I was taught to use the method you describe to inlay a back strip into an already-joined back. I have long since abandoned that method in favour of simply sandwiching sufficiently thick center strip (and purling) between the joint of the two halves. I always use a reinforcement on the inside of the joint of cross-grain wood and have yet to find any advantage - long or short term - to inlaying, rather than sandwiching, the center strips. It is much easier to sandwich them than inlay them.
As previously discussed, if top, back or sides have appreciable runout, each half must be worked from the opposite direction. That is, after book matching, if one half has the runout going from guitar butt to heal, the other half will have the runout going from heal to butt. Tear-out can also be minimized by using a "zero-clearance" throat on the plane and an appropriate angle, often a bevel up plane.
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