How to choose a typesetter: 5 critical considerations

If you’re looking to hire a typesetter to improve the look and readability of your publication, you’ve landed in the right place. Not all typesetters have the skills, services, or timeframe needed to ensure your text is a success.

In this article, we’ll cover five critical considerations to make as you decide which typesetter to work with. Let’s jump right into it.

1. Is the typesetter experienced?

Before you go ahead and entrust someone with your precious manuscript, you’ll want to know a bit more about their experience. A good typesetter will be more than happy to share their portfolio of past work with you, so you can get a feel for their skill level.

Years of experience in the typesetting industry will ensure your text is enjoyable to read and easy to comprehend, whether it’s a kids’ book, a cookbook, or a corporate publication.

2. Does the typesetter prepare files for both digital and print distribution?

The digital publishing market has exploded, and now, hundreds of millions of e-books are sold each year. With this in mind, you may want to find a typesetter that delivers the finished product in both digital and print format.

Transferring your content into the epub format is more involved than saving it as a PDF. Your typesetter should ensure the reader can:

Increase and decrease the font and image size
Search the publication for keywords
Add bookmarks and comments to a notes page
Jump from page to page via links within the content
Access audio and video content
Follow links to external websites

3. Is your text proofread by someone other than the typesetter?

Even the best and brightest writers make mistakes. At some point, we all get a little too close to our work, making errors near impossible to spot. And these errors detract from your readers’ experiences. What you need is a fresh pair of eyes – which the best typesetters will supply.

4. Can the typesetter work to your print deadline?

Working to a print deadline? You’ll need to make sure the typesetter you are considering can deliver within that timeframe. It may be a good idea to check out their portfolio too, so you can be sure they’ll actually stick to the agreed turn-around time.

5. Can the typesetter produce graphics and other visual elements if needed?

Depending on your manuscript, visual elements can help a reader more easily comprehend and digest the information. Quality graphics should do the following: