Layout help wanted

[rafael]

I'm looking for someone to handle the layout on my next book (a small-press independent low-budget el-cheapo horror RPG). I need someone who can take a text document and some images, and lay it all out as a PDF that I can then upload to Lulu.

The job pays $500 (via PayPal), half up front and half on delivery of a low-rez version of the PDF. After final payment, you can send me the full-size PDF and that will be that.

More info below!

1. The book is called Spite: The Second Book of Pandemonium, and it's an expansion for a horror RPG called Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium (link in my sig). It's going to be about 200-250 pages long, give or take. 8.5"x11", black-and-white interior.

2. I'll hand you the text and artwork (roughly 100 pieces) in early November. Well, I won't hand them to you, but I'll upload them to my FTP and send you a URL.

3. I'm not looking for a super-fancy layout. It just needs to have a relatively dark (evil, creepy) mood and feel. I'm not difficult to work with.

4. I'd like it to be full-bleed. So there's that. Don't matter to me if you use Quark or Indesign or whatever. I'm good with anything.

Ideally, I'd like to see an example or two of your work, so if you can post examples in PDF form, either in this thread or sent to me via private message, that would be terrific. Any references you can furnish would also be great.

I'm sure there's something that I've forgotten, so if you have questions, post 'em here!

- Rafael

[iago]

What sort of state/format are your source text files likely to be in? (AKA How much of your formatting is the layout dude gonna have to undo/reformat)

How tables-heavy is the text?

I'm sure I have more questions.

[rafael]

Hey, Fred,

It's a Word doc, with no formatting, just text. I use a numbering system to indicate headers. Like, the chapter heading will be preceded by "1.", a section heading will be "1.1.", and a subsection heading will be "1.1.1.".  And those numbers will also appear in the text itself. As in: "3.4.12. Grenades". Hope that makes sense. But there will be no bolding or italicizing of the text in the source file.

Few tables. Less than ten in the whole book (probably less than five).

Hit me with your other questions!

- Rafael

[iago]

Actually, if you've got like two pages of your file you're willing to share with the world, just letting us get a look at that might answer a lot of un-thought-of questions.  I'd choose an excerpt that's most representative of the "most complex" part of the text.

[jasongreeno]

Rafael,

I've emailed you some questions and my info. Let me know if you don't see it.

[rafael]

Fred, I'm on my laptop, and don't have access to the Spite text file on my other computer's hard drive. But here's a passage from Dread. Spite's going to be set up exactly the same way, with the same level of complexity.

http://www.neoplasticpress.com/excerpt.doc

Jason, email received! Good questions, and worth answering here (hope that's okay):

1. What is your timeline for getting this project to Lulu?

A. Ideally, before Valentine's Day. If sooner, awesome. But I know the holidays are kind of crazy.

2. Are you looking to keep any layout consistency with your previous book?

A. There are two things I'd like to keep: the two-column text, and a font of roughly the same size and appearance. Other than that, do as thou wilt.

[jasongreeno]

Fun material!

When the project starts, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to have the pdf of the previous book to work from to be sure the styles are similar.

[rafael]

Hi, Jason. Thanks!

Actually, the first half of Dread is already available as a PDF. Probably should have mentioned that before.

http://www.neoplasticpress.com/dread-player-section.pdf

[Eero Tuovinen]

If everything else falls through, let me know; I probably have some spare time in that time corridor for something like this.

[baron samedi]

The 2nd sentence above should read as "I'm quite proficient...", since the "preview" button doesn't work on my computer and we can't edit messages here.

8-7

Obviously, I print my files when I do spellchecking...

[rafael]

Hi, Eero. Thanks! I will definitely bear that in mind.

Baron, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I follow you. Is it possible that you refer to a post in another thread?

[David Artman]

Raf, I can help out, should you prefer a back-up (or primary) that's in the same state (let alone, same region of the state).

Check out Perfect for recent layout work; dig up Industry Giant, Great Battles of Caesar, or Capitalism II (Interactive Magic Games) for older, game-related work. I can also link or send you copies of professional tech publications for IBM, BuildNet, GlaxoSmithKline, and BlueCross/BlueShield (though I have minimal style control over IBM and BC/BS stuff).

I could layout in any open application you like (OpenOffice, Scribus, Kile) though I'd favor FrameMaker, myself, if proprietary is OK. And as you know, I have Dread: TFBOP as a style reference....

[rafael]

Hi, everyone,

Thanks for your interest in the project! I decided to work with David Artman this time around. Wish us luck!

- Rafael