Publication submissions FAQs
Welcome to the BDL Books Publication Submissions FAQ page. This comprehensive guide is designed to answer your most common questions about submitting your manuscript for consideration, understanding our publishing process, and exploring self-publishing options. Whether you’re a new author or an experienced writer, we aim to provide clear and concise information on everything from manuscript formatting and submission requirements to royalties, copyright, and available services like proofreading and cover design. Please browse through the sections below to find the information you need to embark on your publishing journey with BDL Books.
(more…)Image formatting
Can I use an image that I did not create?
To use images that you did not take or create you should get written permission from the copyright holder. Images taken by other photographers or that are found on the internet, in other books, newspapers and magazines are most likely to be copyright protected. You can visit the Maltese Copyright Act, Chapter 415 of the Laws of Malta here.
What colour mode should my images be in?
Both RGB and CMYK colours are modes for mixing colour in graphic design. Fundamentally, RGB is best for websites and digital publications, while CMYK is better for print materials.
What is image resolution?
Resolution describes the number of pixels within an image and image quality increases with resolution. Image resolution has everything to do with printing your image. When printing an image, you may encounter the term PPI or pixels per inch. This literally refers to the number of pixels that will fit inside each inch when printed.
It has nothing to do with how your image appears on your computer screen, which is why images you download off the internet usually appear much larger and higher quality on your screen than they do when you print them.
Resolution can be expressed as the number of pixels per dimension (e.g. 1200 pixels wide by 750 pixels high) or as the number of pixels within a specified area (pixels per inch or PPI). An image that has a resolution of 300ppi and is 10 x 6 centimetres in size, will be 1181 pixels wide = and 709 pixels high. In general, the more pixels you have per unit area, the more detailed the image will be and the larger the file size.
How do I determine the resolution of an image?
In windows, you can right-click an image to view its properties. On the Details tab, under the Image heading, you should find the Width, Height and Horizontal and Vertical resolution.
What resolution should images be for print?
Ideally, images for print should have a minimum resolution of 300 PPI at the size you want them to appear. Any image having a resolution less than 220 dpi is considered low resolution and should not be used for print jobs.
How do I organise my images to submit them for typesetting and design?
For chapter books, the images are best organised in folders – a folder for each chapter. In each folder include the images in JPG, TIFF, PSD, EPS or AI format and a Word Document with their captions. Your images can be renamed with numbers and your captions should refer to the same image number. If you have any extra images which you want to submit in case we need to substitute or include additional images, create another folder called ‘extra images’ in the chapter folder.
Where can I get images?
For generic images or illustrations, we have a subscription with shutterstock.com. If you find any images which you want to use from this website, please provide the image id in your captions document.
Signing digital documents
This document attempts to visually help through the process of signing a digital document.
Signers are notified via email and instructed to open the agreement by clicking the Review and sign button.
For more information and to read more about digital signatures you can visit the following link.
Once the document is open, the signer can read the document and fill in any fields that are needed. All required fields need to be completed before the signer can advance the signature process.
Mousing over the digital signature field prompts a text balloon with additional instructions.
If required, fill in any fields which require your input. Once ready, click Next to go to the next field.
Click on the Initials field. A new window will pop up.
- Make sure Type is selected.
- Type in your initials.
Click Apply to enter your initials.
Click Next to go to the next field. Repeat the process for all the initials fields on each page.
On the last page fill in the ID Card number if required.
Click on the signature field and create your signature as you did with your initials.
Once finished, you can click the Click to Sign button to submit the document.
Once we sign the document, you will receive a signed copy of the agreement by email for your records.
Once all fields are full click on the Click to Sign button. The form will be automatically forwarded by email.
You are all set.
Publication submissions guidelines
English
Please follow these guidelines if you wish to submit your manuscript for consideration for publication. We consider submissions of novels, short stories, Melitensia, children’s books, dictionaries, academic books, textbooks, and workbooks.
- Submit a synopsis of the manuscript/work you wish to publish along with its first three chapters. For publications of less than 40,000 words, we require the entire manuscript. This also applies to children’s books that include illustrations or photographs.
- Please allow us between 3 to 5 months from the time you submit your work to review and evaluate it. We will then contact you with our decision. You can send your work to the editor at this email address: [email protected] You can also send a printed copy to this address: Book Distributors Limited, 13, Giorgio Preca Street, San Ġwann. (Please note that printed copies will not be returned.)
- Please include a comment about the significance and educational, cultural, academic, or literary value of your work for consideration for publication.
- The entire publication process (book design, typesetting, cover design, etc.) is done in consultation with the author, although the final decision rests with the publisher.
- All submissions will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.
We also offer typesetting, design, and proofreading services for those who wish to self-publish.
Maltese
Jekk jogħġbok, segwi dawn il-linji gwida jekk tixtieq tissottometti l-manuskritt tiegħek sabiex jiġi kkunsidrat għall-pubblikazzjoni. Pubblikazzjonijiet li jistgħu jiġu sottomessi jinkludu rumanzi, novelli, Melitensia, kotba għat-tfal, dizzjunarji, kotba akkademiċi, textbooks u workbooks.
- Ibagħtu sinossi tal-manuskritt/xogħol li tixtieq tippubblika flimkien mal-ewwel tliet kapitli tiegħu. F’każ ta’ pubblikazzjoni ta’ inqas minn 40,000 kelma nkunu neħtieġu l-manuskritt kollu. Dan japplika wkoll għal kotba tat-tfal li jinkludu illustrazzjonijiet jew ritratti.
- Nitolbukom tagħtuna bejn 3 u 5 xhur miż-żmien li tissottomettu x-xogħol tagħkom sabiex ngħarbluh u nevalwawh u nkellmukom lura.
- Ix-xogħlijiet għandhom jintbagħtu lill-editur fuq dan l-indirizz – [email protected]
Tistgħu wkoll tgħaddulna kopja stampata f’dan l-indirizz –
Book Distributors Limited, 13, Giorgio Preca Street, San Ġwann.
(kopji stampati li nirċievu ma jingħatawx lura) - Nitolbukom tibagħtulna wkoll kumment dwar is-siwi u l-valur edukattiv, kulturali, akkademiku jew lettarju ta’ dan ix-xogħol sabiex jiġi kkunsidrat għall-pubblikazzjoni.
- Il-proċess kollu tal-pubblikazzjoni, (disinn tal-ktieb, typesetting, disinn tal-qoxra, u l-bqija), isir b’konsultazzjoni mal-awtur għalkemm id-deċiżjoni finali tkun tal-pubblikatur.
- Is-sottomissjonijiet kollha jkunu trattati bl-akbar kunfidenzjalità.
Noffru wkoll servizzi ta’ typesetting (issettjar ta’ kotba), design (iddisinjar), qari tal-provi, għal min ikun irid jagħmel pubblikazzjoni tiegħu.
Track Changes in Word
You can easily make and view tracked changes and comments while you work in a document. By default, Microsoft Office Word uses balloons to display deletions, comments, formatting changes, and content that has moved. If you want to see all of your changes inline, you can change settings so that tracked changes and comments display the way you want.
Here are some links for tutorials on how to use track changes.
Track changes while you edit – Word 2007 – Can be used for 2010, very similar
Review, accept, reject and hide tracked changes – Word 2007
Review, accept, reject and hide tracked changes – Word 2010
Part 1 – Tracking Changes in Word 2010 – Document Reviewing Tools
If video is not available, you can view it here.
Part 2 – Tracking Changes in Word 2010 – Document Reviewing Tools
This video cannot be embedded but can be viewed here.
Setting up Maltese fonts
John J. Camilleri
I’ve been asked many times how to enter Maltese characters on a computer – i.e. ċĊ, ġĠ, ħĦ and żŻ.
It turns out there’s a lot of misconceptions out there, and many people think that typing Maltese and other non-Latin characters requires a special keyboard and/or specially installed fonts. This is completely not true, and all users with a moderately modern computer are able to enter such characters by simply adding a selecting a different keyboard layout from their OS.
If you just want to see the steps for setting up and/or selecting a different keyboard layout on your device, click here.
“Maltese Fonts” and why they’re such a bad idea
A few years ago, everyone thought these so-called “Maltese Fonts” were the solution to entering Maltese characters into your computer. These fonts are just copies of the usual fonts we all know (Arial, Times etc) but with certain characters redrawn, such that when you type a [ it is displayed as a ġ, } becomes Ħ and so on. Now if all you’re doing is typing into a word processor and printing directly from the same computer, the solution seems to work.
But what happens if you want to send a Maltese document to someone who doesn’t have these fonts installed? Well, they will still be able to open the document, but in place of the proper Maltese characters they would see different punctuation symbols. So the phrase Għażiż Ċali would become something like:
G]ai `ali
People just accepted this, and would say to each other “you need to install the Maltese fonts in order to read the document”. But, it gets worse. What if you’re entering text somewhere which doesn’t allow you to change fonts? I you were filling in a form on a web page or even writing an email, you would just forget the use of Maltese characters altogether.
To summarise, “Maltese Fonts” are a very short-sighted and inelegant solution. Thankfully, due to a little something called Unicode, all modern computers today will allow you to enter (and read) Maltese and other non-Latin characters, simply by changing your keyboard layout settings (see below).
“Maltese Keyboards” and why you don’t need one (but might still want one)
Another misconception I’ve heard is that in order to enter Maltese characters, you require special hardware — i.e. a “Maltese Keyboard”. This is not true, because all a Maltese keyboard really is is a standard US/UK keyboard with different symbols printed on the keys. Circuitry-wise, everything else is identical. In fact any keyboard can be used to enter any type of character, simply by changing your computer settings.
However, that being said, users may find that having a Maltese keyboard is helpful since they don’t need to remember that they need to press the [ button to produce a ġ and so on.
You can view original article by John J. Camilleri here.
Marking up PDFs
Commenting in Adobe Reader
After your file is typeset, watch this video to learn how to mark up changes and corrections effectively for typesetting.
Download Acrobat Reader
To download the latest version of Acrobat Reader, click here.