Typesetting the stories!

[danruiid]

So I was playing around with pdfLaTeX recently, and I realized: I really hate reading stuff in a browser. I want it printed out! And really, since we're going to the trouble of printing, why not typeset things as well?

...

So I did. The link below is a typeset version of Alex the Bully, parts I-VI. It is set for single-sided, letter-sized paper, but should print fine on A4. Let me know if anyone needs a different size, and i can produce a version.

So what do you guys think? Is this something anyone else is interested in?

(P.S.: the link may not work immediately, as I just registered the domain.)

[COLOR=#0066cc]http://bigbadtychus.org/MGS/Zipman/AlexTheBully.pdf[/COLOR]

[TheMM]

Well, you're gonna have to ASK the authors if they want their stuff typeset and/or printed. Two authors right off the top of my head are published authors, named rextorres and Rowan. Even if you don't make money off of this (nor am I implying you want to try), there is always the chance someone else out there might. The internet is a big place.

In simpler terms, this whole thing is something that you need to think of very carefully, should people agree with you.

[danruiid]

Good point. I have no intention of selling books or printed copies, I'm only interested in making a PDF for easier reading. I will try and ask the authors though. I can't imagine too many will object; the stories are available free on this forum and elsewhere.

But you're right, permission is important. Anything else from anyone?

[skumbum]

rextorres is published? o_0

Originally Posted by TheMM

Well, you're gonna have to ASK the authors if they want their stuff typeset and/or printed. Two authors right off the top of my head are published authors, named rextorres and Rowan. Even if you don't make money off of this (nor am I implying you want to try), there is always the chance someone else out there might. The internet is a big place.

In simpler terms, this whole thing is something that you need to think of very carefully, should people agree with you.

[Xyggurat]

Originally Posted by skumbum

rextorres is published? o_0

I think he's referring to the fact that rextorres produces his stuff through a vanity publisher.

In standard publications, you'll submit a manuscript and, if a publisher likes it, they will pay you an advance. You'll generally receive royalties from sales of the book once you've gone beyond said advance.

In vanity publishing, you're paying a company to produce (and sometimes edit) your book. They tend to take a cut of whatever royalties it might produce.

It's a bit of an oversimplification, but there you go.

-X-

[danruiid]

OK, so I updated Alex the Bully a bit. I have:

1. Corrected the author: for some reason, it was crediting me with authorship, which is of course wrong. This has been remedied.
2. Removed section numbering: section numbering is pointless here, so I have removed it.
3. Tweaked the dropcaps: I made them look a little better, more in line with typography requirements.

The updated PDF may be found here:
http://bigbadtychus.org/MGS/Zipman/AlexTheBully.pdf

Also to recap the project; the only intent of this is to make it a little easier to read the stories, and also to teach myself LaTeX. There is no intention to print, sell, or otherwise exploit or profit from the author's work. And I will probably even go so far as to set printing restrictions on the files, if that's what we feel is needed. I think this is a reasonable use of the stories, but I will not be publishing anything else just yet. This is to test the waters, as it were.

Finally: the stories will only be published on this forum, since it would be inappropriate to spread this around without permission.

So, what do you guys think?


P.S.: I am also offering hosting to selected projects, like the MGS archive. I have an essentially unlimited hosting plan, with effectively unlimited storage and bandwidth, so it's no skin off my back. Also, the domain is privately registered, so I have no problem with any legal hosting activity therein.

[helliot]

I think it looks great. TeX always produces such beautiful output. My only suggestion would be to leave it ragged right. Full justification seems unnecessary to me and I've never cared for it.

[danruiid]

Really? I've never liked ragged right...it reminds me too much of reports, essays and other such nonsense in APA format...

:-)

[Beemer133]

I personally love it! They look great and I've always preferred to read something that at least looks like a "book" rather than white text on a black background.

I agree its probably not for everyone, but I love it.

[Rowan]

Originally Posted by danruiid

I will try and ask the authors though. I can't imagine too many will object; the stories are available free on this forum and elsewhere.

I gotta say that the above statement makes me uncomfortable. Make sure there is no "try," only "do," okay?

[skumbum]

Originally Posted by Xyggurat

I think he's referring to the fact that rextorres produces his stuff through a vanity publisher.

In standard publications, you'll submit a manuscript and, if a publisher likes it, they will pay you an advance. You'll generally receive royalties from sales of the book once you've gone beyond said advance.

In vanity publishing, you're paying a company to produce (and sometimes edit) your book. They tend to take a cut of whatever royalties it might produce.

It's a bit of an oversimplification, but there you go.

-X-

Ah... I didn't realize that existed, but it makes sense.

[nypup2train]

Originally Posted by helliot

I think it looks great. TeX always produces such beautiful output. My only suggestion would be to leave it ragged right. Full justification seems unnecessary to me and I've never cared for it.

Yeah, I gotta come down on the side of preferring full-justified, also. That's gonna be one of those holy wars, I suspect.

The obvious solution is for danruiid to post his TeX sources, not just impenetrable PDFs. Then the reader can reformat to taste, if he so desires.

[danruiid]

Ask, and ye shall receive:

http://bigbadtychus.org/MGS/Zipman/TeX/AlexTheBully.zip

This is the formatting for individual stories not assembled into book format. I will try a book later (have a template ready to go) when I'm sure we can do this without too much controversy.

[mlbjock]

Regardless of whether you make money or not any change of format or redistribution without the permission of the author is a violation of US copyright law and can be subject to civil and criminal penalty.

While I applaud the idea of making these stories more readable, you definitely should get written permission should an author take offense to what you are doing.

My $0.02,
Shawn

Originally Posted by danruiid

Good point. I have no intention of selling books or printed copies, I'm only interested in making a PDF for easier reading. I will try and ask the authors though. I can't imagine too many will object; the stories are available free on this forum and elsewhere.

But you're right, permission is important. Anything else from anyone?

[danruiid]

Well, since permission is likely to be an issue, I won't take this any further.

Instead, I will offer to typeset anything an author would like for free and also provide hosting. Like I said, I have plenty of hosting space and I don't really have much of a use for it outside of my other domains.

I don't expect this will be super popular, but the option is there. So...

[COLOR=red]AUTHORS:[/COLOR]

Want to make a book? I can make a PDF for you that's print-ready! Or, I can also make PDFs targeted for home printing or reading, and I can put print restrictions on anything. Interested? Give a reply and we'll see what we can do!