Book Publishing

Book Publishing Skill

End-to-end pipeline: markdown manuscript → arXiv-compliant / KDP-ready PDF, using parallel agent swarms for each stage.

Pipeline Overview

Markdown Source
      │
      ├─── [Skeleton Builder]     → main.tex skeleton (FIRST, blocking)
      ├─── [BibTeX Extractor]     → references.bib   (parallel)
      │
      ├─── [Chapter Converters × N]  → chapters/ch*.tex  (after skeleton)
      ├─── [Front Matter]            → front/            (after skeleton)
      ├─── [Appendix Converter]      → appendices/       (after skeleton)
      ├─── [Citation Index]          → cite_index.tex    (after bibtex)
      ├─── [Design Consultant]       → typography/styles (after skeleton)
      │
      ├─── [Diagram Engineer]        → TikZ + Mermaid .mmd   (parallel)
      ├─── [Market Analyst]          → matplotlib charts/PDF  (parallel)
      ├─── [Wardley Mapper]          → Wardley .mmd files     (parallel)
      ├─── [Research Verifier]       → citation verification  (parallel)
      │
      ├─── [Image Upcycler]          → Gemini-enhanced PNGs   (after diagrams)
      │
      └─── [Build + Verify]          → latexmk + PDF preview  (final)

Stage 1: Skeleton Builder (Blocking — runs first)

Creates the root main.tex with:

• Document class: memoir (12pt, a4paper, twoside)
• Package imports (fontspec, microtype, biblatex, hyperref)
• Chapter \include{} stubs
• Front/back matter structure

All other converters wait for skeleton before starting.

Full memoir/biblatex package list, UK typography rules (spaced endash, scene breaks, drop caps), chapter-style code, and the arXiv folder layout are in references/latex-conventions.md — load it before building the skeleton or hand-editing a chapter.

Stage 2: Parallel Foundation

Run simultaneously after skeleton:

# BibTeX Extractor
# Scans all markdown footnotes, extracts URLs and references
# Outputs: references.bib + cite_mapping.json
# cite_mapping.json format: {chapter: {footnote_num: cite_key}}
# Full pattern, footnote-vs-cite-key decision rule, and worked example:
# references/latex-conventions.md#cite_mappingjson-pattern

# Chapter Converters — split into batches of 6
# Batch A: chapters 1–6
# Batch B: chapters 7–12  
# Batch C: chapters 13–18
# (etc.)

# Each converter: markdown → LaTeX, respecting cite_mapping.json
# URL-only footnotes → \footnote{\href{...}{...}}
# Multi-use citations → \cite{key}

Stage 3: Parallel Content Generation

All run simultaneously:

Stage 4: Image Upcycling

After diagrams exist, upscale them for print. A Gemini image path exists when GOOGLE_API_KEY is provisioned — see art/references/diagram-upcycling.md for the current nano-banana model ids and the route-through-the-skill's-own-tool pattern; otherwise the offline ImageMagick pass is the default, deterministic and never hallucinates text:

convert diagram.png -resize 200% -unsharp 0x1.0 diagram_hires.png

Prefer regenerating charts as vector PDF over raster upscaling where possible. Even with a provisioned key, an AI-enhanced diagram must be visually diffed against the source before shipping — its output can alter text/data. Full guardrails: references/image-upcycling.md.

Stage 5: Build and Verify

# Full build
latexmk -xelatex -biber -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex

# Visual verification via browser sidecar
# Navigate to output PDF, screenshot pages for review
browser_navigate({ url: "file:///path/to/main.pdf" })
browser_take_screenshot({ filename: "page_verify.png", fullPage: false })

Swarm Topology (claude-flow)

// Initialize swarm
mcp__claude-flow__swarm_init({
  topology: "hierarchical",
  maxAgents: 15,
  strategy: "book-conversion"
})

// Stage 1: skeleton (blocking)
await mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({
  agentType: "coder",
  name: "skeleton-builder",
  task: "Build main.tex skeleton with memoir class, all chapter stubs, preamble"
})

// Stage 2: parallel foundation (after skeleton signals complete)
await Promise.all([
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "bibtex-extractor", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "chapter-conv-A", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "chapter-conv-B", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "chapter-conv-C", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "front-matter", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "appendix-conv", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "design-consultant", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "diagram-engineer", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "analyst", name: "market-analyst", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "researcher", name: "research-verifier", ... }),
  mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "wardley-mapper", ... }),
])

// Stage 3: after diagrams
await mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn({ agentType: "coder", name: "image-upcycler", ... })

Publication Targets

arXiv

• memoir class, XeLaTeX, biber-compiled .bbl
• All fonts embedded, no shell-escape
• Submit: source .tex + .bbl + figures (PDF/PNG/JPG)
• Full compliance checklist: references/latex-conventions.md

KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)

• PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 for print
• Bleed: 3mm all sides (\setlrmarginsandblock in memoir)
• Cover: separate high-res PDF (300 DPI minimum)
• Interior: 6×9 inch (memoir [6in,9in])

Print-on-Demand (general)

• Trim size specified in \setstocksize{9in}{6in}
• Spine calculation: pages × 0.002252 inches (60gsm paper)

Quality Gates

Before shipping:

• latexmk exits 0 (no errors)
• Zero overfull hbox warnings > 10pt
• All \cite{} keys resolve (biber reports 0 unresolved)
• All \includegraphics paths exist
• PDF opens and pages render correctly (browser sidecar check)
• First 3 and last 3 chapters spot-checked visually

Related Skills

• wardley-maps — Wardley map generation with LaTeX integration
• art — Gemini API image enhancement (diagram upcycling)
• browser — PDF preview, Mermaid rendering workaround
• latex-documents — general LaTeX compilation outside the book pipeline

LaTeX conventions, memoir class packages, UK typography, and citation patterns (formerly the latex-book skill) now live in references/latex-conventions.md; latex-book is a deprecated redirect stub.