Post by spiralbound on Jul 17, 2017 20:53:05 GMT
This topic comes up from time to time on G+ and other places. There are likely as many strategies as there are people who create PDFs for publication. I'm not an expert or a pro by any means, however I do have experience and some techniques. In the vein of sharing, here is what I use and why. It would be great if others chimed in as well so that people who are curious can see what options are out there.
Writing
For the actual writing, I end up using or importing the writing efforts of others from a variety of sources. Google Docs, MS Word, raw .txt files, etc. Before importing any text into my layout program though I always do a copy and paste into a raw text editor to strip out any formatting. Introducing any behind the scenes text formatting from the original text editor into the layout program is just begging for inconsistent text appearance and numerous headaches. My personal raw text editor of choice is TextPad, I've been using it for over 20 years now so obviously it meets my needs, but as always with such things YMMV. One last note on formatted text in a writing program vs a layout program. I don't mind working with formatted text from an author as I'll sometimes keep their formatted version up another screen as a structural reference for how they were dividing up the material, content organisation is especially important with RPG publications as they tend to structurally be a combination of a reference and an instruction manual, or perhaps more like a university textbook , but I digress.
Layout
I use Scribus for my layout. I've tried a couple of others, but I prefer Scribus for several reasons. One, it's free. I'm not wealthy or even well off, so price is a consideration. Two, it's open source. I really prefer open source software for a long list of reasons better suited for another thread - perhaps even another forum. Three, it is actually a good program with a lot of features. It isn't yet a great program, but the development team is slowly yet steadily improving it. Side note: the next update will be a big jump forward in features and power, I'm looking forward to its eventual release! Even in it's current form it is capable of some high quality layout. As many will assert, the learning curve is steep, but then what feature rich software has no learning curve? Also, it does have some limitations. There is another program with a lot fewer feature limitations, namely InDesign. However, for the indie RPG self-publisher on a budget, it simply isn't feasible - especially as in recent years the program has switched to a SAS (Software As a Service), monthly access fee business model over the previous SAP (Software As a Product), buy each version once business model.
Image Editing
I use two programs in concert. For raster image creating/editing I use Paint.net. It's basically what MS Paint would look like were it fully developed as a "stand on it's own merits" program instead of an "included with Windows" freebie. It doesn't do everything, but it meets my modest needs for manipulating an image before insertion into a layout. For vector image creating/editing I use Inkscape because it's awesome.
PDF Compiling and Compression
When making a document with lots of images and layers, it doesn't take much for the file size to quickly get large. Of course, a large file size is undesirable for a product intended for download and digital storage. So, after I output my PDF from Scribus I upload it to PDF Compressor and usually get 85% to 90% file size reduction. The associated page Combine PDF is also useful when I'm working with multiple files, such as when compositing large documents where each chapter is it's own PDF file. Just upload them to Combine PDF, arrange them into the desired order and then download the single combined PDF.
So, what do YOU use?
Writing
For the actual writing, I end up using or importing the writing efforts of others from a variety of sources. Google Docs, MS Word, raw .txt files, etc. Before importing any text into my layout program though I always do a copy and paste into a raw text editor to strip out any formatting. Introducing any behind the scenes text formatting from the original text editor into the layout program is just begging for inconsistent text appearance and numerous headaches. My personal raw text editor of choice is TextPad, I've been using it for over 20 years now so obviously it meets my needs, but as always with such things YMMV. One last note on formatted text in a writing program vs a layout program. I don't mind working with formatted text from an author as I'll sometimes keep their formatted version up another screen as a structural reference for how they were dividing up the material, content organisation is especially important with RPG publications as they tend to structurally be a combination of a reference and an instruction manual, or perhaps more like a university textbook , but I digress.
Layout
I use Scribus for my layout. I've tried a couple of others, but I prefer Scribus for several reasons. One, it's free. I'm not wealthy or even well off, so price is a consideration. Two, it's open source. I really prefer open source software for a long list of reasons better suited for another thread - perhaps even another forum. Three, it is actually a good program with a lot of features. It isn't yet a great program, but the development team is slowly yet steadily improving it. Side note: the next update will be a big jump forward in features and power, I'm looking forward to its eventual release! Even in it's current form it is capable of some high quality layout. As many will assert, the learning curve is steep, but then what feature rich software has no learning curve? Also, it does have some limitations. There is another program with a lot fewer feature limitations, namely InDesign. However, for the indie RPG self-publisher on a budget, it simply isn't feasible - especially as in recent years the program has switched to a SAS (Software As a Service), monthly access fee business model over the previous SAP (Software As a Product), buy each version once business model.
Image Editing
I use two programs in concert. For raster image creating/editing I use Paint.net. It's basically what MS Paint would look like were it fully developed as a "stand on it's own merits" program instead of an "included with Windows" freebie. It doesn't do everything, but it meets my modest needs for manipulating an image before insertion into a layout. For vector image creating/editing I use Inkscape because it's awesome.
PDF Compiling and Compression
When making a document with lots of images and layers, it doesn't take much for the file size to quickly get large. Of course, a large file size is undesirable for a product intended for download and digital storage. So, after I output my PDF from Scribus I upload it to PDF Compressor and usually get 85% to 90% file size reduction. The associated page Combine PDF is also useful when I'm working with multiple files, such as when compositing large documents where each chapter is it's own PDF file. Just upload them to Combine PDF, arrange them into the desired order and then download the single combined PDF.
So, what do YOU use?
