Your children’s book has been illustrated, laid out with the text, and formatted for printing. You’re so close to having an actual copy in your hands! Congratulations for getting this far.
But the work isn’t done yet. Before your printer prints hundreds or thousands of your books, they should be sending you a soft proof (a.k.a. digital proof), and hard proof, or both.
No matter how excited you are to get your book published, do yourself a favor and do not skip this part! There are few things more embarassing to an author than to have their books printed and shipped, only to find out there was one (or many) unsightly errors! You may have looked over it a hundred times by now. But this is your last and final chance to look for those mistakes before it’s too late.
The soft proof
If you’re printing in bulk from an offset printer, you will most likely receive a soft proof, or what’s also known as a digital proof. Whis will be a collection of PDFs for your cover, inlay, end pages, dust jacket, etc. These PDFs are set up to theoretically show you what the book will look like as printed on the paper choice you gave… digitally. The PDF will show each page along with the bleed (I’ll explain what that is later).
The hard proof
After you’ve approved the soft proof, I strongly encourage you to ask for a hard copy. Depending on your printer, this may have already been built into the quote they gave you, or it might be an additional cost. In the print on demand world, this may be called an author’s copy.
Regardless, do not skip this step! There are many errors you may completely gloss over on the digital proof that will suddenly stick out like a sore thumb on the physical proof (or may still be hardly noticeable!)
What to look for
The artwork
Before going into detail about proofing the content of your book, it’s just as important to proof the artwork! Take a good look at the illustrations both on the cover and in the interior (inlay). If may be good to look at it from all angles.
- Make sure the illustrations are correct. Hopefully you’ve thoroughly gone over this by now, but small details of an image can be hard to spot. Go over it all with a fine-toothed comb. Think about consistency across the board. If a character has a bow in her hair, does it stay on the same side throughout the story? Have buttons on a shirt flipped to the wrong side? (These are both things I didn’t spot until I was looking at my soft proof!)
- Make sure all illustrations run completely to the edges of the paper (if it is intended to do so). On a soft proof, they should go to the outer-most edges of the file. This area past the trim line is called the bleed, and most if not all should be removed when trimming. But in the case that not all of it is trimmed, you don’t want empty white space where there shouldn’t be any! This can be hard to detect on a hard proof, but there should definitely not be any white or blank margins where they are not intended.
- All important text and details in the illustrations should fall within the safe area. The amount of space, or margin, between the safe area and the trim line can differ as well.
- You’ll also want to make sure nothing gets lost in the gutter, or the crease of the spine. The illustration needs to run all the way to the gutter, but you wouldn’t want to lose an important part of the illustration or any text in there.
- Take a good look at all of the colors. Your illustrator should have provided the artwork in CMYK color space. If not, there is a good chance it could print much differently than expected. Even so, what we see on our screens can also look much different than the final product. A book with glossy pages can have a higher saturation, whereas a book on matte paper will look duller. Both have their positives and negatives, so you’ll want to choose the option that complements your story the best.
- Look for ghosting or elements in the artwork that do not belong. This could be an object that wasn’t removed properly, or a box around an object that shouldn’t be there. I have seen objects that were given a transparency or special blending mode show up incorrectly in the proof. In this case, flattening the image might be needed.
- Everything should look well balanced on the page. This is the time to make things smaller or larger, adjust the colors for more contrast, etc.
The cover (and dust jacket)
- On the front, check the title, subtitle, author and illustrator names, and any other text for spelling, grammar, and color errors.
- On the spine, check the title, names, and publisher’s name or logo for spelling and color issues. Make sure they are all centered on the spine. But be aware that this can change in the printing process.
- Note: If you are printing through IngramSpark, they currently discourage printing any information on hardcover books under a certain page count, which includes most children’s picture books.
- On the back, there are a few things to check:
- Read the blurb carefully. Check for spelling and grammar errors, as well as orphans (a.k.a. runts). This would be a single, short word at the end of a paragraph that is on a line by itself.
- Check that the ISBN is correct (both in the barcode and the human-legible version above the barcode), and the price extension or +5 add-on, if you have it.
- Does it list the retail price? If so, make sure that is correct.
- Does your cover show a BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) heading? This would be displayed either in the bottom left corner of the back cover or dust jacket, or just above the barcode.
The interior
- Start by reading all of the text, if possible. Hopefully you’ve done this multiple times before now. But with the soft and hard proofs, it’s your last chance to check for any spelling, grammar, and formatting errors.
- Look for spelling and grammar errors. These can be hard to spot just reading through. Try to intentionally think about each word. Have a couple of others read through it as well. By now, you should have already had it professionally edited, and hopefully more than once. Proofreading should still be done now, just in case something was missed.
- Look for extra or missing spaces. Double-spacing after a period comes from the days of typewriters, and is no longer standard procedure. So make sure you have single-spacing between sentences.
- Look for widows and orphans. I’ve explained orphans already, but they can also be seen as a line of text at the bottom of a page that belongs to the paragraph on the following page. Widows are just the opposite — a line of text at the top of a page that belongs to the last paragraph on the preceding page. These may not be so common in children’s picture books, but still something to keep in mind.
- Make sure the text is all consistent in size, weight, color, and typeface (font). If more than one font is used, see that they complement each other well. No more than three font types should be used in the entire book.
- Double check your title page and half-title page. The half-title page is not necessary, but it would be page #1 if you have it. Otherwise, the title page would be here. The title page will have the title, author and illustrator names, and publisher’s mark. The half-title should just have the title itself.
- Look over the copyright page carefully. The copyright page should be page #2, unless you book is “self-ended”, meaning any end pages are part of the same file rather than “separate-ended”, which is when end pages are a separate file.
- Check that you have this required information, and that it is accurate:
- The copyright notice with the word “Copyright” and/or the copyright symbol (©)
- The year the book is published (Could be more than one year if there are multiple editions)
- The copyright holder’s name or pen name.
- Additional information can also be included here. Check that all is correct. It doesn’t need to include all of this, and does not need to be in any specific order.
- Rights and permissions
- ISBNs for each format made available
- BISAC headings
- disclaimers
- Design, production, editing, and illustration credits
- Printing location (country) This is required if you are printing offset, but you should not include this for print-on-demand printing.
- Edition info
- printer’s key (a.k.a. number line)
- Trademark notices
- Publisher’s address
- Publisher’s website
- Author’s website
- Environmental notices
- Note: If you are printing on FSC-certified or recycled paper, your printer needs to be certified to do so. They would be the ones authorized to add the appropriate logos.
- With my book, I decided to include my dedication on the copyright page instead of on its own page. I also included a Bible verse.
- Note: If you have a Bible verse anywhere in your book, be sure you follow the copyright guidelines for the translation you use. There are only a handful of Bible translations that are in the public domain. Copyrighted translations will require you to add a copyright notice, and the location might differ based on how many verses are in your book.
- Check that you have this required information, and that it is accurate:
- Check the text for all front and back matter.
- Front matter are the pages before the storyline, and should be minimal in a children’s book. In addition to the pages I’ve already mentioned, it could include a dedication page and a “This book belongs to” page.
- Back matter is any information after the story. This could include discussion guide, information for parents, author and illustrator bios, more books available by the author or publisher, and so on. No matter what you place in the back, you’ll want to look over the text and formatting carefully as with the storyline.
In conclusion
I know it’s a long list to consider. But if you use this checklist to thoroughly examine your children’s book before it is printed in bulk, it will help you be more content knowing that you’ve done your due-diligence to eliminate as many mistakes as possible.
Mistakes happen. And even after your book is printed, you may still find them. But rest assured, you’re not the only one. Traditionally-published books commonly have editing mistakes that aren’t caught before printing.
If you are early in your self-publishing journey and you need a designer to help you navigate formatting and preparing your book for the printer, I hope you will consider hiring me! I can relieve you of the headache of many of the items on this list. I’ll also be there every step of the way, from making sure the illustrations fit the size book you want, to troubleshooting the finishing touches of the publishing process. Let’s launch your children’s book today!
