How to Create Your Own Book
http://live.pirillo.com/ – One of our community members is writing a book in Microsoft Word, but is having difficulties adding images, and would like some suggestions on a publishing platform.
There are a few things you can do to lay out your book, but Chris recommends sticking with Microsoft Word, because if you’re writing a book comprised of a lot of text, you’re probably going to be happiest in Microsoft Word. For starters, you’re not going to have to learn a new program, plus you’re not going to have to spend any money on a new publishing platform.
If you’re going to get the book published, you may want to consider going to self-publishing route through a service like Lulu.com, which will publish a physical copy of your book each time someone orders. Or, you could even consider going the eBook route and offering it as a download in PDF format.
Do you have any suggestions?
Want to embed our How to Create Your Own Book video in your blog? Use this code:
Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi)
6 Comments
Dr. Russell Sabella
July 22nd, 2007
at 8:03am
I have published several books with publishers and recently decided to go on my own given all the online digital publishers available (e.g., lulu.com). I searched for other formatting programs and came to the same conclusion, MS Word does the job easiest. Of course, the good doctor can always pay someone to just do it for him/her (e.g., http://www.concordeditorial.com/)
Karl
July 22nd, 2007
at 9:54am
When putting images into Word docs I like to use one of two methods:
- Use a table. Easier to position the image left, right or whatever.
- Use the Drawing tools and a Text Box. Better control over the size of the image and text flow. Easier to add a border around the image if wanted.
If the real end result is a a PDF ebook I’d suggest using OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org). It directly exports to PDF with security if needed, hyperlinks enabled, and a clickable Table of Contents. You have to use Adobe Acrobat to get all those functions out of a Word doc.
Since trying OpenOffice a few months ago I’ve given MSOffice the boot!
-=[ Karl ]=-
Learn digital photography at
http://www.TeachMeToShoot.com
Karl
July 22nd, 2007
at 9:54am
When putting images into Word docs I like to use one of two methods:
- Use a table. Easier to position the image left, right or whatever.
- Use the Drawing tools and a Text Box. Better control over the size of the image and text flow. Easier to add a border around the image if wanted.
If the real end result is a a PDF ebook I’d suggest using OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org). It directly exports to PDF with security if needed, hyperlinks enabled, and a clickable Table of Contents. You have to use Adobe Acrobat to get all those functions out of a Word doc.
Since trying OpenOffice a few months ago I’ve given MSOffice the boot!
-=[ Karl ]=-
Learn digital photography at
http://www.TeachMeToShoot.com
GiM
July 22nd, 2007
at 4:52pm
- “… Chris recommends sticking with Microsoft Word… you’re not going to have to spend any money on a new publishing platform”.
Chris, could I understand that Word is free and already paid ??? And I thought you must buy MS Office for that (~$ 150-600, depending of distribution…). If you want simple and free, I guess WordPad is the answer (from Microsoft, in any Windows)! But for this price you can buy a real DTP editor: Quark Express, Page Maker, Ventura…
As an alternative for Ventura (made by Corel) I use as professional DTP, I prefer EditPad Lite (international character support, or Notepad just for English versions), since I use HTML codes to proper make-up my documents, books… in a platform independent format (HTML+CSS). And I believe there are plenty of free WYSIWYG options too…
- Chris, speaking of Word: “For starters, you’re not going to have to learn a new program”.
Well, Chris, it seems there are exceptions, since not only I learned to work with Word (as new born I did not knew this software), but also as end-user support I help my colleagues to come through with it. Chris, if you just saw it and you knew it from the first time, you are COOL!!!
Jyll
July 22nd, 2007
at 8:04pm
Chris – What about the open source desktop publishing software – Scribus? It’s what I chose to replace InDesign and Publisher.
JK
July 23rd, 2007
at 7:46am
The first line of the post says “One of our community members is writing a book in Microsoft Word,”. From this line we can safely assume the person writting their book has already purchased MS Word and is profficient enough with the software. If we compare this with another software title then yes MS Word would be free (its already been paid for) and the user already knows how to use it were a new software title would have to be learned.