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Visit some printers or typesetters in your local area and ask for a quote. If typesetting is scandalously expensive where you live, send me a self-addressed stamped envelope at Box 7 , Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 25425 and a letter outlining your needs. I'll get a quote for you from some of the sources I've used and be happy to assist you in any other way I can. MOTHER'S NOTE: Please send a dollar along with that request. It's only fair, considering the help that Steve's offering.)

Should you decide against typesetting your book, of course, you can either have its copy hand-lettered or typed. If you desire the homey or intimate appearance of hand-lettering, be sure to use black India ink on clean white paper. Otherwise , if you type your book—or hire someone to type the manuscript for you—make certain that it's done with a fresh black ribbon, preferably film or carbon.

HOW TO LAY IT OUT

After your manuscript is written, edited, typed, and ready for reproduction, it's time to think about illustrations. Photos and artwork with gray tones—as opposed to black-on-white line drawings—will have to be "screened" and thus will add a bit more to your initial printing costs. (Your printer will explain to you such things as screening, how to enlarge or reduce drawings, etc.)

"Line-Up" pads—which can be bought at any well-stocked graphic arts supply store—are indispensable for accurate layout work. Each sheet of card stock in these pads is ruled into small squares with light-blue ink. (Blue does not reproduce when photographed for offset printing.) While you're at the art store, also buy several light-blue pencils so you can draw and make notations on the layout sheets.

Outline in blue each area on the layout where you wish an illustration to be and mark both the actual drawing or photo which will be photographed separately—and the empty box on your layout with a code letter.

Finally, mark off the areas where text is to go (here, be sure and indicate consistent margins for each page) and then cut and glue your photo-ready copy—whether hand-lettered, typed, or typeset—to the layout sheet using fresh rubber cement. Take your time and do a careful job. Wipe off excess glue and erase stray marks. Remember, this is the way the final printed page will appear, exactly.

A WORD ABOUT COPYRIGHT

Usually, the initial two pages of a book—the first and its flip side—are reserved for a title and copyright notice, respectively. If you want to reserve all publication rights to your work, the copyright notice must appear in the printed book ... otherwise, whatever you've printed is forever considered to be in the "public domain".

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