Publisher - drafting and final copy, can they differ?

[BobD]

I will be starting to write a draft copy of my book soon. As I find it easier in some ways to spot mistakes on a printed page than on screen I will probably print this draft out.

Now comes the question: If I do the draft in A4 (to save paper) will it create problems when I change the document setup to the correct format i.e. 6 x 9 inches, later on.

The book will have all the standard features of a history textbook, e.g. index, references, etc. and will be about 250 pages minimum.

Any advice gratefully received.

[h_d]

If it were me I would write, edit and finalise my draft in a dedicated word processor before importing and formatting the text, layout, index etc in Publisher.

[PaoloT]

Or, one could export the Publisher project to Word, and… Ok, forget it…

 

[Alfred]

17 minutes ago, h_d said:

If it were me I would write, edit and finalise my draft in a dedicated word processor before importing and formatting the text, layout, index etc in Publisher.

We wouldn’t have this problem if Affinity Publisher included a text editor, as its predecessor Serif PagePlus did. The WritePlus editor incorporated into PagePlus allows you to edit each ‘story’ in a document, regardless of how that story is split across pages and text frames, with an option to choose between plain text or formatted text for displaying the content while you edit it, and the formatted text can be exported as a WritePlus document. It’s a great pity that APub can’t import Serif’s very own WritePlus documents.

[PaoloT]

26 minutes ago, h_d said:

If it were me I would write, edit and finalise my draft in a dedicated word processor before importing and formatting the text, layout, index etc in Publisher.

It really depends on the type of work. If it is just bare text to be put in a fancy page layout, this is quite usual. Say, a novel or an essay where the author and the layout artist are separate ones.

If the project also involves a lot of illustrations, or has a high visual value, its development may happen in large part in the page layout program. At this point, you may want to focus on the text only after it has received its shape in a book or magazine.

Exporting a draft would therefore become a precious tool for proofreading.

Paolo

 

[PaoloT]

I must add: if it is only text and its formatting that is desired, it can be copied from Publisher and pasted into a wordprocessor. No images or accessories included.

Paolo

 

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, BobD said:

As I find it easier in some ways to spot mistakes on a printed page than on screen I will probably print this draft out.

Now comes the question: If I do the draft in A4 (to save paper) will it create problems when I change the document setup to the correct format i.e. 6 x 9 inches, later on.

You might consider creating the document in the proper size (6x9) but printing to A4 paper and choosing the "N-up" option when printing to fit multiple 6x9 pages on a single A4 sheet.

[Alfred]

34 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

You might consider creating the document in the proper size (6x9) but printing to A4 paper and choosing the "N-up" option when printing to fit multiple 6x9 pages on a single A4 sheet.

A4 landscape is 297 mm × 210 mm, which is too small to accommodate two 6 in × 9 in (152.4 mm × 228.6 mm) portrait pages side by side.

[BobD]

I am puzzled that a word processing program should have been recommended.

When I was a complete novice I tried using my Pages first draft as a starting point and the only result was if I tried to use the resulting PDF in Publisher all my footnotes and headings ending up completely screwed up. In short everything was a b****y mess.

Am I missing something really important?

[Oufti]

In my practice, the only thing I really miss in Publisher that I had with my previous word processor is the Outline mode, very practical when you have to re-organize a text.

Since then, I prefer to do all the typesetting job in Publisher because it seems easier for me than importing complex formatting.
The main drawback when doing so is that beside copy-pasting, you cannot export the text for further editing.

 

@BobD In the old time when text was first composed then layed out, lines were composed at their final length but placed in long columns for first proofreadings (épreuves en placard, galley proofs). 

You could do the same in Publisher: define a (main) Master Page, already with the right frame text width but as long as possible to fit on an A4 print. It will leave lot of place to make corrections aside and when you'll want to print it to the final size, you'll just have to reduce the height of your columns in the Master Page and resize your document, without any rescaling.