Publish in the classroom - General Guidelines
First things first...Decide on the following:
Will this be one book compiled by a group/classroom or individual books compiled by each student?
Will the project be funded by the school or will the parents pay for their child's book? See an example of a parent inquiry letter to enlist their support.
What will the the subject matter be?
The Title: If all books are to have the same title (as with an ABC book) or if you are creating one book as a class, choosing a title can be fun (just because it is an ABC book doesn't mean it has to be entitiled ABCs!). Have the students brainstorm together and vote on their favorite ideas.
The same idea holds true if you would like your students to decide their own subject matter. Even if students are working on individual books it is a good idea to have a common theme or title to facilitate class discussion.
Allow plenty of time for working on your books. The Cat in the Hat was not written in a day!
The prices for the books as listed on the programs and pricing page are for 25 photos or illustrations or any scanned material (not including the cover illustration and author photo). If your manuscripts include more material than that there is a charge of $1 per page. The extra page charge is for the 1st copy only on group projects.
If you are including photos in your book and working with younger students, send a letter home to the parents explaining the project and your need for photos.
Allow a few days to get the material back.
Compiling student manuscripts:
- Text and illustrations should be created separately. Colored paper, crayons, paint, markers, pencil, etc..., works just fine on paper under 9 x 14''. Each illustration, photo or page of text (for manuscripts wishing to print the child's handwriting) is given a number (lightly on the back; on photos you can use post-its) representing the order the author wants it to appear in the book. Please type the text for the books and send it on a cd or disquette make sure each file is named with the students name.
- For the illustration or photo that the author would like on the cover, please write a "C" next to the number it has been assigned (if it is a part of the book). For the cover illustrations make sure the titles (or any text) is away from the edges of the paper.
- Make sure each student includes the following information with his or her book: Title, Author, Dedication and a short biography for the back cover. (See an example of a back cover with an About the Author section)
- If the project is being funded by the parents, please include the parent order form with the materials. If the project is being funded by the school include the school individual project order form or the school group project order form with the manuscripts.
- The material for each book should be placed in a separate manila envelope with the students name printed on the front.
Sending in your manuscripts:
Once you have compiled all of the material, send in the manuscripts, order form(s) and payment and we will create your books. Our average turnaround time is 2-3 weeks but the closer we get to the end of the school year the harder it is for us to keep the turnaround time short. We keep all books on file for a year should anyone want to order additional copies. Once the original book is published you can send home additional copy order forms to the parents should they wish to order more copies of their child's book for friends and family.
ALL OF YOUR ORIGINAL MATERIALS WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU WITH YOUR ORDER!
Before you get your book
You have the option to see a proof via e-mail (.pdf) of what your student's book will look like before we print. That way you can make any changes you need to to get it just right! In the case of individual books we usually only send a proof of one book as a sample but if you would like to see each book as a pdf let us know.
For the computer savvy
If the students are laying out their books on the computer:
Don't put any important information such as text or faces too close to the edge of your page or to the inside margin. We usually set up guides before we start a quarter inch from each of the edges of my pages and a half of an inch from the inside edge (bind).
Regardless of the application you are using, you should be able to save your pages as jpegs (jpg.) For the text microsoft word documents work just fine.
We are always available to answer your questions so contact us if you need help. We are always happy to hear from you.
Thank you for your interest in publishing hardcover books in your classroom and we look forward to receiving your order!
