1. A short, clear description of your work (e.g. ‘illustrated book on the history of sailing ships’, ‘paper on nonverbal communication and music performance’, ‘a manual for community workers’, ‘a feature-length script’).
2. A word count of your work. If you’re not sure how to do this, consult the help files of your word-processing software.
3. Your deadline.
4. A style sheet or a link to your publisher’s style guidelines for authors.
5. Your contact details (e-mail and postal address; day telephone number).
6. Your capacity: please specify whether you are the author, co-author or editor of the work you intend to submit.
7. A sample of your work: please send a representative sample (if, for instance, your work is full of tables and charts, please include one or two in your sample), allowing about 500 words for works up to 5,000 words (1,000 words for works up to 10,000 words, or 1,500 words for works around 15,000 words or longer).

1. Digitally certified PDF: this is our preferred method, provided that you have set up a digital signature  (more on electronic and digital signatures here).
2. Signed & scanned contract sent by e-mail: alternatively, you can scan the signed contract and send it as an e-mail attachment. In that case, your e-mail must state that you have read and accept the contents of the attached contract.
3. Printed contract sent by post: if you prefer this route, we will e-mail you the contract as a digitally signed document and ask you to return a printed and countersigned copy. If you opt for conventional post, we strongly recommend that you return your contract by courier.

The basics

• When to book: when you're about to start writing up. Don't underestimate the time it takes to turn research results, data analyses, and project outlines into a coherent manuscript. Try to plan realistically, not optimistically. It makes little sense to book a copy editor before e.g. you have completed your data collection and analysis or  ascertained that your models work and your argumentation is robust – or if your schedule is already crammed.
• We use mainly Hart’s Rules and the Chicago Manual of Style, unless you instruct us otherwise.
• We work mostly on screen. For that reason we will ask you to send us an electronic copy of your text by e-mail or on a CD, in MS Word^TM or a format compatible with MS Word^TM. If you have written your manuscript in anything other than MS Word^TM, please convert your document into editable text before sending it to us. We accept files in the following formats: doc, docx, txt, rtf. Find out
• how to convert a file from LaTeX to Word
• how to convert a file from Word to LaTeX
• how to convert a file from PowerPoint to Word
• how to convert a file from PDF to Word
• House style: if your work has been commissioned by a particular publisher, check whether there are guidelines for the established house style. Often guidelines covering the basics are available to contributing authors on the publisher’s website.

Additional Tips

• If you’d like us to work on hard copy please send a typescript/printout plus an electronic copy of your text in the format specified above. This speeds up our work enormously and will save us time and you money. Do keep in mind that working on hard copy can take much longer than on-screen editing, so the cost tends to beconsiderably higher.
• Your typescript/printout, if you send one, should be
• double-spaced
• with wide margins (at least 1.2 inch/3 cm on both sides)
• set in 11-point font
• fully paginated
• Special terms, neologisms: if you use rare or newly coined terms specific to your discipline, or terms that you have invented yourself, please warn the copy editor and proofreader. It’s always a good idea to compile a short list of such words and send it along with your main document to the copy editor, proofreader, and your in-house editor.
• Electronic and digital signatures: if you are not familiar with these types of signatures you may wish to consult the relevant EU documentation. Note that according to directive 1999/93/EC ‘an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate' satisfies the same legal requirements as a handwritten signature and 'is also admissible as evidence in legal proceedings’. You can find out more about the difference between electronic and digital signatures here.

• are clear in your mind about the level of editing you require. Think, e.g., whether you need to have your bibliography simply spell-checked, or formatted according to a particular style, or whether you’d like to have the details of each entry checked in library catalogues. Remember that checking the accuracy of cited page numbers is your own responsibility.
• try to double-check all your facts before submitting your document. If your document is full of figures, tables, dates, names and similar information please let us know whether you need the copy editor to check your facts and figures for accuracy. Again, remember that whatever saves us time will save you money.
• run a spell check before submitting your document. Automatic spell-checkers (such as the one that comes with MS Word^TM) have to be used with care, however, it’s a good idea to keep yours turned on – you’ll almost certainly catch some typos.
• always double-check quoted material! Unless you provide the copy editor with photocopies of the original sources for every single quotation in your text, quoted material will be checked only for spelling and style.
• do not hyperlink your in-text citations to your reference list; you can always do that later. Hyperlinked in-text citations are often hard to edit and if editing is required there, the hyperlinks may have to be removed.
  

• if the default language of your version of MS Word^TM (or similar software) is not English, before you begin writing, make sure that you set your new document's language to English (e.g. UK or US).
• ask your publisher (if you have one) whether they prefer British English or US English and adjust your spell-checker accordingly.