Expert: Ken Black - 9/12/2010

Question
I am one of the editors for a smal literary journal, about 150 pages.  We
have been using OpenOffice,, but I find it difficult to use.  I think indesign
would be much easier.  I know it can do TOC sand the layers would alow
easy pagination.

We have about 30 contributors in an edition. Do we wet these each up as
separate files and merge them into the final product or create one large
files? For each new author we have a graphic and text.

Am I correct that indesign4 would make our job much easier and give us
more contol.

Thanks

Mike  

Answer
Hi Mike,

My preference in this situation would be to use Indesign to do the layout and allow the other editors to submit using any text editor, be it OpenOffice, MS Word or other.

Use Indesign to control and automate the layout process through the use of Styles for example.

On the more expensive side of things, you could use Indesign and InCopy to distribute, check-in and out and layout in one cohesive server set-up. This of course involves site-licensing for each editor and central server access.

Speaking from experience in small, medium and large editorial settings as well as work flow planning and implementation; Indesign will save you time and give you much more control no matter which method you choose.

Feel free to come back with any questions you might have.

Thanks,

Ken Black