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BCRA > Publications > Publishing with BCRA > Cave Studies Series Editor

• BCRA is currently (April 2015) looking for an editor for our Cave Studies Series of booklets.
• This page contains a broad job description, which could be applied to any 'editor' of any BCRA publication.

What is an editor?

This term can mean a number of different things. For BCRA's publications it has tended to mean Project Manager, with the understanding that this person also has responsibility for a number of the individual tasks, which commonly include copy editing, proof-reading and layout. However, as a project manager, if you can find people to do these tasks - it will save you from doing them yourself.

What is the Cave Studies Series?

This is a bit of an outdated term. It refers to BCRA's series of small booklets, which are listed here. However, we have branched out somewhat from the original concept and there is, in fact, no particular reason why we need to emphasis these books as a "series". BCRA is open to suggestions. We do not necessarily need a "Cave Studies Editor" to manage the whole range of books - possibly we are looking for individual project managers. The salient point is that the production of each book requires a project manager and if this person manages more than one title they are de facto the series manager.

What does the project manager do?

You need to manage the following tasks and coordinate the input from each of the volunteers handling these component parts of of the project. By default if a volunteer is not available, you are expected to do the task yourself. It will certainly help, in any case, if you understand the broad nature of the tasks, even if you are not skilled in applying the detail.

• Authors. The Text Author writes the text and is not expected to apply layout. We strongly advise that text is written in Microsoft Word or Open Office. The author is expected to comply with detailed instructions regarding how to refer to figures and illustrations, and is expected to provide captions for all such items. Other "authorship" applies to pictures, diagrams and so on - that is, the project manager needs to coordinate all the author input and supply it to the Layout Editor and the Picture Editor.
• Layout Editor*. The layout editor applies formatting to the text. Although some of our publications are prepared in Adobe InDesign, this can cause long-term problems because it is a proprietary product. For a skilled editor, there should be no problem in using Word or Open Office and - in fact - News Sept 2014, Speleology 19 and Cave Studies 20 were all laid out in Microsoft Word. The layout editor is responsible for applying a consistent 'house style' to the layout. An essential point of liaison between Layout Editor and Author is the understanding that all the author's formatting will be stripped out and re-applied by the editor. This may require the author to indicate formatting by the use of agreed character markers. A second essential point is to agree the page format. As BCRA moves towards print-on-demand operations it must be understood that A4 and A5 are not commercial book sizes and, depending on the type of printing we wish to use, it may be necessary to use formats other than A4, A5. (See section below).
• Picture Editor*. The picture editor is responsible for the pre-press processing of the photos and graphics. It is not always understood by those outside the profession - but you cannot simply "drop" photos into a document and expect to get a good result. Pre-press work on photographs includes histogram adjustment, sharpening, and CMYK gamut checking. Pre-press work on maps and diagrams requires an understanding of vector graphics and line resolution.
• Copy Editors provide an essential "second opinion" on the text, and may need to include a specialist, who can comment on scientific aspects of the text.
• Proof Readers* have a similar job to copy editors but will also have a detailed knowledge of the house style and will be able to comment on layout issues.
• Print Manager*. The Print Manager commissions and oversees the printing process and ensures that the Layout Editor provides PDF output to the correct specification. He will also oversee the marketing plan and make decisions on the type of printing (offset lith, digital), the quantity (print-in-bulk or print-on-demand) and will produce a business plan for approval by BCRA Council.

How many people does that require?

For some issues of Speleology, all the tasks marked with * above were completed by David Gibson, who also acted as project manager. For Speleology 19 and Cave Studies 20, Jerry Wooldridge acted as picture editor, with David Gibson providing the other starred tasks and also providing project management.

For future issues of the Cave Studies Series we would like to find someone who can do "most of the above" and who can therefore supply our Print Manager with a completed PDF, i.e. the modern equivalent of camera-ready artwork. It is possible that the Layout Editor and Picture Editor functions can be provided by existing volunteers (David Gibson and Jerry Wooldridge) but what would then be missing would be the coordination role of the Project Manager.

In Summary... at the very least, we need a Project Manager. Without a project manager our Cave Studies projects are not likely to get very far - even if people have offered to "help" with other parts of the plan.

Publishing formats

Page size: In the past, we have published using the paper sizes A4 and A5. As we move towards print-on-demand (p.o.d.) publication, we need to take note that A4 and A5 are not professional book sizes, and p.o.d. services are not always available in those formats (For example, the highest-quality of colour printing may not be possible, and a hardback publication may not be possible). For the Cave Studies booklets, a 'medium-quality' full-colour printing is possible in A5 'paperback' and 'saddle-stitch' formats but - for example - if we were to want to publish a p.o.d. 'Casewrap Hardcover' of the Yorkshire Dales book, this would not be possible in an A4 format.

Alternatives to A5: A higher colour-print quality than is generally available in A5 is possible in two similar formats - US Trade / Medium Hardcover, which is 229x152mm, and Royal, which is 233 x 156mm. Cave Studies #16, Essential Sources in Cave Science has now been reprinted in Royal format.

Alternatives to A4: The best format to consider as an alternative to A4 is currently (June 2015) 280x216mm (US Letter / Large Hardcover).

Margins: Because of the manufacturing process used for some p.o.d. items, it is important to apply larger margins that we might be used to working with. As a guide, no text or images should be closer than 12mm to the edge of the trimmed page, and a gutter margin of 3mm should be applied. For full-bleed content (i.e. images that go 'right to the edge of the page') the bleed should, in general be 3mm. However, working with full-bleed is not always a good idea so we advise that it is avoided. (One reason is that it is not suitable for home download and printing of online publications).

Editor's Checklist

This list is intended as a brief, hopefully helpful guide for new editors.

• Text files. We would very much prefer text to be prepared in either Microsoft Word or Open Office, and not a proprietary product such as Adobe InDesign. This is to ensure that the files are "future proof". Both Word and OO provide all the features necessary.
• Colour. Images should be prepared in RGB colour. The only exception is if you need to do specific non-standard CMYK processing. The final PDF should be RGB if possible, unless the printer specifies a CMYK conversion, which would usually be done within Acrobat (e.g. by specifying a particular standard - PDF/X3:2002, or whatever - for the conversion settings. Depending on the publication, we may wish to archive low and hi-res RGB versions, as well as the printer's CMYK file.
• Margins. Please take note of the requirements for margins, as outlined above.
• Bleed. We would prefer publications to have no bleed. That is, the final output file should be exact A4, A5, Royal, or whatever, with the specified margins. This is because it makes it easier for customers who are downloading a file for home-printing. If, however, you do wish to create a full-bleed file, please take note of the printer's requirements. The best way to create a full-bleed file (that is, the method that causes fewest problems at the various stages of the process; including archiving and future-proofing requirements) is to prepare a no-bleed product with slightly wider margins than normal and then, as the very final stage in the process, to enlarge this by printing the PDF to a slightly larger PDF.
• Copyright. For the avoidance of doubt: we will not publish any work where it is not completely clear who owns the copyright of the contributed material and whether appropriate permission has been obtained. You must obtain all the necessary copyright licences and permissions. Contributors of photos and graphics must provide their written agreement to our standard copyright terms. If you use photos and graphics from libraries or other online sources you must obtain the appropriate licence, or comply with any usage statement. You must also obtain an appropriate licence to cover maps (including geological surveys) that are traced from copyright material. If the obtaining of a licence involves a fee you must seek permission from BCRA Council before committing to spending any money. Note that the Ordnance Survey does supply licence-free material, although we often prefer to trace from licence-controlled material and to purchase the necessary licence - it just makes lives easier sometimes. As an example, here is an extract of the acknowledgment text from the recent Cumbrian Ring book.
  All the photographs in the book, unless otherwise stated, were taken by Phil Murphy and are copyright © Phil Murphy. Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig. 25, Fig. 33 and Fig. 34 are reproduced by permission of the British Geological Survey. © NERC, all rights reserved, permit number CP14/062. The area map, Fig. 2, is Ordnance Survey OpenData, © Crown copyright 2014. The guide maps were traced from Ordnance Survey materials © Crown copyright 2015, OS licence 100047443. The geology map, Fig. 3, was traced from British Geological Survey materials © NERC 2015, used under the terms of the Open Government Licence.
• Acknowledgment of contributions. Regardless of the copyright situation, it is courteous to acknowledge all contributions. And, for reasons to do with the copyright of so-called 'orphan works', it is important that every photograph is credited.
• Bibliographic references. Be consistent in the way you use bibliographic references. There is a useful (BCRA) tool for formatting references here.
• Quoting of ISBNs. Make sure that ISBNs are quoted in the correct format. There is a useful (BCRA) tool for formatting ISBNs here.
• Nostrums. Everyone has their own style of editing and we should not be too prescriptive. However, if you are new to the subject. a few guidelines may be useful.
   
  1. Do not apply manual formatting. Always use paragraph and character 'styles', as this makes it much easier to be consistent in your formatting. In particular, always use paragraph styles for heading and titles. Not only is this for consistency, but it makes it easier to automatically generate a list of contents.
  2. Depending on the intended readership it is not necessary to be over-formal in the use of captions. For example, it may not be necessary to number the photos, figure and graphics. Even if they are numbered, and a reference list is given, it is a good practice to try to avoid referring to them in the text. (There is no need to say "see Figure 3" if that fact is obvious!). Although you can use Word's facility to automatically cross-reference figure numbers, it is still easier to make no reference at all. The problem is that, especially if your authors are not familiar with cross-referencing, you will simply lose track of which reference is which.
  3. It is often easier to use left-justified text than full-justified text. Left-justified text can make it easier to apply subtle tweaks to the layout.
  4. Use single spaces after a period. Use em- and en-dashes instead of hyphens. Spell out figures from one to ten. Use a hard space between figures and units. These are just a few of the many nostrums that are commonly applied.

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This page, http://bcra.org.uk/pub/cs_editor.html was last modified on Fri, 30 Sep 2016 16:55:22 +0100