• Don’t be afraid to push back to ensure the cover design reflects the book’s thesis. The Press initially designed cover art that featured a photograph of Nixon holding a press conference. Although apropos, it omitted the shadowy, threatening nature of the Nixon era captured so well by Porter’s original. I wanted to emphasize the theme of the book—the ominous nature of government attacks on a free press. I was delighted when the Press produced a new layout.

  

• Block Quotes. Ask the editor/typesetter to use the same spacing as the regular text, to avoid the appearance of an impenetrable slug. Some style editors insist on a block quote based on a number of lines, but others avoid them (because no one reads block quotes, they contend). Weave in what you can to protect the narrative flow, but ask for more space to invite the reader to engage a blocked passage.

• Snag URLs Now! Some online sources permit a single view of an article and then require a subscription. If an essay seems important, Export the article as a PDF to your research files when you first encounter it. Copy the URL and paste it with the date accessed directly into your PDF.

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• Photo Rights and Text Licensing. Find out the class of rights/licensing the publisher desires before you engage the rights holder, to avoid having to undo an agreement and re-sign for worldwide rights. 

Tom Mascaro is professor emeritus in the School of Media & Communications at Bowling Green State University and a documentary historian.