SYP LDN speaks to ePub KNOWHOW typesetter Steve Foot

Posted on May 28, 2021 in London

At SYP London, we want to demystify some lesser known Publishing roles. Recently, we got the opportunity to speak to ePub KNOWHOW‘s Steve Foot all about his work.

How did your career begin?

I have always been interested in print and books. As a child, I remember looking at my Grandfather’s old bookcase and flicking through various books, often stopping to read the signed inscriptions inside them. One particularly fond memory I have is of an inscription from an English poet, John Betjeman. My Grandfather had helped to print the book, which was his latest at the time, and John had written a personal message of thanks to him. My Grandfather worked for what was a well-known book printer in its day called Butler and Tanner of Frome, Somerset, which is sadly no longer in business. After his retirement, the book industry skipped a generation in my family; however, I picked this up again some 20 years ago when I started working for a typesetting company called Tradespools Limited. There, I produced books and academic journals using Advent 3b2 Publishing software. The company name ‘Tradespools’ related to spool printing, where print jobs were transferred from a computer to a temporary storage tape (servers of today!). This innovative method shortened the printing time and maximised printer efficiency and management. Unfortunately, it’s not a name associated with printing today, and even at the time we’d often receive telephone calls asking if we supplied swimming pool equipment!

I have remained in the industry ever since in typesetting and eBook creations, working for book printing companies Antony Rowe, CPI Books, and for the last two and a half years freelancing in creating eBooks and typesetting various publications for many publishers and authors. The movement of technologies and software in this field has fascinated me.

What training was required for your role? What skills are required?

Initially, I attended various external courses on typesetting, one example was a course to interpret proofreader’s marks – symbols and notations for correcting typeset pages, way before comments and markup tools in Acrobat! Another example was template designs using authoring publishing software, working in SGML/XML coding, scripting, template creation, data conversions and artwork processes. Today, training is mostly online for the software I use, which is mainly Adobe’s collaboration of InDesign, Dreamweaver and Photoshop. Knowledge of the ePub standards is a must, along with DAISY best practices.

Apart from the technical skills, the job requires a strong attention to detail and the understanding of the client’s requirements along with time management. Most publications are time sensitive with SLA’s (Service Level Agreements), so ability to prioritise is key and adapting to remain on top of production challenges is a must. I would also say keeping up to date with the latest digital technology and awareness across the industry with knowledge of the way the book publishing industry works helps to identify potential problems. Finally, being customer oriented with the willingness to go the extra mile when required is a skill used daily.

How did your role as an eBook converter in a company (CPI) compare with your current role at your own company?

In my current role, my remit is fairly broad: to assist with all aspects of my client’s digital eBook conversions for their publishing programmes where I manage the entire eBook process. I am responsible for ensuring that the agreed job specifications are achievable, met and compliant with the required industry standard and that the deliverables are produced on time, and to the agreed costings.

Whilst working at CPI I had a more specialist role involved mainly in the technical aspects of eBook creation. The company had different departments responsible for Pre-Press, eBook creations, Customer Service and Accounts; whereas I now undertake all of these processes therefore having a more hands-on role.

What do you do on a day to day basis? How many different titles do you work on in an average week? How long does it take roughly to convert an eBook?

My day-to-day workflow is largely the same, where I work with front list publications from trade to academic books. I work on supplied client files to recreate various deliverables in the ePub and PDF format. My day is also spent dealing with estimating for new work and answering client’s questions.

Due to the variety of the publications I work on it’s difficult to quantify averages, as all books are different with varying levels of typographical layout and page extents. An average trade novel would take me in the region of five hours to create in the ePub format. Even now in 2021 I have received handwritten manuscripts to create ePub files, but thankfully most are in electronic form.

Month to month basis of workload is different, with month ends, quarter ends and year ends, where I need to invoice and prepare my accounts. Luckily, I have a good Accountant who contacts me when they require all my paperwork!

Roughly how many publishers do you work with? Do you ever work with self-published authors?

I work with publishers ranging in size from one person to the larger multinational publishing companies in the UK, Ireland and Japan. Most of my work is for the larger organisations, dealing with a team of people from the Production Directors, Production Controllers and Editors with the authors for self-published clients. From previously working at CPI Books, I have many self-publisher clients whom I create eBooks and typeset PDFs for their publications and help them publish directly with online platforms. Publishers tend to know exactly what deliverables they require whilst self-publishers tend to require the whole package in terms of manuscript to the final product.

What is a common mistake publishers make when sending files over?

Generally clients are very good and their supplied PDF files have passed various preflight software, however, sometimes minor errors creep in. Missing ISBN numbers, missing folio numbers, lo res PDF files where images have been down-sampled along with missing illustration sections or fudged special fonts can be problematic. However, most can be resolved rather quickly once I’ve evaluated the supplied assets.

Version control is another important aspect, as often books have many revisions before going to print. Sometimes I am supplied with a previous edition and not the current print version when creating eBooks!

Steve has 22 years’ extensive experience within the book and publishing industry. He has unique insight and first-hand understanding of the cutting-edge elements and creation of the ePub file format and best practices. Originally trained in typesetting, Steve appreciates the need for reality-based solutions to aid the production process for publishers and authors alike. He has accrued invaluable experience in typesetting, book and print processes, digital conversions and metadata throughout his career working on notable projects, including one famous wizard! Steve has worked full-time for a number of world-renowned print practices, such as Antony Rowe and the CPI group of companies, and is now a freelancer providing pivotal services to high-profile clients and self-published authors in the UK and overseas.