Maintenance: Adding Publications

Disclaimer: Maintenance pages are for those who update this website. Nonetheless, everyone is free to look.

Material(s)

• Two pictures of the publication’s front cover - see “Cover Art” below and also Pictures and Images on this website
  • Feature-size (720 pixel width) image (portrait format/orientation)
  • Thumbnail (75 pixel width) image (2:3 aspect ratio, width:height)
• Descriptive text (not the published text)
  • One-line summary (text)
  • Back-cover blurb (text)
• Links for commercial ($) publications
  • Link(s) to paperback purchase page
  • Link(s) to Kindle purchase page
  • Other link(s)
• Links to free-downloads, if any
  IMPORTANT: The work’s copyright notice must be visible in each of these

Cover Art

• General Notes (assuming final 6x9" productions for hardcover, paperback, and electronic editions)
  • Five (5) panels to be used individually or combined:
    • Front cover, 1800x2700 pixels (300 ppi) [6x9"] with title and author
    • Back cover, 1800x2700 pixels (300 ppi) [6x9"] with image, text, and ISBN block
    • Spine, ?x2700 pixels (300 ppi) [?x9"] with title and author (width determined by page count)
    • Inside front flap, 1200x2700 pixels (300 ppi) [4x9"] with text
    • Inside back flap, 1200x2700 pixels (300 ppi) [4x9"] with text
• Print Editions
  • Hardcover - Full front/back wrap with spine and inside-cover flaps both front and back
    • Spine width will be determined by page count (consult printing company)
  • Paperback - Front, back, and spine (no inside-cover flaps)
    • Spine width will be determined by page count (consult printing company)
  • Consult printing company for resolution, CMYK or RGB, and other image file requirements
• Electronic Editions
  • Front cover-only (no spine, no back cover)
  • 1800x2700 pixels (6x9 Standard Paperback at 300 DPI)
  • Full color
  • Will be embedded in *.pdf, *.epub [Apple reader], and *.mobi [Kindle] files
• Web Page
  • Note: See “Electronic Editions” above for cover art to be included in download files
  • featuredImage: 360x (width) *.webp (or *.jpg) reduction of Electronic Editions cover
  • thumbnail: 75x (width) *.webp (or *.jpg) reduction of Electronic Editions cover

Scrivener Notes

When preparing downloadable publications with Scrivener, electronic versions can be generated in *.pdf, *.epub, *.mobi, and *.txt formats.

Miscellaneous Preparations:

• Structure the work in Scrivener as desired into Parts (optional), Chapters (optional but likely), and Scenes (aka, Sections)
• Create a front-matter section:
  • Create a color front-cover graphic
    • Place at the top (first item!) in the project’s “Front Matter” folder
      • 1250x1600 pixels at 300 dpi
      • Include title and author
  • Create a text-only cover page
    • Title
    • Author
    • Copyright Statement
• Compile format and layouts preparation
• Copy the Paperback (6x9") compile format and save-as “Distribution Copy” in “My Formats”
  • Assign layouts for part headers, chapter headers, text sections, front matter, etc.
    • Apply formatting to layouts as desired
  • Transformations
    • YES: Convert “smart” punctuation to “dumb”
• Compile the needed output files
• *.docx Only
  • For external publishers
  • Format according to their requirements
• Amazon (print/paperback)
  • Format according to Amazon print/paperback requirements
• Kindle (electronic edition)
  • Format according to Kindle print/paperback requirements - see also *.epub and *.mobi in “Webside free download copies” (next section)
• Website free download copies
  • *.txt Only
    • No cover art
    • Include the front matter’s text-only cover page
  • *.pdf, *.epub and *.mobi
    • Include the cover art in the compile
    • Include the front matter’s text-only cover page

Procedure

• On the website development system:
  • Determine the name of the publication’s directory (PUBDIR) from the title of its publication:
    • Change all letters to lowercase
    • Change blanks into hyphens
    • Drop all punctuation (commas, apostrophes, colons, etc.)
    • Examples:
      • “Serpent’s Smile” becomes serpents-smile
      • “Ask, and it Shall Be Given” becomes ask-and-it-shall-be-given
  • Launch a shell for the website’s development-home directory
  • ./hugo new publications/PUBDIR/index.md Insert the publication’s PUBDIR (as determined above)
  • Create (additional new directory) contents/publications/PUBDIR/images/:
    • Move the featured (720x) and thumbnail (72x) images to that directory
  • For the free-download editions, create (additional new directory) contents/publications/PUBDIR/downloads/:
    • Move download edition files (text, PDF, E-book, etc.) to that directory
  • Edit the just created content/publications/PUBDIR/index.md
  • Fill-in the frontmatter
    • Set featuredImage: images/NAME_OF_720x_IMAGE.webp
    • See Front matter for additional details
  • Fill-in the content (after the frontmatter):
    • For commercial ($) publication:
      • Back-cover blurb (in Markdown) - end it with {{< clearfix >}} to force subsequent text after the image instead of to its right.
      • Link(s) to commercial seller, paperback and Kindle editions
    • For free-download publications
      • Back-cover blurb (in Markdown) - as above, end it with {{< clearfix >}} to force subsequent text after the image instead of to its right.
      • Download buttons for:
        • Plain text (*.txt)
        • PDF (*.pdf)
        • Kindle (ebook) format (*.epub)
  • Test the result locally
    • In a shell:
      • make server
      • In a browser, surf to localhost:1313 and:
        • Verify the new work is listed on the website’s opening page
        • Click-through and verify all aspects of the new publication’s page
        • Download each format and verify correctness
        • Click the “Categories” link and verify the new work is listed
        • Similarly, verify the work’s “Tags” (if any)
        • Verify the linkage to the external (commercial) seller’s page for this publication
        • Download all free-download formats and verify they work
          IMPORTANT: A copyright notice must be visible in each of these
  • Backup the development system
• Go live:
  • In a shell:
    • make deploy
  • In a browser, surf to EDSkinner.net
    • Verify the added page(s) and their operation including downloads,
    • Verify the home page is 100% functional, and
    • Spot-check other pages are desired.