Post by thegreyelf on Apr 10, 2009 6:43:02 GMT -6
Hey, everyone,
I wanted to let you all know we're still playing with the format of the S&S Revised core softcover--when I did 6x9 it came on an ivory paper stock that made the art look kind of crappy, IMO. I'm now experimenting with a 5.5 x 8.5 format and a "publisher grade" paper they have. I'll see what that looks like when it arrives.
If that paper stock is still ivory in color and not white, I may have to for softcovers go back to 8.5 x 11 unless you, our customers, would rather sacrifice print quality for size.
I also reformatted the hardcovers to a 9x6 base file so Lulu wouldn't have to reduce it physically and leave a gigantic top margin.
There are two down sides to all of this, unfortunately. The first is that while we fix these format issues the page references in MM will not match up to the core book hard copies (though they do match the e-book). Changing page size = changing page count by its very nature.
The second is that we're likely looking at three different formats for the book now, with three different page counts (as the hard and softcovers are different sizes, which means differing page counts). That means the page references in MM can only match up to one of the three. Unless I reformat after all of this is done so that the hc matches the hc, the softcover matches the sc, and the e-book matches the e-book, which is a valid option.
Now, if I go back to 9x6 for everything, there's no page reference issues at all (save one more pass to correct them on the reformatted 9x6 files), but again, we're back to ivory-colored paper in the softcovers. I've no clue why Lulu uses a different paper stock for softcovers and hardcovers, but it seems they do.
On the up side we have an exceptionally detailed table of contents so it shouldn't be an issue.
I'm always open to hearing thoughts from you guys on what you'd prefer, so please jump in and post away.
I wanted to let you all know we're still playing with the format of the S&S Revised core softcover--when I did 6x9 it came on an ivory paper stock that made the art look kind of crappy, IMO. I'm now experimenting with a 5.5 x 8.5 format and a "publisher grade" paper they have. I'll see what that looks like when it arrives.
If that paper stock is still ivory in color and not white, I may have to for softcovers go back to 8.5 x 11 unless you, our customers, would rather sacrifice print quality for size.
I also reformatted the hardcovers to a 9x6 base file so Lulu wouldn't have to reduce it physically and leave a gigantic top margin.
There are two down sides to all of this, unfortunately. The first is that while we fix these format issues the page references in MM will not match up to the core book hard copies (though they do match the e-book). Changing page size = changing page count by its very nature.
The second is that we're likely looking at three different formats for the book now, with three different page counts (as the hard and softcovers are different sizes, which means differing page counts). That means the page references in MM can only match up to one of the three. Unless I reformat after all of this is done so that the hc matches the hc, the softcover matches the sc, and the e-book matches the e-book, which is a valid option.
Now, if I go back to 9x6 for everything, there's no page reference issues at all (save one more pass to correct them on the reformatted 9x6 files), but again, we're back to ivory-colored paper in the softcovers. I've no clue why Lulu uses a different paper stock for softcovers and hardcovers, but it seems they do.
On the up side we have an exceptionally detailed table of contents so it shouldn't be an issue.
I'm always open to hearing thoughts from you guys on what you'd prefer, so please jump in and post away.