Every Page a Painting - By Any Other Name

First of March, it's clear to me
There's something that's uncomforting. . .

Here I am again, about a fortnight after the first "Every Page a Painting", locked and loaded with a second one, whether you wanted it or not. Enjoy.

(Disclaimer: everything you see here is work in progress and subject to change.)

Introduction

But I'm a long way from home. . .

What is there to say about a man like Admiral Biscuit? His name has become synonymous with Slice of Life, to the point where he has to hold a contest-but-it's-not-really-a-contest begging other authors to write in the same genres as him. While it's easy to tackle the day-to-day of the Princesses or the Elements of Harmony, he instead handles background ponies, canon and original alike. He has a penchant for antiquated technology as well---which only helps sell his craft.

And while many of his stories have proven to be my favorites (and you and I may agree on them), there's one that stands out to me: Sam & Rose.

It's not a single story, but an anthology of stories all interconnected with one another, about a human named Sam in Equestria and her¹ friendship with Roseluck. Biscuit puts it best in his overall description: "Sam hadn't asked to come here; it had just happened."

¹Bet you didn't see that coming, did you?

Sure, there are much better-known stories out there, ones that have never been put into print, but as you might've figured, I don't exactly factor that into my decision-making. But I am putting this one together for a few different reasons which I will elaborate upon in the next section.

So Here's the Plan

1. For those not aware, Sam & Rose has already been printed, and I have both books on my shelf. Yes, "both"---one story was written a few years after one book was finished, but its awkward setting vis-à-vis the series timeline ultimately forced him to bind it separately.

   Admiral, buddy, I respect what you do, but you're forgetting the benefits of print-on-demand---one of which is being able to update books on the fly. It's good for correcting typos, but you can also add more content with just a few clicks. I know, it sucks to have ordered earlier, but most bibliophiles I know will be more than happy to reorder if there's more content to enjoy. I'll be happy to combine both books into one volume for you---and to do it in a way that feels natural, so that there can be no question.

2. If that was the only problem with Sam & Rose, you probably wouldn't even be reading this blogpost, but no. Once I got the books in my hands, I looked inside and. . . .

   
   Dear God.

   I don't think I need to tell you what's wrong with this picture, but I do think I need to tell you not to tell him what's wrong with this picture. He knows. He did his best. He works as an auto mechanic and, on weekends, a nurse in a group home; he hasn't got the time, experience, or expertise to do any better. Quite frankly, I feel bad for him.

   So I'm going to give this series the treatment it deserves.

3. Another problem is that Admiral Biscuit is a free spirit---arguably freer then even me. He writes whatever he wants to write, reader's whims be damned. On one hand, I can't help but respect someone who follows his own heart, but on the other, I'm still waiting patiently for an update to Onto the Pony Planet. Someday. . . .

   Point is, if his Muse tells him to write another Sam & Rose story, Mother of Mercy, he's gonna write another Sam & Rose story. So I'll set this book up so I can easily expand it as he writes more. Whenever he finishes a story, I'll simply grab it, typeset it, and add on to the book. The magic of POD means I can update files on the fly; it's a really neat trick.

4. And lastly, it's about Roseluck, my favorite pony. God, but I love this mare so much. She deserves only the best and I'm going to do just that, if not for Admiral Biscuit, then for her.

Let's Get to Work

First, page properties. Admiral Biscuit went with octavo, as did seemingly every other author for the final BronyCon's bookstore in 2019. To be honest, it's not my favorite trim size, but I'm used to it, so let's go with that. As for margins, I'll go with half-inch, plus another quarter inch for the gutter. Just by looking at it, it's gonna be a lot longer than Origin Story, and that assumes there won't be more forthcoming (which, knowing Admiral Biscuit, is a very risky gambit). However, I can get away with one-inch margins for the front matter (with no additional gutter).

What about the cover? The books I have from him are paperback, which makes them cheaper, but only further hurts their value once you see inside. No, instead I'm going with a printed hardcover---something that'll last, at least until the next edition comes out.

And lastly, typefaces. Well. I can certainly get a little creative here.

Titles and accents will be set in Woodrow---if that looks familiar, yes, it's the same one used for the show's credits. It's certainly a lot more suitable than, say, Generation B (or the fan remake Celestia Medium Redux). Oh, and by "accents," I mean titles of the book, its sections and chapters, and even dropcaps. Dropcaps can be done several different ways; here, I'm going with two-liners. Should be reasonable.

The body text had just one obvious choice, at least in my eyes. Admiral Biscuit's fond of working-class characters, given that he's a working-class person himself---I mean, he has an anthology called Fanfare for the Common Mare; it's not hard to draw that conclusion. So I'll choose to reflect his peaceful agrarian Equestria with Vollkorn---0p10, with 1p0 leading. It's heavy enough that it can handle the smaller size, and besides all that, it's a beautiful typeface, offered for free even for commercial purposes. For any prospective book designers out there, seriously consider adding it to your repertoire.

The process of laying out was at once mundane and interesting. I sacrificed 2p0 to make a head for book and section titles in the middle of their respective pages, and another 2p0 to make a foot for page numbers in the outer corner. However, I'll cut out heads on section or title pages. Speaking of:

• Section titles are meant for individual stories; they're given their own page, always on the right side. The title is set in 3p0 and positioned 2 in. from the top of the page. I'm also including the long description as a blurb; it uses additional ½ in. margins on the sides, and starts 2 in. 5p0 from the top of the page.
• Chapter titles simply replace the head. They're set in 2p0; the body text does not skip any lines to make room---there's already enough room.

The front matter has the usual arrangement of title, author, copyright, and TOC. In typical Admiral Biscuit fashion, it also has acknowledgements right up front. The back matter has just his biography. . . for the moment. The body, at time of writing, consists of the following stories, in order of appearance (not necessarily of publication):

1. Rose & Sam (the latest so far, but set the earliest)
2. A Sleeping Rose
3. Braiding
4. Dinner with Rose
5. Breakfast with Rose
6. Gardening with Rose
7. "November"
8. "Salmon Rose" (a crackfic he published right before Gardening with Rose; I've included it over his objections)

In the end, the interior file stretches across 215 pages, including the front and back matter. This is optimized for eight- and twelve-page signatures; it's one page short of even working to let Ingram and Amazon insert their colophon. Compare that to 282 pages between the original two tomes (180 in Sam & Rose, 102² in Rose & Sam).

²Either I can't count properly, or Lulu somehow figured out how to make six-page signatures.

You Have to Admire the Dedication

Unlike with Origin Story, Admiral Biscuit's aware of my project. But not just that---he's also contributed original text to the book.

• The acknowledgements are brand new, particularly to reflect the fact that it encompasses the entire series. (I am not mentioned in them, but that's fine by me; no book designer ever is.)
• He wrote up a blurb for "November."
• As is tradition, he wrote a new bio for the back matter, reminding us he's over 6 ft. (10m) tall.
• The back matter is planned to have some author's notes, but those are still forthcoming.

Covering It All Up

One of my goals was to make a book that can be expanded ether tomorrow, next month, or ten years from now. To that end, I believe I've made a masterpiece of a cover.

The cover, exported at 72 DPI.

As usual, I went with a modular design: the front, back, and spine are separate PSDs, dynamically linked into a master PSD. As I modify one, it'll automatically update in the master file without impacting the others.

The font used is Woodrow; no Vollkorn anywhere here. The background is a rectangle vector of a solid color, allowing it to be widened as needed (this is especially where my modularity comes in handy). Colors are based on Roseluck's actual RGB values.

The back is blank, aside from a single tastefully-sized and -placed Roseluck cutie mark. The spine has the title and author, and another cutie mark at the bottom. The front has the title and author; you'll notice it has a massive blank space below those. I'm looking to fill that with art of some kind, and not her cutie mark. Depending on what art I eventually get delivered, I have a few ways of dressing it up nicely for the cover.

Galley Proofs

The title page. Pretty bare-bones, especially with a lack of imprint, so I filled it in somewhat with a simple Roseluck cutie mark vector graphic (derived from the same one used for the cover), which I had edited to be monochrome.

(Remember this; it'll come up again.)

A section title page; you can probably guess for which story. These always start on recto pages; if a given section ends on a verso page, I insert a blank page at the end to reïnforce the rule.

The start of a chapter. I also did the first few words in smallcaps; except when they were italicized, in which case, I left them as that.

You might not be able to tell, but this is for A Sleeping Rose. Admiral Biscuit redid the chapter divisions for his print; I simply (for the most part) followed suit.

Aha! There's the Roseluck graphic again! This time it's serving as the scene break in this story.

Scene breaks are by far one of my favorite elements to handle. It can be simple, it can be complicated, it can be subtle, it can be memorable---it really is all up to you.

And yes, I could've picked almost any page in the book to demonstrate the scene break; I picked this one (from Braiding) just because it's my favorite part in the whole series.

And here's "Salmon Rose," collated right at the very end, where it'll always stay even in future editions. I decided to have a little fun and use a different scene break to reflect the change of cast---in this case, an ichthys for the title character.

Man, Cold in Gardez is going to hate me for doing this.

Special Thanks

• Admiral Biscuit: self-explanatory, really---he wrote the whole thing, start to end, was daring enough to put it in print, and when I told him my intentions to retypeset it my way, went out of his way to help me out however he can. That's not just past-tense, either---this is an ongoing process, with more words yet unwritten (and untypeset).
• While I haven't got proper art for the cover just yet, that's something I do plan on getting. I'm open to suggestions for potential artists. In the meantime, watch this space.

---

And there we go, another typesetting post cleared. As always, I'm eager to get your feedback about my work. Don't be shy; I don't bite.

Good night, and good luck.

Comments

[Themaskedferret]

Very interesting stuff! I'm glad to hear you're getting some book coverart done, I felt it was a wee bit too plain otherwise. It looks really lovely, and here's hoping Biscuit didn't kick too much about including his crackfic masterpiece. n_n

The icthys for the crackfic is a funny touch, here's hoping CiG isn't too mad. ;)

These continue to be enlightening and interesting. I especially appreciate the futureproofing additions.

[Chicago Ted]

5770483
Ah, Masked Ferret. I can always count on your for your commentary.

I'm glad to hear you're getting some book coverart done, I felt it was a wee bit too plain otherwise.

There's a time and a place for such minimalist design, such as with Origin Story. Here? This ain't it, chief.

I haven't pulled the trigger on a comm just yet; I want Admiral Biscuit on board to make sure I don't waste my money on something he doesn't want.

I especially appreciate the futureproofing additions.

That's the idea! Hopefully it'll help aspiring book designers in similar situations like this one.

[Themaskedferret]

5770877

Ah, Masked Ferret. I can always count on your for your commentary.

I hope it meets your standards n_n

And absolutely, minimalism can be lovely, but this isn't one of them. Not to say you need to go full Baroque on it tho.

[Admiral Biscuit]

I'm still waiting patiently for an update to Onto the Pony Planet.

Soon