[scribus] [Fwd: Using Scribus for book-signature layout]

[john Culleton]

On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:11:17 -0700
"Peter Linnell" <tech at atlantictechsolutions.com> wrote:

> ---
> 
> Dear Sir or Madam,
> 
> In looking for page-layout software within the price range of my
> non-existent budget, I found and downloaded Scribus and GhostWriter.
> 
> I have already laid out a book using Publish 2007, all seventy-two
> pages on nineteen double-sided folios.  A copy of the master has been
> cut and is ready to bind.
> 
> However, I would like to do the lay-out in in three-sheet signatures
> of twelve pages, since glueing may prove better with folds than with
> single edges.
> 
> The page number lay-out for the first signature should be:
> 
> Sheet 1 of Signature 1, recto, left to right:  Page 12 & Page 01
> Sheet 1 of Signature 1, verso, left to right:  Page 02 & Page 11
> 
> Sheet 2 of Signature 1, recto, left to right:  Page 10 & Page 03
> Sheet 2 of Signature 1, verso, left to right:  Page 04 & Page 09
> 
> Sheet 3 of Signature 1, recto, left to right:  Page 08 & Page 05
> Sheet 3 of Signature 1, verso, left to right, Page 06 & Page 07
> 
> Page 01 is blank.
> Page 02 is blank.
> Page 03 is the Title Page (not marked with page number).
> Page 04 is the copyright page (not marked with page number.
> Page 05 is the Dedication Page (no page number or title banner).
> Page 06 is the blank reverse of the Dedication Page.
> Page 07 is the Acknowledgments Page (no page number or title banner).
> Page 08 is the blank reverse of the Acknowledgments Page.
> Page 09 is the Table of Contents (page ix in the bottom right-hand
> corner, in italics).
> Page 10 is the blank reverse of the Table of Contents.
> Page 11 is page 1 of the text body (header banner has the title on the
> outside and the page number on the inside.
> Page 12 is the blank reverse of the Introduction.
> 
> Page 13 would be on the right end of the recto of Sheet 4, Signature 2
> 
> The book is 5.25 inches wide with half-inch margins all the way around
> except for the gutter, which is three-quarters of an inch wide.  It
> is 8.5 inches high and about three-eighths of an inch thick.  The
> dimensions were determined by my itsy-bitsy budget and the need to
> use letter-sized photographic paper for the cover.
> 
> Can Scribus be used to accomplish this?
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Christine Wolfe, author
> the,ubiquitous.wolfe at gmail.com
> 
> 
Scribus creates print (or web) files.  AFAIK Scribus doesn't do prepress
shuffling of pages in a file such as you suggest. But a good
commercial printer should have the necessary software to do such
prepress activity. Have you discussed this with your print shop? 

The Context version of TeX will also do such shuffling. It will even set
up mapping for a web press. But there is a long learning curve
involved. And Context, like Scribus, creates the files from scratch.
Importing an existing multipage file in pdf format is
difficult/impossible in either program. 

What I would do is create a convert your existing pdf file from
pdf to ps in normal 1,2,3 single page order. Perhaps MS Publisher can do
this, I have never used that product. Then I would use free tools found
in PSUtils to rearrange the pages. Finally I would convert the
rearranged file to pdf, using e.g., ps2pdf (part of the GhostScript
suite.)

I don't know of a free program that will use Microsoft Publisher files.
It has always been a sort of fringe product. It is not good enough to
compete with InDesign in the commercial publishing world and it is too
expensive/limited to compete with TeX and Scribus in the Open Source
world.






-- 
John Culleton
Free list of books for self-publishers:
http://wexfordpress.net/shortlist.html

"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html