Fig. 8. Tracer Card
for Drawings and Cuts
Copy Proofs. A complete file of proofs of all copy is a necessity in every advertising department. If requested to do so, any publisher will furnish several proofs of the ad, and at least three proofs should be kept on file. Every piece of copy and every circular or other printed matter should bear an identifying mark of some kind. This usually is a number.
These numbers should be registered consecutively either in a book or on cards, and opposite each number should be the title of the copy, booklet, or catalog. It is well to run different series of numbers for advertising copy and other literature. Numbers 1 to 5,000 might be used for copy, and 5,001 to 10,000 for printed matter. The same scheme can be used to good advantage for office blanks of all kinds, giving each a form number but using a third series of numbers.
Proofs of ads and copies of all printed matter and blanks should be filed alphabetically by subject or title. For proofs, the envelope scheme, as described for clippings, can be used. Envelopes of this size—7"×9"—will also accommodate copies of most circulars, blanks, and booklets, but if the sizes average larger a vertical file drawer, with large envelopes, can be used. The vertical file will also accommodate catalogs. These files being permanent, the expense of elaborate cabinets can be dispensed with by substituting the cheaper transfer files supplied by all manufacturers of such equipment.
Each time a piece of advertising copy is re-set in a different size, it should be given a new number. New numbers should also be given each circular, booklet, or blank when it is re-printed, provided there is the slightest change in the copy.
On each envelope, the copy number should be entered, and if the copy takes several numbers, all should be entered. Copy bearing the title "Your Chance" may be set in three sizes—full page, No. 640; half page, No. 641; and quarter page, No. 645; all proofs will be filed in one envelope and the three numbers will be entered on the outside.
The register of numbers and the file of proofs provide for the identification of any copy; if the title of any piece of copy is wanted, the number being known, reference to the register gives it; or if the title is known, reference to the file gives the number.
PRINTING ORDERS AND TRACERS
Great care is necessary in issuing and following up orders for printing; every detail must be watched closely if satisfactory results are to be secured. In the majority of offices the advertising manager, or a man under him, attends to all details of ordering printing. Large concerns find that it pays to employ an experienced man for this work alone. To a concern whose printing bills amount to several hundred dollars a month, a man who will give close attention to every detail of the work, from seeing that he gets the stock specified to checking bills for overcharges, can make his services worth a good salary.
In printing, as in everything else, the personality of the house should stand out—a typographical style should be established. This is accomplished much more quickly if every detail of the printing is in the hands of one man.