FAQ
What type of photo do you need for the book cover?
We require pics with a file size of over 500kB. Computer snapshots, or photos taken with some phones or from facebook or other low res web images are not acceptable. The higher the res, the more detail can be seen and the better the quality of book cover.
The colour portrait on the book cover is 2 X 3 cm and the inside black and white portrait is 5 X 7 cm. The file needs to be at least 300 dpi for each size.
What photos do you need for my colour photo page?
We find these colour photo pages are very popular with readers and encourage you to be included.We intend to include a 16 page colour photo spread in the centre of the book. Each contributor has an entire page devoted to themself. We ask for 6-10 high resolution photographs. High resolution are images larger than 500-600KB. Lower resolutions images may not be able to be used due to the high quality paper we print on to ensure the best standard or book is produced.
These photos might include you setting up or working in your business. Photos of yourself or your brand with celebrities is another idea. Lifestyle photographs of your recreational activities or charity donations/events may be another photo type that you would like to include so feel free to send as many as possible and we will arrange them in the book. Please ensure you send us captions with the photos, preferably on a word document. We will supply you with a dropbox folder to make it easier to upload large files.
You will be given the opportunity to review this page once it is designed and to ensure the correct captions are applied to the correct photo. This approval is normally done at the design stage not as you submit the photos as the graphics team designs the colour section as a whole.
What if my photos are from a “special” occasion eg. Olympics photo
We ask all contributors to provide us with photos that are royalty free.
How do you decide where to put my photo on the cover?
The book cover you may have been provided with is a sample cover utilising mock photographs of invited contributors on the back orfront until we have our 10 to 12 VIP chapter contributors assembled.
Once we have all of the contributors photos we will insert those into the cover to produce the final book cover. The position of the photographs is normally decided by the graphics team according to the position of the head and various other factors to ensure the most appealing and marketable cover is designed for the book.
On the back of the cover we list your name and the business you want to market. On the back we have provision for your name and one business name.
The back or front cover will have a colour photograph of your head and shoulders. We ask that you provide a suitable image- preferably with a white background. The image needs to be high resolution and usually greater than 700kB. The 1-3MB range is best for the high quality gloss covers that we print on.
We will provide you with an image via email of both the 2D and 3D cover images for marketing purposes once they are complete.
Where will my chapter be positioned in the book?
We use a successful template to lay out the chapter. This page is designed slightly differently in each book to reflect the theme of that book- for example- the property book has monopoly houses in the background.
This page is designed so that readers feel they know you- through your photograph, autograph and specific quote.
The title page consists of your name, photograph, autograph, chapter title, chapter number and personal quote.
The chapter number you are allocated is usually decided by the author/editor so that the book reads best. We have found that readers can easily pick it up and read any chapter in any order.
How long should my biography be?
The readers are wanting to be inspired by your story. This is the brief of who you are and what you have achieved in a nutshell. We aim to have this as a single page in the book and the page is usually shaded to stand out from the rest of the chapter. This needs to written in the third person. If you have a biography already we will work with that. Our editors may build on this or make changes to be consistent with the other chapters in the book. You will be given the opportunity to approve any changes that are made. The length is normally about 300 words.
An example biography can be provided as an example on your request.
How long should my chapter be?
We like a minimum of 3000 words and a maximum of 5000 words.
What if my chapter is over the word limit?
The editor will let you know and send your chapter back to you. You will be asked to highlight some information within the chapter that we could cut if necessary. It may be left as is, but if we require it to be cut the editor would prefer that you have chosen that information.
I would like to be interviewed for my chapter what is involved?
Once you notify our project manager that you prefer an interview our experienced team member will contact you to arrange a suitable date and time. These may be on the telephone, via skype or occasionally in person if in SE QLD. The interview style is very relaxed and we aim to make you feel very comfortable. A normal interview last anywhere from 1-2 hours. The interview is recorded and transcribed and then edited into a chapter and sent to you for approval.
Can I get feedback about the chapter I have written?
Perhaps you have started your own chapter and would like some feedback. It’s perfectly fine to request feedback from the editors if you are writing your own chapter as it is often something you have not done before. Everyone’s approach to the questions are different and some people like to put a lot of thought into the answers and write it all down. Just write as if you were telling someone your story and don’t worry about grammar and spelling- that is what we are here for.
You may find it will all just flow and we can submit you written responses to the editors. If they feel they would like to add a bit or ask more than we can do a mini interview. We have in the past done a combination of the contributor writing some and also the interview process.
So see how you go and remember the team are experienced and are here to help make your chapter great. We will do whatever we need to, to assist you in this.
What about my signature?
We include your autograph so people get the feeling your chapter is personalised – much like when you autograph the book for them. We ask that you write this in black pen in your hand writing so that people can read your name. It is not a signature as such. We will provide a document for you for this purpose.
Do I need to supply quotes to go into my chapter?
The author/editor inserts inspirational quotes throughout your chapter that relate to a topic or situation you have described. If you have any special quotes that you would particularly like to be included them we are more than happy for you to send us these for inclusion.
What is the Resource Directory in the back of the book?
The resource directory is included in the back of the book. This section is where readers may contact you for more information. It is best if this is directed to your general office email and website as your phone number or office premises may change over time.
We will also include a logo in this section to represent your business and /or brand. The logo needs to be high resolution and will be printed in black and white. Please ensure you do not send web quality logos which are usually less than 70KB.
Do I get to review my chapter?
Once we have your entire chapter assembled the chapter will undergo an editing and proofreading process to eliminate errors and ensure it reads well. We will send the chapter back to you via email so that you may review the content, quotations on the title page and quotes throughout the chapter for your approval.
We will need you to get this approved chapter back to us and ensure you keep to the deadlines provided to ensure we produce the book in our timeframes.
Please note that once you have approved your chapter any further changes may incur a fee as it will need to be submitted back into the editorial process.
We then compile the entire book and the book undergoes a professional typesetting process which is the book design and layout stage. This can take several weeks to perfect. It then goes into a pre print process to produce the book blueprint which we check and triple check before we go to actual print which takes several months. We aim to keep you informed at all times of the approximate delivery dates.
Can I extend my chapter deadline?
We are here to work with your crazy schedules to make things easier not harder for you. Please notify us if you are unable to make the initial deadline set so that we can adjust the work schedule with our team to ensure we still deliver the project to you in a timely fashion.
Will the book be ready by a certain date?
The launch date of the book is a difficult one to predict given we have 10 contributors and the timing of them entering the project is staged for work flow, as is the collection of the items.
Due to the nature of the contributors work, some contributors take longer than others to submit. However we do manage the project and co-ordinate things as best we can.
Publishing has many facets and it is not always possible to know the length of each stage such as pre- press and print stages.
We always do pre- order forms such as the one attached for contributors holding events prior to the launch to obtain pre-sales. In the past, contributors have printed forms and also displayed an A4 frame with the book cover in it.
We will keep you posted as to the book project stages and will know closer to the time. Be assured we are working behind the scenes to produce it in the quickest time, whilst delivering a quality product.
What is the gift in the Book ?
At the end of your chapter the readers will be left wanting to know more about you and to get more information that you could not detail in your particular chapter.
This gift will be accessible to the reader via a website that we direct to them in this section. Once they opt into the website the gift is available as a download or via link that will send them to your site, as over time you may want to update the information.
There will be a gift icon in the book and in a text box we will outline the gift that you will be supplying to them. It is in your best interest to have this up and running to co-incide with the book launch so that readers have access to this information.
How and when are my books delivered?
Once the books are cleared from customs they are directed to a courier company that ship your books directly to you. Please note that it is our company policy not to ship any books until your account has been settled in full. Delayed payments may result in storage fees being applied to your account.
A delivery address should have been given to your Project Manager as this may be different than your office address. We also need any special delivery instructions as to where the books can be left and authorisation to leave the cartons without a signature. We need this to be a weatherproof area. An example of a special delivery instructions maybe – ‘leave outside garage if not home,’ or ‘leave near front door.’
If special instructions requires signature and you are not there to collect the books then additional delivery charges may apply.
You also need to consider the volume of books when deciding on your place of delivery so as there are normally about 15-18 cartons of books depending on the packaging for shipping.
Can you please give me a list of places that will stock the books?
The books are distributed Australia wide by the largest distributor of Australian Authored books and go into a national catalogue that goes out to all stores two months before the book arrives and this generates pre-sales. They are also sold at retail stores but not all stores have copies of all books (depending on the genre- such as business). On our monthly sales statements we make sales in stores such as Dymocks, QBD, Mary Ryans, Booktopia, Angus and Robertsons.
Anyone can order the book in any bookstore if it doesn’t have it in stock. Most stores only carry a few of any title at any time (this is standard industry practice unless it is a major seller like Harry Potter).
The books can also be ordered from any online bookstore.
The e-versions are also available on Amazon and smashwords.com and all of the associated book websites. We also do media associated with the books that generates sales and you have all of the other contributors distributing the books too.
Thanks you for joining us on this amazing journey. The team at SIRE look forward to working with you, and to delivering you this unique PR and Marketing opportunity.
To your Extraordinary Success!
We require pics with a file size of over 500kB. Computer snapshots, or photos taken with some phones or from facebook or other low res web images are not acceptable. The higher the res, the more detail can be seen and the better the quality of book cover.
The colour portrait on the book cover is 2 X 3 cm and the inside black and white portrait is 5 X 7 cm. The file needs to be at least 300 dpi for each size.
What photos do you need for my colour photo page?
We find these colour photo pages are very popular with readers and encourage you to be included.We intend to include a 16 page colour photo spread in the centre of the book. Each contributor has an entire page devoted to themself. We ask for 6-10 high resolution photographs. High resolution are images larger than 500-600KB. Lower resolutions images may not be able to be used due to the high quality paper we print on to ensure the best standard or book is produced.
These photos might include you setting up or working in your business. Photos of yourself or your brand with celebrities is another idea. Lifestyle photographs of your recreational activities or charity donations/events may be another photo type that you would like to include so feel free to send as many as possible and we will arrange them in the book. Please ensure you send us captions with the photos, preferably on a word document. We will supply you with a dropbox folder to make it easier to upload large files.
You will be given the opportunity to review this page once it is designed and to ensure the correct captions are applied to the correct photo. This approval is normally done at the design stage not as you submit the photos as the graphics team designs the colour section as a whole.
What if my photos are from a “special” occasion eg. Olympics photo
We ask all contributors to provide us with photos that are royalty free.
How do you decide where to put my photo on the cover?
The book cover you may have been provided with is a sample cover utilising mock photographs of invited contributors on the back orfront until we have our 10 to 12 VIP chapter contributors assembled.
Once we have all of the contributors photos we will insert those into the cover to produce the final book cover. The position of the photographs is normally decided by the graphics team according to the position of the head and various other factors to ensure the most appealing and marketable cover is designed for the book.
On the back of the cover we list your name and the business you want to market. On the back we have provision for your name and one business name.
The back or front cover will have a colour photograph of your head and shoulders. We ask that you provide a suitable image- preferably with a white background. The image needs to be high resolution and usually greater than 700kB. The 1-3MB range is best for the high quality gloss covers that we print on.
We will provide you with an image via email of both the 2D and 3D cover images for marketing purposes once they are complete.
Where will my chapter be positioned in the book?
We use a successful template to lay out the chapter. This page is designed slightly differently in each book to reflect the theme of that book- for example- the property book has monopoly houses in the background.
This page is designed so that readers feel they know you- through your photograph, autograph and specific quote.
The title page consists of your name, photograph, autograph, chapter title, chapter number and personal quote.
The chapter number you are allocated is usually decided by the author/editor so that the book reads best. We have found that readers can easily pick it up and read any chapter in any order.
How long should my biography be?
The readers are wanting to be inspired by your story. This is the brief of who you are and what you have achieved in a nutshell. We aim to have this as a single page in the book and the page is usually shaded to stand out from the rest of the chapter. This needs to written in the third person. If you have a biography already we will work with that. Our editors may build on this or make changes to be consistent with the other chapters in the book. You will be given the opportunity to approve any changes that are made. The length is normally about 300 words.
An example biography can be provided as an example on your request.
How long should my chapter be?
We like a minimum of 3000 words and a maximum of 5000 words.
What if my chapter is over the word limit?
The editor will let you know and send your chapter back to you. You will be asked to highlight some information within the chapter that we could cut if necessary. It may be left as is, but if we require it to be cut the editor would prefer that you have chosen that information.
I would like to be interviewed for my chapter what is involved?
Once you notify our project manager that you prefer an interview our experienced team member will contact you to arrange a suitable date and time. These may be on the telephone, via skype or occasionally in person if in SE QLD. The interview style is very relaxed and we aim to make you feel very comfortable. A normal interview last anywhere from 1-2 hours. The interview is recorded and transcribed and then edited into a chapter and sent to you for approval.
Can I get feedback about the chapter I have written?
Perhaps you have started your own chapter and would like some feedback. It’s perfectly fine to request feedback from the editors if you are writing your own chapter as it is often something you have not done before. Everyone’s approach to the questions are different and some people like to put a lot of thought into the answers and write it all down. Just write as if you were telling someone your story and don’t worry about grammar and spelling- that is what we are here for.
You may find it will all just flow and we can submit you written responses to the editors. If they feel they would like to add a bit or ask more than we can do a mini interview. We have in the past done a combination of the contributor writing some and also the interview process.
So see how you go and remember the team are experienced and are here to help make your chapter great. We will do whatever we need to, to assist you in this.
What about my signature?
We include your autograph so people get the feeling your chapter is personalised – much like when you autograph the book for them. We ask that you write this in black pen in your hand writing so that people can read your name. It is not a signature as such. We will provide a document for you for this purpose.
Do I need to supply quotes to go into my chapter?
The author/editor inserts inspirational quotes throughout your chapter that relate to a topic or situation you have described. If you have any special quotes that you would particularly like to be included them we are more than happy for you to send us these for inclusion.
What is the Resource Directory in the back of the book?
The resource directory is included in the back of the book. This section is where readers may contact you for more information. It is best if this is directed to your general office email and website as your phone number or office premises may change over time.
We will also include a logo in this section to represent your business and /or brand. The logo needs to be high resolution and will be printed in black and white. Please ensure you do not send web quality logos which are usually less than 70KB.
Do I get to review my chapter?
Once we have your entire chapter assembled the chapter will undergo an editing and proofreading process to eliminate errors and ensure it reads well. We will send the chapter back to you via email so that you may review the content, quotations on the title page and quotes throughout the chapter for your approval.
We will need you to get this approved chapter back to us and ensure you keep to the deadlines provided to ensure we produce the book in our timeframes.
Please note that once you have approved your chapter any further changes may incur a fee as it will need to be submitted back into the editorial process.
We then compile the entire book and the book undergoes a professional typesetting process which is the book design and layout stage. This can take several weeks to perfect. It then goes into a pre print process to produce the book blueprint which we check and triple check before we go to actual print which takes several months. We aim to keep you informed at all times of the approximate delivery dates.
Can I extend my chapter deadline?
We are here to work with your crazy schedules to make things easier not harder for you. Please notify us if you are unable to make the initial deadline set so that we can adjust the work schedule with our team to ensure we still deliver the project to you in a timely fashion.
Will the book be ready by a certain date?
The launch date of the book is a difficult one to predict given we have 10 contributors and the timing of them entering the project is staged for work flow, as is the collection of the items.
Due to the nature of the contributors work, some contributors take longer than others to submit. However we do manage the project and co-ordinate things as best we can.
Publishing has many facets and it is not always possible to know the length of each stage such as pre- press and print stages.
We always do pre- order forms such as the one attached for contributors holding events prior to the launch to obtain pre-sales. In the past, contributors have printed forms and also displayed an A4 frame with the book cover in it.
We will keep you posted as to the book project stages and will know closer to the time. Be assured we are working behind the scenes to produce it in the quickest time, whilst delivering a quality product.
What is the gift in the Book ?
At the end of your chapter the readers will be left wanting to know more about you and to get more information that you could not detail in your particular chapter.
This gift will be accessible to the reader via a website that we direct to them in this section. Once they opt into the website the gift is available as a download or via link that will send them to your site, as over time you may want to update the information.
There will be a gift icon in the book and in a text box we will outline the gift that you will be supplying to them. It is in your best interest to have this up and running to co-incide with the book launch so that readers have access to this information.
How and when are my books delivered?
Once the books are cleared from customs they are directed to a courier company that ship your books directly to you. Please note that it is our company policy not to ship any books until your account has been settled in full. Delayed payments may result in storage fees being applied to your account.
A delivery address should have been given to your Project Manager as this may be different than your office address. We also need any special delivery instructions as to where the books can be left and authorisation to leave the cartons without a signature. We need this to be a weatherproof area. An example of a special delivery instructions maybe – ‘leave outside garage if not home,’ or ‘leave near front door.’
If special instructions requires signature and you are not there to collect the books then additional delivery charges may apply.
You also need to consider the volume of books when deciding on your place of delivery so as there are normally about 15-18 cartons of books depending on the packaging for shipping.
Can you please give me a list of places that will stock the books?
The books are distributed Australia wide by the largest distributor of Australian Authored books and go into a national catalogue that goes out to all stores two months before the book arrives and this generates pre-sales. They are also sold at retail stores but not all stores have copies of all books (depending on the genre- such as business). On our monthly sales statements we make sales in stores such as Dymocks, QBD, Mary Ryans, Booktopia, Angus and Robertsons.
Anyone can order the book in any bookstore if it doesn’t have it in stock. Most stores only carry a few of any title at any time (this is standard industry practice unless it is a major seller like Harry Potter).
The books can also be ordered from any online bookstore.
The e-versions are also available on Amazon and smashwords.com and all of the associated book websites. We also do media associated with the books that generates sales and you have all of the other contributors distributing the books too.
Thanks you for joining us on this amazing journey. The team at SIRE look forward to working with you, and to delivering you this unique PR and Marketing opportunity.
To your Extraordinary Success!