Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
If the non-fiction book is properly marked up in for example LaTeX is should be relatively easy to have programs that automatically produce the different versions.
I suspect that the difference in work between paper and ebooks is because nobody has abstracted the tasks so they become common and can be automatically translated to the specific output format.
I mean SGML was invented to solve this problem and it is surprising that SGML or similar approaches are not used. Or it is not surprising since if you only produce one format (paper) there are no profit in introducing a more complex system. But with the demand for many different versions the situation is different.
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Not every author uses LaTeX. I'm an anthropologist and I don't use it though I generally know what it is. Sorry to say but for my scholarly needs, I use Word and Endnotes. Endnotes is a citation reference program. From the scholar's/author's point of view, when we're writing we're not interested in thinking about what additional technology we can use to make the work of the book publisher easier. We're dealing with the content of the matter (the reason for the text) which by itself is difficult enough as it is.