Features
A typeset book, not text saved as a PDF
Title page, colophon, a table of contents with page numbers, chapters with running heads, and the elements that organise the text: callouts, checklists, tables, pull quotes and chapter summaries. It is the difference you cannot see in a service description and can see on the first page of the file.
What “typeset” means
Text exported to PDF has margins and paragraphs. A typeset book has structure: you know which page chapter seven starts on, because the contents give the number; you know which chapter you are in, because the running head says so; you can tell a warning from a checklist, because they look different. None of this makes the content smarter — all of it makes the content usable.
Numbered contents
Calculated during typesetting, not typed by hand. Adding a chapter does not break the numbering.
Highlighted elements
A callout, a checklist, numbered steps, a comparison table, a pull quote and a chapter summary — each with its own treatment.
Running heads and page numbers
Numbering starts on the title page, not the cover. A detail that separates a typeset file from one printed out of a word processor.
In practice
What typesetting will not do
Fix the content. A book about nothing, beautifully typeset, is still a book about nothing — which is why we show the outline before payment, not after. Typesetting decides whether the material can go to a client without explaining where it came from, not whether it was worth writing.
A4
The target format: ready to email and to print on an ordinary office printer.
Why it works this way
Why PHP does the typesetting, not a browser
Because the target server does not allow external processes to run, and sending customer content to a third-party service on every order would require a separate data processing agreement. The price of that decision: the layout rests on tables and margins, without modern CSS mechanisms. For a book — a column of text, margins, running heads — that constraint barely hurts.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a page size other than A4?
Not yet. A4 fits an email and comes out of any printer without settings. For reading devices, EPUB handles it — it reflows to the screen.
Does the typesetting change with the voice?
The layout stays the same; the density changes. The research voice divides chapters more finely and reaches for tables more often; the accessible voice leans on checklists and examples. That follows from the content, not from a separate template.
Will I get a source file for my own typesetting?
The DOCX comes closest: it uses paragraph styles, so you can change the typeface and insert your own elements. We do not supply publishing files such as InDesign or LaTeX.
See also
Be first in when we launch
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