One of the most liberating things about publishing’s digital transformation is that it opens up arenas for more efficient mechanisms of content creation. It fosters collaboration between related service providers, and specialization ensures that all steps of a production process are adequately taken into account. Over the past year, PaperTrue has been branching out to partner with organizations that regularly outsource editing. We have previously written about our relationship with an educational publication. 

Here, we have written about our role as typesetters. 

 

Overview 

Typesetting, in the context of publication, refers to the process of arranging the text of a book to make it more readable. This takes care of aspects like indentation, orthography [link] and numbering pages. As a subset of the various pre-publication services that we offer, PaperTrue has been working on typesetting through its sister brand TrulySet. 

We were approached by a few publication houses in India that needed typesetting services.
For confidentiality purposes, we are not disclosing their names. 

 

Problem/Hurdles 

As academic publishers, they produce literature seasonally and generally do not have to have in-house editors. The focus is on content instead. The publisher takes on academics/researchers who write their book, then outsources editing and proofreading professionals for the next steps. While this particular publication did have some editors in question, their expertise did not extend to typesetting as well. 

Therefore it made sense for them to branch out to work with an agency that can do both, rather than simply working on one. 

 

Solutions 

Perhaps the biggest advantage of working with a firm like PaperTrue is stability. As opposed to hiring freelancers every publication season, clients can simply manage all of their outsourcing work in one location. To ease the process further, we assign each client a project manager, who will act as a point of contact between the firm and PaperTrue.

The editing team for the typesetting client consists of editors, a Senior Editor and a Managing Editor.

 

 

Offshore outsourcing enables meaningful collaboration within the publishing industry to create better texts. It is emerging as a solution that addresses issues of time, price, and quality. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is also a safer option.