We Answer Authors Questions About Book Publishing

FAQ's

10 x 12, 300 page full color book with dust jacket, cloth ends & ribbon by Mark Smith.

"The final proofs were perfect so I doubled the quantity to 2,000 books for less money than the local printer had quoted us for 1,000 books."
Mark Smith, Jeep Jamboree, Inc.

Do your questions on self publishing seem endless?

The questions should seem endless. Getting a book published with the quality to compete on the open market; one that will last for years is not something a person can just expect to do perfectly on their own. There are just too many decisions that demand experience in the book making process.

Even most print facilites aren't capable of printing a resale quality book and will usually try to produce a book limited by their equiptment and not your needs. A high quality book is a dance between preparation, planning, writing, illustrations, type, graphics, prepress, proofing, printing, coatings, binding, packaging and various options. If all these things come together the finished product is beautiful to behold. If not...? Remember the book buyer demands perfection before this customer will buy your story... he/she has other high quality book buying options.

We have the space here to only answer a few basic questions. We need a full understanding of your project to point you in the right direction. We should really talk over the phone or face to face if you're in Northern California.

Don't worry, RēlKey Books is here to help you become a published author. We will help in many ways to deliver a finish product that can compete with any book on the market. Your book. One to be proud of. We've done this many times, for many authors and we will do it for you.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use what I've already done?

In most case we can use what you have as a starting point. If you are using the most sophisticated graphic programs, we will probably just need to fine tune a few things and you are good to go. The most efficient way is to contact us early and we'll let you know how to proceed within your graphic and program limitations.

I have a story. Can you help with illustrations & graphics?

RelKey Books should be considered a printer with a world of print facilities to work with. We don't have illustrators on staff but we can give you the information to find one in your area.
We do have a production designer on call that can take your ideas and build them into a book. You'll need to work directly with him as he is independent. There is no monetary agreement between his company and RelKey Books. This way his services are extremely affordable.

Please define a printers definition of a "page:"

Simple put... a page is one side of a sheet of paper. So if you fold a piece of paper in half... you have 4 pages. Book printing in quantity requires large sophisticated presses. The sheets going through a press will be folded up to 4 times before it's bound and the edges trimmed. The folded sheets of paper are called signatures. Printers bind these signatures to the cover, the text pages are trimmed either before or after this binding depending on the style of binding chosen. Keep your "text page" count in mulitples of 16's or 32's (for half sized books).

How do I prepare my illustrations?

We must change all illustrations to digital data for reproduction. The most cost efficient way is to keep your originals to 12 x 18 to fit smaller scanning equiptment. Remember to leave enough room in your illustration to fit your story. Also, the illustration should tell the story without words and visualy move left to right invite the reader to turn to the next page.

I know very little about printing paper.

The term for paper in lithographic reproduction is "stock." The correct stock for any reproduction is a balance between cost vs. best choice. The proper stock choice will need to take into account: availability, ink hold out, opacity, life span of the finished project, thickness, stock surface, weight of finished piece and budget. We are capable of solving this puzzle during our initial project interview.

How many colors of ink do I request to print my project?

Full color reproduction takes four transparent process colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black called four color process or 4cp.
For spot color reproduction most printers use the Pantone Matching System for matching. Each of the thousands of colors are given an identity number and mixing recipe.

I have an idea of what kind of binding I want but I don't know the name nor the pros & cons of my choice.

Binding is a matter best chosen by book shelf exposure and reading posture. Most books must have the spine readable as it sits on a normal book shelf and some books are meant to be held by reading (children's books) some need to lay flat (cook books). This is another printing specification that need discussion in order to discover the necessary binding style vs. cover style vs. budget available.

What are coatings?

Coating are the add on protective surface on the outside cover of book or brochures that also enhances the appearance of the ink on paper. The coating available are: gloss & matt flood or spot varnish; gloss & matte spot or flood aqueous coating; gloss & matt spot or flood Marcoating and the one we use exclusiveley... gloss or matte non curl plastic film lamination. The coatings wear off and are not water proof. The film lamination will never wear and the surface is water proof for protection for the life of the book.

Are there other questions I should ask?

Yes. There are many things you should know but we exist because we have the answers to all your reproduction questions. Each project has it's own nuances that we must explore before those questions can even be asked. Call us.

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My comments on the Driven By A Dream book:

Two Page Spread in Driven By A Dream by Mark Smith

I was called in to help on a book project that had gone terribly wrong. Mr. Mark Smith has just hired an editor to try to accomplish what his local printer couldn't... finish his autobiography. The new editor, Ellen Baldwin, knew she needed help on a project of this size and checked around the publishing community and the name RēlKey Books kept coming up. She called.
It seems Mr. Smith, also known as the "Grandfather Of Off Roading," had already spent tens of thousands of dollars. Even with that investment, the graphic portion of his autobiography was not even close to completion and his printer wanted more. After our initial interview, I relized his files were improperly created and couldn't be used for reproduction... except maybe simple duplication. His investment of time and money for his remarkable life story was almost a total loss.
Using his exsisting files as a map, my production designer created a complete remake of ready to print files for about 20% of the money he had already spent. After many conversations, I knew what we needed to do in order to meet his expectations for his story. I incorporated his wish list, improved everything about the book and doubled the quantity for much less than his printer had quoted for fewer copies of lower quality book.
This finished autobiography is worthy of any coffee table of any person interested in this extraordinary man who single handedly created the four wheel drive/off road phenomena as it exists in the world today.