--- /dev/null
+Title: First paper version of the Norwegian Free Culture book heading my way
+Tags: english, docbook, freeculture
+Date: 2015-08-09 10:00
+
+<p>Typesetting a book is harder than I hoped. This summer it was time
+to format my translated <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a>
+based version of the <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a>
+book by Lawrence Lessig, and I've been trying to get docboox-xsl+fop
+and dblatex to give me a good looking PDF. In the end I went with
+dblatex, because its Debian maintainer and upstream developer were
+responsive and very helpful in solving my formatting challenges.</p>
+
+<p>Last night, I finally managed to get a PDF that
+<a href="http://www.lulu.com/">Lulu.com</a> no longer complained about
+after uploading, and I ordered a text version of the book on paper.
+It is without a proper cover and not tagged with the correct ISBN
+number, but should give me an idea how the finished book will
+look.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of using Lulu, I did consider printing the book using
+<a href="http://www.createspace.com/">CreateSpace</a>, but ended up
+using Lulu because it had smaller book size options (CreateSpace seem
+to lack pocket book with extended distribution).</p>
+
+<p>But I still struggle with deciding the book size. Should I go for
+pocket book (4.25x6.875 inches / 10.8x17.5 cm) with 556 pages, digest
+(5.5x8.5 inches / 14x21.6 cm) with 323 pages or US Trade (6x8 inches /
+15.3x22.9 cm) with 280 pages? Fewer pager give a cheaper book, and a
+smaller book is easier to carry around. The test book I ordered was
+pocket book sized, to give me an idea how well that fit in my hand,
+but I suspect I will end up using a digest sized book.</p>
+
+<p>My biggest challenge at the moment is making nice cover art. My
+inkscape skills are not yet up to the task of replicating the original
+cover in SVG format. I also need to figure out what to write about
+the book on the back (will most likely use the same text as the
+description on web based book stores). I would love help with this,
+if you are willing to license the art source and final version using
+the same CC license as the book.</p>
+
+<p>I plan to publish the book in both English and Norwegian and on
+paper, in PDF form as well as EPUB and MOBI format. The current
+status can as usual be found on
+<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.
+So far I have spent all time on making the PDF version look good.
+Someone should probably do the same with the dbtoepub generated
+e-book. Help is definitely needed here</p>
+
+<p>Please let me know via github if you find typos or translations
+that should be improved. The final proof reading is being done right
+now, and I expect to publish the finished result in a few months.</p>