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The transmittal

The one-page form about your book. It sets the title pages, trim size, typography and copyright page.

The transmittal is step 1 of your Factory page. In publishing, a transmittal is the sheet that travels with a manuscript into production and says what the book is. Here it also drives the build: the factory generates your half-title, title page, copyright page and contents from it.

It saves as you type (Saved ✓). If a save fails, it says Not saved — retrying; keep the tab open and it tries again. The top line shows [DRAFT] or [FINAL] and how much is filled in. Beside it are Style sheet, History (earlier versions, saved at most once every five minutes, each with Preview and Restore), Print and Mark Final. On a wide screen, while you're in step 1, the step list on the left shows each section's answer or what's missing (no year, 2 unanswered). Click one to jump there.

What it asks

  • Book information: author, title, subtitle, series, publisher, ISBNs, and an optional target date. If chapters are by different authors, choose where each author's name prints: on the chapter opener, in the Contents, or both.
  • Manuscript checklist: the first group (half-title, title page, copyright page, contents) is made by the factory from this form, so leave it Included unless the book shouldn't have one (Leave out). For everything else, choose In ms (in the manuscript now), Later or Not in book. Later asks for a date; once that date has passed, it's marked date passed. Parts: if your book has parts, Heading 1 is a part and Heading 2 a chapter. Tick This is a poetry collection and poems (Verse) print at the size of the text; otherwise they print a little smaller. The chapter, word and image counts fill in when you Inspect.
  • Illustrations: one image per paragraph, placed inline (not floating), caption in the next paragraph. At least 1100 px wide for a full-width figure; PNG for line art and screenshots, JPEG for photos. The EPUB keeps color. The print interior is black and white unless you tick Color interior; About color in print and EPUB explains how color images are turned gray. Images print sets the book's default: as placed in your file or full text width. You can size single images on the Inspect report.
  • Rights: a checkbox confirming the text is yours or you have permission. The factory typesets what you send; clearing rights is up to you.
  • Copyright page: year, rights holder, publisher city, Rights (all rights reserved, a Creative Commons license, or Written out in full under Additional notices), edition line, credits and any further notices. The Preview shows the page as it will print; a blank year shows as [no year].
  • Format: the trim size, which is the page size. Pocket (110 × 178 mm, about 4⅓ × 7 in) is the house size: it fits a coat pocket and suits fiction, essays and short nonfiction. Choose it if you're unsure; a book with no size chosen is set at Pocket. The other choices are Small (5½ × 8½ in), Medium (6 × 9 in, the standard trade paperback), Large (8½ × 11 in), Let the studio choose, and Exact size. Your printer supplies the spine and cover template.
  • Typography: typeface, text size, section-break mark, indented or block paragraphs. The first answer in each row is the studio default. Click a sample page to enlarge it, or download the full sampler (PDF). If your press has a house book design, a Book design row comes first; choosing it sets the typeface, text size, paragraphs and trim for you, and leaves the section break to you. Typography notes is where you mention special characters (Greek, accented names, symbols) or math.
  • Custom styles (optional): only for a kind of paragraph your book has that none of the factory's thirteen styles covers, such as letters or recipes. Use the name it has in your file and pick the factory style it's closest to. Don't list the factory styles, your editor's built-in ones, or plain bold and italic. See Send your manuscript.
  • Cover: notes only. Your EPUB cover (yours, or the studio's house cover) is in step 2. The print cover goes to your printer. A date in the notes that has passed is flagged.

Mark Final

When the form is right, choose Mark Final. The factory generates your authoring template (.docx, or .odt for LibreOffice) and emails you the link; it's also at Template (.docx) ↓ at the top. You don't have to use the template. Return to draft switches it back any time.