They mean copy that will be reproduced exactly. Although printing nowadays
is often "computer-to-plate" (meaning that the printer will want your
document as an electronic file of some sort), old-fashioned offset printers
make their plates by photographing typeset copy.

I've prepared a lot of CRC in my day (that's what I prefer to do, in fact),
and this can be handled in various ways. If you have a printer that is
capable of 1200 dpi, that's plenty good enough for CRC (even high-resolution
imagesetters use only 2400, I think), and 600 dpi is usually not too bad for
text.

Sometimes, however, you'll be asked to create CRC that is some fixed
percentage larger than the ultimate output, and the printer will "shoot it
down" to the correct size (which increases the effective resolution). This
is especially practical if you're printing a standard octavo book (usually
about 6" x 9") and preparing the copy on Letter-sized paper.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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"C Tate" wrote in message
...
Hope this doesn't seem a slightly off the wall question! But if somebody
asks for 'camera ready copy' in Word what exactly do they mean?!!!!