As you consider your publishing project, you
may have several questions about the process. This page describes:
Who Can Use AgComm
Campus specialists and faculty can contact their AgComm editor
to begin the publishing process (click here to find your AgComm contact).
Purdue Extension county educators should contact their Extension
specialist who will begin the publishing process.
Editors will meet with authors, consult with them about their
audience and purpose, edit their copy, and arrange for designers
and production.
Editors will ask authors to complete an ACS Form 1 early in
the process so that the item can be entered into the database
for tracking, distribution, and cataloging. The Form 1 also gives
us an account number to pay for printing and related expenses.
For more about the ACS Form 1, click here.
Project Criteria
We use several criteria to determine how and when we can work
with clients on their publishing projects. These criteria include:
- Our current publishing schedule.
- The order we receive publishing projects.
- Scope and complexity of projects.
- Degree to which publishing projects further the land-grant
mission and strategic goals of the College of Agriculture.
The more complete the materials clients have ready at the onset
of the production phase (e.g., a full manuscript draft, all necessary
photos and technical graphics), the faster production will go,
and the higher the quality of the finished project.
Book length materials, interactive CDs/DVDs, and Web sites
may require additional time and resources.
What AgComm Needs from You
Authors should provide double-spaced manuscripts to their editors.
Text and image guidelines for print or multimedia products, are
detailed in our AgComm Client Guidelines
for Publishing Projects.
It is important to remember that successful publishing projects
require teamwork between authors and AgComm staff. So AgComm
needs authors to be willing partners in the process.
How Production Schedules Are Determined
Many factors influence how a project is produced and how long
it takes — including the project’s size, state of
the original manuscript, and so on. There are many steps in the
production process, but it can be broken into roughly three phases:
- Preparing the manuscript — During
this phase, you will work with your AgComm editor to get the
text into its final form and secure images and other materials.
How long this stage takes depends on the project’s size,
the state of the manuscript, and other factors. It’s
safe to assume, however, that the larger the project, the more
time editing will take.
- Laying out the publication — During
this phase, the AgComm designer lays out the print publication,
creates the interactive CD/DVD, etc. The time needed for this
phase depends upon the project’s size and complexity,
and AgComm’s current workload. For example, a two-page
document that’s part of an existing series may take no
more than a week, a 16-page brochure might take three weeks,
and an interactive CD/DVD with games and videos could take
several months.
- Reproduction — During this phase,
documents that are going to be printed (such as books or pamphlets)
or reproduced (such as CDs) are created. Production can begin
after a contract is awarded to a printer. Again, depending
on the project’s
size, printers typically need three to four weeks to reproduce
your document. This may be longer during holidays (such as
Christmas) because printers take time off, too. In the case
of Web-only publications, reproduction time is not required,
but it may take a few days before online publications are posted
to the Web.
Given these stages, your editor will determine how long it
may take to complete your project.
For example, if you want a brochure in your hands on December
27, the editor will work backward from that date, allowing four
weeks for printing, three weeks for layout, and two weeks for
editing. In this example, the editor needs your manuscript on
October 27 to meet the December 27 deadline.
Of course, AgComm strives to complete projects in as timely
a fashion as possible, but your editor must make reasonable allowances
for each phase of the project.
How Materials Are
Distributed
Completed publications can be put into inventory at the Media
Distribution Center for distribution or sale. Those publications
going into inventory at the MDC can also be distributed to Purdue
Extension county offices and other locations.
The Purdue Extension
Education Store is the home for all Purdue Extension publications.
The store offers links to free publications and allows visitors
to purchase any items that are for sale.
Extension publications produced by AgComm will be posted on
the Web, unless the author requests otherwise.
For more about distribution options, refer to ACS
Form 1A.
For additional requirements for Web-only publications, refer
to AgComm Client Guidelines —Web
Projects.
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