Welcome to Carnegie Book Production

Carnegie has been designing and publishing beautiful books for over a third of a century, so has a wealth of knowledge and experience of every aspect of the creation of high quality publications of all kinds. We provide services for many publishers and institutions, including university presses, fiction, non-fiction, and STM publishers, many of whom have been with us for years, and we are particularly known for our ability to deal with complex layouts, tabular data and multiple author projects.

Established in 1984, Carnegie very quickly decided to invest in equipment and talent that would enable it to be master of its own page layout. The core values of the company were clear right from the start: Carnegie would design and publish books which would not only equal but exceed industry production standards. This philosophy is just as strong today, and while we still publish under our own imprints, book production for other publishers is the bigger part of the business.

From the simple to the most complex and high-end of projects, we have the expertise to produce exactly the books you want. We offer a full range of editorial services, highly skilled processing of all types of graphical material (including scanning, retouching, photography and original artwork), bespoke page and cover design, e-book creation, competitive print buying, and total project management.

Whatever the size of your company, or the nature of your books, you can benefit from the comprehensive skills that we offer. Our clients tell us they believe our range of services to be both unique and invaluable, allowing them to entrust us with the physical creation of their books so that they can focus on their core activities as publishers. As fellow publishers, we have a deep understanding of the industry, and therefore of your specific requirements and of the multiple considerations in respect of all aspects of book publishing, production, sales and marketing.

You can find out more about what we can do by reading on, but do also call Lucy or Anna on 01524 840111 to tell us about your business and your particular requirements.

Many publishers prefer to handle the editing, proofreading etc. of their books themselves, but if you would like us to undertake any editorial work we can tailor what we do to meet your needs.

If required we can provide read-through edits, whether light, medium or heavy, and proofreading. We can work directly with the author if that is helpful, and of course we will always approach them and their work with respect and sensitivity.

Where texts have already been edited we can, where required, carry out varying levels of mechanical edits, checks and searches to help reduce corrections at proof stage. These can be carried out using macros in Word or GREPs in InDesign, depending on which is more appropriate for the text. They can help fix common typographical and stylistic errors and give the typesetter the option of making global or individual changes. All our typesetters and designers are university educated and are trained to make intelligent decisions in accordance with the preferences of the client.

Over the many years we have worked on books we have dealt with every kind of illustrative matter, from delicate old photos to the most modern of computer-generated images.

Material for inclusion in your books can be supplied electronically, as hard copy for scanning or photographing, or as rough sketches if you need us to create artwork such as graphs, tables, drawings, maps, etc. If images require it we can retouch to a very high level, ensuring that the result is natural and subtle (unless you require a deliberately brash effect!), and that the adjusted files will print to the highest possible standard.

Whatever the genre of your book, we will almost certainly have designed something similar before, in respect of both page layout and covers/jackets.

From inside to out, unless you require us to follow a series style, or copy a look you have seen elsewhere, each design is bespoke, tailor-made to reflect the nature of the material, and your preferences and branding. You may have specific ideas of how you want the book to look, or you may need us to come up with the ideas for you. Either way, you will work closely with the designer, receiving sample layouts for review before full setting is commenced.

The same applies to covers and jackets, whether we are given a tight brief or free rein; there are no templates, because we believe that it is vital that covers and jackets are unique, and we know how crucial they are in attracting target buyers.

Alongside printed books, we can offer reflowable epub files, web pdfs or fixed page epubs depending on what you require.

Some books/layouts lend themselves better than others to epub and it’s best to discuss that with us on a case-by-case basis.

Because we buy print for so many different titles each year, we know which dedicated book printers to choose for your book, and are able to negotiate the best prices on your behalf.

Working with both UK and overseas printers, we source print in all formats from companies whose work we consider to be of a high enough standard. We know which types of books, bindings and print runs will suit which printer, so we can place your book in the most cost effective way. All liaison with printers is carried out by us, from submission of files for printing to delivery of the finished books, and you can leave everything entirely to us, or we can consult with you on every step of the process. No matter what specifications you require, we will be able to buy the print for you.

If you need us to pilot your books through production, from manuscript to final output pdf/epub or to finished printed copies, we can handle every stage of the process for you.

Whether you wish to engage us to project manage every aspect of the production of your books, or you prefer to cherry pick those that you require, our services can be tailored to your specific needs, and can be on a project-by-project basis too. Call us for a preliminary discussion about the options, and we would be more than happy to meet with you to explore everything in more detail.