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Many author-publishers think pasting up a book is a complicated procedure. They pay as much as a thousand dollars to have their book pasted up by a graphic designer or printer. Before you waste money hiring someone to do this job, review the simple instructions in this chapter.
Pasting up a book involves three steps:
1. numbering your galleys;
2. cutting galleys into page-lengths; and
3. pasting up these page-lengths to boards.
The result is "page boards,” also referred to as mechanicals or repro. This is camera-ready copy from which the printer can shoot negatives.
Most of these items you already have. The rest can be purchased at any art supply store.
Layout Boards
Layout boards are white sheets of paper with light blue guidelines indicating the size of the text page and margins. They can be the thickness of ordinary paper, or somewhat thicker. Order as many boards as there will be pages in your book.
Layout boards are available at printing-supply firms. When they are not available at these outlets, use ordinary graph paper with light blue lines.
Other Materials
You will need the following:
1. Exacto knife—for fine-cutting and positioning during paste-up.
2. Light blue pencil—for marking galleys and boards.
3. Large scissors—for cutting galleys.
4. Clear piece of acetate—to measure galleys.
5. Tape—for taping galleys.
6. Metal ruler—for use with Exacto knife.
7. Headliner ruler—for aligning.
8. Plastic triangle—for aligning.
9. Rubber cement—for gluing.
10. Rubber cement eraser—for picking up excess rubber cement from galleys.
11. Rubber cement solvent—for diluting the rubber cement or removing galleys from boards when mistake’s are made.
12. Valve-Spout container—for applying the solvent.
13. Liquid Paper correction fluid.
14. Staedtler eraser—for removing marks.
15. Graphic art tape—for outlining illustrations and underlining chapter headings.
As during other critical stages of your book, your mind should be clear before beginning a paste-up. When you’re tired, it’s easy to paste up a section or galley in the wrong order. Or to place a page number on the wrong side of the page. Or
even to place the wrong chapter title at the beginning of a chapter.
While these errors can all be corrected, why not avoid them by doing your paste-up in a refreshed state of mind? Take frequent breaks.
Be sure to wash your hands before starting the paste-up.
Checklist Before Starting
-1. Have all the corrections been made to your galleys?
-2. Is your hand-drawn artwork ready?
-3* Are all photos sized?
-4. Have you made rubyliths for your photos?
-5. Have chapter title headings been typeset?
-6. Have running heads been typeset?
-7. Have page numbers (also called “folios”) been
typeset?
-8. Is your front matter typeset?
-9. Is your back matter typeset (with the exception of
the index)?
Cast-off the entire text again. Include the front matter and back matter. Estimate the index page number count as precisely as possible. Your index cannot be typeset until your book pages have been numbered.
Did this final cast-off coincide with the third cast-off described in an earlier chapter? If not, make the necessary adjustments.
Once a final cast-off results in an even-numbered signature, you can number your galleys. Use the light blue pencil for numbering, also drawing lines at the edge of the text dividing pages.
As suggested in Chapter 12, begin numbering your book with Arabic numbers on the half-title page. If you use another
system for numbering your book, it’s more likely that errors will occur.
Make Dummies for All Blank Pages
A common mistake is failing to make a board for each page of your book that is to remain blank when printed. The back of your Table of Contents page may be blank, as may many of the last pages of chapters.
On the boards of blank pages, write on the face the words blank PAGE. Then your printer won’t think that the board is missing. Of course, use a light blue pencil.
Paste up one chapter at a time. Before cutting the first page of a chapter, make sure you have made allowances for the chapter title headings.
Number Boards of First Chapter
Lay out enough boards for the first chapter. Number them for each page, placing the numbers in the lower left-hand corner when even, and the lower right-hand corner when they’re odd. Use the light blue pencil.
Cut Galley Pages of First Chapter
With a scissors (not an Exacto knife), cut the first page of the first galley. Trim its sides to one-eighth of an inch from the text. This facilitates aligning the page to the blue guidelines. Do not cut off more than one page of the galley at a rime.
Arrange Your Lighting
In order to align galley pages to boards, use direct overhead lighting, plus lighting from each side. This eliminates all shadows.
166 How to Publish, Promote, and Sell Your Own Book Use Rubber Cement
If you use ordinary glue, you may tear a galley or illustration if you need to remove it from a board. Rubber cement forgives your mistakes. When a mistake is made, you can safely and easily remove the galley from its board by squirting rubber cement solvent between them.
When applying rubber cement to the back of a galley page, turn the galley page upside down before bringing the rubber cement over the page. This eliminates the possibility of spilling rubber cement on the typesetting.
Glue the comers of smaller items, or the upper center and lower center of larger items. Excess rubber cement can be removed with the recommended rubber cement eraser.
Aligning Galleys to Boards
Rubber cement dries quickly, but still allows time to align your material. First, align the lowest line of the text with the horizontal blue line at the bottom of the board. Use the plastic headliner ruler.
Then, use the plastic triangle to align the galley page vertically. An Exacto knife will be helpful in making fine adjustments.
Pasting Up Numbers
Was your page-number sheet waxed? If not, get it waxed before you start.
Cut ten numbers at a time off this sheet. Use a large, sharp scissors. While the Exacto knife is necessary in aligning numbers, don’t use it to cut numbers unless you’re an expert with it.
Pick up numbers using the Exacto knife. Remember that even numbers belong on the left-hand side, odd numbers on the right.
Pasting Up Galleys and Illustrations to Boards 167 Pasting Up Running Heads
Running heads can be pasted up at the same time as page numbers. Just remember to paste up chapter title running heads on odd-numbered pages only. Do not center running heads at the top of your pages if you also have section and sub-section headings. They’ll conflict with each other and confuse your readers.
Final Check
After completing your paste-up, run the following check of page boards:
1. Are all odd-numbered pages numbered on right-hand corners?
2. Are all even-numbered pages numbered on left-hand corners?
3. Are all pages in order?
4. Are chapter title running heads on upper right-hand corners of odd pages?
5. Did you forget any illustrations?
Pasting Up Boards to Signatures
After pasting up galleys to boards, most author-publishers turn the page boards over to their printer. The printer must then paste up the boards to large sheets of paper called signatures.
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Why not do this job yourself? It is simple to do and will save you 10 to 15 percent of your printing costs.
A signature is a large sheet of paper upon which pages of your book are printed. When properly folded in halves two times (for an 8-page signature) or three times (for a 16-page signature), the page numbers are in the correct numerical sequence.
Pick up a blank sheet of paper and fold it in half, then fold it in half again. Open up the sheet. You will see four equalsized sections on each side of the sheet. This is what an 8-page signature looks like. They would be numbered as in Fig. 24-1.
Number the sections on your sheet of paper, and then fold it back into two halves. If you fold it properly, the numbers will be in correct sequence. Did you write the numbers along the upper row upside down? When folded, they’ll be right side up.
FRONT
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|
s | |
|
e |
i |
Figure 24,1
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A 16-Page Signature
Now pick up another sheet of paper and fold it in half three times (one more time than for an 8-page signature). Open the sheet and you will see eight equal-sized sections on each side of the sheet. This 16-page signature will be numbered as in Fig. 24-2.
FRONT
SIDE
|
S |
Z\ |
6 |
8 |
|
4 |
13 |
16 |
1 |
BACK
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|
L |
OT |
II |
9 |
|
2 |
15 |
14 |
3 |
Figure 24,2
Where Do You Get Signature Sheets?
After you select your printer (as explained in Chapter 26), ask him or her to supply you with three items:
1. A master signature sheet, which shows the outline of your book page's trim size. You will align your page boards within this outline.
2. A dummy signature, on which page numbers are placed to guide you in the pasting up of page boards.
3. Enough blank signature sheets to paste up all your page boards.
If you follow the steps given below, pasting up should be the easiest task you will have to do in the making of your book.
4. While your dummy signatures should have numbers written on both sides, do not paste up page boards on both sides of a single blank signature. You could, but it’s easier to use two separate signature sheets for each dummy-numbered signature sheet. Label one sheet “1A” for its front, and a second sheet*1 IB” for its back. By using two sheets for each dummy signature, there is less chance that pieces of your paste-up will become dislodged.
5. Number two blank sheets for each dummy signature sheet of your book.
6. Align the first numbered sheet (1A) over the master signature sheet, which has been permanently taped to the top of a table. Temporarily tape the blank sheet over the master signature sheet.
7. Are all your page boards the same size? If not, trim them with a scissors so that they are. You should trim them so the outline on the master signature sheet acts as a guide in aligning each page board.
8. Align the page boards for the front (IA) of the first numbered signatures. If you have 16-page signatures, these will be page numbers 5, 12, 9, 8, 4, 13, 16, and 1.
9. Place the page boards for pages 5, 12, 9, and 8 upside down. Remember to place the upper row of page boards upside down for all signatures.
10. Place a liberal amount of rubber cement at the top and bottom of each board and align them in proper sections.
11. When you’re finished, double-check your paste-up by:
a. comparing numbers on pasted-up signatures with those on dummies; and
b. checking that all page boards along the upper row of signatures are upside down.
12. Make a large container for the pasted-up signatures. Store them flat. Don’t fold them,
13. Tell your printer to double-check your work.
Preparing Photographs for the Printer
Using 8 V2" X 11" sheets of paper, make a dummy numbered signature for each signature of your book. Use the dummy signature given you by the printer as a guide in numbering.
2. If your printer drew your book's trim size on only one section of the master signature, make an outline of the trim size on each of the other sections of the master signature. Make this outline in heavy pencil (or ink), as it will be your guide during the pasting up of your boards to signatures. Tape it permanently to a large tabletop.
3. Check to see that the blank signature sheets provided by the printer can be divided into four equal parts lengthwise. There may be an extra eighth- or quarter-inch at the end of the sheet, for which you must make allowance. If there is, simply draw a vertical line separating this excess amount from the balance of the signature, or trim it off.