preview eproof proof approve printer monitor blue as purple ink void hairline error pagination copyright
Everything you need to know about eproofs.
About eProofs
Comparing an eProof to a Home Printer
Comparing an eProof to a Monitor
eProofs for Case Laminate Covers
eProof Hairlines
How to Review an eProof
Things to Consider When Reviewing Your eProof
Reasons Why Blank Pages are Added to the Book's Interior/Text File
Whether you upload new files or revised files, you will always receive an electronic proof (eproof) of your print book to review and approve.
If your uploaded files have been processed in our system and are print-ready, which usually takes 3-5 business days, you will receive an eproof to approve on your account, and you will also receive an email with a link to the eproof.
After approving the eproof you will be directed to the TITLE DETAIL page where you can add Ingram's global network of distribution services to your book by clicking the "enable distribution" button. This allows your book to be available for sale to Ingram's 40,000+ customers which includes bookstores, libraries, retailers, schools, and others. Click here to be redirected to the article about Distribution. See the Publisher Compensation article if you would like to learn more about earning compensation for books sold.
After approving the eproof you will also be to place orders for your book through your IngramSpark account to be printed and shipped to you or someone else. You pay the print fees, shipping fees, and taxes, if applicable. *Orders will not print unless the eproof is approved*
The eProof is an electronic representation of the way your book will look when printed. When reviewing the eProof, look for issues related to the look of your book including:
- text or images cut off of the page or running into the gutter
- images that have moved or are blurry
- fonts or characters not displaying properly
The onscreen colors of the eproof will not precisely match the printed version of your book. We recommend that you order at least one print copy of the book before placing a large order.
eProofs are available for print books only. Due to the nature of ePub files, we do not provide eproofs for ebooks.
If you would like to review a printed copy of your book, you can place an order for the book through your IngramSpark account, after you approve the eproof. You will pay the print cost, shipping, and handling fees. Do not click the "Enable for Distribution" button until you are happy with the print results of the book. Click HERE to learn more about placing a print order for your book.
Comparing an eProof to a Home Printer
When using a home printer, there are a lot of variables that can affect the quality: calibration, paper type (weight, brightness, sheen/finish), ink quality & levels, settings, etc.
The inkjet printers Lightning Source uses are regularly calibrated for a consistent output (with reasonable variance) and are designed for high-speed output. Because these types of machines are so different from home printers, the output from a home printer can't truly be compared to our equipment.
For the best results, we recommend choosing colors based on the CMYK values.
Comparing an eProof to a Monitor
RGB on a monitor is very different than CMYK on a press.
RGB is how computer monitors interpret color. The name stands for Red, Green, Blue: these are the three colors of light that are added together to produce a vast range of colors seen on the monitor. Many colors viewable in RGB cannot be achieved by printing in CMYK. This is why it's important to carefully choose colors that will print well in CMYK.
CMYK is how most printers print color. The name stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black: these are the four-color pigments that are added together to produce the range of colors available in this type of printing.
For the best results, we recommend choosing colors based on the CMYK values.
You can review your eproof by logging into your account and following the steps below:
- Click on the TITLES link in the left sidebar and then click on PENDING APPROVAL
- Click on the title of your book
- Click on the green Download Proof button to review the proof or email it to the approver.
- Select one of the Proof Actions after reviewing the eproof (see below) and click the Continue button
PROOF ACTIONS:
If you do approve the eproof, you'll select one of these 2 options:
- Approves this title for printing, distribution, and sale from orders placed by my account and/or retailers. (do not select this if you want to see a printed copy before adding distribution services)
- Approves this title for printing from orders placed by my account only.
If you do not approve the eproof, you'll select one of these 2 options:
- Has revised content to upload (at no cost to you until you approve the eproof)
- Rejects the eproof and requests a further review. Please provide your rejections notes in the box below.
If your book has never been in production and the eproof is rejected, you may upload new or revised files at no cost.
Because it is difficult to determine exactly what your book will look like until it is printed, publishers have the option to approve the eproof, but keep the book out of distribution until reviewing a printed copy. We recommend you review a print copy to ensure the book looks the way you intended before adding distribution services. If you add distribution services and then upload a revised file, there can be delays in the processing of the new files if there are distribution orders being printed. It's best to have the book exactly as you want it before you add distribution services.
If you decide you want to upload new files, you may do so by uploading and submitting a revised file. To submit a revision, click on the title of your book and then click on the Upload New Files button.
When reviewing eproofs and PDFs, you will often see "hairlines". These thin, light-colored lines are a result of a transparency flattener used by PDF creators and will sometimes appear around text boxes and masked images, as shown in the image below. Fortunately, these hairlines are only visible in your PDF and will not appear when the book is printed. These lines may appear in the eproof for both the cover and interior files.
While the above examples are most common, hairlines may also present themselves in additional ways. If you have any concerns, it’s advisable to review your files to ensure the lines aren’t present.
eProofs for Case Laminate Covers
If your book has a case laminate cover, your eproof will be cropped to the board area of the book. Content in the gutter area will not show when your cover is cropped on the eproof, but it will appear when the book is printed.
You can see the gutter content on the eproof page that displays your cover file on our template.
Things to Consider When Reviewing Your eProof
Recommended items to consider while evaluating your eproof:
• Are your latest changes in the eproof?
• Is the pagination correct: odd-numbered pages on the right/recto and even numbers on the left/verso?
• Are the page items and text positioned correctly on the page?
• Does your eproof contain any spelling or grammatical errors or typos that need to be corrected?
• Is the ISBN correct and identical on the cover as well as the copyright page?
• Does the price on the cover match the price in the book's metadata, entered during the title setup process?
Other considerations:
• eProofs should not be used to evaluate color or print quality. A printed copy should be reviewed to evaluate this.
• The cropping of both the cover and interior is approximate and does not account for the manufacturing variance of 1/16” (2mm)
• eProof file sizes are limited to 2GB. Where a file is close to this limit, pages are removed from the middle of the content to reduce the file size. When this happens you will see a watermark appear at the bottom of each interior page confirming that pages have been removed. This only appears in the eproof file and does not apply when the book is printed.
Reasons Why Blank Pages are Added to the Book’s Interior/Text File
A blank page is defined as totally absent of any content; this includes headers, footers, page numbers, and blank fields. Blank fields, which you can’t see, can be caused by pressing the space bar or not deleting all the blank spaces on the page. Lightning Source will automatically add blank pages when processing the files for a book, if necessary.
All books will have an even count of physical pages (starting with a right-side page and ending with a left side page). The final count of physical pages is a direct result of the title’s specific bind type, print type, and trim size.
All interior/text files for print books are processed and stored in our digital library and the page count must be divisible by two.
Pages that are added during the processing of the files are included in the book’s final page count and these additional pages will incur print fees. You can view the total/final page count for a book on the Title Detail page of your account.
The last page of the book, facing the inside back cover, must be completely blank for the barcode we add to that page, which allows us to match the interior book block with the book cover during the manufacturing process. We also add manufacturing and batch information to the same last page of the book, to help us investigate any production issues that may occur. Print fees are charged for this last page.
*Orders will not print unless the eproof is approved*
To review a printed or hardcopy proof of a book, you must first approve the eproof for the book, but, do not add/enable distribution, yet. After approving the eproof, place an order through your account to have a copy of the book printed and shipped to you or the approver. You will be charged the print, shipping, and handling fees, and taxes if applicable.
Your eProof should be available for approval within 3-5 business days after you upload your files through your account.
If the book has never been in production (eproof has never been approved) and the eproof is rejected, you may upload revised or new files, as many times as needed, and will not be charged revision fees.
Revision fees will be charged if revised or new files are uploaded after approving the eproof.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.