The making of Liquefied Natural Gas—the Future of Global Energy by Maxim Mayorets & Konstantin Simonov

The author sends us a Word file with text, graphs, and diagrams made in Excel.

Deciding on the book’s format and its general style. Proposing several options.

Going with the last option; asking the illustrators to create an image (a diagram or a graph based on data from the book) to be placed at the beginning of each chapter.

Confirming images for all chapters, introduction and conclusion.

At the same time, the designer is making maps and charts, and the typesetter is getting ready for work—looking for options for graphs and tables.

The photos appearing in the book are not of good quality. Moreover, some are color photos and others are black & white. Since the book is already full of color with graphs, charts, and maps, we decided to convert all photos to a single style—black & white.

There is definitely no shortage of material to work with: after putting all the elements together we got about 360 pages. Sending to authors for review. The authors pause for a while, then it turns out we didn’t get the final text—all along we worked with its intermediate version. Receiving the new text, typesetting, reviewing, updating illustrations.

Many questions come up during typesetting. Their solution, as well as coordination of diagrams, maps, and tables, also takes very long. After one year, the data used in the book becomes obsolete. The authors send us new data, which we then use to update the charts and graphs.

The proofreader checks everything several times. Making corrections and sending the book to its authors for a complete review.

Making the cover.

Deciding to publish the book in dust jacket. But let it not just be a simple cover, but a two-sided cover with graphs, data, and other interesting information on the reverse side. Making sketches.

If we are going with this, why not fill the entire cover with infographics?

Next stage—working with the data. Organizing all tables and charts into a single structure.

After everything is organized, working on improving readability, correcting color and other small elements.

Dust jacket finished. Starting to work on endpapers, ribbon bookmark, and headband. The designer shows different versions of endpapers—plain and patterned.

Art director: The one with ships is fine.

Finalizing the pattern.

Once the authors settle on a publishing company, the publisher’s typesetters proofread everything again before printing.

Finally, handing the book over to the print shop.