PUBLISHING

Desktop publishing workflow
(from Word to InDesign to electronic book)
A brief description of the desktop publishing (DTP) workflow currently used
by many publishers would be: a Microsoft Word file is imported into InDesign
and, after designing and editing, exported to PDF, ready to be printed. After
work on the printed edition has been completed, the book may be converted
into an electronic version which follows the design of the ‘original’ as closely
as possible. This traditional, print-oriented workflow can be seen as the
standard for one-to-one publications.
There are certain advantages to this workflow: it is simple and linear, and
there are no version branches. You end up with one consolidated manuscript,
and What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) when it comes to design.
For example, in the case of a fixed-layout print design, adjustments in the
hyphenation may need to be done manually in the InDesign document. In
digital publishing however, hyphenations are never fixed, but are subject to
change as the layout is reflowed according to the requirements of the device
used. Therefore, if an editorial correction involves a change in hyphenation,
this need not (or cannot) be adjusted in the digital file. This saves some work,
but also means a limitation in the possibilities for electronic design.
The main disadvantage of the DTP workflow in ‘going electronic’ is that it
is focused on one single medium, and that the steps to go from there to a
digital edition are quite laborious and do not make full use of the possibilities
offered by electronic publishing. It is relatively straightforward to generate
an EPUB based on the InDesign file, however in order to make use of the
full possibilities offered by hybrid publishing (such as modular publishing,
immediate updating, optimal uses of audio and visual formats), one should
take these possibilities into consideration from the very beginning. A workflow
that is based on print publishing generally attempts to convert the paper
book into an electronic book at the last stage of the process.
Converting an InDesign document to an electronic publication is not an ideal
solution, especially when working with older versions of the software. The
InDesign file in this case is automatically converted to HTML code which can
be messy, sometimes even too messy to be rendered properly on an e-reader
device or application. (Notes on EPUB Development in Adobe InDesign
CS6) The results of the conversion may require additional steps in order to
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