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Journal
as an Editing Tool
By Bill Mann
Journal
is a great tool for taking freeform notes. With its ability to import
documents from many other applications, it also comes in really handy
for those of us in the publishing industry. In recent months, that has
been my primary use of Journal. Let me tell you about it.
When writing
books or other documents for publication, you often find yourself redlining.
No, not redlining as in working as fast as you possibly can in order to
meet a deadline (Although that certainly happens in the publishing industry!).
I'm talking about redlining as in marking changes and corrections (usually
with a red pen) on a printed copy of a document. Before a book goes to
print, the publisher generates "page proofs," images of the pages as they
will appear in the printed book. The author usually gets a chance to review
the page proofs and indicates any last-minute corrections by redlining
a copy of them. The Tablet PC with Journal has really transformed this
process for me.
Here's how
it used to work for me:
1. One of
the editors e-mails me a PDF of the page proofs for a chapter.
2. I print the PDF.
3. I review the proofs and redline the printed pages as necessary.
4. I FedEx the redlined proofs back to the publisher.
5. The editors review my changes, perhaps passing the printed sheets around
or making photocopies of them as needed.
6. They make the changes and print the book.
It was a
slow and cumbersome process, wasting money and resources (paper and toner)
generating and transporting physical copies of the pages. Thanks to Journal
(and the flexibility of the editors at Osborne/McGraw-Hill), here's how
I handle page proofs now:
1. One of
the editors e-mails me a PDF of the page proofs for a chapter.
2. From within Journal, I tap Import then select the PDF file. Journal
momentarily opens Acrobat Reader and directs it to print an image of the
page proofs as a Journal note, which appears within seconds.
3. I review the proofs and redline the pages on the screen.
4. I export the marked-up proofs as a TIF file and e-mail the file to
the publisher. Windows knows how to display TIF files, so there's no need
for fancy conversion software or file viewers.
5. The editors review my changes, perhaps distributing the TIF file to
whoever needs to see it.
6. They make the changes and print the book.
This process
is much faster and cleaner than the previous. I don't have to waste time
and money printing hard copies of the page proofs. The publisher doesn't
need to waste money paying to FedEx pieces of paper around the country.
We all save time doing everything by e-mail. FedExing papers around is
fast, but Journal combined with e-mail is faster.
NOTE: For
some file types (Excel, PowerPoint, and graphics files for example) Journal
will prompt you to manually open the application and print a copy of the
file using the Journal Note Writer virtual printer to create a note that
you can then redline in Journal.
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