The revolution computers brought to printing is well known. No longer is a book or anything set by hand – sometimes there is no longer even any ink involved in publications.
I am able to use the speed of the computer to output your document, so that your publication is available on time and within budget. When everything has been prepared, a book can be sent to the printer within days. This is lightning speed when compared with setting books by hand in hot type only forty years ago.
Once in digital form, an author’s prose and poetry can be manipulated quickly and efficiently. Proofing electronically also is possible so that there is no longer the delay of printing galleys and the time-consuming delivery of reams of printed paper. The author and publisher review files as they will be presented to the printer. At every step, there is a ‘signing off’ of the copy and proof electronically.
I have been able to involve the publisher from the outset by agreeing the style of the finished pages, setting timings for drafts, and incorporating all changes in the manuscript.
I will take advantage of DTP technology and techniques for the sake of your publication in a timely manner, whether a short 8-page leaflet or an 8,000-page reference book.
Consultancy
Workflow
How you put your publications together
How do you create content? The spectrum ranges from creating it page by page by yourself to outsourcing content creation – from time and effort intense to costly contracting. Money spent on content creation is what is saved when content is produced by the company itself, which knows its products and procedures. However, when the company produces its own content, time and effort is diverted from the mission of the enterprise.
What do you use to create your content? There are many computer programs to do this, but each has its own foibles and benefits, and each has an intended output. Some are better than others for specific publishing ends.
Media
Print – the usual destination for most publications. A publication ranges from one page to a multi-volume treatise, a personal letter, a leaflet, a brochure, a book, an encyclopedia.
Web – the alternative to print, and an increasingly popular output for any sort of publication. This also includes the growing ezine and ebook output.
We can help decide how the document should be produced and where it should be made available to the world.
Content Management
The saying, “Content is king!”, should be a company’s mantra. That content is the product for a manufacturer, and that manufacturer should present itself and its product in its publications. The publication of material should not deflect the company from its vision and mission.
Database publishing may be the means by which content might be presented. By using data already stored in databases of all sorts, it is possible to produce documentation quickly and efficiently, sometimes “on demand”. This can be output to print or electronic media.
Automatic publishing is possible when documents are stored in a “regularised” manner. This means that no massaging of a new document needs to be done – all the work has been done on creation of the content. This could be through a database in some way, or the collation of existing documents or partial files.
If you would like help with your publishing projects, whether to the printed page, e-book, or your own web site, please contact me.
gardening
For all of my life I have been interested in gardening. It has ranged from mowing the grass for pocket money as a boy, watching the odd programme on the television – really enjoying Geoff Hamilton on the BBC and his successors – spending the whole day in someone’s garden to bring it up to shape and maintaining it. I have even been a full time gardener at a small manor house here in the Gloucester countryside.
Most of the time my gardening has been confined to small contracts to maintain gardens for people too pushed for time or for elderly or disabled people.
Since arriving in Slimbridge, I have been saving my sermons and producing them on my website. A number of different ways of presenting them have happened. Here is a listing of the earlier sermons.
