As a partner with Carr Publishing, we rely on the School Photographer/Representative to help the order production process to run smoothly. Here are some things you will want to know.

Quick Links:

Know the Basics:

We do not require you to understand all the variables that are inherent in the printing industry, but the more you do understand the easier it will be to serve your Schools. Take the time to be familiar with the Yearbook Material. We attempt to keep instructions simple and easy to understand. However, if there is information which you do not understand, please contact us. We are very willing to answer your questions and clarify terms. When this is done early it usually solves time consuming production problems before they even happen. Understanding the material before talking to your School will also reduce the possibility of promising something that is not offered in the basic price structure.

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Know the Design Tools:

Here are the supported design tools.

A+ Publisher On-Line

Offers flexible page design, the use of PSPA industry standard student/faculty photo CD and the ability to use your own digital images. With an Internet connection, it provides the opportunity to work on your project from anywhere without transporting files. It also gives you the ability to have more than one person working on the project at once. Digital images are stored on our server and a low-res thumbnail is supplied to maintain a fast design interface. Once the order is submitted, Carr Publishing takes care of creating the high-resolution files for printing.

YEARBOOKS!

– a design software created by Pelican Software, Inc. which allows greater flexibility in design, but places more responsibility on the designer for the quality of the overall book.

If you have clients who have the expertise to use QuarkXpress or InDesign they can submit their yearbook on one of these programs, but only if all images are already digitized and linked; a complete book. We will not accept orders using these programs as designs only (requiring images to be digitized and linked by the publisher). There is no way of pricing such an order sight unseen, nor is there time during the yearbook season to custom place all the images in such an order.

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Know the Price:

There are innumerable ways to approach yearbook printing. When a price list is created it is established with a specific set of criteria. When these criteria are followed, the cost remains true to the published price structure. If the school is trying to do things contrary to that set criteria the cost of the order will increase.

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Know the Production Schedules:

Plant production schedules begin when all customer materials for the yearbook order are received at the plant. At the end of the production schedule your finished order is shipped via UPS Ground service. Shipping time varies based on the distance from where the shipment originated. It is wise to plan on an additional 2 weeks for shipping.

Reservations for both B&W and Color yearbook orders will be accepted throughout the season on a first-come first-serve basis, but you must adhere strictly to the schedules listed below. Schools who meet their project deadlines and who prepare their material correctly will receive preferential production schedules. Penalties in production time and/or in monetary charges will be added to orders that require special consideration; such as late orders, rush orders, orders with extensive questions and/or poorly prepared orders. Production schedules are as follows:

  • Black & White and Color Softbound Books require 6 weeks for production.
  • Black & White and Color Hardbound Books require 8 weeks for production.
  • Black & White and Color Plastic Coil Bound Books require 8 weeks for production.
  • Black & White and Color Perfection Bound Books require 8 weeks for production.

Shortening any of these schedules will incur Rush Order charges. Questions or problems with the order created by the customer will likely extend the production schedule. It is imperative that you remain available for questions and that you reply quickly when questions arise.

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Know How to Reserve Production Time:

All orders require advance reservations. This is our way of knowing how to schedule our personnel properly and be sure materials are available for production. Again, reservations for both B&W and Color yearbook orders will be accepted throughout the season on a first-come first-serve basis, but you must adhere strictly to the schedules listed above. Dates are filled with reservations based on production capacity. If a requested reservation date has already been filled, the reservation will be moved to the next closest available date. A confirmation of your reservation dates will be remitted to you. If a change is necessary it is important that you contact us early so that we may obtain the most accurate information.

Using the Reservation Agreement found in your Dealer Packet you will reserve time for each yearbook order. The date should represent an estimate of when the materials for each order will arrive at the plant. There is a two-week grace period after the reservation date to accommodate unavoidable delays. However, you must remember that production time will not begin until the order materials are received at the plant. Consider that the cost of rush shipping the original order materials to us is far less than rush production charges or rush return shipping charges when the order is complete. Orders received two or more weeks later than reserved date will incur Late Order charges.

The Reservation Agreement also asks for important information regarding each order. We want to know if the order is to be printed B&W or Color. We also want to know what design tool each school will be using. This information is very useful in our pre-planning process.

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Know What Constitutes a Late Order:

All orders require advanced reservations. If an order is received without a reservation it is considered a Late Order. Orders which are received after the two week "grace period" are also considered Late Orders. Late Orders are charged an additional 10% of the base price. Communication is the key. Most necessary changes to your reservations can be accommodated when we are contacted early.

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Know What Constitutes a Rush Order:

It is important that you seriously consider the production schedules discussed above allowing for UPS Ground shipping for the proper amount of time to produce your orders. If circumstances require rush production, charges will be added as follows:

  • Schedules shortened 1-7 Days will add 15% of Base Price
  • Schedules shortened 8-14 Days will add 30% of Base Price
  • Schedules shortened 15-21 Days will add 50% of Base Price
  • No production schedule may be shortened by more than 21 days.

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Know Your Shipping Options:

UPS Ground service is now available to all 50 states. The cost of shipping using UPS Ground service is included in the basic unit price. Normal shipping time is 4 to 8 working days depending on the destination location. If there is not enough time for normal shipping there are three UPS options:

  • 3 Day Select (Orange Label)
  • 2nd Day Air (Blue Label)
  • Next Day Air (Red Label)

All additional charges for rush shipping will be added to the cost of the order. These shipping charges can be very expensive, especially if your order has hard binding.

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Know How to use Photo CDs for Student Pages:

Using a photo CD for your student pages can be very handy, but in order for them to work well there are some particular requirements. These requirements can be found at http://pspa.pmai.org. The key to these photo CDs is to have the information on the data file (index.txt) as correct as absolutely possible. This data file is where the software gets the information necessary to place each individual into their appropriate group, spell the individual's name correctly and know which digital image to use. For instance, if you are trying to place Mrs. Smith's class all on the same page and the data file uses the link “Smith” for this class and all the individuals who have that exact link information in the data, it all works great. But if one or more of the individuals has a link that says "M Smith," the computer will not combine these individuals in the group, rather it will divide them into a separate group. Again, it is important to be sure the data matches and is correct.

Using photo CDs also requires a bit of preliminary work. A+ Publishing On-Line and the Yearbooks! programs have the ability to make corrections to this data. It is not necessary for the photo CD to be sent to Carr Publishing to be proofed. With these design tools the school has the ability and the responsibility to make these corrections before creating their student/faculty pages. It is highly recommended that this data editing process begin well ahead of the actual planning of the yearbook. Once this data editing process is complete each grouping of student/faculty photos can be assigned a location in your yearbook.

The photo CD should have all the student/faculty pictures required for the student page section. If there are digital student/faculty images matching the image characteristics of those on the photo CD, the programs will allow you to import them into the data as “retakes.” If there are pictures that need to be added by scanning or need to have image characteristic corrections made, there will be a $10.00 per image handling fee to marry these extra photos with those on the CD.

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Know How to use Digital Images for Activity Photo Layouts:

Each year we receive more and more digital images to be used in yearbook production. Acceptable images come from primarily two sources, scanned photos and digital photography. Other sources rarely produce images with enough resolution for yearbook production. Beware of the internet. Images on the internet are typically low resolution images and NOT appropriate for yearbook production. The images on the photo CD supplied for student pages is also NOT appropriate for activity layouts. These images are physically too small and as you enlarge any digital image the affective resolution diminishes.

When scanning a photo it should be sized to the actual reproduction size and scanned with at least a 300 dpi resolution. The preferred file format is JPEG. You can simplify the scanning process by scanning all images to a 5" X 7" size at 300 dpi. This will take care of layout option up to a Large Horizontal or Large Vertical. If the scan needs to be larger, then scan it to an 8" X 10".

If a digital camera is used the camera must have the capability of producing an image with at least 3-5 megapixels. In order to create a digital photo that has the appropriate resolution for yearbook production, you must use the quality setting that will produce an image with 3 or higher megapixels. Yes, this means your file will be bigger, but that's because they have more data, thus a higher resolution.

A+ Publisher now allows you to link these digital images to their layout location in your yearbook.

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Know our Definition of a Fully Digital Book:

There are an increasing number of schools who have individuals with desktop publishing/design background. If these individuals choose to do all the digitizing and designing themselves, they may with the following restrictions.

They must use either A+ Publishing On-Line, Yearbooks!, QuarkXpress, or InDesign.

All images and graphics must already be digitized and placed in the document.

The basic criteria for preparing and submitting must be followed. These criteria may be found at www.carrpublishing.com and then navigating to the yearbook section of the website.

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Know About Proofing Options:

We do not normally allow customer proofs of the entire book since both the A+ Publisher On-Line and Yearbooks! software allow for proofing options. It has also been evident that over the years when a proof is allowed there is less scrutiny on the part of the school when preparing their materials. If the materials have been prepared properly we have experienced great success in accurately producing yearbooks. If, however, a proof is required, there is a charge of $2.50 per page (i.e. a proof for a 24 page book would cost $60.00). The proof is a laser proof and is meant to proof position and text. It does not represent the quality level of the finished book.

Proofing requires that at least an additional 2 weeks be added to the production schedule to accommodate the sending and return of the proof. It is important for the folks at the school to handle their proof quickly so that production delays may be avoided.

Also, when the proof is returned, any required changes due to customer alterations will be charged at the rate of $20.00 per page. These charges will be added to the cost of the order. Changes required due to plant error will be corrected at no additional expense.

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Personalized Training:

It is impossible to schedule a time for a training session that would accommodate all. We are always happy to welcome you to our plant for some personalized training. You, or a group of photographers, may choose to fly one of our staff to your location and put them up in a hotel for some “On-Site” Personal Training. Web Conferencing has also proven to be a great way for us to teach folks how to use the various yearbook programs. A+ Publisher Desktop and the Yearbooks! program will be available to download from www.carrpublishing.com.

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Thank You:

Working together, Carr Publishing's goal of offering a quality showcase for your photographic artistry will be accomplished. Thank you again for allowing Carr Publishing the opportunity to serve you. Please feel free to contact us with any questions regarding yearbook production.

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