McClain Printing Company
Book Publishing Division
P.O. Box 403 - 212 Main Street - Parsons, West Virginia 26287
1-800-654-7179 - 304-478-2881 - FAX: 304-478-4658
E-mail:Contact Us

Printers with Experience	Services MPC Offers
Books of Continuing Interest	How to Submit a Manuscript
Composing Your Own Book	Financial Arrangements
Storage of Books	Cost of Printing a Book

Printers with Experience
Since 1958, McClain Printing Company has earned a reputation throughout West Virginia and the east coast as a reliable, professional and creative printing business. Much of our printing services are in the form of commercial printing such as flyers, posters, catalogs, brochures, pocket folders, pamphlets, magazines, post cards, etc. Our trucks deliver to the Washington, DC, metro area daily and our services are offered throughout the country. Commercial printing was an addition years ago to an already thriving family business of book printing. The founder of MPC, Ken McClain, found that many of the regional and county history books of West Virginia were out of print and hard to obtain. The editor of the hometown paper in Tucker County, WV, he was asked to reprint may of the old histories of the area. Thus, the publishing division of MPC was created and from that, private book publishing at MPC was born. While MPC does occasionally finance historical books or reprints, we are predominately a private book publisher. This means we will not take profits from any author's book sales as vanity presses do. A royalty publisher who will finance and market the book at no expense to a customer and then pay the customer royalties is the goal of most authors, but this is not always obtainable and can take years of searching for the right agent and an agreeable publisher. We are often asked, "How do I get my book published?" Our best suggestion is always to try to find a book agent who does not ask for up-front money and who, if he/she sells your book to a publisher, will then take a reasonable cut of the money. Copyright your material and send letters and excerpts to potential agents and publishers.

Since 1958, McClain Printing Company has earned a reputation throughout West Virginia and the east coast as a reliable, professional and creative printing business. Much of our printing services are in the form of commercial printing such as flyers, posters, catalogs, brochures, pocket folders, pamphlets, magazines, post cards, etc. Our trucks deliver to the Washington, DC, metro area daily and our services are offered throughout the country.

Commercial printing was an addition years ago to an already thriving family business of book printing. The founder of MPC, Ken McClain, found that many of the regional and county history books of West Virginia were out of print and hard to obtain. The editor of the hometown paper in Tucker County, WV, he was asked to reprint may of the old histories of the area. Thus, the publishing division of MPC was created and from that, private book publishing at MPC was born.

While MPC does occasionally finance historical books or reprints, we are predominately a private book publisher. This means we will not take profits from any author's book sales as vanity presses do. A royalty publisher who will finance and market the book at no expense to a customer and then pay the customer royalties is the goal of most authors, but this is not always obtainable and can take years of searching for the right agent and an agreeable publisher.

We are often asked, "How do I get my book published?" Our best suggestion is always to try to find a book agent who does not ask for up-front money and who, if he/she sells your book to a publisher, will then take a reasonable cut of the money. Copyright your material and send letters and excerpts to potential agents and publishers.

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Services MPC Offers
Access to computers and the Internet has made private book publishing easier and a more acceptable way of producing books. At McClain Printing Company, we offer a variety of services to help authors bring to life what they have imagined seeing on a book shelf. We have two divisions: Commerical Printing and Book Publishing and five departments produce the work for these divisions. Pre-press is responsible for all type-setting, camera-work, film generation and placement, and platemaking for the presses. The Press Department boasts four presses make up of one, two, four and five-color Heidelbergs. Once the pages and covers are printed, the sheets go to the Bindery Department where the pages are folded into signatures (in most cases one sheet of paper becomes eight or sixteen pages in a book) and then it is bound. We offer saddlestitching, perfect binding, GBC, plastic spiral, wire o-binding and hardcover binding. The books are then boxed and made ready to be delivered by our Shipping Department or picked up by the author. Bookkeeping keeps track of all paperwork, invoicing, payments, taxes, etc. All of this work is done by a professional, experienced staff who takes pride in the work they produce. The Book Publishing Division offers special services to authors such as assigning each book an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), ordering a Library of Congress Control Number, supplying authors with the copyright forms once the book is printed and then aiding the author in marketing his/her works. Marketing is obviously the key to successfully selling a book. As with any product, whether an author is well-known or a first-timer, the more people hear about your book, the more likely they are to buy it. We suggest that authors write a brief synopsis of their book and send it to various newspapers and local television and radio stations for reviews and possible interviews. Book signings are a fun, easy way to get to know your public and talk about your book. Take copies with you in your car and stop at small book stores and tourists sites to show them your product. Your interest and enthusiasm for selling the book is crucial. McClain Printing Company will arrange book signings in West Virginia at bookstores and malls at the author's request. But while the author is busy selling his/her wares, MPC will make all the connections on our list to make our dealers and distributors aware of your book. We are a vendor with Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, and amazon.com, and our primary distributor is Baker and Taylor. We notify all of these national chains about your book as well as R. R. Bowker who publishes the essential book listing, Books in Print. This does not mean that these chains will stock each of their stores with copies of your title, but it does mean that if someone comes into their stores and asks for an author's book, by the author's name, title or the ISBN, they can look it up on their computers and order it from us. Most chains will not order directly from an author and insist on getting their stock from vendors such as MPC, thus we usually purchase a limited number of copies from the author for resale at a 50% discount from the retail price of each book. In turn, the dealers and distributors to whom we sell receive a dealer discount from us. This is why we suggest that an author who publishes privately should take the amount of dollars he/she has in each copy and multiply it by three to help him/her determine a reasonable retail price so he/she doesn't lose money when they sell to dealers.

Services MPC Offers

Access to computers and the Internet has made private book publishing easier and a more acceptable way of producing books. At McClain Printing Company, we offer a variety of services to help authors bring to life what they have imagined seeing on a book shelf.

We have two divisions: Commerical Printing and Book Publishing and five departments produce the work for these divisions. Pre-press is responsible for all type-setting, camera-work, film generation and placement, and platemaking for the presses. The Press Department boasts four presses make up of one, two, four and five-color Heidelbergs.

Once the pages and covers are printed, the sheets go to the Bindery Department where the pages are folded into signatures (in most cases one sheet of paper becomes eight or sixteen pages in a book) and then it is bound. We offer saddlestitching, perfect binding, GBC, plastic spiral, wire o-binding and hardcover binding.

The books are then boxed and made ready to be delivered by our Shipping Department or picked up by the author. Bookkeeping keeps track of all paperwork, invoicing, payments, taxes, etc. All of this work is done by a professional, experienced staff who takes pride in the work they produce.

The Book Publishing Division offers special services to authors such as assigning each book an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), ordering a Library of Congress Control Number, supplying authors with the copyright forms once the book is printed and then aiding the author in marketing his/her works.

Marketing is obviously the key to successfully selling a book. As with any product, whether an author is well-known or a first-timer, the more people hear about your book, the more likely they are to buy it. We suggest that authors write a brief synopsis of their book and send it to various newspapers and local television and radio stations for reviews and possible interviews.

Book signings are a fun, easy way to get to know your public and talk about your book. Take copies with you in your car and stop at small book stores and tourists sites to show them your product. Your interest and enthusiasm for selling the book is crucial. McClain Printing Company will arrange book signings in West Virginia at bookstores and malls at the author's request.

But while the author is busy selling his/her wares, MPC will make all the connections on our list to make our dealers and distributors aware of your book. We are a vendor with Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, and amazon.com, and our primary distributor is Baker and Taylor. We notify all of these national chains about your book as well as R. R. Bowker who publishes the essential book listing, Books in Print.

This does not mean that these chains will stock each of their stores with copies of your title, but it does mean that if someone comes into their stores and asks for an author's book, by the author's name, title or the ISBN, they can look it up on their computers and order it from us. Most chains will not order directly from an author and insist on getting their stock from vendors such as MPC, thus we usually purchase a limited number of copies from the author for resale at a 50% discount from the retail price of each book. In turn, the dealers and distributors to whom we sell receive a dealer discount from us.

This is why we suggest that an author who publishes privately should take the amount of dollars he/she has in each copy and multiply it by three to help him/her determine a reasonable retail price so he/she doesn't lose money when they sell to dealers.

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Books of Continuing Interest
Our Books of Continuing Interest is an annual catalog which lists all of our books currently in-stock and is sent out to approximately 7,000 libraries, bookstores, dealers and customers. We also produce free flyers (quantity equal to the order of your books) promoting your book and place them in every book order we ship as long as the supply of flyers lasts. Our goal is to produce attractive, marketable books for our customers and help them sell the books so all parties are satisfied: the author because his/her books are selling, the customers who purchase the books and MPC because we want to reprint the current edition or do the first printing of the author's next book!

Books of Continuing Interest

Our Books of Continuing Interest is an annual catalog which lists all of our books currently in-stock and is sent out to approximately 7,000 libraries, bookstores, dealers and customers. We also produce free flyers (quantity equal to the order of your books) promoting your book and place them in every book order we ship as long as the supply of flyers lasts.

Our goal is to produce attractive, marketable books for our customers and help them sell the books so all parties are satisfied: the author because his/her books are selling, the customers who purchase the books and MPC because we want to reprint the current edition or do the first printing of the author's next book!

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How to Submit a Manuscript
There are four ways to submit a book to us: manuscript form, camera-ready, disk or cd rom. If our typesetting services are required, the first step for an author is that that the manuscript must be typed on one side of 8 1/2" x 11" white bond paper, and double spaced for editor's notes. Each sheet should be numbered to avoid confusion. The manuscript will be edited, typeset, proofed and sent back to the author for his/her review.

How to Submit a Manuscript

There are four ways to submit a book to us: manuscript form, camera-ready, disk or cd rom.

If our typesetting services are required, the first step for an author is that that the manuscript must be typed on one side of 8 1/2" x 11" white bond paper, and double spaced for editor's notes. Each sheet should be numbered to avoid confusion. The manuscript will be edited, typeset, proofed and sent back to the author for his/her review.

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Composing Your Own Book
When an author chooses to compose his/her own camera-ready pages, they become their own editor, typesetter and proofreader. Whatever they submit to us as camera-ready material will not be edited or proofed with the exception of a glaring error that may be noticed or the checking of page numbers to make sure all material has been sent to us. A common, legible type is suggested when choosing a font for easy reading. Times Roman, New Century Schoolbook or Helvetica are a few of the easy-to-read typefaces recommended for book printers. Size is another significant choice to make: 10 point is an average type size for reading; audiences often find 12 point easier to read. Use automatic spacing between lines: 10-point type on 12 point leading is preferable as is 12 point type on 14 point leading. Too large a space between lines is distracting and a waste of valuable space. Page numbers should be used to avoid confusion and are mandatory if you have a table of contents. All front matter material should be numbered in lowercase Roman numberals, with the text starting on page one. Odd numbered pages are always on a right-hand page; even numbered pages on a left-hand page. This may require the use of some blank pages. All blank and unnumbered pages should be accounted for when counting pages. Chapter head pages are usually unnumbered. All type and images should be on one side of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of white bond paper. For a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" book, images should fit in a 4" x 7" printed area. If you have photographs which are not already scanned-in and need to be processed by us, leave a space for the photo and type the cutline beneath the space.

Composing Your Own Book

When an author chooses to compose his/her own camera-ready pages, they become their own editor, typesetter and proofreader. Whatever they submit to us as camera-ready material will not be edited or proofed with the exception of a glaring error that may be noticed or the checking of page numbers to make sure all material has been sent to us.

A common, legible type is suggested when choosing a font for easy reading. Times Roman, New Century Schoolbook or Helvetica are a few of the easy-to-read typefaces recommended for book printers. Size is another significant choice to make: 10 point is an average type size for reading; audiences often find 12 point easier to read.

Use automatic spacing between lines: 10-point type on 12 point leading is preferable as is 12 point type on 14 point leading. Too large a space between lines is distracting and a waste of valuable space. Page numbers should be used to avoid confusion and are mandatory if you have a table of contents. All front matter material should be numbered in lowercase Roman numberals, with the text starting on page one.

Odd numbered pages are always on a right-hand page; even numbered pages on a left-hand page. This may require the use of some blank pages. All blank and unnumbered pages should be accounted for when counting pages. Chapter head pages are usually unnumbered.

All type and images should be on one side of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of white bond paper. For a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" book, images should fit in a 4" x 7" printed area.

If you have photographs which are not already scanned-in and need to be processed by us, leave a space for the photo and type the cutline beneath the space.

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Financial Arrangements
Once an author is ready to submit either a manuscript, camera-ready copy, disk, etc., a contract between the author and McClain Printing Company will be drawn and production will begin as soon as the contract is returned signed and the first payment of one third of the total cost is paid to MPC. Another third will be invoiced prior to the book going to press and the final payment is to be made upon pick-up or delivery of the books.

Financial Arrangements

Once an author is ready to submit either a manuscript, camera-ready copy, disk, etc., a contract between the author and McClain Printing Company will be drawn and production will begin as soon as the contract is returned signed and the first payment of one third of the total cost is paid to MPC. Another third will be invoiced prior to the book going to press and the final payment is to be made upon pick-up or delivery of the books.

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Storage of Books
MPC offers storage services for books at $15.00 per month per 1,000 books and under or $150.00 per year per 1,000 books and under. For storage at home, books should remain in the boxes in which they were originally crated and we suggest a dry, level, dark area. Too much moisture or heat can damage books.

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Cost of Printing a Book
Probably the most commonly asked question about self-publishing is: "How much would it cost to get a book like mine printed?" This is an impossible question to answer without specifics because there are so many factors which play into a quotation for book printing: number of pages, size of book, binding, colors of ink on cover, color separations for photos, disk conversions, photos, typesetting, quantity, shipping, etc. A form is available to aid MPC in determining a free, no obligation quotation for our self-publishing services. Call us at 1-800-654-7179 for more information regarding book publishing or for an appointment to review your material. We are always happy to answer any questions potential clients may have and look forward to discussing your next project.

Cost of Printing a Book

Probably the most commonly asked question about self-publishing is: "How much would it cost to get a book like mine printed?" This is an impossible question to answer without specifics because there are so many factors which play into a quotation for book printing: number of pages, size of book, binding, colors of ink on cover, color separations for photos, disk conversions, photos, typesetting, quantity, shipping, etc. A form is available to aid MPC in determining a free, no obligation quotation for our self-publishing services. Call us at 1-800-654-7179 for more information regarding book publishing or for an appointment to review your material. We are always happy to answer any questions potential clients may have and look forward to discussing your next project.

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