PPTools/Ppgen/PPW/Project

Choosing your first project

So you want to try post-processing a book. Where do you get one? What kind of book to start with?

Once you obtain access to Post-Processing (PP) (an immediate admission upon request for access is made once you meet the relevant number of days on site and proofing and formatting pages), you need to choose a book.

There are a couple of ways to do that:

There is a Post-Processing Pool which will appear once you get PP access, located next to your rounds buttons on the top of the screen. Any of these projects are available to you, and when you check one out, it will appear in a separate section at the top of the screen. You are not limited to one book, but please start with one and thereafter try to keep it to a reasonable number. If you find you are not going to do the book, you can send it back to the pool, no questions asked.

In the Post-Processing Forum, there is a thread for Projects for new Post-Processors. It tends to keep reserved a few projects that would be appropriate level of difficulty for a first or second project. If you see one you like, just post in the thread and it will typically be reserved for you.

If you see a project you like while working in the rounds, check to see if the Post-Processor field is already populated. If not, or even if its taken by the PM, you can always send a note to the project manager asking if you can post-process it. Frequently, they welcome the help, and may provide some mentoring. Don’t get disappointed if you get turned down; the PM may have decided to work on it themselves or may be keeping it for someone else, but hasn’t indicated that yet. And the PM may offer MANY suggestions about even better selections.

So, what kind of book?

One strategy is to take something really easy, so you can learn the process from beginning to end with your first book. By paging through the project's pages, you can get a feel for how complex it is. For a first book, short would be best, without lots of links like footnotes, illustrations, indexes and maybe even without a table of contents. I might add tables as something to avoid. Just text and front matter, and maybe one or two of the above in small quantities. It just takes completing PP for one book to gain the confidence to try another, more complex one. As a new PPer, you'll receive feedback from a Post-Processing Verifier once you complete your book and that will help you work on your second book.

Another strategy is to grab a book you love, difficult stuff and all! It may take you more time to learn each aspect of ppgen and post-processing, but it will be a labor of love.

Another approach is to start with either of the above, and then add another project if you get really stuck. For example, if illustrations scare you in a more complex book, you could put it on ice (or still better return it to the PP pool) and grab a project with very basic illustrations and not too much else, and master that. Then go back to your masterpiece (or, if you've returned it, find a similar book). This way any one project isn’t overwhelming, and you can master (or at least survive) the elements of the one thing giving you trouble and get feedback on it. Please remember though that you should start small -- don't take out several books from the pool when you are just starting out, since that will keep other PPers from completing them and sending them Project Gutenberg.

If your project takes you some time, don’t fret. The site software sends out reminder emails on the first of every month to all Post-Processors who have projects that have been checked out for 90 days or more since they last visited their books' Project Pages. If you receive such a notice, and are still working on the book, or plan to work on it soon, please visit the project page so that it will renew for another 90 days. This is a regular reminder, and not meant to be discouraging. We realize that it may take new Post-Processors longer than it does more experienced PPers to complete their PP work.

The time it takes someone to work on a project depends on a lot of things; so just take your time, but keep at it if you like it. There’s nothing like accomplishment and seeing that book published to Project Gutenberg, knowing you have helped brought this old, forgotten book back into the world!

Resources to help you with your first PP project

In using ppgen to PP your books, please don't hesitate to ask questions of the more experienced ppgeners in the ppgen forum thread and review the ppgen manual.

You can find many samples of ppgen code in the PPGEN Source Files for Posted Projects archive. The Post-Processing FAQ is another important resource.