Artisanry tells
Last week or thereabouts I got my first copy of the Journal of Web Librarianship, for which I write book reviews. I turned to the review section. I found the review. Yep. That’s my writing. Uh-huh. There it is. I didn’t even bother to blog it.
Today I dropped by the SLIS library after work to meet with a student, and as is my wont, I perused the current-periodicals shelf while I was waiting. Oh, look, there’s NetConnect! Wonder if they have the Fall ’06 issue with my Design Speaks article… why yes, yes they do.
Flip flip flip… ooooooohhhh, look at that! I’ve been published! That kinda rocks!
What was the difference? Artisanry.
It’s not me. I write the way I write. “Serviceable” is the most I’ll allow myself. It’s just one of those things where I could tear my hair out trying to be better at it, but I’d gain a few percentage points at most. I write the way I write.
Haworth’s typesetting is ’orrid. The font they’ve chosen is unreadable on the too-small leading. The line lengths are too long, and the page is too gray. They indent paragraphs after headings, which is a particular pet peeve of mine. The print quality… well, “serviceable” is the most I’ll allow. Haworth is doing this journal on the cheap, and it shows.
Library Journal found a nice illustration for me, set my article in neat columns, did my pullouts in snazzy color, and created a page-spread that looked just downright pretty. Jay Datema reworked a lot of my article, partly to add opportunities to break up the gray with headings (after which the text does not indent, as $DEITY intended). I liked looking at my own work, and I generally don’t.
This is perhaps something to think about for the folks who occasionally write to me asking if I’m interested in writing a book. If you can’t give my book some damn text-artisanry, no, I’m not—and I’m just enough of a typesetting snob that I’ll write design approval into my contract. I’m looking at you, Information Today. What you’ve done to the books I’ve seen of yours is unprofessional, and you should be ashamed.
Artisanry matters. We need more of it. And if open access is threatening your business model, maybe artisanry is something to invest in. I’m looking at you, Haworth. Because I could typeset your journal better than you apparently can. In Microsoft Word.