[scribus] Preferred workflow for mostly text book

[john Culleton]

On Tue, 18 Feb 2014 16:02:53 -0500
Gregory Pittman <gpittman at iglou.com> wrote:

> On 02/18/2014 03:27 PM, JLuc wrote:
> > Le 18/02/2014 20:45, john Culleton a écrit :
> >> I am trying my first real book interior in
> >> Scribus, and the page count will exceed 128.
> >> There will be text plus lots of black and
> >> white illos. I will use 1.5.0.
> >>   So what is the preferred workflow:
> >> 1. Type each chapter externally and import
> >> as text into a set of linked pages. Then
> >> export the chapter as pdf.
> >> 2. Type each chapter using story editor. Then
> >> export the chapter as pdf.
> >> 3. Type the whole book in one document.
> > 
> > I use a mixture of 1 and 3, depending on the
> > book.
> > 
> > I type the text in external documents
> > (libreoffice or googledocs) and import them
> > as text (without style import) I do the
> > layout then.
> > 
> > With 1) i setup a script to merge the
> > produced PDFs with pdftk when required.
> > 
> > With 3) when the SLAs are ready and before
> > producing the PDF, i merge the 10 to 20 SLAs
> > in 3 or 4 big SLAs (Pages > Import) (entry
> > and summaries, first part, second part, last
> > part) I redo manualy all links (because
> > #11110) and sometime i clean the duplicated
> > and unused styles (#11814, #11420) but there
> > should be no problem if the styles have the
> > same definition in all merged parts. And then
> > i produce the 3 or 4 PDFs that i send as is
> > to the printer, without merging them further.
> > 
> >> I am concerned about two things: speed/ease
> >> of production and size of the ultimate pdf.
> >> It seems to me that if I merge chapters
> >> using pdftk then there will be a lot of
> >> repetition in the pdf of fonts etc.
> > 
> > Merging the PDFs is fully scriptable, fast
> > and reliable, and less tricky than merging
> > the SLAs, but i dont like keeping lots of
> > SLAs. IMO, fonts are not that big compared to
> > scribus produced PDFs.
> > 
> 
> I think the preferred workflow is whatever
> works. Certainly for 128 pages, your option 2
> is the least workable.
> 
> You know you need to break up your book into
> smaller pieces when screen updates become
> intolerably long. A 128 page all or mostly text
> book might actually work if you have plenty of
> RAM and a fast processor.
> 
> The downside of breaking up your book is to
> make sure you keep track of page numbering,
> right-left pages, and all the other things that
> make for a smooth finished book once you merge.
> 
> AFAIK, pdftk should avoid duplication of font
> metrics in your final PDF.
> 
> Greg
> 
>
OK I am going to enter text for chapters into a
txt file, flow the text into linked text
frames, set up the fancy stuff in story
editor, save each chapter as a separate pdf and
merge with pdftk.

Stay tuned for progress reports :<) 

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