of a long poem. Music or words to a song. A reproduction of a work of art such as a painting or statue. The authority to grant permission to reproduce works of art may be held by the museum in which the art is located, by the artist, or by a private owner. Permission should be obtained at the time reproduction is made.

Signed releases should also be obtained from the subjects of interviews. U.S. government publications, and publications for which the copyright has expired, may be used without requesting permission.

For complete details of the terms of copyrights, see the publications of the U.S. Copyright office or view the Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov.

It is best to send permissions requests to the rights holder in duplicate so that one copy can be retained by the rights holder and the signed copy returned to the author, who should make an additional copy for the Press.

The author is responsible for any fees assessed by rights holders and for supplying any complimentary copies of the book requested by the rights holders as a condition of granting permission.

Three forms that may be used to request permission or to gain use of material under different conditions are reproduced as Forms A and B in this guide. When in doubt about using copyrighted material, authors should consult a Press editor. Rights should be obtained for all printings of a book.

House Style

In general,the McWhiney Foundation Press follows the style guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style and the spelling conventions of Webster’s Third New International Dictionary or Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. Dictionaries differ on preferred spellings, so the Press follows Webster in order to have a standard source when questions arise.

Multiauthor Volumes

The compiler or editor of a volume consisting of symposium papers or other unpublished papers by various authors must submit written permission to publish from each of those authors at the time the manuscript is submitted for consideration (See Form “A” at end of document). The compiler of a manuscript containing any previously published articles must have written permission from both the author of the article and from the original publisher (See Form “B” at end of document). This written permission must be provided when the manuscript is submitted for consideration. If the original publisher or author of an article refuses permission or charges a fee beyond the amount the compiler wishes to pay, the content of the book will change. The problems that would arise if permission were not requested early on need not be spelled out.

The volume editor should see that the manuscript is submitted in a form that is internally consistent and follows the guidelines in this manual.

Photocopies of journal or newspaper articles should not be submitted as part of the manuscript. All components of the manuscript should be typewritten or printed with the same equipment.

Documentation should be consistent; if one article has footnotes, another has endnotes, and another has author-date citations and a reference list, one system should be selected and the rest of the articles in the volume be revised to conform to that style.

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Manuscript Apparatus Notes

Notes

For most books published by the McWhiney Foundation Press, endnotes will be required as a standard form of documentation. In some circumstances, however, footnotes may be used instead. Authors should talk with Press editors before putting documentation in footnote style. For note form, see the Chicago Manual of Style.

In books that have a bibliography, the notes need contain only the author’s name, title of article and journal (plus volume and issue number) or book, and relevant page numbers. Books that have notes but no bibliography (typically, an anthology or volume of essays) will generally have chapter endnotes, which will contain full publication information at the first citation of each item.

Bibliographies

The bibliography should be as concise and easy to use as the content of the manuscript allows. Division of the bibliography into numerous sections for magazine articles, books, newspapers, and archival materials may be unnecessary and make the bibliography difficult to use. Make sure each subdivision is absolutely necessary and logical. Bibliographies that list not only those works cited in the notes but also those which are of major significance in the field should be discussed with and approved by the Press editor responsible for development of that manuscript. For some projects, a bibliographical essay may be more appropriate. Consult with the Press for guidance regarding the proper type of bibliography.

Illustrations

In most cases authors are responsible for obtaining any photographs or drawings to be used in their books, securing written permission to use these materials, and paying any usage fees. Illustrations may add considerably to the cost of manufacturing a book, so their use should be discussed with the editors before the author has incurred the costs of obtaining them. Illustrations of any kind (including maps) should contribute significantly to the text; they should not be mere decoration.

Author-furnished illustrations received by the Press will be logged in and placed in our vault. They will be returned to the author about one year after the book is published, unless the Press is requested to return them sooner. The Press will exercise due caution when working with illustrations but is not responsible for loss or damage.

Permission and Credit

After obtaining written agreements to use material owned by institutions or individuals other than yourself, you should submit the illustrations, double-spaced captions with the appropriate credit lines, and copies of letters granting permission to reproduce illustrations in your book and in its promotion.

Photographs

Photographs should be submitted as glossy black-and-white prints of at least 5 x 7 inches in size for best reproduction. Consult the editor regarding the suitability of other sizes. Photocopied items do not reproduce well and should not be submitted as book illustrations.

Check with your editor before scanning the photographs and other illustrations you propose for use in the book. Scans may not have the resolution necessary for good reproduction or may not be compatible with the Press’s software. You may submit printouts of scans as samples of the photographs available, but be prepared to send photographic prints as reproduction copy.

Photographs should be submitted for color reproduction only with the approval of the editor. Color prints should not be submitted for illustrations to be produced in black and white. A glossy, black-and-white reproduction of a color print or transparency made in a professional photo-processing lab (which has been instructed to provide camera-quality copy) is usually acceptable, however.

Drawings and Diagrams

All line art should be professionally drawn. Clean, clear drawings or photographic prints of the original drawings should be proportional to the book page and no more than 50 percent larger than the approximate page size. Consult with the Press before committing to graphs or diagrams of a certain size.

Black sanserif lettering is preferable. It should be large enough to be legible after reduction to book page size. Lines should be black and heavy enough to hold up in reduction.

A tissue overlay may be used to protect the surface of the finished drawing.

You should also check with the Press before preparing line drawings on computer. The editor may wish to see samples of such drawings before you commit to investing time and effort on them.

Authors are responsible for supplying professional-quality maps to be used in their books, unless special arrangements are made and agreed to in writing by the director or acquiring editor. Maps are protected under copyright laws and cannot simply be copied and reprinted from other books.

Before proposing to use a map, authors must ask themselves if the map is necessary, what it adds to the words in the text, what the clearest way of presenting the information is, if the map will look good on the printed page, and if the quality of a particular map is good enough for use in a book.

Press editors will assist authors in determining the number of maps needed and can provide the names of qualified cartographers.

If computer-generated maps are planned, you should check with your editor who will in turn check with the production department on compatibility of software. Always furnish a hard copy or printout of the contents of a computer-generated disk along with information regarding the type of software used in its preparation.

Numbering Illustrations

Never write on the front of photographs. Number them (and drawings) on the back, preferably with a soft grease pencil or a stick-on label. Ballpoint pen or pencil can leave a visible line on the photograph’s emulsion, and ink can permanently damage the front of a photograph stacked underneath. Paper clips can also damage photographs. Maps should be numbered on the front, outside the text area.

Captions

Write a caption for each illustration, putting any required credit line at the end. Captions should be numbered and typed double-spaced on a separate sheet of paper; captions should not be written on the illustrations themselves or attached to them. If an illustration is keyed to a particular page in the manuscript, indicate that page number on the caption sheet or an accompanying illustration identification list.

Tables

Separate the tables from the text, placing them with other text apparatus at the back of the manuscript.

Tables should be numbered sequentially throughout the text unless (1) the manuscript is a compilation of essays, or (2) the manuscript is a reference work with figures and tables numbered to indicate chapter (e.g., Table 2.3, Fig. 3.1). In the text discussion, refer to each table by number, not by position.

Each table should have a title of reasonable length.

When preparing tables, keep in mind the size of a normal vertical book page. Tables that would require quarter-turns (sideways placement) should be avoided.

Horizontal lines may be used to separate the table title from column heads and table text from table notes. Do not use vertical lines.

Footnotes to a table should be called out by italic letters rather than by Arabic numerals.

If the table is taken from a published source, the author must have the original author’s and publisher’s written permission to use it. Under the table text, above any footnotes, you must indicate the source of the table using standard bibliographical information.

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Copyediting

The McWhiney Foundation Press can normally bring forth a high-quality book in ten to twelve months. More complicated books usually take longer. The time required to actually produce the book begins when the manuscript is assigned to a copy editor. A manuscript is a candidate for assignment to a copy editor when all materials are in house — two final, complete manuscript copies; electronic files on a disk; all illustrations; and all permissions documents. At this time the tentative season of publication may be designated.

The copy editor will edit the manuscript for style, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and general integrity of text. Queries will usually be shown as footnotes on the edited printout. The package will usually also include a comparison printout showing changes made. At this stage, the editor may also select the illustrations to be used from those submitted. The editor also compares map text to manuscript text. If there are discrepancies, corrections may be needed on the map, and the authors should keep their cartographers aware of this possibility.

Discussion about the title of the book may not occur until the manuscript-editing stage. The editor may relay to the author suggestions for a new title or subtitle. Although the title of a book is ultimately the publisher’s decision, we do everything possible to make sure that authors approve of the final titles of their books.

When copyediting is complete, Press staff will draft some text to be used on the dust jacket flaps or on the back cover of a paperbound book. The Press then sends the edited manuscript and this draft of dust jacket or cover copy to the author for approval.

At this point, authors should read through the manuscript carefully, page by page, and answer all queries. Responses may be written directly on the edited pages, or check marks placed there to indicate concurrence with the editor’s comment. If a response requires more space, the author may attach an additional query tab and write responses there. The review of edited copy by authors represents the last opportunity to make changes in the text. Corrections to proofs are expensive and time-consuming and may not be made unless the unaltered material would compromise the integrity of the book. Alterations required for this reason may be charged to the author.

Editors responsible for volumes of essays will likely be asked to send photocopies of the copyedited essays to the authors. The volume editor must be sure to convey the importance of retaining consistency, making sure that all changes are final, and meeting the deadline. Essays not returned by the deadline should be considered approved by the author.

The edited copy should be returned to the Press by the date requested. A missed deadline anytime during the copyediting and production phase can delay a book’s publication and cause a host of related problems. Deadlines missed by a significant amount, such as a week or two, may translate into a publication delay of many weeks or even months.

The Press prefers that manuscripts be shipped by a private carrier whose shipping fee includes insurance and tracing services if the package is lost. Manuscripts sent by U.S. mail should go first class and be insured for fifty dollars so they can be traced if need be.

The Press reviews the author’s responses to queries, consulting with the author on any final points, and then submits the manuscript to the design and production departments.

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Design and Production