Wiley Seeks eContent Conversion Specialist

I keep Wiley's job postings on my RRS feeds and ran across something very interesting this morning. The Indianapolis office is seeking someone to convert its print materials to electronic formats. Check it out:


Responsible for assisting with the production of all eContent produced by the Indianapolis Composition Services department. This will include conversions from the page layout application directly to eContent such as XML, ePub, Kindle, etc. It will also entail the usage of XSLT to transform exported content into the appropriate format for compliance with Wiley’s version of XML and other eContent requirements. In addition, this position will assist with training people in eContent conversion methods as needed.

Requirements include a working knowledge of XHTML, HTML, and CSS and an exposure to XML (including schemas and DTDs). Knowledge of XSLT would be ideal. Prior work in a publishing environment would be a plus. Must also have a minimum of a 2-year technical degree. The successful candidate must also be self-motivated and have the ability to multi-task in a deadline-oriented environment. Written and verbal communication skills must be a strength, especially the ability to clearly communicate technical ideas to non-technical colleagues.

I have been thinking for a while that the brave new world of publishing will begin to require people who can do conversions like these. Now we know what a job like that would look like. The fact that Wiley is hiring someone on staff to do it instead of outsourcing it indicates that they understand the importance of making content available in multiple e-formats--and that they realize there's enough work to keep someone busy all the time.

This looks like a good opportunity for a tech/design whiz to get in on the ground floor of something big--and something that is likely to evolve and change a lot in the coming years.

Chronicle Books Goes on a Press Check

I've had many colleagues go on what is known as a press check: You travel to the printer (which could involve up to eight hours in a car, in the snow, while you're sick) to be there when your book (or catalog) is on the press. Then you check it for color and other errors as each section prints. Somehow I've always been lucky enough to avoid these gruelling trips--possibly because I'm not a designer, but more likely because I rarely work with four-color books. I have gone on a few printer visits, where you get to tour the facility, have a nice lunch, and be on your way. A press check is a whole different beast.

So thank heavens for Liz and Anna at Chronicle Books in San Francisco (whose catalogs I luuurve). They went on a press check and documented it with photos--so we don't have to.

Comic Sans: The Font We Love to Hate

I got a big kick out of this article in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. It's the backstory behind the invention of the Comic Sans font, the clownish one that looks like, well, a comic book. I laughed to read all the strange places this font, which nobody can take seriously, has turned up.

To this day, people still use it on their resumes, and I can't imagine what they must be thinking:

• Hire me, I'm friendly!
• I laugh at you and your company.
• It was either this or Times New Roman.
• My emotional development stopped at age 9.
• I am a clown-college graduate.
• Working with me is like spending every day at Disney World!

I'm sure you can add to this list.

I hate to be elitist, but that font just doesn't send the right message in professional correspondence. I feel for the guy who invented it because he has to watch it be used in so many ways he never intended. Don't let your resume be one of them.

Author Freaks Out over His Book Cover

I just ran across a thoroughly enjoyable blog post from Kenneth Whyte, editor-in-chief of Maclean's, Canada's only national weekly public affairs magazine. He is the author of the soon-to-be-released The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst. During the editing process, his editor at Random House's Counterpoint imprint showed him a few cover options and asked for his input. He gave it, and the editor should then have been able to proceed with getting the cover produced.

But Whyte, who knows how much a cover can affect magazine sales, couldn't let it rest. In his post he details how he increasingly got so far under his editor's skin that she decided to feign an e-mail outage to avoid further contact with him. I like, though, that he is able to make fun of himself in the post.

Have I seen this happen? You bet. Of course, author input is great. But when it starts to interfere with the production schedule and cost a lot of money in redone designs, somebody has to draw the line.

And as for the "atrocity" of a cover that the publisher decided to go with? I don't see anything wrong with it. Of course, you want a picture of Hearst on the cover. And in this one, he looks like he's sitting on a throne with kingly bearing. The black-and-white and the antiquated font fit nicely on a book about a newspaper baron from the late 1800s. It's simple, it's elegant, it fits. What do you think about it?

How to Future-Proof Your Publishing Career

Everyone is in agreement: Book publishing is changing so rapidly, we might not recognize it 10 years from now. Today you might be on top of it all; but if you don't start thinking outside the proverbial box, tomorrow someone's going to ask where you got all your fossilized notions about what book publishing is.

But just what should we be doing today to make sure we're still employable in the future world of book publishing? Here to answer that question is Wiley VP and Publishing 2020 and Kindleville blogger Joe Wikert. I posed a few questions to him about the brave new world of publishing careers, and his responses are enlightening.

I'd love to get your insights on how all the new technology in publishing will affect the careers of individuals. What sorts of retooling should we be doing to make sure we're still relevant to the publishing industry of the future?

I think the most important thing we need to do in this (and probably any) industry is make a commitment to being lifelong learners. Technology is causing rapid change everywhere and if you're not keeping up with it, you're highly likely to fall behind. That's why every time I see a new and interesting applet, website, tool, device, etc., I try to test-drive it. I miss quite a few, but I also think I do a reasonably good job of staying on top of the important ones.

As far as our own industry is concerned, it's pretty clear that e-content is the future. E-books only represent a tiny fraction of any publisher's revenue base today, but that's likely to change--maybe not tomorrow or next year, but it will happen. (Btw, I'm still a big believer in print books...that's not going away in my lifetime, but e- is where it's at.)

With that in mind, I'm amazed to talk to so many people in our industry who have never touched a Kindle or Sony Reader, for example. Even though the Kindle is harder to find (because of Amazon's online-only distribution model), the Sony product isn't; just go to your local Borders or Target and check it out. I've had my Kindle for three months now and I can't tell you how much it's influenced my thinking, not just for the Kindle but for e-content in general.

Social networking is another critical area. Every publisher will want their content where communities are forming. What better way to accomplish that goal than to tap into social networks? You can't be overly obtrusive, of course, but I'm convinced we'll see all sorts of innovative ways to expose our content through this sort of platform.

Do you think book graphic designers should be learning skills for laying out/converting e-books, such as XML and whatever other technologies are being used?

Yes, I definitely think designers should be familiarizing themselves with the new challenges involved in e-devices. It's a totally new world and it introduces a new set of challenges from the print space. Every time I get a file/book/newspaper on my Kindle that looks like a simple port from print I just about want to scream! The tricky thing here is that we're working with rapidly moving targets. Right when you think you have all the angles figured for something like the Kindle or Sony Reader, boom, they'll probably release a new version or add new functionality. There again, staying on top of all the developments will be crucial.

What about editing--if the world moves to an e-book-heavy model, will editors need to adjust how they do their work?

The same goes for editors. This brings me back to the "content layering" drum I like to bang from time to time. It also applies to authors as well as editors. Just because a print product features a two-dimensional reading surface, why should we feel compelled to limit ourselves to that in the e-world? Simple hyperlinks are one thing and should be considered baby steps in this area. What I'm talking about is building a truly collapsible and expandable work.

Are you familiar with any of those book summary services out there? getAbstract is one and I believe another is called Executive Summaries. These guys take a 300-page book and boil it down to 4-5 pages. So in the e-world, what I'm describing is a product that could be read as a four- to five-page summary or a full-blown 300-page book. The reader gets to decide based on how much they want to drill down in each area. So I envision a getAbstract-like approach that allows me to click on any of the summary paragraphs and they expand into more in-depth coverage of that particular topic. Maybe there are only a few small pieces of the four- to five-page summary that I want more info on, so I expand there and cruise right through the rest of the summary. The key is I can shrink and expand as needed.

Authors and editors would have to learn how to write to this layering model I've described above, and that's no small task. But think about how much more usable the resulting product could be! Then again, I tend to get overly excited about this stuff...and I might be the only one!

How will acquisitions editors compete against people self-publishing their own e-books and selling them online?

We'll have to look at reinventing ourselves, don't you think? Author platform is such an asset to any great book these days and it doesn't matter whether it's self-published or done through a big publishing house. So where do we add value? Marketing and PR are two areas. Then there's the editorial/selection process. I'd like to think that editors still play an important role in finding the highest-potential projects, but there have been enough self-publishing hits to show that we don't catch everything. I think it will also be important for publishers to play a role in helping authors build their platforms. It should be a joint effort, not something an author should have to do on their own.

Color Me Happy: A Color-Perception Test

Do you think you have a pretty good eye for color? Many people in the publishing business either come into it with a natural ability to discern hues or have to try to pick it up along the way. Want to see how well you can differentiate subtle differences in color hues? Try the X-Rite 100-hue test here.

How'd you do? I thought I did pretty well, but my score was 31 (0 is perfect, and it goes up to over 1,000, I think). The results showed that I am least able to discern hues in the cyan area, which, ironically, is my favorite.

What on earth is X-Rite, you ask? Other than being the lucky originator of the newest viral fad, it's also "the global leader in color measurement and color management, offering hardware, software and services for measuring, formulating and matching color. The company serves a range of industries, including printing, packaging, photography, graphic design, video, automotive, paints, plastics, textiles, dental and medical. X-Rite serves customers worldwide from its offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas." Sorry you asked?

Thanks to coworker Stephanie Koutek for sharing the link (and to whom I just confessed at lunch, "I have no idea what to blog about today!").

Need Your Opinion on a Book Cover

One of the disconcerting things about my job is that sometimes, after we work really hard to come to consensus about a book cover internally, the sales reps take it out to the chain bookstore buyers and come back with negative feedback. It's always a delicate dance trying to please everyone and stay true to the original vision.

But let's face it: The buyers know their customers. So we have to listen to them. Nonetheless, I'd like to get your opinions about the cover for Be Your Own Agent by Molly Fletcher--especially if you are in college, a recent graduate, or in the first five years of your career.

Questions I'm asking are the following:

• Does this cover appeal to you?
• What age group do you think the book is for?
• Does the photo of the author make you like the book more, or less?
• Do you like the colors?
• Can you tell what the book is about?
• Would you consider buying it?
• How could this cover be improved?

Thanks for your help with this!

Graphic Designer Job Outlook

In response to Stephen Tiano's query, here are the OOH stats on employment outlook for graphic designers--much the same as for writers and editors:

Employment of graphic designers is expected grow about as fast as average. Keen competition for jobs is expected; individuals with a bachelor’s degree and knowledge of computer design software, particularly those with Web site design and animation experience will have the best opportunities.

Employment change. Employment of graphic designers is expected to grow 10 percent, about as fast as average for all occupations from 2006 to 2016, as demand for graphic design continues to increase from advertisers, publishers, and computer design firms. Some of this increase is expected to stem from the expansion of the video entertainment market, including television, movies, video, and made-for-Internet outlets.

Moreover, graphic designers with Web site design and animation experience will especially be needed as demand increases for design projects for interactive media—Web sites, video games, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, and other technology. Demand for graphic designers also will increase as advertising firms create print and Web marketing and promotional materials for a growing number of products and services.

In recent years, some computer, printing, and publishing firms have outsourced basic layout and design work to design firms overseas. This trend is expected to continue and may have a negative impact on employment growth for low-level, technical graphic design workers. However, most high-level graphic design jobs will remain in the U.S. Strategic design, the work of developing communication strategies for clients and firms to help them to gain competitive advantages in the market, requires close proximity to the consumer in order to identify and target their needs and interests.

Job prospects. Graphic designers are expected to face keen competition for available positions. Many talented individuals are attracted to careers as graphic designers. Individuals with a bachelor’s degree and knowledge of computer design software, particularly those with Web site design and animation experience will have the best opportunities.
Graphic designers with a broad liberal arts education and experience in marketing and business management will be best suited for positions developing communication strategies.

Stephen Tiano, Freelance Book Designer, Page Compositor, and Layout Artist

Stephen Tiano is a new publishing friend out in Long Island, New York, whom I have met through this blog. His job is to take raw text from editors and make it look great. He has his own blog, too. I'll let him tell you all about what he does:

Tell me how you got into publishing, what your education and training were ...

I actually got into publishing as a proofreader/copy editor for a small legal publisher. I left that first publishing job to finish my degree in English during the day and went to work nights at a computer typesetter as a proofreader of math and science. So I came to book design and layout with a fair idea of how finished pages ought to look. Also, I wrote my first story at the age of four and two-and-a-half bad, unpublishable novels by the time I was twenty-one. The latter did not deter me, as a fortuneteller in NYC told me I wouldn't have my first book published till I was about forty--and, she added, it would be the first of many. Having supported myself through college as a fortuneteller, I put a certain amount of stock in what fortunetellers said. I believed I'd make my living one day from "my" books. Little did I know that it would not be from authoring them, but from their design and layout. But I was left with an appreciation of a writer's work.

The place I worked at nights was an oddly run place, in a bankruptcy reorganization for what seemed like forever. I found myself thinking that if I got the equipment one day, I could do what they did, only correctly and sensibly.

what you do ...

I make books. That is, my design and production work result in pages that go to press and become books. What I try to do is make pages--and occasionally covers--that invite readers in to where the writer's words take hold till they finish reading the book. This means staying out of the way and creating clean pages that make it easy for readers to stick with the book.

what a typical day is like for you ...

Well, as a freelancer, I spend a certain amount of time each day--sometimes hours--trawling for more work. A long time ago that meant mailing out resumes and printed copies of work samples. Thankfully, the Internet and e-ail came along. I can look for jobs and projects in newspapers and boards throughout the country. Also, twice each year I send out an e-mail inquiry seeking book design and production work. I used to attach my resume and work samples. Now I attach my resume and include a link to my website, which has work samples posted on it.

When I have a book going, especially in hot weather, I like working at night. The house is quiet and, since I'm a bit of a night owl, I get a lot done working with darkness outside. I like to have two books going at once when possible, as it keeps me fresh and working longer when I can switch off.

and what you would recommend to others who want to do what you do ...

Read books. Both on the subjects of design, layout, and typography, as well as off. Any book is an example of design and layout choices. Be prepared to trawl for work all the time.