I often work with clients who are partnering with a book designer for the first time. When I send a full book interior layout proof, they often don’t know what kinds of details to watch for. I created this post to give my clients (and anyone else who is interested) a plan to work through while checking a full book proof.
Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
1. Flip through the pdf(s) on screen to make sure there are no major problems.
Take a quick look at the pdf your designer has provided, and make sure there are no major problems that are immediately visible. If you saw and approved a sample layout, there should be no major surprises at the full book layout stage. But in case there is anything that is really off (like a header that is wrong on every page), your designer might be willing to quickly fix this for you before you print off a full proof for a more careful check.
2. Print off a full proof.
I always, always recommend printing off your book interior layout proof at 100% size and checking over the paper version of your book. Even better, ask a local copy shop to print it off for you, cut it down to final size, and add some cheap binding, so that you can get a feel for what the final book will really look like. It is said that 25% more errors are caught when looking at a printed copy (rather than a digital copy) of your book.
3. Check the accuracy of the content.
The text you provided should be reflected exactly in your book layout, unless your designer corrected some glaring errors. If I correct a textural error (like an obvious typo) I flag the text that was changed in bright pink, so that it is instantly clear to my client that a change has been made to the copy they provided.) However, because of the possibility of errors in your manuscript or errors introduced while typesetting, you need to carefully check the content itself one more time now that it is in its final format.
I suggest paying a professional proofreader for a final check after the full layout is done. Even if your book has been professionally edited, a proofreader’s job is different; he or she watches for the tiny punctuation or spelling errors that you or an editor might have missed.
Read the whole book one more time yourself to watch for any errors, omissions or typos.
Double check that the information on the copyright page is complete and accurate.
4. Check the formatting of the content.
Watch for accurate formatting
Table of contents - Does the table of contents accurately reflect the contents of the book, both in titles and page numbers?
Headings - If you have different levels of headings (subheads, sub-subheads) is the hierarchy correct?
Local Formatting - Has local formatting from your original manuscript (like bold, italics, or small caps) been carried over correctly into the body text?
Lists or Bullets - Have any numbered or bulleted lists been formatted neatly?
Footers or Headers - Do the footers or headers have the correct contents in them?
Superscript or subscript - If there is superscript (like 14th or O2) or special characters (like musical symbols or mathematical formulas) do they appear correctly in the final layout?
Tables, images and graphs - Is the content of any graphics and their captions accurate?
Watch for consistent formatting
Professional book designers use “master pages” and text “styles” to make the style of your book look consistent. Many of these have to be applied manually. It is your designer’s job to watch for consistency, but you can watch to make sure nothing has been missed. As you check your proof, watch for consistency in the:
Margins - Are the margins (the space between the edge of the page and where the text begins) consistent on similar pages?
Dropcaps - If there are paragraphs that start with one big letter (called a “drop cap”) are these used consistently?
Indents - If your book uses an indented paragraph style, is it indented consistently? The first paragraph after a header or non-body text should not be indented. (The indent really only exists to separate the next paragraph from an identically formatted line of text above it.)
Footers or Headers - The contents of the headers or footers may vary depending on the complexity or genre of your book, but they should be consistent. For example, if the top left (verso) header says the book title, and the top right (recto) header says the chapter title, every page should be consistently formatted this way. On some pages there should be no footer or header (usually the pages up to and including the table of contents and the opening page of each chapter have no footer or header, or just the page number).
Tables, images and graphs - If there are tables or graphics in the book, are they formatted in a similar style (fonts, overall look) and with similar amounts of space around them?
5. Respond to your book designer’s questions or notes.
Sometimes I ask a few questions in my email to the author when I deliver the full book interior layout proofs. I often leave a few pink text notes in the book layout itself, to draw the author’s attention to problems or questions that I had while creating the layout. These questions should be answered when giving feedback on the full proof.
A note about image quality: If your book has photos, tables or images, they may not look crisp in your full book interior layout PDF proof because your designer probably sent the pdf in lower quality via email or another file sharing service. Usually the high quality PDF files for printing are not released until your final invoice is paid. However, it is your book designer’s job to warn you if there are images in your book that are lower quality than what is usually recommended for printing (300 DPI). If you cannot provide the images in higher quality, they can still be printed, but they might look fuzzy and/or you may get a warning message from your printer when you submit your PDF(s) for printing.
Hey, eagle eyes! Did you learn something new today? You have probably thought about the accuracy of your own manuscript a lot, but didn’t realize how many details go in to making sure the formatting of your book is accurate and consistent!
Once you’ve gone through this list and throughly checked your printed-out book proof, you’re ready to send any final changes or corrections to your book designer. Changes can be sent using the PDF mark-up tools in Adobe Acrobat, or as a simple typed list (ie: “On page 5, change heading “Be Bald” to “Be Bold”.) Usually I include 2 to 4 hours of free changes to the book interior layout in my layout pricing, depending on the length and complexity of the book. Sending all your changes as clearly and neatly as possible, and all at once, will save on extra fees for inputting changes.
I hope this list has helped you know what to watch for in checking your full book interior layout proof, especially if it’s your first book!