On Monday at 08:46:49PM -0500, Greg Newby wrote:
On Mon, Sep 06, 2010 at 06:36:17PM -0400, Greg Weeks wrote: The whole workflow at DP does NOT let you combine things when they need separate clearances.
Is that the only thing in the way?
The idea, which I think you've heard, is to consider combining these very short items to make a larger item. Combinations could be by author, by topic, or by source. For example, perhaps combining an entire year's worth of Weird Tales items.
Let me know what you think would be a good solution. I, personally, think that very short items should only be posted as a single eBook when there is a compelling reason (Robert's example of a pamphlet seems compelling, though even then I would wonder whether there are other, related pamphlets to combine).
I see I basically already said this, below. What I'm not seeing is whether there is a reason (other than limitations in the DP workflow) not to combine.
The problem is not a "limitation" in the DP workflow: This issue arises solely out of the fact that PG refuses to post items they consider to be "too small," which is arbitrary, ridiculous and completely unnecessary. PG requires that the SF shorts in question be cleared separately for very good reasons; what possible argument is there for NOT publishing them separately, especially considering that PG (via the WWers) are almost inflexibly insistent that ordinary works with illustrations be kept as small as possible? DPs workflow is intended to faithfully reproduce works as they were originally published. While PG certainly acts as a publisher, there is no practical reason for requiring "short" works to be compiled and thus muddy the origins of the source material. The sensible and practical thing for PG to do is to do away with any minimum size requirement for postings. Items can be posted as they were published, and any desired compilations can then be created by PG without forcing arbitrary requirements on their contributors. David