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04Long-form writing · print production · canon

Publishing systems

2024–2026Case study
People-free source illustration from the Millbrook print-production system

The problem

Long projects break when ideas, drafts, art, evidence, continuity and print constraints live in separate places. The work was to build systems that keep the whole book visible.

My role

Author, system designer, editor, production engineer and creative director.

Constraints

  1. 01Book-length structure and many linked source files
  2. 02Print specifications and visual continuity
  3. 03Private family and fan projects requiring strict publication boundaries
  4. 04The need to preserve voice while using automated checks

What I built

  • The evidence-led research and manuscript system for The Map We Can Carry
  • The Millbrook fiction planning, canon, illustration and print-production environment
  • A private twelve-book Fortnite fan-fiction production system
  • Print-ready workflows for interiors, covers, illustration and preflight
  • Cross-model editorial review with traceable decisions
Key decisionsHow the work moved
01

Separate canon from draft

Stable facts, approved decisions and changing prose have different jobs and are managed accordingly.

02

Automate checks, not taste

Machines handle completeness, consistency and packaging; human judgement remains responsible for meaning and voice.

03

Publish only what is publishable

Private family material and fan work stay sanitised, partial and clearly labelled non-commercial.

Measurable proof

44

chapters in the Map architecture; manuscript in development

287

pages in the current compiled Map working proof

12

completed books in the first Millbrook series

Artefact gallerySanitised & provenance checked
Watercolour treehouse source illustration from the Millbrook production archive

A privacy-safe source illustration from a larger workflow spanning art direction, typography, interiors, covers and print preflight.

David-controlled Millbrook publishing repository; exported from source art with names and manuscript text excluded · sanitised
Book System interface showing the editorial workflow and assistant without private manuscript identifiers

The working Book System joins a nine-stage editorial loop, repository state, validation and a page-aware assistant; private manuscript identifiers are cropped out.

David-controlled Book System application; privacy-safe crop of the live interface · sanitised
Hand-drawn scale from a proton to the observable universe

A diagram from The Map We Can Carry illustration system.

The Map We Can Carry manuscript repository · public

What the work taught

01Creative work benefits from strong infrastructure when the infrastructure stays out of the prose.

02Provenance is the difference between a useful archive and an attractive pile of files.

03Privacy and rights decisions belong at the start of publishing, not the end.

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