Rulebook reprint

[steve98052]

Maybe think of it less as an "errata sheet" and more of a "changelog". It's very helpful for owner of earlier printings to know what's changed.

This gives me an idea for my own (not yet published) articles: track all changes with "diff", the change tracking features in Word, etc.

For the convenience of my (hypothetical) readers, if I do a second release, I'll make a point of offering both a fresh PDF and a change set with replacement pages numbered "52-v2", "53-v2", etc., insert pages numbered "98a-v2", 98b-v2", etc., a text file with a deleted page list, an updated table of contents, and a PDF with the change set page numbering, so that the electronic view is consistent with the reader's printed copy. If I do a third edition, I'll include the fresh PDF, a first-to-third change set, and a second-to-third change set.

Of course, if a new edition is such an overhaul that a change set is so large that it would be easier to reprint the whole works, there wouldn't be much point to a change set, so I suppose the change set would be just a text file explaining that.

- - -

Also (digressing a bit), I noticed that at least one (and probably all) of my Mongoose PDF books are laid out so that they print nicely on both A4 (210×297 mm, or 8.27×11.69 inch) and US letter size (8.5×11 inch, or 215.9×279.4 mm) paper. It looks like they did that by formatting the pages to fill a hypothetical 8.5 inch × 297 mm sheet with graphic design, but to have no essential content outside a 297 mm × 11 inch region, minus a bit more space for printers that can't print all the way to the edges. That's a good example; I will do the same if I bother with edge graphics.

 

[Jump Dave]

That'd be fantastic, Steve!

 

[steve98052]

That'd be fantastic, Steve!

Thanks. It's an idea that came from a multitude of instances where I simultaneously rejoiced at the quality of the errata documentation on the Steve Jackson Games web site and found myself frustrated by the hassle of tucking cut up slips of paper into each page with an erratum.

Having written for them (once) and participated in play-tests for them, I paid special attention to their record of first class editing. They (and the editors of fourth and fifth edition Ars Magica) set the standard for good editing in gaming books.

No offense is intended to our fine hosts here, of course.