User:Hutcheson/Smoothreading

I run all my projects through smoothreading, and very seldom see a project that's not improved by the review. So: always thanks for the requests, comments, suggestions: even ones I don't immediately act upon, often affect my planning for future projects.

These smoothreading parameters apply to all of my books, unless otherwise specified. These extend to the standard DP Smooth Reading procedures: strictly DP-standard feedback is always received with gratitude; but I also provide additional file formats, accept feedback in additional ways, and solicit more different kinds of feedback.

File Formats Provided

• HTML version (always) The "reference edition" with the most careful formatting and the full benefit of UTF characters.

• Fully Illustrated HTML (at dropbox.com if it's too large for DP-US) See the smoothreading instructions to find. PLEASE use if possible.

• UTF text (always)

• Latin-1 text (unless there are significant non-Latin-1 characters--e.g., mathematical, polytonic Greek, Sanskrit, etc.)

• ePub eBook (on select DP-Canada projects, otherwise by request) portable format for Nook, Sony/Kubo, and most eBook-readers.

• Mobi eBook (only by request): proprietary format for Amazon Kindle readers and Amazon apps for other tablets. (I reserve the right to blame Mobi formatting oddities on the conversion process.)

"By-request-only" files can be provided via email or dropbox: contact me and let me know what format and delivery method you'd prefer.

All versions are automatically generated from the same base file, and so share the same text. But the fullest feedback comes from the fully-illustrated HTML version where format, layout, and illustration captions can all be critiqued.

Feedback

Feedback on any aspect of text, images, music, or layout is always welcome: no matter how large or small. Many large global changes are easy for me to make, because of my stylesheet-driven process. Even if it seems like too large a change for this book, it'll affect decisions I make on future books.

You're just reading the book, and raising questions about anything that catches your eye as possibly less-than-perfect. Note that word "possibly". Reporting something that looks odd but turns out to be OK (or turns out to be wrong but not-unambiguously-fixable) is OK--no shame on your part, no resentment on mine. Also, there is no requirement to do any outside research: web searches; comparisons with printed editions; or whatever. But if you feel like presenting me with a gift of your knowledge, I'll weight it heavily in deciding what or how to change. But remember always, our intent is to accurately represent the author's intent, to create an "exact printed edition", not an "updated correct edition."

The usual feedback mechanism (uploading an edited file) always works (until the smoothreading deadline expires).

Feedback by snippets is easier for me. Just copy/paste the dubious line with your comments into a scratch file. Then send me that file (which will always be short enough to fit into an e-mail or private-message).

You don't need to tell where a snippet was found: I can text-search. Short snippets work fine: cutting and pasting one line of the text file will always be enough context.

Even after the deadline, you can send results to me. You can attach an edited file to e-mail; snippet files are short enough to be pasted into an e-mail message or DP-website private message.

• PM at DP-US: userid hutcheson
• PM at DP-CA: userids shutcheson (please don't use 'hutcheson')
• Email: At google mail, I am stephen dot hutcheson.

Example Snippet-Style Feedback

I am confident for for twenty years I have been... [**duplicate word?']

Mr. Jensen... [** was Jenson earlier]

viscious... [**vicious/mean or viscous/greasy or both?]

is a done... [** a clone??]

for, eighty years [**extra comma?]

Problems

• TROUBLE DOWNLOADING FILES? Please let me know.

• NEED MORE TIME TO FINISH? Just let me know.

• ANYTHING ELSE? Please let me know. You're giving me free help, after all.