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Re: Page counts (was: What does $3 a page mean to you?)
Subject:Re: Page counts (was: What does $3 a page mean to you?) From:David Neeley <dbneeley -at- oddpost -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 24 Apr 2004 14:30:21 -0700 (PDT)
Geoff,
I think your analysis is wrong for several reasons in the real world:
1) Character count, too, is meaningless for many reasons...not the least of which is that different fonts vary a great deal in width.
2) A book design is seldom completed until the complete manuscript is in hand. Illustrations are often added in technical books that may not have been included by the author, while others will be cut. Unless the book is part of an existing series, the design is very fluid until quite late in the process.
3) Others have pointed out why the "double space Courier" requirement is still with us; what they have not mentioned is that this is a font that anyone is likely to have no matter the machine...even a *typewriter*. Many houses, in fact, specify wide margins to give editors who prefer to work on paper the room physically to add remarks of all sorts.
Since so many submissions are being done electronically today, more editors are coming up who are comfortable with editing onscreen rather than with physical paper. I think this trend will continue...but still, many editors are most comfortable working with paper. Thus, having a standard manuscript format is an aid for them.
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