Master document vs. one long file

[CADANELLA]

Is it preferable to create one long file for a 30 chapter/250 page
book? Or is it better to create a master document? I'd like to
paginate, index, etc., before sending it to the publisher but I'm a
novice user.

 

[Jonathan West]

Is it preferable to create one long file for a 30 chapter/250 page
book? Or is it better to create a master document? I'd like to
paginate, index, etc., before sending it to the publisher but I'm a
novice user.

This article may be of use to you


Creating a Table of Contents Spanning Multiple Documents
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=148


--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup
Keep your VBA code safe, sign the ClassicVB petition www.classicvb.org

 

[Elliott Roper]

Is it preferable to create one long file for a 30 chapter/250 page
book? Or is it better to create a master document? I'd like to
paginate, index, etc., before sending it to the publisher but I'm a
novice user.

250 pages is titchy. Master document is flaky.

The right advice is to do whatever your publisher tells you to do.
You don't keep a dog and bark too.

Most publishers will rip out your formatting and pagination before
doing it professionally with their own pre-press tools. Some will hand
you a Word template and directions for using it to make your job and
their job easier. F'rinstance, they might define styles in the template
for you that will make pouring your work into Adobe InDesign a piece of
cake for them.

If you are not up to speed with styles and stuff, go here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html

Once you have started to get your head round that, take your publisher
out for a beer to get his best advice. It will be better than mine.

 

[Jacques]

250 pages is titchy. Master document is flaky.

The right advice is to do whatever your publisher tells you to do.
You don't keep a dog and bark too.

Most publishers will rip out your formatting and pagination before
doing it professionally with their own pre-press tools. Some will hand
you a Word template and directions for using it to make your job and
their job easier. F'rinstance, they might define styles in the template
for you that will make pouring your work into Adobe InDesign a piece of
cake for them.

If you are not up to speed with styles and stuff, go here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html

Once you have started to get your head round that, take your publisher
out for a beer to get his best advice. It will be better than mine.

Cadanella, I don't agree that your publisher's advice will be better
than Elliott's, but it doesn't matter: right or wrong, you should do
whatever your publisher wants you to do (in this respect at least). In
fact I would advise you to ask your publisher right away, rather than
trying to understand styles etc first. Maybe s/he won't want you to use
styles at all. S/he may not even know what they are.

Having said that, I'd be surprised if your publisher preferred one big
file to 30 separate ones. I'd be very surprised if s/he expected you to
do the index (indexes are usually done by professional indexers engaged
by the publisher) or the pagination.

 

[mmmmark]

Is it preferable to create one long file for a 30 chapter/250 page
book? Or is it better to create a master document? I'd like to
paginate, index, etc., before sending it to the publisher but I'm a
novice user.

In my experience, The use of Master Documents has been the kiss of death.
File corruption usually isn't far behind. I think it can be a good idea,
but something in the implementation isn't quite "up to speed."

Don't shoot me if it works for you. I'm just sharing my experience.

-Mark

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

250 pages is titchy.

250 pages isn't "titchy". Not that I know what that means, but it sounds
negative, like Word will start acting up, etc, and Word on a decent computer
with generous memory will handle thousands of pages in the same file okay.
250 pages is fine in one file. (Master Document is absolutely NOT the way
to go, though).

However, Jacques is right, ask your publisher before putting any effort into
this. If you are *looking* for a publisher, look at potential submission
guidelines (share them here and we can help you achieve them)--but I'm
guessing they would want printed copies to evaluate, not electronic? It's
much easier to get a printed copy to come out all straight than to send an
electronic Word doc off in confidence it won't wig out at the other end.

Also, advice depends on the type of book and who is publishing it.
Jacques's books, which apparently sell, have a publisher who pays for the
index. But some university press literary criticism books (not generally
big sellers) have the author handle the index--even in that situation,
however, the final index comes at the *very* last stage, after proofs.

If you just need to print it out with a TOC and continuous pagination,
Jonathan's link is probably the easiest method.
Creating a Table of Contents Spanning Multiple Documents
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=148

There is an index (sorta guide) of links related to long documents here,
answering many frequently asked questions, so skimming it would give you an
idea of what people run into. It gives a general overview of the single file
with styles method. (Reformatting my 250-page dissertation to fit this
approach took maybe a half-day or so, if I remember correctly, although I
had been learning about styles by browing this group and others for a while)

So You Want to Write a Book with MS Word
http://daiya.mvps.org/bookword.htm

 

[Clive Huggan]

250 pages isn't "titchy". Not that I know what that means, but it sounds
negative, like Word will start acting up, etc, and Word on a decent computer
with generous memory will handle thousands of pages in the same file okay.
250 pages is fine in one file. (Master Document is absolutely NOT the way
to go, though).

Titchy = adjective deriving from "titch", British slang for small person.
Therefore, Elliott meant "small bikkies". (That's a type of cookies, Daiya;
but I dig myself more deeply.) Unless it has metamorphosed into something
else; but it would not be at all negative. ;-)

In other words, a small problem.

Which I'd heartily endorse...

Cheers,

Clive
======

 

[Clive Huggan]

250 pages is titchy. Master document is flaky.

The right advice is to do whatever your publisher tells you to do.
You don't keep a dog and bark too.

Most publishers will rip out your formatting and pagination before
doing it professionally with their own pre-press tools. Some will hand
you a Word template and directions for using it to make your job and
their job easier. F'rinstance, they might define styles in the template
for you that will make pouring your work into Adobe InDesign a piece of
cake for them.

If you are not up to speed with styles and stuff, go here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html

One useful lot of information in "Bend Word to Your Will" is right up at the
end: Appendix A: The main ³minimum maintenance² features of my documents.
It mentions ways in which to avoid hard page breaks (which may have to be
re-done if you need to insert or delete some text at the last minute), to
format headings to glue themselves to the following text (so they don't end
up as the bottom line of the page), etc etc. These practices endear
themselves to publishers whose typographers use InDesign.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
============