Returning from Steveston
B.C., we cruised through the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound, completing our
research for the cruising season.
Sorry
to see the season end, we eased
Got d’
Fever into her covered slip at Anchor Cove for the fall and winter months.
Combining
pleasure with business can be intense while boating, but the real work begins
when the collected data for the Waggoner Guide is organized, written, and assembled over the following
months.
Edited text, new additions, re-writes and boating articles are entered into Dropbox, a secure file for collaborative work,
storage, and sharing.
Photos related to
each chapter or location are also posted in Dropbox.
A separate file is kept for changes and
updates to reference maps and newly created maps for marinas and anchorages found throughout this comprehensive guidebook. After the editors have made their changes for
each chapter, our layout staff works with the ‘InDesign’ program, arranging
the various pieces for each page, including the placement of ads, photos, and
text blocks.
A pdf of each chapter in
the guidebook is created for the editors’ review; and the process starts again
with additional changes, edits, and revisions.
This process continues for two or more iterations, until all
proof-reading and edits have been completed, and advertising space has been filled.
Untold hours go into creating this complete 500-page
cruising guidebook for boaters, which includes over 1,000 destination entries.
A labor of love, the Waggoner Team works into
the wee-hours of the night, 7-days a week for several months to meet the printing
deadline.
The completed file for the
guidebook is sent off to the printers, who send back a proof before rolling the
presses.
A final review is made for
color, placement, paging, registration marks etc.
Any last-minute changes for edits or ads are
noted as replacement pages which are communicated to the printer.
After giving the final go-ahead for the
presses to roll, it’s a big sigh of relief, followed by a happy celebration!
Then it’s back to work in preparation for the
Seattle Boat Show, where we reap the rewards of our efforts through smiling
faces and comradery with active, friendly boaters.
