Mark Barrett over on Ditchwalk, is trying to figure out the epub and pdf translation processes from the point of view of an author who wants to move his work into the public sphere.
When authors start having to roll up their sleeves and get under the hood of translation software, learning the ins and outs [...]
From the category archives:
Book Production
I’m working on a lovely book of inspirational verse and color photographs, and in order to proof the book and get some Advance Reader Copies, I’m using Blurb.com, who specializes in color books just like this.
I’ve seen books from Blurb before, and they look quite good considering they are digital. They can’t compare directly with [...]
We call them “hardcovers” and people are fretting about whether they will go the way of the dinosaur, the buggy whip, the vinyl record, the 8-track tape players. But there’s life in the format yet.
It’s more accurate to refer to these books as “casebound,” and understanding what a casebound book is can help in the [...]
I frequently get asked what exactly a book designer does. Just the other day I spoke with a client whose book is in copyediting. I’ll be getting ready to start work on his interior next week.
“Well, do you need to do anything,” he asked. “I mean, there’s just a couple of formats, right?”
I couldn’t help [...]
Many smart self-publishers already own the “bible” of the business, Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual. But another iconic resource is available to self-publishers who decide to take on the design and production of their own books.
Of course, the book I’m referring to is Pete Masterson’s Book Design and Production: A Guide for Authors and Publishers (ISBN [...]
A few years ago we took a family trip to Australia. It was a great adventure but what impressed me at the time was how long it took to get ready for the trip.
Passports, itineraries, housing arrangements, plans to take care of our house, dogs and cat while we were gone. Since we both [...]
Digital printing has given rise to the print-on-demand distribution model that’s become so popular with self-publishers. Lightning Source, Inc. (LSI) is the principle provider of print-on-demand distribution, and the one I personally work with, and often recommend to my clients who are intending to become competitive self-publishers.
Like anyone else, I had to work out the [...]
We’ve all heard about it, we talk about it, we call it by the wrong name, but do you really know how print-on-demand book distribution works? You will by the end of this article.
I’ve written in an earlier post about the confusion over the terminology commonly used to describe print on demand book distribution, but [...]
The most popular program for preparing materials for print is Adobe’s InDesign, part of the Adobe Creative Suite (CS) version 4. Since building InDesign to compete with Quark Xpress, Adobe has integrated the program tightly with its CS teammates, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat Pro. It’s generally referred to as a page layout program.
The Old Way
The [...]
