The highly skilled editorial and design staff at Providence House Publishers is recognized for its professionalism and careful attention to detail, traits that have helped us consistently exceed authors’ expectations in the five-hundred-plus quality titles that we have produced over the years. We take great pride in the appearance and content of the books that bear our imprint. The book production process typically takes six to eight months from the time the publishing agreement is signed until the completed books are received from the manufacturer.

Pre-Production Planning
We pride ourselves on establishing a strong partnership with our authors. It is important for us to understand our authors' vision for their book as we begin our work of preparing it for publication. While we are not always able to incorporate all of our authors' ideas, we find it very helpful to consult with them so that the finished book is the best possible representation of the material. Before we begin editing your manuscript, we will discuss your vision for the book including purpose of writing, intended audience, sales and marketing plans, and overall goals. We may discuss our editorial plan to determine the depth of editing we feel your manuscript requires so that you are not surprised by the changes we may make to your text. A thorough understanding of your vision for the work and a detailed plan to capture your vision will help us produce a book that pleases both you and your readers and is effectively positioned in the marketplace.

Copy Editing
Your book will be edited for basic grammar, punctuation, and overall content using the Chicago Manual of Style. Often relatively minor changes in a book’s format, organization, and other aspects of presentation can substantially improve its editorial quality and subsequent acceptance in the marketplace. It is important to note that authors are responsible for checking the specific facts and references relative to the unique subject of a manuscript prior to submission.

Page Design and Layout
Our staff develops an attractive page design that considers your book’s specific audience and sales objectives. Careful attention is paid to the appearance and positioning of chapter titles, photographs and/or illustrations, special content, appendices, etc. PHP's titles are often very complicated, making extensive use of illustrations and photographs, making the need for careful layout essential. The design of the book is the responsibility and ultimately the decision of the publisher. We consult with our authors to make sure that the presentation best represents the content.

Cover Design
We work with our authors to form a concept for the cover, write the cover copy, contact prominent individuals for comments, and present an appealing cover design that is carefully integrated with the page design. For hardcover books, we will also select the binding materials. Similar to the text, designing the cover--an all important element--is ultimately the decision of the publisher, but we find that our authors often have great input that maximizes the creativity and connection of the book's content with potential purchasers. Typically, our authors are delighted with their ability to "weigh in" on the creative process characteristic of PHP, not always a guaranteed part of the publishing process in all publishing operations.

Cover and Page Proofs
Page proofs allow you to see how your book is developing and add any changes or corrections that you feel are necessary. We address any editorial questions (author queries or “AQs”) from our copy editor on this set of proofs. We will ask you to write your changes directly on the page proofs and return them to us in about one week. It is helpful for many authors to keep a copy of the changes they have requested in case we need to discuss them after the pages are returned to PHP. We also submit a color proof of the cover or dustjacket for your review and input around this time. We will work with you, receiving your observations and ensuring that all of your appropriate changes are made as you suggested.

Proofreading
We will check your book again for any stylistic errors, including grammatical errors, misspellings, etc. This critical step will be performed by an editor who has never before read your manuscript, because often a “fresh” set of eyes on your book will be able to find previously undetected errors.

Final Pages
After we have completed production of the book, we will send it to the manufacturer. At this time, we also send a set of final pages to you. These pages reflect the changes you suggested on your page proofs as well as the corrections made by our proofreader (and indexer, if applicable). This set of pages serves as the last checkpoint prior to the book’s printing. We will ask you to review these pages and submit your corrections within one to two weeks. Final page corrections should be limited to spelling, typographical, or formatting errors only, since any corrections must be made by the manufacturer and can be very expensive.

Preparing for Book Delivery
Some time during the book’s manufacturing, we will contact you to discuss how you will receive your first shipment of books. We will establish a shipping plan that includes the number of books you expect to receive as well as the specific address and contact information. Often PHP will ship books for authors who have purchased bulk copies using a buyback provision in their publishing agreement. We will do so for a minimum of two years at no charge. By agreement, PHP also pays the shipping charges for the author's initial book shipment. On later author book purchases or deliveries, shipping bills will be charged to the author.