Problem:
Can I have double column book (e.g. for narrative books) and a single column book (e.g. poetic books) in one PA job?
Solutions:
Yes. It is quite simple.
Design the page with desired number of columns and save your design to stylesheet (.isty) or template bundle (.tb). To do this open PA job, go to Tools > Create Template from Current Configuration.
Then staring new book to typeset, choose the desired stylesheet. Here is double column Genesis
And one column Hosea. Both in one job.
And you can batch process all single column book in one go and all double column book in another one.
If for some reason you synchronize styles in InDesign, pay attention to the Style Source file. You might want not to apply styles from single column design to double column one.