For a long time, the publishing industry has grappled with how to approach and understand electronic media. Electronic media (plural) require the distinction between structure and rendering. Structure pertains to the identity and function of any given element within a document (e.g., what is the function of this paragraph or word or character in relation to the whole document?), whereas rendering pertains to the appearance or “look” of any element. The structure and the rendering of an element must be treated distinctively from one another, even though publishers have developed a tradition of presenting certain elements using specific conventions (e.g., it must be a block quote because of the space above and the left and right indentation).

We continue to produce books using a mechanistic process rather than adopting an electronic process. The introduction of electronic technology to produce books and journals changed the way those products are produced. Printers no longer use tintype but instead use electronic files to produce images that become the pages of a book or journal. For printers to receive these files in an electronic format, publishers must use electronic technology to produce their electronic printer-ready files. Doing so requires a different production process and workflow than was employed prior to the advent of electronic media.

Realizing the difference between a traditional and a modern workflow requires that we acknowledge the requirements.

Ingestion Requires Consistency

Ingestion of content—or the ability of any system to import and access content in a way that allows it to be manipulated reliably—at any stage of the production process depends on consistency and pattern recognition (i.e., structure). This depends on the data being marked or coded (i.e., structured) consistently and conforming to agreed-upon rules of markup or tagging conventions.

In order to ease ingestion, publishers must plan ahead and think about it from the moment they decide to publish a book. Before the author writes the first word of a manuscript, a publisher can conceive of how best to make that manuscript consistent so that ingestion of the book at the end of the production process is as efficient and cost effective as possible.

Structure Is Editorial

Determining structure is an editorial function, thus structure should be imposed on a document in the editorial phase of production. Rather than foist the task of determining structure on the typesetter, publishers are better served by recognizing that editors make decisions about structure from the moment they first read a manuscript, if not before, during the conception and developmental phases of a project.

Electronic Should Be Electronic

Electronic media require electronic input, which of necessity relies on electronic technology best suited to an electronic publishing process. Companies that pursue electronic media commit themselves to utilizing all available electronic means to produce and distribute their content and products, even when those products take physical or print form.

Typesetting Is about Perception

Typesetting best illustrates this transition from mechanical to electronic means of production. Today, we typeset using electronic technology. This applies to the preparation of the manuscript for typesetting, the typesetting process itself, and the printing process; all phases of production depend on electronic technology. In the electronic environment, perception is not bound by the mere printed page as the unit of delivery. We must typeset for the physical book as well as for the e-book.

Conclusion

Those in the publishing industry must face this brave new world of electronic media by examining what they are doing, and how, from their various perspectives as editors, designers, typesetters, e-book developers, distributors, marketers, salespeople, and so forth. It is important to open up dialogues and debates in editorial and production meetings and force those engaged at all stages of the publishing chain to consider how well their workflow is integrated with the media used to produce and distribute their products. We must work toward understanding media and their effects and help people grasp how media shapes the publishing industry—especially its production processes.