Well-Formed Document vs. XML Workflow
Every project that Scribe undertakes goes through three stages:
The entire editorial and production process in a good well-formed document workflow utilizes technology optimally and capitalizes on the benefits of multipurpose publishing without requiring an alteration of any software or systems already in use. Since a well-formed document is consistent in every aspect, from formatting and structure to punctuation and style, it is easily modified for use in any software or system. The idea is to utilize readily available software to generate a well-formed document, and then use the underlying code of the software to port data from one software program to another. By employing one set of rigorous standards, imposed throughout all processes, inconsistencies are eliminated and content is completely useful in any software by any person.
Needs Assessment
Regardless of when in the publishing process a project starts, before any editorial or production work is done, an assessment of the needs of the project should be conducted. This assessment is based on an examination of the content, an identification of the work required by the project, and a delegation of required tasks. Thorough needs assessment prepares the project and staff to progress easily to content preparation.
Content Preparation
Content preparation is divided into two stages:
- Composition
- Editing
With the advent of the well-formed document, composition is now better defined as the process of establishing and imposing the structure of a document. That is, elements of like kind are styled and formatted consistently prior to doing any other tasks. Every chapter title, a-head, first paragraph, block quote, etc., is formatted alike, as are style conventions like punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. These styles and formats are imposed using any markup language, with a tagging vocabulary of your choice.
There are two main advantages from this method:
- A well-formed document is immediately created. This allows for an efficient workflow integrated among every individual and company involved in the project. Editors, designers, typesetters, and everyone else now work with content for which they uniformly understand the structure, style, and tagging scheme. Thus, communication is improved, changes are consistently implemented no matter when they are made, and everyone is still able to handle the same document as they need to individually.
- Composition reveals all the elements of a manuscript, which manifests any problems in the document early. Ben Franklin's "a stitch in time, saves nine" may be cliché, but in the world of tight deadlines, budget concerns, and overworked personnel, early vetting is critical for efficient project management.
For unfamiliar projects and projects that require developmental or heavy editing, the first chapter of edited text should be scrutinized by an established review and approval process. This allows adjustments in editing styles and also identifies red flags as early as possible. While a well-formed document workflow handles obstacles well at any time, it is best to do as much work and identify problems as far upstream in the publishing process as possible. The more complete a well-formed document is, the more dynamic it will be. Moreover, this opportunity can be used to create a sample chapter for the printer to approve. This clearly helps to avoid unnecessary errors and delays when the project reaches the printer, and ensures that files conform to printer specifications. There is nothing worse than hitting a deadline only to find that the printer is unable to work with the materials provided.
After composition is completed, copyediting is done electronically (e.g., using Microsoft Word's Track Changes feature). In general, the efficiencies gained in a well-formed document workflow allow time for increased quality focus through a different editor performing a quality check—a thorough reexamination of the document. Normally, all indisputable changes, such as corrections to punctuation, spelling, grammar, or capitalization are automatically accepted. For more substantive edits, or queries, changes are retained using the software’s tracking feature. Also, queries in a well-formed document workflow can be extracted or copied from the text into a separate list. This allows the author to easily identify changes and navigate through them quickly. Making substantive changes, answering queries, and reviewing the manuscript at this stage avoids later obstacles that could cause reflow or recoding.
Any interior or cover designing should also be done during the editing stage. This involves not only determining aesthetics, but also verifying that paragraph and character styles that are in the typesetting software are prepared to accept all marked-up elements that the project uses to delineate content. This insures that the final copyedited manuscript can be flowed, and thereafter need only beautification. As circumstances warrant, this and any other procedure can always be adapted. For example, familiar projects may use preexisting designs, so this procedure may be unnecessary. Difficult projects or schedules may require other variations.
Product Preparation
After content preparation is finished, product preparation begins.
Tracked changes and outstanding queries have been resolved, final author changes have been inserted, and documents are ready to flow into the approved design template. Whether the product is printed or electronic (or both), the template is embedded with codes that define the design specifications of all structural elements. Once the document has been flowed, the typesetter reviews the document page-by-page to remove any minor typography and layout problems that may exist, and to create "first pass pages" for review.
As with every stage, a different person performs a brief, but thorough, quality control of the first pass pages. Proofreading is thereafter performed at the same time that a set of pages are sent to the author(s) for review. At this point the author can still request alterations. While the proofreader, editor, and author review the proof pages, indexing begins. In essence, any book with an index is a two-volume work combined into one—the book and the index—both of which must go through the same editorial and production process. Therefore, the index pages are created, copyedited, typeset, proofread, and corrected between the time that the first pass pages are generated and finalized.
Once the typesetter enters final corrections into the proof pages, the document is finalized, and thereafter repurposed to generate any remaining products. For example, if you plan to publish a book in both print and CD-ROM format (whether simultaneously or at separate times), and you finalize revisions and approve the print document, you extract the data stream from the mechanics files (e.g., QuarkXPress, InDesign, etc.) of the print product and use conversion software to generate the electronic publication from that data stream. The finalized and approved document is always used as the source to create other publications. This ensures that any correction or alteration to the source will be transmitted to all publications in which the altered content should appear.
After all of the tasks of a project are completed, the files used throughout the process are archived. This enables you to return to the material at critical points within the project. Before a project is "officially" finished, the entire project is reviewed to identify improvements that can be made for the future. Though we are human and capable of erring, it should be our constant goal to eliminate mistakes, improve the quality of our work, and insure that any procedures used for a project can be applied correctly to future projects if applicable.