1. What are the features of Accurance’s Book Cover Design service?

There are features of the book cover creation which Accurance prides itself on, including:

• Customization of all book cover project (which includes front cover, spine, and the back cover) to reflect the content and the author’s ideas of his/her cover
• Use of non-copyrighted images, so the client can fully own the book cover art
• Provision of three revisions for no additional fee. Starting over with a new concept, however, is a separate cost item and is not covered in the three revision cycles

1. What are the scope and limitations of the company’s illustration service?

Accurance provides full color or black and white original illustrations for both the cover (front and back) and the interior of various books, such as:

• Children’s books
• Serious-themed stories
• Stylish books/modern romance books

• Dark-toned horror books
• Science oriented books

Sizes of all illustrations depend on the interior size or book-cover dimensions. Our output may be in a JPEG or PDF format, depending on what the client requires. Accurance limits its Illustration service to graphic arts only. We do not create 3D artworks, traditional paintings, and animated/moving/Flash-based illustrations.

1. How does the 5,000-Word Publisher Protection work?

Provided as follows are the four steps for this feature:

Step One: Send your manuscript

With no obligation to buy, you can send us your Word (or word processor equivalent) document manuscript through authorpartner@accurance.com.

Step Two: Manuscript analysis in 2 days

Within 2 business days, we will check if your manuscript qualifies for our mechanical-level editing. If it does, we will give you the word count, the price quote, and the complete instructions on how to purchase.

Step Three: Editing of the first 5,000 words

After your purchase, we’ll edit the first 5,000 words of the manuscript based on our mechanical editing specifications and send you the output within 10 days.

Step Four: Approval

This is how you are protected: Upon receipt of the edited file, you have 15 days to decide whether you want us to continue with the editing. If you think our editing isn’t for you, just inform us and we will refund 100% of your money with absolutely no questions asked.

2. How does the Mechanical Editing service of Accurance differ from other editing services offered worldwide?

Good mechanical editing typically adds $600 to $1,500 to the cost of publishing a book—quickly moving the cost of prepress production into the stratosphere. It’s too much. Our Mechanical Editing service is quite sophisticated—and $350 is a more typical cost.

Moreover, our editors are experts of the Chicago Manual of Style guidelines and perform detailed and comprehensive copyediting to check the manuscript’s structural continuity and accuracy. Summarized below are 18 categories of editing which our editors follow:

a. Correcting spelling errors:

• Basic spelling errors
• Errors involving similar spelling or sound alike:

• “there,” “their,” and “they’re”
• “affect” and “effect”
• “two,” “too,”
• “it’s” and “its”

• Errors in both singular and plural possessives

b. Punctuation errors:

• Hyphenations
• Commas
• Semicolons
• Colons
• En dashes and em dashes
• Quotation marks
• Apostrophes

c. Grammar errors:

• Subject and verb usage
• Tense problems
• Plural and singular problems
• Basic word, sentence, and paragraph syntax
• Run-on sentences and sentence fragments

d. Changes in word choice

• Overused words
• Clearer word choices
• Pointing out offensive words

1. What are the key features of the Page Design that sets this service apart from other providers?

For over a decade, Accurance utilizes the most efficient and cost-effective page design processes in the industry. Our service is geared to combine:

• Extremely disciplined rule sets for consistency, error-checking, and accuracy of specifications per book;
• Best practices at each step of formatting to decrease time consumption, the revision drafts necessary, and the number of problems that needed immediate attention;
• Highest level of problem resolution and file management, with each issue, concern, and decisive action—plus the project tracking—collected in one folder for easier data access, communication, and review.

Moreover, our formatters follow standard formatting guidelines, but they can also provide custom page design, as per client request. They are experts of various page layout softwares, which include Adobe Creative Suite (CS), MS Word, Quark Xpress, and Scribus, often collaborating to meet the high demands of every project.

1. What are the areas covered by the High-Level Manuscript Review (HLMR) service?

Our HLMR service is designed to spot serious/minor mistakes before the manuscript is submitted to editor/publisher. To ensure thorough review, the service is divided into four major sections:

• Manuscript Review – contains a brief summary of the manuscript.
• Mechanical Editing Analysis – includes a thorough assessment of the manuscript’s structure (grammar, spelling, punctuation marks, sentence structure, etc.)
• Substantive Analysis – contains the evaluation of the context, focusing on elements significant to the story, such as setting, plot, characters, dialogue, and resolution.
• Summary – provides overall assessment of the manuscript as well as recommendations.

1. How does the Test Book feature for eBook conversion work?

The process for this service is summarized as follows:

Step One: Filling up of necessary forms and delivery of input files

Once you sign up for our Test Book service, we will send you an ebook order form, which you must fill out completely.
Together with the order form, send us a viable press-ready PDF of both the book interior and cover (front/back/spine) via e-mail to
E-bookEval@accurance.com. You must also secure a one-time $100 nominal fee through our preferred modes of payment (using debit/credit card or through PayPal).

Step Two: Evaluation of input and forms

We will check if your PDFs are viable and if the forms are correctly filled out. If the PDFs are not properly formatted, we can do what is necessary to prepare one, but it is a separate set of services. Otherwise, we will proceed with Step Three.

Step Three: Creation of ePub format

Within 8 to 13 business days after the evaluation process, we will carefully create the ePub version of your ebook.

Step Four: Review and Approval

We’ll then send you the ePub format, along with instructions on how to download a free ebook viewer. If you have corrections, you may request via e-mail and we’ll address everything before proceeding to Step Five. During this process, “rewriting of the book” is not allowed. We may perform a rewrite, but it will be a separate service.

Step Five: Creation of other eBook formats

After your approval and corrections, we will create the other formats within 4 or 5 business days, and then send you all ebook versions of your title for upload and review.

 2. How can the clients review the ebook files from the Test Book service?

The best way to view the ebook (in the .ePub format) is to load it into your own ebook reader device—your iPad, Nook, Kobo, or Sony eReader device, if you have one. (Note: Kindle will not work with an ePub; we will create the Kindle format after you have approved the ePub.)

Otherwise, you may download one of these three popular ebook emulators:

• Sony ebook library software (http://ebookstore.sony.com/download/)
• Adobe Digital Editions software (http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions)
• B&N Nook software (Download at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/free-nook-apps/379002321 for PC version
  and at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks/download-reader.asp?dltab=mac for MAC)

1. What is EDAPT™?

eBook Distribution Adaptive Priority Technique or EDAPT™ is the system used by Accurance to effectively bring ebooks to the attention of the buying public. With EDAPT™, ebooks are distributed to some of the biggest marketplaces, including Apple, Amazon, Sony, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.

2. What happens during EDAPT Distribution?

After we distribute your titles to ebook store libraries and websites, it will take a few days, depending on what online retailer it is sent, before that title appears live and for sale. The average time lapse for each major ebook device is summarized as follows:

All time in business days (M-F)

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The percentage of royalties that every Accurance client will receive from gross revenue sales of ebook on each device or website is as follows:

After the distribution process, clients will be given a unique password-enabled account to our EDAPT Client Console, where they can access sales and royalty reports 24/7. Update of these reports, together with royalty payments; vary among the ebook store providers, as shown in the guideline table below.

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* Our system will be updated every 30 days. The update frequency of each retailer varies.

3. What is the EDAPT™ Client Console?

EDAPT™ Client Console is the actual software that provides ebook sales and royalty reports (through its Analytics Details page). These data are downloadable in Excel, PDF, or CSV formats.

4. Are there help files for the EDAPT Client Console? Where is it located?

There are help guides for the console in PowerPoint and Word format. Currently, they are available only to clients who purchased the EDAPT Distribution service.

5. What is the role of Isolation Network in the creation of EDAPT™?

Accurance was the very first multi-publisher ebook distribution aggregator for INgrooves and INscribe, two divisions of Isolation Network (“IN”), through which it provides media distribution and enterprise software solutions. The partnership between Accurance and Isolation Network has resulted in the existence of one of the company’s proudest creations—the EDAPT™ system

6. How much does Accurance charge for using EDAPT?

A $25 payment per ebook title is collected for the set up of account and upload processing. Accurance also takes a portion of revenue from sales of a title before royalties are paid.

1. What promotional services of Accurance can the publishers extend to their author clients?

Accurance does not limit its publisher clients with regards to extending any of its promotional services and packages to authors. Publishers, however, must follow the specifications set by the company for those services.

1. What type of publishers do Accurance serve?

Accurance serves any type of publishers who choose to outsource their in-house book production and marketing services. We cater to traditional publishers, POD publishers, and everything in between.

1. How does Accurance’s file management (delivery and retrieval of input/output files) work?

Accurance and its clients pick up and deliver input and output files for all projects through a fast and secure FTP server. Our goal is to make the delivery and retrieval of files simpler and easier through this system. In case of unavailability of FTP, we can easily create one for our clients.

2. How can clients track the status of their project?

Accurance uses a master status spreadsheet that is updated and sent via email to client on a daily basis. Through the master status system, clients can track everything about all projects, including job assignment/completion dates, status, and issue log.

3. If publishers decide to outsource work to Accurance, do they have to spend time orienting on their flow, rules, and specifications?

There will be an investment of up-front time on our client’s part to orient us on their specifications, defaults, and processes. We’ll assign a few people dedicated exclusively to their projects, so we can familiarize everything in as little time as possible.

4. What portion of labor could publishers possibly reduce when moving some or all of their prepress production to Accurance?

In case a client decides to move their in-house production to Accurance, they could reduce staffing by 90%. They might just need to keep some high-level staffs who could manage quality control and supervise the overall project.

If a client formerly used freelancers, they could reduce 50% of their production and administration costs. But of course that depends on how well developed their freelance relationships were in terms of administrative streamlining.