Comparing TEX and Traditional Typesetting for the Composition of a Textbook Laurie J. Petrycki Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1 Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867 617-944-3700 crwQwjhl2.harvard.edu Abstract Producing a textbook with m. as opposed to a traditional typesetting system, requires different procedures to achieve a similar final result. The publisher's production staff takes on a much different role and enters the publishing process at an earlier stage when a book is produced with 7&X. The most significant issue Addison-Wesley faces when a book is typeset with 7JjX is the availability of typesetting houses who can produce the book at the level of typographic and page make-up quality we require. When we use a traditional typesetter we may pay a higher price, but we can count on meeting our publishing standards. The most significant advantage in producing a book with 7JjX is the accuracy of mathematical material, which then does not have to be rekeyboarded, and with which we can easily produce a subsequent edition or spinoffs. Background Like most other production departments within large publishing houses, much of the hands-on por- Addison-Wesley Publishing Company is primarily tion of the production process-the copyediting, an educational and technical publisher. The Higher design, art rendering, and typesetting -is done by Education Division publishes approximately 100 outside vendors. The in-house staff consists of titles per year in the following disciplines: computer generalists (production supervisors) who coordinate science, engineering, business, economics, physics, the project from start to finish, and specialists who and mathematics. The complexity of these 100 titles arrange for purchasing technical art, typesetting, varies greatly -from one-color, sparsely illustrated and cover designs. Addison-Wesley has added a books to four-color, heavily illustrated, and designed special group to its in-house staff called electronic books. Approximately twenty percent of these production. This group (of which I am a member) books are produced with T)-@ or VTEX. is responsible for all projects that are produced The publishing process begins when an acqui- in a nontraditional manner, which includes sitions editor signs a contract with an author. After m. Addison-Wesley is committed to staying on the cut- the manuscript is written and reviewed by the au- ting edge of production technology and recognizes thor's peers, the project is officially turned over to the necessity of such a group to consult with authors the production department. A production supervi- and the rest of the division. sor is assigned to shepherd the manuscript through To understand how TE,X typesetting affects the production process, with the end result being the traditional publishing process I want to first final film that can be sent to a printer for printing describe traditional procedures and then compare it and binding. The production process consists of de- with the ?]EX publishing process. signing, copyediting, preparing the manuscript for typesetting, rendering the art, typesetting, proof- reading, checking galleys and page proofs, and final The Traditional Production Cycle film. The author's role. The author creates the manu- script, generally using a word processor, and is TUGboat, Volume 12 (1991), No. 3-Proceedings of the 1991 Annual Meeting 359 Laurie J. Petryckj responsible for providing a doubled-spaced manu- After the manuscript has been copyedited and script to facilitate copyediting. The author is typemarked. it is sent to a professional typeset- given guidelines for preparing the manuscript - this ting house for keyboarding and formatting. The includes preparing art sketches; following Addison- typesetter has already received the design specifi- Wesley editorial styles; placing of figure captions, cations and has written a program to interpret the footnotes. and references; numbering of heads. designer's specifications into their coding system. If equations, figures, and tables; and. later in the the book is relatively simple, the typesetter may process, creating an index. output the text directly to a final paged format. If the manuscript includes mathematical ex- If the book is complex (for example, if it has pressions, the author must either leave space on a high frequency of illustrations or special design the hard copy and insert the expressions by hand, elements), the typesetter will output galleys first. or use a technical word processing package that Galleys are lengths of unpaged. but formatted can represent the expressions. Technical word pro- type. The galleys are proofread and then dummied cessing packages. however, are usually limited in into pages. By this point the art has been rendered. their choice of special characters and their ability so the dummier can lay out the galleys on a page to represent complex built-up equations. Thus, an grid and indicate where the illustrations should author frequently has to insert some material by fall. Dummying is an exacting and critical skill hand each time the manuscript is printed out. that cannot be replicated by automatic pagination If the manuscript has been created with a programs. In determining where the illustrations word processor, we make every effort to use the fall, the dummier evaluates each double-page spread word processed file rather than rekeyboard the of the book, looking forward or backward through entire manuscript. Traditional typesetting systems as much as an entire chapter. to ensure that the can interface with a variety of word processing illustrations flow evenly and do not fall more than packages, and some of them can preserve formatting, one page past their reference. such as boldface. italics, and tabs. Mathematical The dummier must adhere to certain paging expressions in a word processing file, however, standards. The most important of these standards cannot be converted to a traditional typesetting is that each double-page spread must align across system. Math in a word processing program the bottom of the pages. To do this, the dummier or in is coded differently from math in a has the flexibility of manipulating the space above traditional typesetting system. Invariably, the or below design elements, such as heads, boxed math expressions, as well as any computer program material, illustrations, and equations. However, listings and tabular material. must be rekeyboarded. the dummier must ensure that the space around After the author has submitted the manuscript these elements is consistent across the double-page to the publisher, his or her role consists of verifying spread. The dummier must also make sure that and checking proofs throughout the production there are no widows, orphans, or pages ending with process. The author sees: the manuscript after hyphenated words, and that figures and tables are it has been copyedited; the art after it has been not stacked. rendered; and the galleys and/or page proofs after Pages are made up from the dummy, either by the manuscript has been typeset. If the book hand from corrected galleys or on the typesetter's has mathematical expressions or computer program paging system. The typesetter outputs page proofs listings, the author must pay particular attention to which are checked again by the publisher and proofreading this material since it is rekeyboarded author. Once the pages are corrected, final film is by the typesetter. made, with the art film stripped into place. The publisher's role. When a book is pro- duced traditionally, the production department is The TEX Production Cycle minimally involved until the manuscript is nearly When TEX or WI&X is used, most of the above steps written. At that point, the acquisitions editor of the traditional publishing process are altered. holds a meeting with the production supervisor. (The issues discussed below refer to manuscripts conveying the market needs for the book, the de- prepared with both TjjX and I4W unless is sired budget and schedule, and any special quality mentioned specifically.) disturbs the linearity considerations. The production supervisor commis- of the traditional publishing process by forcing the sions a design and lines up outside vendors such as author and publisher to change their roles and by a copyeditor and a proofreader. changing the sequence of key events. These changes 360 TUGboat, Volume 12 (1991), No. 3 -Proceedings of the 1991 Annual Meeting Comparing 7J$ and Traditional Typesetting are not necessarily detrimental; rather, they make route is well established and straightforward for it all the more important for the publisher to define the typical production coordinator. However, the the author's responsibilities and to determine a influx of word processing files, from a variety of production plan for each project early on. programs, has led to a need for specialists within the publishing house to help with the conversion The author's role. The first change for the and smooth translation from electronic file to the author is being put in contact with the production compositor or freelancer. department during the contract signing process Secondly. TEX reverses the traditional order instead of after the manuscript is written. The of the publishing process. Most notably, the choice of as the typesetting system for a project production department must start working on the is usually driven by the author's desire to use TEX book design before the manuscript has been written. and his or her expertise. As consultants to authors whereas in the traditional model a design is usually and acquisitions editors, the electronic production not done until a manuscript is nearly final. When group helps determine the level of involvement the the design is done after some of the manuscript is author will have in the production of his or her written. the designer has the advantage of looking book. An author is rarely encouraged to use at the manuscript's elements, making sure that unless the author has used previously and is rn the design is appropriate for all situations.