Publishing Services · Division 01
Composition and artwork services for publishers.
InDesign typesetting and print-ready figure processing, worked to your stylesheet and delivered to your schedule. Three things decide whether a composition vendor is worth keeping: the stylesheet is followed exactly, the schedule holds, and the files pass preflight the first time.
Where we stand
Until now our composition work has reached publishers indirectly: through composition houses, agencies and authors who needed book and journal pages set to a specification. The craft is proven and the files have shipped. The direct publisher relationship is the part we are building.
We would rather state that plainly than show you a logo wall you cannot verify. What we offer instead is evidence you can check yourself: sample pages against your own stylesheet, inside 48 hours, on a chapter of your choosing.
What we offer
Two services, deliberately narrow.
We do not offer editorial, indexing, XML conversion or project management. Saying so is what makes the two things we do offer credible.
Who we serve
Four kinds of list, four different jobs.
01
STM journals
Article and issue composition at volume, to a fixed journal template. Mathematics, tables, reference styling and figure preparation inside a tight review cycle.
02
University presses
Monographs and edited collections. Long footnote and endnote apparatus, indices, plate sections, and a design that has to hold for 400 pages.
03
Educational
Textbooks, workbooks and teacher editions. Artwork-dense spreads, repeated pedagogical furniture, and multiple editions worked off one master.
04
Trade & independent
Fiction and illustrated non-fiction. Fewer titles, more craft: a typographic read that survives the first review without a redesign.
Selected work
Three titles, three different production demands.
Real jobs shipped to print. Client names and detailed spreads are available on request under NDA.
14-figure research rebuild from PowerPoint source
International STM journal submission
The challenge:
Fourteen multi-panel figures submitted by authors as PowerPoint slides and low-res screenshots: mixed font families, inconsistent point sizes (down to 4 pt), RGB color, and lines that bitmapped below print threshold.
What we did:
Extracted raw data plots and rebuilt all 14 figures from scratch in Adobe Illustrator as vector EPS at 188 mm two-column width. Normalized typography to 8 pt sans-serif, converted to FOGRA39 CMYK, and standardized panel letters (a, b, c) while preserving every underlying data curve.
Delivered:
Fourteen vector EPS files, high-resolution annotated PDF proofs, and an audit report comparing original versus rebuilt figures.
- 14 figures rebuilt in 4 business days
- 100% first-pass acceptance by journal preflight
- Zero author revisions required on artwork
320-page critical edition with dual footnote apparatus
University press / Academic monograph
The challenge:
A manuscript with 16 contributor chapters, disparate Word styles, 850+ footnotes, a secondary textual variant apparatus, extensive Greek/Latin diacritics, and a 40-page consolidated bibliography.
What we did:
Constructed a robust InDesign book hierarchy (.indb) locked to a 13-pt baseline grid. Implemented custom GREP queries to clean up punctuation, non-breaking spaces, and citation styling. Automated multi-level author and subject index pagination.
Delivered:
Press-ready PDF/X-1a, packaged InDesign CC archives (.INDD + .IDML), and styled chapter masters for future series volumes.
- First proof delivered in 8 business days
- Overnight turnaround on author proof markups
- Zero widows, orphans, or overset text
Vocational & TVET course series (4-volume package)
Vocational and school textbook publisher
The challenge:
Four coursebook units requiring artwork-dense spreads, repeated pedagogical sidebars, photo replacements against an asset log, and translation-ready packaging for overseas editions.
What we did:
Composed 480 pages in InDesign to publisher design references. Color-corrected 120+ photos to 300 ppi CMYK, replaced stock photos against editorial logs, and anchored callout graphics directly in the text flow.
Delivered:
Complete InDesign print packages (PDF/X-4) and cleanly structured IDML packages prepared for translation and localization partners.
- 4 volumes delivered to master print schedule
- Translation-ready layers preserved in IDML
- Consistent visual language across all 4 titles
Artwork processing
Every figure failure we remove.
| What arrives from the author | What we hand you instead |
|---|---|
| RGB figures in a CMYK book | Converted to CMYK or greyscale on profile |
| 96 dpi screen captures | Rebuilt to 300–1200 dpi as the spec requires |
| Author fonts, mixed label sizes | Re-lettered in house style at printed size |
| Panel letters missing or inconsistent | Bracketed (a), (b) to your own convention |
| Wrong trim, no bleed, odd dimensions | Sized to the live column or page width |
| A flattened bitmap of a vector chart | Vector rebuilt where the spec needs it |
We change presentation, never values. Axis scales, data points, micrograph content and scale bars are left exactly as the author supplied them, and every batch ships with a PDF proof before delivery.
Deliverables
What lands in your folder.
| Deliverable | Format | Typical specification |
|---|---|---|
| Typeset pages | PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-4 | Press-ready, preflight-checked |
| Working files | IDML and INDD | Styles intact, links packaged |
| Halftone figures | TIFF, LZW | 300–400 dpi, CMYK or greyscale |
| Line art | EPS, PDF, TIFF | 1200 dpi bitmap, or native vector |
| Combination figures | TIFF, PDF | 600–800 dpi |
| Stage proofs | Annotated PDF | First, revised and final |
| Title archive | Packaged folder | Fonts, links and final PDF per title |
Every line above is a default, not a condition. We work to your spec sheet: name the formats, profiles and naming convention you already use and that becomes the delivery standard.
Tooling
Scripted, so consistency is not a matter of attention.
Software
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Acrobat Pro
- InDesign GREP styles
- InDesign scripting
- MathType
- LaTeX source workflows
Why a publisher should care
Hand-styling a 600-item reference list produces a different result on page 40 than on page 400. Scripted styling, with GREP styles and InDesign scripting we write ourselves, produces the same result every time.
That is what makes a second pass cheap, and a reprint possible years later off the same master.
Turnaround & SLA
Indicative schedules. Held in writing.
Every schedule is confirmed in writing against your specification before work begins. Our India timezone (UTC+5:30) allows proof markups received at the close of your business day to be processed overnight.
| Job description | First sample | Full delivery | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journal article (12–20 pages) | 24 hours | 2–3 working days | Fixed journal template, inline math, tables, references |
| Journal issue (~150 pages) | 48 hours | 7–10 working days | Full issue makeup, prelims, TOC, running pagination |
| Monograph (~300 pages) | 48 hours | 3–4 weeks | Apparatus, footnotes, plate sections, index pagination |
| Artwork batch (20–50 figures) | 24 hours | 4–6 working days | Resampling, CMYK conversion, re-lettering, vector redraw |
| Proof correction round | — | 24–48 hours | Turned overnight during UK/US off-hours |
Capacity
Most vendors describe their capacity. We can show you the system that runs it.
Work is distributed from a core of in-house operators to a vetted freelancer pool, and every task is routed through atryOps: the vendor operations platform we built and run our own business on.
That is why capacity is elastic. Adding operators to the pool does not change the process a title goes through, so a sudden issue or a seasonal textbook peak does not become your problem.
We will walk you through it on a call, live.
- 01Every task carries an owner, a deadline and a QC state
- 02Slipping work surfaces before the deadline, not after it
- 03Per-title audit trail: who touched what, and when
- 04Per-title access, granted to an operator and revoked on delivery
Quality control
Nothing reaches you unchecked.
Pass 01
Operator self-check
The setter works through your spec sheet as a checklist and signs each line off before the task can move on.
Pass 02
Independent QC
A second person reviews the pages, never the one who set them. Queries are raised to you rather than guessed at.
Pass 03
Preflight and proof
Acrobat preflight against your profile, then an annotated PDF proof for sign-off before anything is called final.
Rework that comes from our error is not billed, and it does not move your deadline. Author or editorial changes after sign-off are quoted separately, so neither side argues about what a correction is.
Commercials
Priced per page and per figure. Quoted after the sample.
Straightforward complexity banding with no hidden vendor fees. Invoiced monthly or per title, Net 30 days, in USD, GBP, EUR, or INR.
Straight text (Fiction / Narrative)
Novels, memoirs, narrative non-fiction. Clean grid, custom chapter heads, folios, running heads.
Scholarly / Monograph / Apparatus
Footnotes, endnotes, multi-tier heads, complex bibliographies, index makeup, diacritics.
Technical / Mathematical / Textbooks
MathType / LaTeX display equations, multi-page tabular data, pedagogical sidebars, dense layouts.
Prepress review & color conversion
RGB to CMYK / Greyscale conversion, resolution correction to 300–1200 dpi, preflight check.
Re-lettering & label styling
Replacing author fonts with house font at standardized point sizes, axis ticks, scale bars.
Full vector redraw (Illustrator)
Redrawing low-res graphs, flowcharts, schematics, and maps into clean layered vector assets.
Volume & Retainers
Publishing 2+ titles a month? We offer dedicated monthly capacity retainers with priority overnight SLAs and volume-discounted page rates.
Confidentiality
Unpublished manuscripts, handled as such.
Before any file moves
- Your NDA signed, as written, not ours
- Every freelancer under the same confidentiality terms
- Per-title access granted in atryOps, revoked on delivery
- No public cloud sharing outside the channel you agree
While we hold the files
- Encrypted nightly backups, 14-day retention, replicated off-site
- Content never used to train a model, or shown as a sample
- No subcontracting outside our own vetted pool
- Working files deleted on request after archive handover
Pre-publication embargo is the whole of our obligation here, and it is the one thing a composition vendor cannot be forgiven for breaking. Ask us anything on this before you send a single chapter.
How it works
Start us on one chapter.
01
Send the spec and a chapter
Your stylesheet or artwork guidelines, plus one chapter or ten figures. An NDA first if you prefer.
02
Sample back in 48 hours
Styled sample pages or proof figures, with a note on every query the spec left open.
03
You mark it up
We correct, and the corrected sample becomes the agreed standard for the rate card.
04
First scheduled title
Tracked from the first page to the archive handover, on the date we agreed.
The risk of trying us is one chapter. The cost of a vendor who cannot hold a schedule is a season of your list.
What we need from you
The spec pack, so nothing is guessed.
For composition
- House stylesheet or title spec sheet
- Trim size, margins and type area
- Font names, and licence position
- One approved title as a reference
- Reference and mathematics conventions
- Running head, folio and apparatus rules
- Delivery formats and file naming
For artwork
- Artwork guidelines for authors
- Colour mode and dpi, per figure type
- Column and full-page live widths
- Panel-letter and callout convention
- Label typeface and minimum size
- Preflight profile, if you use one
- Figure file naming convention
If some of this does not exist in writing, say so. Reconstructing an undocumented house style from an approved title is ordinary work for us, and we will write it down and hand it back to you.
Frequently asked
Production manager FAQs.
How does the India timezone benefit UK, European, and US production teams?
Our working day in Tamil Nadu (UTC+5:30) overlaps directly with UK and European mornings and US East Coast late afternoons. More importantly, when your office closes at 5:00 PM, you can email author proof markups; our team processes them overnight, so updated PDF proofs are sitting in your inbox by 8:30 AM your next morning.
Do you typeset in our InDesign templates, or build them from scratch?
Both. If you have an established InDesign template (.INDD / .IDML) and house stylesheet, we map paragraph and character styles directly without creating rogue overrides. If you are launching a new title or series, we construct a master grid, baseline rhythm, margin proportions, and style architecture from your design brief.
What is your policy regarding author scientific or technical data?
We maintain a strict zero-alteration data guarantee. When redrawing or cleaning up author figures, our work is strictly confined to cosmetic and prepress conformance (resolution, color space, re-lettering in house fonts). Every data point, curve, axis coordinate, and scale bar is preserved exactly as supplied, and verified against a side-by-side audit proof.
What files do we receive at final handover?
Upon final sign-off, you receive certified press-ready PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 files, complete packaged InDesign archives (.INDD) with all linked fonts and assets, and backward-compatible .IDML files so anyone on your team can open and edit files in the future.
How are author proof corrections handled and billed?
Our base quote always includes up to two complete rounds of author and editorial proof corrections as standard. Rework resulting from any error on our part is never billed. Only major author rewrites (e.g., rewriting entire chapters after initial page makeup) are quoted separately at a modest hourly rate.
How does payment work for international publishers?
We invoice in your currency (USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, or INR). We accept payments via Wise (providing you with a local domestic bank account to transfer into with zero international wire fees), direct SWIFT wire, Stripe, or credit card on standard Net 30-day terms for regular accounts.
The pilot
Send us one chapter, or ten figures.
Sample pages or proof figures back inside 48 hours, against your own stylesheet. You keep the files whether or not we go further. We reply within one business day.