Jump to content
Storyist Forums

View as book


Steakpirate

Recommended Posts

For those of us thinking of self-publishing, or who at least expect to have as much control as to specify a font to the publishers, I think many of us would appreciate the ability to see what our text would look like shrunken down to the actual size of a book, perhaps even on mock book-paper.

 

 

It would help in selecting legible fonts and organizing the special little frills of our novels, or if we're techno-hip enough to be using the Storyist file to print the actual novel in our garage.

 

(Although I imagine the machinery involve will send you into your third home mortgage)

 

 

 

It would also be a good motivational tool, to fantasize about what the completed thing would look like. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like an automatic blurb generator for the back cover. :D

 

"Best book in the history of the universe" - John Smith, famous guy.

"I learned English for this? I could just plotz!" - Anon Ymous, frustrated reader.

"I can die a fulfilled woman now." Jane Doe, previously unfulfilled woman.

"I gave you a twenty. Where's my change?" - Vladimir Nabokov Jr., thought he was buying a different book.

 

And the beat goes on.

 

I don't know. Might be fun.

-Thoth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For some of the self-publishing, just export it, change the document size, export to pdf and print... Pray that it'll look that way and send it to the printing people's place.

 

Or just try to target the eBook market...?

 

...I need to find my brain...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those of us thinking of self-publishing, or who at least expect to have as much control as to specify a font to the publishers, I think many of us would appreciate the ability to see what our text would look like shrunken down to the actual size of a book, perhaps even on mock book-paper.

 

 

It would help in selecting legible fonts and organizing the special little frills of our novels, or if we're techno-hip enough to be using the Storyist file to print the actual novel in our garage.

 

(Although I imagine the machinery involve will send you into your third home mortgage)

 

 

 

It would also be a good motivational tool, to fantasize about what the completed thing would look like. :(

You can adjust the margins inside Storyist to get the text down to book size. Paperbacks vary, depending on whether they're mass market (about 4" x 6") or "quality" (5" x 8" or larger). The actual print area would be smaller, allowing for about 0.5" to 1" margins all round. You start with 8.5" x 11" paper and do the math to get the margins you want. Then adjust the styles for Section Text, Chapter Title, etc., to the font and size you want and set them to single spacing and justified text. Publishers' production departments set exact leading values instead of single spacing. Seems like overkill for what you want to do, but if you'd like to, choose Spacing > Exactly inside the Inspector or style definition page and set a number 2 points higher than your font size.

 

If you'd like to imagine what the final book would look like on screen, print to PDF as emoKid suggests. You can go the final step and crop the pages in Preview, if you like (you have Leopard, I think). But the last step, too, is overkill if you're planning to print sample pages, since they will print on standard paper anyway.

 

If you print 3-4 pages from Preview, you'll get a good sense of what the fonts look like on the page—assuming you have access to a laser printer. I don't think Xlibris and similar concerns output to phototypesetters: if they do, the output will be the same but much crisper.

 

Typical fonts for printed books include Times, Garamond, Bookman, and Baskerville for the body text. Display type (headings, chapter titles, front matter) is often the same font in different styles (bold, italic) or sizes or both. Sometimes it's a different font that illustrates the subject matter; the same goes for the ornaments that separate sections. Generally, you want to use no more than two fonts (plus ornaments, if appropriate); otherwise your page starts to look like a ransom note. All these decisions are made by the book designer: there are tons of options as well as a number of good books on the subject. I recommend Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style.

 

In any case, the point is that you can do it all within Storyist except crop the pages, then output to PDF. You could even set up a separate set of styles for your book view and use the Format > Style > Replace Styles feature to switch back and forth.

Best,

Marguerite

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, Marguerite, let me say that this is terrific information. Your expertise is just one more reason the Forum is very lucky to have you.

 

Now I could be wrong but I'm assuming the Steakpirate is as lazy as I am when it comes to thinking about book design. I think what he really wants here is a button; A feature that makes most of the choices and does all the calculations for you.

 

He's asking for a fun thing. And perhaps a nice marketing point for Steve. Not a true self-publishing tool which, as you and emoKid point out, is doable in or through Storyist now.

But I could be wrong.

-Thoth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, Marguerite, let me say that this is terrific information. Your expertise is just one more reason the Forum is very lucky to have you.

 

Now I could be wrong but I'm assuming the Steakpirate is as lazy as I am when it comes to thinking about book design. I think what he really wants here is a button; A feature that makes most of the choices and does all the calculations for you.

 

He's asking for a fun thing. And perhaps a nice marketing point for Steve. Not a true self-publishing tool which, as you and emoKid point out, is doable in or through Storyist now.

But I could be wrong.

-Thoth

 

A somewhat less eloquent ditto on Thoth's comment. It is true, I was in my last life, a gelatinous blob from Xelgon IV. Perhaps this is why I'm so adamant and specific about features to make things marginally easier for us 'yumans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A somewhat less eloquent ditto on Thoth's comment. It is true, I was in my last life, a gelatinous blob from Xelgon IV. Perhaps this is why I'm so adamant and specific about features to make things marginally easier for us 'yumans.

Sorry for the too much information, then. It seems like a rather difficult thing to pull off, given the number of changes the program would have to make (see previous post) and the variables in terms of fonts, etc., but no harm in dreaming! :(

Best,

M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...