Path: utzoo!mnetor!frank
From: frank@mnetor.UUCP (Frank Kolnick)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: Self-Publishing
Message-ID: <5158@mnetor.UUCP>
Date: 28 Nov 89 08:27:15 GMT
References: <25160001@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM>
Reply-To: frank@mnetor.UUCP (Frank Kolnick)
Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 65

In article <25160001@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM> 10e@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM (Steven_Tenney) writes:
>Can anyone out there in netland recommend any books or magazine issues
>that do a good job on explaining the use of desktop publishing for
>books (novels, short stories, etc. with little graphics)?
>
>Thanks ahead of time!


I published a book this spring (second printing this fall). About this
time a year ago I was completely in the dark about self-publishing,
although I'd produced numerous manuals, etc. for publication by others.
Occasionally you'll find a magazine article in one of the desktop
publishing mags, but I have a generally low opinion of these magazines
in general. Aside from the fact that the subject is too complex to cover
in that little space, their general tone seems to be "gee, it's really
neat and not really much problem". My experience is that you will mostly
have to learn a lot about the printing process, as opposed to desktop
publishing. That is, be prepared top talk about weights, grain, opacity
of paper, inks, bindings, offset printing, and so on. Printers in general
(and I talked to about ten of them before selecting one) know *nothing*
about computers. You will have to provide camera-ready copy and
specify *every detail* in the process (cropping, gutters, line screens, etc.).
If you plan to include any half-tones or grey-scales, be very careful --
printing with ink is much different than printing with toner. Also,
get friendly with your local Linotronic service (assuming you want
high quality output for a book). Going from LaserWriter to typesetting
is an experience in itself. And so on...

I never did find a book that explained any of this. Basically, there
are books on desktop publishing aimed at getting something out
on your own printer, and there are books on self-publishing books
(via the traditional manuscript or possibly word-processor route).
I found the following in the latter class:
"The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing"
Tom & Marilyn Ross,
Writer's Digest Books.

"Methods of Book Design"
Hugh Williamson,
Yale University press.

and piles of books on book design, typography, etc. (which are the
real issues, anyway; the computer is just a tool, right?)

Anyway, when all is said and done, it's really great to publish
(and sell!) your own book. I managed to do everything on a Mac SE
(using MS Word, QuarkXpress, Illustrator and FreeHand) except the
cover. Originally, I did the cover myself and printed the
separations on a Linotronic. Howver, this runs into problem with
'traps' and line screens (more printer terminology), so for the
second printing we cut and pasted the cover manually, using the
printers vignette screens and my Lino'd type (in Pantone colours,
btw).

In summary, it's fun, but be prepared to learn a lot and take much
more time than you expected.

or did you just want a simple explanation of how to print pages
on your dot-matrix printer?  :-)


-- 
Frank Kolnick,
consulting for, and therefore expressing opinions independent of, Computer X
UUCP: {allegra, linus}!utzoo!mnetor!frank