The archaeological author will soon discover that it is important to learn as much as possible about the publication process. After the labour of writing and revising and finding an interested book publisher or journal editor, it will be a tragedy if the published result is poorly produced. In many cases when this does happen it is because the author's understanding of the process has been inadequate, although there are publishers and editors who could ruin almost anything without assistance from an author. If this is to be avoided and if a quality product is to result, then each must understand what the other wants, and to do this they must be able to communicate, often at short notice. The problem is that the publication process can vary from case to case and has changed as printing technology has evolved, as the use of computers has become widespread and as the commercial organization of publishing has altered. Efficient publishers and journals will usually inform the author, soon after the final acceptance of a typescript, of the various stages of production or refer the author to their Web site for details. As with the writing process discussed in Chapter 5, many details of the publication process can also be found in relevant manuals. Of these, Handbook for academic authors by Beth Luey (Luey 2002) is an example, and an old favourite of mine is the Style manual: For authors, editors and printers (2002).