Even if the nature of typesetting (discussed in my previous post) is of little concern to you and other authors, chances are that you will be affected by the typesetting process. Indeed, now may be the time for nasty surprises, for the thunder of giga-tonne chickens coming home to roost.
What????
Up to this point, at the moment of typesetting, it is not unknown for a press to have no clue at all about the state of the text and image files to be used in a book it will publish. A common reason for such ignorance is that the press has relied on the author to key all the editorial changes to the text (or, as happens with some presses, the deal is that the author delivers ‘clean’ text files ready for typesetting). And, to compound the problem, the production editor hasn’t thought to carry out a preliminary check on these files.
I hope that this is not your situation.
Why? Because it is often at this point – when all of the files are delivered for typesetting – that various ‘issues’ raise their ugly heads. In the following posts, I shall explore a few of these issues, namely:
- Choice of word processor
- Unhelpful formatting
- Use of special fonts
- File conversion errors
- Image problems
- Use of colour
- Placement of non-text elements
- Use of cross-references
- Copyright problems
And, to round off this section on design and typesetting, I shall discuss the issues of:
- Unrealized expectations (e.g. with footnotes)
- Loss of control over one’s material
- Typesetting phases and outputs
- Finalizing the cover
After which we shall proceed to the proofing stage.
(Post #9 of the Design & Typesetting section of a lengthy series on the book production process, the first post of which is here.)
