I would say that the book design is such to keep the loading on inverted and non-inverted signals equal. Also if you look at the book solution, the output is virtually identical for each pin. This could also be to keep the propagation times equal in all outputs. There are numerous ways to solve a problem, but sometimes you need to see the complete solution and keep things in sync and balanced as possible for other reasons.
Your output stage using 2 transistors to pull the signal to rail, will cause a different voltage output when a current is supplied on a "high" output. This results in different output characteristics for different pins, again not a good thing. You really want the outputs and prop times equal for the outputs.