It’s only just occurred to me (so I may have it wrong) that there are only two types of books published these days:
1. Black text only on crap paper – cheap
2. Colour images everywhere on thick glossy paper – expensive

There used to be a third: black text on crap paper apart from a few plates (b/w and/or colour) on thick glossy paper.

I’ve never seen a professionally published book on average quality paper. Older books with b/w sketches with text on crap paper (eg. old editions of Alice in Wonderland) have gone the way of the dinosaur.

Technical journals have a third option that seriously drives me up the wall.
3. Average-weight glossy paper, never any vertical lines, allow mathematics, limited b/w images, severely limited colour images.

I don’t get it. Why so limited? I can understand that colour ink is more expensive than b/w ink. But why no vertical lines, why no b/w sketches, why severe limitations on mathematics, why limitations on the number of b/w images, why no books with average quality paper, why can’t colour images be simply mingled at random and cost calculated later? Could it be that there’s some universally used typesetting software that is absolute rubbish.

I don’t get it. Why so limited?
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It is not limited. It is cost dependent.

If you have 19 facing pages, radomly thoughout, of colour on a high gloss sheet and the, say 54pages of B/W text, is on astandard sheet…

You incur production problems that are time restrictive. Plus, what goes on the back of the expensive sheet…

Normally colour ‘plates’ are 4 up, 8 up, 16 up ect… If these are running pages the cost is far less to insert, up to 64 times so…

Most book producing now has standard choices for standard costs… tho doesn’t mean they can not do it, as you please.

I’ve never seen a professionally published book on average quality paper.
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Really you can just choose a paper stock that suits.

Standard mill run stocks are, funnily enough, the cheapest.

But to be fair most medium quality ‘specialty’ stocks are not really expensive. You could double the paper costs yet only pay 10% more for the job…

So for a top of the line A1 sheet at say $1.00/sh for 50 books of 100 A4pgs would cost $312.50

If you use A4 Bond the paper cost would be 25 bucks.

Give or take the mark up…

But why no vertical lines, why no b/w sketches, why severe limitations on mathematics
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Sketches need to be scanned in…

Mathamajical symbols are more often than not, computed from one device to another incorrectly. And really how would a poorly paid copier know if it was wrong…

, why limitations on the number of b/w images, why no books with average quality paper,
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Done that.

Why can’t colour images be simply mingled at random and cost calculated later?
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They can be. Easy if you have people with nous…

Could it be that there’s some universally used typesetting software that is absolute rubbish.
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Well yes but no. The problem is… there is no universally used typesetting software…

Economic rationalism… what new low will it bring us to next.

Mr Ironic said:

But why no vertical lines, why no b/w sketches, why severe limitations on mathematics
———————————————————————————-
Sketches need to be scanned in…

Mathamajical symbols are more often than not, computed from one device to another incorrectly. And really how would a poorly paid copier know if it was wrong…

, why limitations on the number of b/w images, why no books with average quality paper,
————————————————————————————-

Done that.

Why can’t colour images be simply mingled at random and cost calculated later?
———————————————————

They can be. Easy if you have people with nous…

Could it be that there’s some universally used typesetting software that is absolute rubbish.
————————————————————

Well yes but no. The problem is… there is no universally used typesetting software…

Economic rationalism… what new low will it bring us to next.

the written word as we know it today came about to some extent by the printers of the time – they didn’t know exactly how to spell the word so they made their own spelling

Shakespeare used to make up new words all the time – “unlock” for example

Mr Ironic said:

Mathamajical symbols are more often than not, computed from one device to another incorrectly. And really how would a poorly paid copier know if it was wrong…

I was under the impression that that shouldn’t happen if TeX is used to do maths stuff.

they didn’t know exactly how to spell the word so they made their own spelling
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Guilty as charged…

I was under the impression that that shouldn’t happen if TeX is used to do maths stuff.
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So what happens if the prefered tender’s opperating files doesn’t opperate with it…

It’s all VHS V’s Beta…

I was under the impression that that shouldn’t happen if TeX is used to do maths stuff.

i guess that’s why the pages are proofread by the client before being printed.