After accepting your proposal you're ready to move on to the next step in your journey:

Once you have signed and returned your contract to your Commissioning Editor, your Project Editor will send you a full set of guidelines on the timeframe and expectations of the project going forward. But on this page, you’ll find our top tips for preparing a manuscript that we can turn into the book you deserve. Be sure to stay in touch with your Project Editor and to ask questions if anything is at all unclear. Once you’ve completed the manuscript, you can send it to our mail books@rfppl.co.in.

Remember, your book will be available in multiple formats

As you prepare your manuscript, bear in mind that you are writing for multiple uses and devices: print, e-book, website, mobile, tablet, etc. The following tips will help you to reach the widest possible audience by ensuring your content is presented clearly both in print and electronic format, and is discoverable to those performing online searches.

Submitting your manuscript is the culmination of your hard work, and a huge step towards having the published book in your hands. Your manuscript and any supporting material (solutions manual, test bank, website etc.) should be submitted in electronic format. There is no need to submit a hard copy unless your project editor advises you to do so. If your manuscript contains special characters, equations or any precise formatting that needs to be retained, please submit a PDF of your manuscript for reference in addition to an editable version.

Your project editor will advise you as to the appropriate method of submission. Possible methods include, but are not limited to:

• Email: Please advise your project editor of the specific files you plan to send so that he/she can confirm receipt.
• Red Flower Publication's ftp site: Your project editor will confirm the specific link to use.
• An ftp server of your choosing: Please include address, username and password details.
• Dropbox.
• Smart Paper System: Your contact will advise you if this is possible and provide you with login details.

Before you submit, take one last look and ensure you've included:

• The final version of all chapters, saved under an appropriate name and with any tracked changes accepted.
• The names of all main authors and co-authors with complete postal address, including street name and email address. For edited volumes, please supply (at a minimum) an email address for the corresponding author of each chapter.
• Final version of each image files.
• A full Table of Contents and any preliminary material (e.g. Dedication, Acknowledgements, Contributors, List of Abbreviations, Foreword, Preface) you’d like to add.
• A complete set of permission grants, labeled clearly.
• Unless otherwise advised, abstracts and keywords for each chapter for inclusion in the online version of your book.
• Please provide a full set of all files, including any extra style files that you have created, and figures, and a PDF of the full manuscript.

On receipt of your manuscript. What happens next?

This page takes you through the steps of turning your completed manuscript into a published book. If you aren’t sure where you are in the process, or you have any questions, just get in touch with your project editor or production editor.

Once your finalized manuscript arrives with your project editor, we put it through a final assessment process, so it can be formally accepted by Red Flower Publications and production can begin.

• Your manuscript will be assessed for completeness by your project editor. They will check that all text, figures and ancillary material are present, and that you have provided the necessary permission for the use of third-party copyright material in your work.
• We may send your manuscript out for review to ensure quality and content. If your book is in a series with a series editor, they may also be sent a copy.
• We will check the number of words and estimate the number of pages in the final book and submit a costing to a publishing meeting, where the print run and selling prices are agreed.
• How you can help: We will invariably need to contact you with queries to resolve during the assessment process.

• Once accepted, your manuscript will be assigned to a production editor or a project manager, whose job it is to oversee the all the production processes from unedited manuscript to final files for print and electronic publication. The production editor or project manager will be the primary contact during production and will be in touch with you soon after the manuscript is delivered to production.
• The first stage of production is copyediting. We copyedit the manuscript for style, consistency, grammar and nomenclature.
• The copyedited manuscript is sent to the typesetter with Red Flower Publication's standard design specification for the text layout. Illustrations are checked and prepared for reproduction.

How you can help:

• It is important that you submit the final version of your manuscript. Changes after submission are costly and will lead to delays in publication.
• Copyediting is the work of improving the accuracy, organization, and style of text and artwork. The "five Cs" summarize a copyeditor’s core responsibilities: to make the copy clear, correct, concise, comprehensible, and consistent.
• Red Flower Publications will use either its own house style.
• We may have queries during the copyediting process. Your production editor or the copyeditor will run through these with you.
• Your contact will supply a schedule for the production process. Please notify the production editor if you will be away for any periods of time during the production process.

• Page proofs arrive from the typesetter for you to check. These are usually supplied as editable PDFs onto which you can markup corrections. You can also compile an index from these proofs if not already prepared.
• Once you have returned your proofs, your corrections will be sent to the typesetter for them to incorporate.
• The index is also sent for setting.
• Your production editor then ensures that all proof corrections have been accurately made.

How you can help at proof stage:

• Proofs are your last chance to make sure that the book is as you want it, but the page proofs are for correction of typographical errors only. There should be no major changes at this stage.

You will be working to a schedule agreed by you and the Production Editor/Project Manager. So that we can avoid any delays to your publication date if you are having problems meeting this date please talk to the Production Editor/Project Manager.

• Once the content is final, the typesetter will create and supply digital formats. These will be checked by the production editor.

The book is now ready to be sent for printing and binding.

• When your book arrives from the printer it is quality checked. Then our distributors are instructed to release the book, allowing orders to be fulfilled.
• Advance copies of the book are dispatched to contributors, endorsers, reviewers, and of course, to you.