Looking for a book publishing software

Hi,

(Sorry, if this is not the right group but I tried to find the most
apt place for this question)

I am planning to write a book. I havent done this before so I need
some help in selecting a good software to help me through.

I think I am looking to write around 100-200 pages. Not much graphics,
maybe a few.

Went through the group archives and found some suggestions:

MS Word (heard that it's not good for big files)
PageMaker, FrameMaker (Is PM still the industry standard / widely
used?)
MS Publisher (not many reviews about this one)
InDesign (more appropriate for graphic oriented publications?)

Price of the software doesnt really matter as of now, if I get good
quality (and maybe more automation).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Regards,
Ajain

I am planning to write a book. I havent done this before so I need
some help in selecting a good software to help me through.

I think I am looking to write around 100-200 pages. Not much graphics,
maybe a few.

A tip that I hope is important. Try to completely separate the action
of writing the book from the process of laying out the pages. If you
worry about the page layout as you go, it enormously slows down the
creative process.

Commonly people use their favourite word processor to write the words.
No layout at all, except perhaps italics.

Once every word is as you want it to be, then and only then start
laying out the pages.

As to the choice of software for that, here are some questions for
you:

* Are you going to look for a publisher for the book, or aim to have
it printed yourself?

* Will the pages just be text, like a novel; have a few illustrations;
or will it be a very visual book?

Went through the group archives and found some suggestions:

MS Word (heard that it's not good for big files
PageMaker, FrameMaker (Is PM still the industry standard / widely
used?)

PageMaker is dead. FrameMaker is excellent for low-graphics, high text
work.

MS Publisher (not many reviews about this one)
InDesign (more appropriate for graphic oriented publications?)

InDesign and QuarkXPress are the professional choice for graphic
oriented publications.

Price of the software doesnt really matter as of now, if I get good
quality (and maybe more automation).

What do you want to automate? Is there database publishing involved?
----------------------------------------
Aandi Inston
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wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

(Sorry, if this is not the right group but I tried to find the most
apt place for this question)

I am planning to write a book. I havent done this before so I need
some help in selecting a good software to help me through.

The software doesn't matter.

Place yourself back in your English class, where you learned
composition. That means you start with an outline of your plot
and flesh it out with characters, from there. Polish it up,
then submit it to an editor (perhaps your favorite writing or
English teacher) for critique of the plot, characters, spelling
and grammar. PAY for that. A spellcheck won't do what
you need done.

Kris

wrote in message
oups.com...

I am planning to write a book. I havent done this before so I need
some help in selecting a good software to help me through. . . .
MS Word (heard that it's not good for big files)

No modern word processors offer what an author
wants (except for automatic footnotiing.) They may
be admirable for stenos transcribing other people's
compositions, desktop publishing etc.

What the active author needs is:
1. Absolutely bulletproof software, that will never
crash or lose data.
2. High speed, e.g. in searching for a word.
3. Multiple windows or buffers.

I have written for 25 years in Borland Sprint, a
DOS implementation of (Unix) Emacs. For the
author's purposes (as distinct for the steno's) it
is much safer and more powerful than Word and
WordPerfect. (It can output plain ASCII thus can
be later fancied up by WYSIWYG word processors.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

You write the book in your favorite word processing software.

When it is finshed, you lay it out in the publisher's preferred
software. Normally they might do that for you, but InDesign and Quark
are what are used by most publishing houses.

Denton


On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:18:13 -0000, wrote:

Hi,

(Sorry, if this is not the right group but I tried to find the most
apt place for this question)

I am planning to write a book. I havent done this before so I need
some help in selecting a good software to help me through.

I think I am looking to write around 100-200 pages. Not much graphics,
maybe a few.

Went through the group archives and found some suggestions:

MS Word (heard that it's not good for big files)
PageMaker, FrameMaker (Is PM still the industry standard / widely
used?)
MS Publisher (not many reviews about this one)
InDesign (more appropriate for graphic oriented publications?)

Price of the software doesnt really matter as of now, if I get good
quality (and maybe more automation).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Regards,
Ajain

Ajain: If you are using a Mac go to Puremac.com and click on ythe DTP
(for desktop publishing) under the Multimedia heading. You will find
links to many of the best choices available.

M

You are in the right place...but at the wrong time. Just go write your book.
Chances are you will never finish it and then all other problems are moot.
Write it in MS Word. It will do fine. Just go with straight type...don't try
formatting anything. Once at that point, hire someone to make a book of it.
Or, take a class at your community college, or buy the dummy's books. Ask
specific questions if you get stuck.

From our point of view you look like someone who woke up this morning and
decided that writing a book seemed like fun...so you came on-line to see if
you could get a lot of professionals to spend the next couple of weeks
telling you everything they know.


wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

(Sorry, if this is not the right group but I tried to find the most
apt place for this question)

I am planning to write a book. I havent done this before so I need
some help in selecting a good software to help me through.

I think I am looking to write around 100-200 pages. Not much graphics,
maybe a few.

Went through the group archives and found some suggestions:

MS Word (heard that it's not good for big files)
PageMaker, FrameMaker (Is PM still the industry standard / widely
used?)
MS Publisher (not many reviews about this one)
InDesign (more appropriate for graphic oriented publications?)

Price of the software doesnt really matter as of now, if I get good
quality (and maybe more automation).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Regards,
Ajain