In 1980, when the editorial staff of the University of North Carolina Press first put together a handbook to aid authors in the preparation of manuscripts to be published by the Press, all of the manuscripts submitted for copyediting were produced on typewriters. By the time the handbook was revised in 1987, the advent of the personal computer had already begun to change the way authors and publishers worked, so a section on the preparation of electronic manuscripts was added to the handbook, and other minor revisions were made to take into account the changeover to computer-produced manuscripts that was under way. With the second revision of the handbook, in 1995, the changeover was all but complete, and the computer-produced manuscript was taken as the norm. Today, in 2001, the computer is being used in increasingly sophisticated ways to generate
illustrative materials--maps, charts, graphs, digitized photographs--as well as text. Virtually all of the work that goes into making a book, from the original writing and revision to the copyediting, design, typesetting, and printing, is accomplished with the aid of computers. The guidelines presented here reflect that fact.

We mean for this booklet to provide authors with basic guidelines for manuscript preparation and a general outline of the editorial process that lies ahead. Following the guidelines presented here will expedite the copyediting and production of your book. We realize, of course, that every book is different and that no guidelines can cover every situation. Therefore we encourage you, if you have questions about our guidelines in general or their applicability to your manuscript in particular, to let us know.