How to Create & Publish Your E-Book Using Free Tools

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Self-publishing . . . is easier than you can imagine

How to Create & Publish Your E-book Using Free Tools John McDevitt

The Aware Writer

























i Cover design by John McDevitt. The drawing of the printing press on the cover is a public domain image I found. The pictured press is an Albion press invented by Richard W. Cope in England during the early early 19th Century Century.. Today, oday, nearly nearly 200 years years later later,, everyone everyone who owns a computer has access to a virtual printing press and the undreamed of power of self-publishing. Unless noted otherwise, all of the software packages cited in this book are licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). Screen shots used to illustrate various options and operations were made using the Take Screen shot application built into ubuntu 8.04.

Copyright © 2009 John McDevitt

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNoncomme Noncommercia rcial-N l-No o Derivati Derivative ve Works 3.0 United United States States License. License. View a copy of this license at http://crea http://creativecommons.org tivecommons.org/licenses/by/licenses/bync-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

























Contents Introduction

viii

1 Soft Softw ware: re: The The Fre Free e Tools Tools Software Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Locating and Installing Your Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TEX: Your Typesetting Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LyX: Your Writing Workhorse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gim imp: p: Create ate and and Mani anipul pulate ate Imag Image es . . . . . . . . . . Inks Inksca cape pe:: A Vec Vecto torr Base Based d Draw Drawin ing g Prog Progra ram m. . . . . . . Free FreeMi Mind nd:: Brai Brains nsto torm rmin ing g and and Mind Mind Mapp Mappin ing g . . . . . . Other Helpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4

2 Plan Planni ning ng Your our Book The Importance of a Good Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Goes Into A Great Title? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S.U.I.T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Grammar of SEO Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Title Length and Google . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Title Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brai Brains nsto torm rmin ing g and and Orga Organi nizi zing ng with with Free FreeMi Mind nd . . . . . . . . Brainstorming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 5 5 7 8 9 10 10 11 11

3 Sett Settin ing g up Ly LyX X

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Contents Document Settings . . . . . . . . . Document Classes . . . . . . . Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Text Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Numbering & TOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PDF Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Math Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Float Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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18 18 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20

A T X Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L E Document Settings Used for This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21 21

4 Ly LyX X Envi Environ ronme ment ntss Parag aragra raph ph Envir nviron onme ment nt Pull Pull-D -Dow own n Box Box . . . . . . . Front Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Title Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Copyright Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table of Contents (TOC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lists of Figures or Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24 . . . 25 . . . 26 . . . 26 . . . 27 . . . 28 . . . 28 . . . 28 . . . 28 . . . 29 . . . 29 . . . 29 . . . 30 . . . 30

























Contents The List Environments Featu eature res s Com Commo mon n To To Numbered Lists . . . Itemized Lists . . . .

iv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All All Li List st Envi Enviro ronm nmen ents ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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33 35 35 36

Labeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speci pecial al Environ ronmen ments: Qu Quotes tes & Poetry try . . . . . . . . . . . . Quotes and Quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Poetry or Verse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . More KOMA-Script goodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WYSIWYM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

36 37 37 37 38 38 39

5 Grap Graphi hics cs = Pun Punch ch + Cla Clarit rity Bit ma mappe pped and and Ve Vecto ctor Grap Graph hics ics Re Revisi isited ted . . . . . . . . How to Use The Gimp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why You Need Inkscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Graphics and Tables in LyX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert  Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert  Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Floats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The The Po Power of Link Linkss Cross Referencing with LyX . . . . . . . Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inserting Cross-References . . . . . Recommendations and a Discovery The TOC and Other Listings . . . . . . . Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Citations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hyperlinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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41 . 41 . 42 . 45 . 46 . 47 . 47 . 48

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50 50 50 51 52 53 54 54 54

7 A Prof Profes essi sion onal al Cove Coverr Assembling the Ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Contents Add Color to the Cover . Add Graphics to the Cover Add Text to the Cover . . . The PDF Cover . . . . . . .

v . . . .

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58 58 59 60

Adding the Cover to Your Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Add the Cover Using LyX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alternative Ways to Add a Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61 61 61

8 Putt Puttin ing g it all all Toge Togeth ther er Structure is a Matter of Degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why PDF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The On Screen Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selecting a Page Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Font Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Font Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Help the Reader Navigate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . External Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why I Didn’t Include an Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Simple and Consistent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Explore and Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This is Just the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63 63 64 65 66 66 67 67 67 67 68 68 69 69 70

A Ly LyX: X: Main Main Menu Menu High Highli ligh ghts ts

72

B The LATEX Preamble

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List of Figures 3.1 LyX: Document Settings Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 PDF Proper opertties ies: Add Addiition tiona al Option tions s . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 LyX: Numbering & TOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 21 22

4.1 4.1 LyX: yX: Parag aragra raph ph Envi Enviro ronm nmen entt Pull Pull-D -Dow own n . . . . . . . . . 4.2 LyX: Li Lis st environ ronmen ment tool toolba barr button ttons s . . . . . . . . . .

25 34

6.1 LyX: Label Dialog Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 LyX: Insert Cross Reference Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . .

51 52

7.1 Inkscape: Te Text and Font Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 LyX: External Material Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

60 62

























List of Tables 3.1 Document Settings Used in This Book . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Page Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23 23

4.1 Headi Headings ngs for for defau default lt artic article le,, book and and repor reportt classe classes s .

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Introduction It wasn’t so long ago that self-publishing was looked upon with scorn. People would laugh behind their hands and pity the “loser” who couldn’t find a publisher. They snickered and whispered “vanity press.” No more. The power of the PC and the Internet combine to wipe the smile off the doubter’s faces and put the power of the press directly

into your hands. You don’t need to wait for a publisher to “choose” your book as worthy of publication. You don’t need a “gatekeeper” because you can publish your book yourself. It’s a lot easier than you might have thought. Creating and publishing your own book is a straightforward journey when you know the territory. This book is a map that will help guide

you through the rough spots, avoid time wasting detours and get you to your destination on time. You won’t need to go out and buy expensive software. If you have a reasonably current PC and are willing to install the key software yourself, you’ll have the tools you need to publish your book on your

























ix I suggest you read each chapter in sequence. There’s a lot of material, some you may never need, but you’ll have a good understanding of what’s possible. After introducing you to the recommended software and showing you how to get the tools you need, I take a short detour to share what I know about creating a good title for your book and suggest ways to plan before you jump into writing. You’ll discover the magic of LyX, how to set it up and how to get LyX

working working for you. Good software software should support support your writing writing and stay out of your way. LyX does just that. We’ll get into graphics, how easy it is to include links within your text, how much better your E-Book will be and how much your readers will appreciate the extras. You’ll discover how to create a professional looking cover. It’s not difficult at all and is the finishing touch that says “professionally done.” The focus is on producing the final document as a PDF file. PDF is a universal format that’s easy to distribute and that can be read easily

on virtually all computers regardless of operating system. What of the alternati alternatives? ves? I’ll get into a few other options options in Appendix Appendix

C. Let’s get started then.



























1 Soft Softw ware: re: The The Free ree Tools Software Freedom All of the software tools recommended here were used to create this

book. All have been released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) and are freely available for download over an Internet connection at no cost. Every one of these programs is equal to (and often better than) costly commercial software. "Free software is a matte matterr of liberty liberty,, not price. price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer .

























CHAPTER 1. SOFTWARE: THE FREE TOOLS

2

Locating and Installing Your Tools You’ll be working with four programs. LyX, the document processor, takes center stage. FreeMind, The Gimp and Inkscape can help with

the organization and finishing touches. All four software packages will run under Linux, Mac OS X or MS Windows. I use ubuntu Linux (8.04 as of this writing) and all of the listed programs are available from the repositories. Installation is a snap. Installation under Mac OS X, Windows or if you want to install on your own under Linux is simply a matter of following the provided link to the home page or direct download page for each program, then downloading and installing the package for your operating system. You’ll find a brief description for each package in the following sections. Each site has specific, clear instructions for installing their software on your system. Follow the on site instructions and you’ll be up and running in no time.

TEX: Your Typesetting Engine


























3

• MacTEX for Mac OS X “MacTEX consists of two pieces: MacTEX2008 and MacTEXtra Xtras. s. MacT MacTEX-2008 is an install package which installs everything needed to run TEX on Mac OS X. The package uses Apple’s standard installer; installation takes four to eigh eightt minu minute tes s and and is automa automati tic. c. MacT MacTEXtras is a collection of optional extras: Additional Front Ends, Spell Checkers, Documentation, and Showcase items.”

LyX: Your Writing Workhorse LyX is the the main main acto actorr, your your prim primar ary y tool tool fo forr both both crea creati ting ng and and publish publishing ing your book. The other programs programs play an importan importantt but supp suppor orti ting ng role role.. Don’ Don’tt worr worry y. LyX is easy easy to inst instal all. l. The The LyX installers will set up a complete LyX environment for you. • Lyx Home Page • Direct link to the Lyx download site

Gimp: Gimp: Create Create and Manipu Manipulat late e Images Images


























4

quality results with a vector graphics program like Inkscape. The differences between a vector graphics program and a bit mapping program like the Gimp will be explained later when we get into the details. • Inkscape Home Page • Download site for all operating systems

FreeMind: reeMind: Brainsto Brainstorming rming and Mind Mapping FreeMind FreeMind is written written in Java Java so it’s platfor platform m independ independent. ent. All you need to run FreeMind is a current version of the Java run-time environment along with the FreeMind installer for your operating system (available on the FreeMind download page). Most systems will will already already have Java installed installed.. If you need to install install or upgrade upgrade Java, there’s a direct link to Sun on the FreeMind download page. Grab the FreeMind installer for your operating system, download and install. install. It’s quick quick and easy. easy. There’s There’s also a detaile detailed d guide for installing on different flavors of Linux. The version of FreeMind in the ubuntu repository for my version (8.04) is way out of date, but

























2 Plan Planni ning ng You Yourr Book Book The Importance of a Good Title You must have a good title if you expect people to buy your book. A good title attracts people to your book the way high curb appeal welcomes house hunters to stop, knock on the door and ask to come in for a look around. A good title arouses a reader’s curiosity and invites them to pick up your book and take it to the cash register. Sol Stein, in his book Stein on Writing [3], devotes an entire chapter,

subjec ect. t. Too The The Doo Doorr to Your Your Book: Titles Titles That Attrac Attract, t, to the subj many good books gather dust on the shelves because the title stinks.

Titles are that important.



























CHAPTER 2. PLANNING YOUR BOOK

6

Keyword phrase smart Think like a person browsing the web for answers: How would normal people phrase their questions? Would you say embellishing your nails or making your nails shine ? More likely, you’d say something like painting your nails. The closer your keyword phrases come to a typical web query, the higher in the search engine list your title will appear.

Precise If you mean fingernails then say say so. so. The The aver averag age e fingernails (or toenails) toenails) then carpenter probably won’t paint their nails, but you never know. Be specific enough to avoid confusion. You’ll almost always get a better ranking with a narrower search phrase. Using keyword modifiers will bring more potential customers to


























7

• Painting Your Nails Like A Professional (direct but rare word – "professional") • Paint Your Nails Like A Pro (pro is much better plus you get rid of the weak "ing") • Painting Your Nails: Get The Nail Salon Look Without The Cost (too long with a weak "ing") • Paint Your Own Nails: Avoid Nail Salon Costs (direct, engaging, succinct) An engaging title hooks a reader’s eye by using energetic language and sells the reader on why he should buy the book and read it. It may be hard to guess what will grab the web searcher’s attention. Always focus on benefits. Everyone perks up when they think they’ll benefi benefit. t. And no reader reader wants wants to waste waste time: time: Be clear clear and to the point.


























8

What Are Are LEAP LEAPs? s? Vs What What Are Are LEAP LEAP (Lon (Longg-T Term erm Stoc Stock k Opti Option ons) s) • What Investments?

Interesting When people searching for info find your title, you want to tweak their interest enough to stop and explore. An interesting title will: • Arouse Arouse reader reader curiosity curiosity • Sell a reader on the benefits of clicking through to find out more • and generate generate higher higher sales sales volume

Timeless (never outdated) People eople want want books books about about timely timely,, topical topical subjects. subjects. The best titles titles


























9

as the subject subject of the title should should come first. The title’s title’s predicate predicate assures a complete title that can stand on its own. • Subject Subject + Predicate Predicate = Sentence Sentence • Topic (SEO keyword phrase) + Energetic verb = SEO effective and engaging title A well-chosen title is complete because it identifies the topic clearly.

The SEO-friendly subject focuses your title and your verb choice adds energy. This is how you appeal to both audiences, SEO search engin engine e spid spiders ers crawl crawling ing the web web and your your audien audience ce of reader readers s searching for just the right book for them.

Compare this before and after title fix: • Poorly oorly formed title: title: What What NOT To Buy At A Dollar Store Store


























10

(or (or ten ten word words) s).. Keep eep your your titl titles es at or belo below w this this thre thresh shol old d and and the reader reader will will see exactly exactly what you intended. intended. Long titles titles will be incomplete, and may not even make sense to the searcher – not good. Different search engines truncate differently and allow a few more characters. Google is king of the hill. Follow Google’s rules and you can’t go wrong.

Title Challenge What do you think of the two titles listed below? They’re illustrations

of how you might combine SEO with reader interest with an almost complete thought. Almost, because you want your audience to buy your book to discover the answers for themselves.




























11

Brainstorming When you create a new file, FreeMind places your cursor in the center node. Enter your central idea here and press enter. All nodes connec connectin ting g to the center center are are child child nodes. nodes. Press Press the insert insert key or choose new child node from the insert menu to begin. Brainstorming gets the ideas flowing freely. Whenever you’re unsure of where to go next, brainstorming frees ideas from the log jam and

moves your project in the right direction. FreeMind is perfect for

























3 Setting up LyX LyX is a document processor that models (WYSIWYM) What You See Is What You Mean instead of the typical word processing (WYSIWYG)

























CHAPTER 3. SETTING UP LyX

13

at and change change are listed listed below. below. When in doubt, doubt, leave leave the default default.. You can always come back later.

Look & Feel • User interfac interface e – Switch tool tip help on or off – Session management (save windows, restore cursor posi-


























14

– Preferences for full screen mode: This feature is great. You

have complete control over the full screen environment. Hide or show toolbars, the tab bar or the scroll bar. You can also limit text width (in pixels). Try 700 to start with and experiment until you like what you see. This setting is what makes makes fu full ll screen screen mode mode work work so well well.. It center centers s the text horizontally and leaves space on either side giving you a nice, distraction free writing environment. • Shortcuts: A complete listing of all keyboard shortcuts. If you


























15

No, you won’t need to worry about embedded commands, LyX takes Settin ings gs.. . . to bring up care of all of this for you. Go to Document  Sett the Document Settings Dialog and enter your document settings.

Then all you need worry about is your writing.




























16

• Letter Letter (US style style letters) letters) The full L A TEX installation usually includes a number of non-standard

classes for preparation of journal articles for various professional




























17

Bit mapped mapped fo fonts nts:: Defined Defined by bit bit mapped mapped graphi graphics cs (pixe (pixels) ls),, • Bit they look fine at the size they are designed for but don’t scale well. For instance, the 18 point Times Roman example below was enlarged 500 percent. The font is blurred the same way




























18

Experiment a bit, LyX makes it easy. Simply click a few buttons and

in seconds all the fonts in your entire document have changed.




























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\rhead{\thepage} \lhead{\leftmark} \cfoot{} The fi st lin

ut th

t

ber fl

h igh ight i th he din




























20

PDF Properties This This is a new new feat featur ure e in LyX 1.6. 1.6. It allo allows ws you to cust custom omiz ize e the the PDF header, bookmarks and especially how URLs are handled. Take

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































CHAPTER 7. A PROFESSIONAL COVER

61

file. Say yes because you’ll need that file if you ever want to make changes to your cover.

Adding the Cover to Your Book Add the Cover Using LyX • Open Open the LyX file for your your E-Book E-Book • Position the cursor at the beginning of the file in front of your title and press enter • Select Insert  File  External Material from the main menu • Select the following from the External Material pop up dialog (see Figure 7.2 on the following page for an example). – Use the File: Browse window to find your cover.PDF file – Choose PDFPages from the Template pull down box A T X and LyX options tab and enter the fol– Click on the L E lowing in the text window:

* pages=LyX wi will ll show the cover cover in LyX LyX by default default.. Unchec Uncheck k the – LyX A T X and LyX options to turn this off. Show in LyX box in L E

That That’s ’s all you you need need to do. do. LyX takes takes care care of the rest. rest. Each Each time time you view or export to PDF, your cover will be included as the first (unnumbered) page in the file.

Alternative Ways to Add a Cover Adding the cover in LyX is the simplest method and will preserve your PDF index. However, it’s always a good idea to have fallback

























CHAPTER 7. A PROFESSIONAL COVER

62

Figure 7.2: LyX: External Material Dialog

• You can use either of the helper programs to join two or more PDF files. files. See on page page 4 for the download download links. links. Run either either of these programs from the command line. For example type pdftk –help for detailed instructions. • http://www.mergepdf.net is a free online service that will merge two or more PDF files. files. The servic service e is quick quick and easy to use. use. Follow the on screen instructions to upload your PDF files, then

























8 Putt Puttin ing g it all all Toget ogethe herr So far we’ve been talking about how to gather and set up the tools you’ll need to write your book – how they tick and what they can do for you. By now, you should have a basic understanding of how LyX works and what’s possible. But the best teacher is doing. Yes, it’s time to pull all of this technical stuff together, get busy and start writing. But first (there’s always something else to do) I’d like to share some insights, explain how I put this book together and why I made certain decisions so your journey might be a bit easier.

Structure is a Matter of Degree All books are structured. They begin on the first page and continue to the last last in sequen sequence. ce. A narra narrativ tive e story story line line only only makes makes sense sense when read in sequence sequence.. Other Other books, books, especial especially ly reference reference books, books, are are mean meantt fo forr page page flipp flippin ing. g. Some Some book books s need need a deta detail iled ed tabl table e of contents contents while while others others are better better without one. Words alone alone are sufficient for many books, but others benefit from illustrations and examples that help the reader’s understanding. A book’s structure should suit the topic. This book is highly structured for a few good reasons: • Sequence Sequence is important. important. Understa Understandi nding ng depends depends on lessons lessons introduced in progression.

























CHAPTER 8. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

64

• The book itself itself is a showcase showcase for what’s what’s possible possible.. I probably could have used fewer figures (or none at all) and gotten my points across, but I used as many of the powerful tools as I could

to enrich your understanding. • Seeing figures and tables is far better than deciphering a word picture. • Using the power of hyperlinks and later learning how easy they are to set up sinks in deeper than a highly technical explanation. • Clicking on the many cross-references gives you first hand experience of how they work in practice. None of these would have been possible without the right format.

Why PDF? I’ve focused on the PDF format and LyX/L A TEX throughout for a number number of reaso reasons. ns. PDF is mature mature,, it’s it’s relia reliabl ble, e, it’s it’s an accep accepted ted worldwide standard, it’s accessible across all operating systems and it’s powerful. PDF PDF is perf perfec ectt fo forr crea creati ting ng high highly ly stru struct ctur ured ed docu docume ment nts. s.

The The

Portable Document Format (PDF) was created by Adobe more than 15 years ago and was officially released into the public domain as an open standard standard (ISO 32000) 32000) in 2008. PDF has evolved evolved into the defacto norm for electronic document exchange across the Internet. PDF is a compact file format that gives you, the creator, full control because it preserves your intent and delivers the document faithfully formatted, exactly the way you created it. PDF documents are independent of operating systems and software.


























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A T X, the standard mark up language for producing professionally L E typeset documents for a quarter of a century, takes full advantage of PDF. LyX, first released in 1999, just gets better and better and

harnesses the power of L A TEX in a familiar, GUI package that neatly sidesteps the steep learning curve of pure L A TEX. LyX insulates you from the behind the scenes processing and puts all the power of A T X and the advantages of PDF at your fingertips. L E

When you export your completed book as PDF(pdflatex), you’ll have

a highly polished, finished product you can be proud of. True, PDF is a page layout format first designed for the printed page, but when your book includes images and tables that depend on proper formatting, PDF is the best choice. The question, Why PDF? has a few additional answers: • All LULU E-Books are in PDF file format • Scribd converts uploaded source files to iPaper (for online viewing), PDF and plain text. They accept different source file types including PDF, RTF and plain text. Two of the major self-publishers like PDF. I think PDF gives you advantages you won’t find with other formats. Even if your book is pure text, PDF can be the best option. But when you use LyX to create your book, you aren’t locked into PDF, you you have ave the the free freedo dom m to exp export ort to othe otherr file for formats mats if nec necessa essarry. For instance, you can export to RTF (see Appendix C for more on alternative file formats) for uploading to a site like Smashwords Smashwords,, a reasonable alternative if your book is in Smashword’s preferred simple narrative text style without a TOC, tables or images.

The On Screen Presentation




























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Selecting a Page Size I experimented with a few different page sizes for this book before I settled on the 5.5 in. X 8.5 in. size. The secret is giving your readers

a balanced page that keeps the information in context. Keeping the vertical dimension as short as possible means a larger page image and easier reading. I thought about using 8 1/2 X 11 in landscape mode to mimic a typical monitor screen, but that means the page is too wide for comfortable reading (a 60 to 70 character average text line is an ideal width) and the document would need to use columns. The 5.5 X 8.5 page size, together with the small margins, used for this book gives the reader: • A singe page that’s that’s large enough enough to read easily easily on screen • An average average text line length length of 60 to 70 character characters s • The option to view two pages on screen without reducing the page size • Printouts with 2 pages side by side on a single 8 1/2 X 11 sheet

Font Selection Computer monitors are low resolution devices compared to printed output output.. The The typic typical al monitor monitor is 72 or 96 dpi. Printe Printerr resolu resoluti tion on is much higher at 300 to 600 dpi. The pixels on a monitor are square.


























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Font Size Bigger Bigg er is better better for on screen screen fonts. fonts. If you use use Palla alladi dio o or Latin Latin Modern or one of the other type 1 fonts designed for printed output, use 11 or even 12 point. I settled on 10 point Bera because Bera is already a larger font. I suggest you give Bera a try. It’s available in all TEX distributions. It all comes down to judgment and experimentation. Try different page page size sizes s and and fo font nts. s. It’s It’s easy easy to make make chan change ges s fr from om the the LyX document settings. Experiment until you find the combination that looks best for your book.

Help the Reader Navigate Using links wisely taps the power of digital publishing and gives you

and the reader navigation options not possible with a printed book.

TOC A well made table of contents is a road map to your book, an outline

that can simplify and reveal the structure of even the most complex book. book. Your readers readers will have an easy time understand understanding ing and because the TOC is linked to the text, navigation is instant – no page flipping required.


























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matter to include a linked back reference. You won’t have to repeat

yourself and your reader can double back easily if they choose. The The conver converse se is true true as well. well. Wh When en you know you’l you’lll cover cover a topic topic in detail in a later chapter, you can touch on the subject, tell your reader that you go into detail later, then give them the live link so they can see for themselves. Whenever you move a chapter, section, figure, etc. that’s been cross

referenced, the link updates automatically to the new location so the information is always available for instant reference.

External Links When you refer to an Internet address (URL) or an email address in an E-Book, take advantage of the medium to include a live link. People eople are used to clickin clicking g links links while while on the Internet Internet.. They will appreciate being able to click a reference from your book and go right to the URL. I’ve used hyperlinks throughout this book. When I introduced the free software in the beginning of the book, I also provided hyperlinked URLs. You may have noticed that I included the URL to my blog, The Aware Writer, at the bottom of the title page. I also put in a link to my email address at the bottom of the copyright page. I offer these as examples and an invitation to use both to contact me.


























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He or she must decide which terms to include and which to exclude.

An index can never be exhaustive nor should it be. But anyone reading an E-Book has access to a powerful search engine built into the reader software that allows them to decide, on the fly, fly, which which terms terms are import important ant to them. them. Each Each reade readerr can exercise their own judgment because they can add their own ad hoc index to any book – even books where you wouldn’t expect to find an index. Why limit your readers when the built-in search gives them what amounts to an exhaustive index suited to their unique needs?

Simple and Consistent Structure and features don’t necessarily lead to over complication when they are handled properly. The most important aspect of a long work like an E-Book is consistency. Use restraint. If you don’t need graphi graphics cs or tables, tables, don’t include include them. If your book makes more sense and is better understood with deeply nested and numbered Parts, Chapters, Sections, Subsections and so on, use them. Maybe Chapters alone are enough. Simpler is often better. You may decide that using LyX is overkill. If you are writing a short narrative piece, especially if the source needs to be .doc or .rtf, why add an additional layer of complexity when it makes more sense to use a word processor processor? ? Word, Open Office Writer Writer or AbiW AbiWord, to name a few, are all up to the task. They can also export or save as a


























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saved version of your book. If you want to make major changes, use save as to preserve your original until you’re sure.

The L A TEX online online communi community ty is huge. huge. I’ve I’ve disco discover vered ed all all kind kinds s of tric tricks ks usin using g Goog Google le sear search ch.. Visi Visitt the the LyX Wiki iki to see see what what the the progr programm ammers ers are are up to. to. Dig into into the LyX LyX help menu. menu. There There are are hundreds of pages of manuals if you like exploring for yourself.

This is Just the Beginning Self Self-publis -publishing hing is about about to explode. explode. The print publishi publishing ng world world is feeling the digital heat and the opportunities are there for people like you to publish your own book as a digital E-Book. Web sites like LULU, Scribd and Smashwords are eager for your E-Book and they make it easy for you. Self-publishing really is easier than you might have imagined. You can do it yourself. It’s not difficult at all. And creating and publishing your own book won’t cost you a dime. There’s plenty of quality software available from the Open Source community and books like this one can help you get started. A few months ago, I had no idea I’d write this book. After publishing

two newsletters for more than half a year and helping a friend format format and publish publish her book, I realize realized d that I’ve learned learned much. I had to write this book. I learned so much writing this one that I’m ready for another. One




























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Feel free to stop by and visit my blog, The Aware Writer to see what

I’m I’m up to. I’ll I’ll be postin posting g progr progress ess on the new book from from time time to time. If something I’ve written puzzles you, contact me via email at [email protected] and I’ll answer as best I can. But if you need extensive help or would rather have someone edit or format your book for publishing, contact me. We can work out a very reasonable fee structure for any of my services.

























A Ly LyX: X: Main Main Menu Menu Highl Highlig ight htss I’ve highlighted the more frequently used LyX menu choices along with my own advice and comments. The LyX User’s Guide, available from the help menu has a complete explanation of all available menu choices in Appendix A, The User Interface .

File Import LyX gives you quite a few import options here. The easiest and quickes quickestt import import is usual usually ly fr from om a clean clean,, plai plain n text text file. file. Sorting the imported file into LyX environments goes quickly. If you must import a Word file, copy and paste the Word file into a plain text editor to get rid of any embedded control codes then

























APPENDIX A. LyX: MAIN MENU HIGHLIGHTS

73

menu have Ctrl key shortcuts shortcuts.. I use them extensiv extensively ely.. You’ll ou’ll also find find a menu menu choi choice ce fo forr para paragr grap aph h sett settin ings gs.. You can can brin bring g up a context menu and access many of these choices with a right mouse click.

View Open or Close all Insets Footnotes, notes, figures are examples of insets. Open insets show the text or graphics. You can close any inset so only the “marker” shows on screen. Use this option to open or close all insets in your document. View Source This option opens a new window at the bottom of the screen to view the LyX/L A TEX source file. Update or View When you make changes to your document, and you have an active PDF, update will generate a new PDF file. View generates a new PDF (or other doc type). I never use the menu because the tool bar buttons are more convenient. Split View Will split the main window either vertically or horizontally so you can work on different areas of your document at the


























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Formatting Insert superscript, subscript, extra vertical or horizontal space, page breaks and so on. Notes You can add three different types of notes to your document: • LyX Notes: Add these notes in a box with bright yellow background. They won’t appear in the final output. Add reminders to yourself yourself or exchange exchange notes with others when you collaborate collaborate using LyX. • Comments: These notes will appear in the L A TEX source file as comments but won’t show in the final output. • Greyed Greyed out: These These notes notes wi will ll appear appear in your your final final outpu outputt as grey text. You can easily navigate any of these notes from the list window.

Tex Code (aka ERT or Evil Red Text) is a powerful tool but use with care care.. “Evi “Evill Red Red Text” ext” allow allows s you you to inser insertt L A TEX commands directly in your text. I used it in two locations in this document. It’s how I changed the page numbers to lower case Roman numerals for the front matter pages. Here’s how I did it: • Insert the command \frontmatter in the text after the title


























75

Document Change Tracking This is an extremely useful feature when you collaborate orate with others others on a single document. document. Once you turn tracking tracking on, you can merge, accept or reject changes and there’s even an option to show the changes in the Output file. Please refer to the User Guide for details of how Change Tracking operates. LATEX Log This is more for experts who want to see what L A TEX is doing. Each time you generate an output file, a detailed log file is generated. Use this option to take a peek.

Tools The The Tools ools menu menu gives gives you access access to Spell Spellche check, ck, the Thesa Thesauru urus, s, document statistics, and more.

Help



























B The LATEX Preamble A T X Preamble from the Document Settings Dialog. The Access the L E A T X Preamble lets you load special L A T X packages or define L A T X L E E E commands. The LyX users manual cautions that the preamble is for A T X experts, that you shouldn’t fool around unless you know what L E you’re doing.

I’m certainly not a L A TEX expert, but I’m a good researcher, and all the special L A TEX packages have manuals. I searched the Internet,

























A T X PREAMBLE APPE APPEND NDIX IX B. B. THE L E

77

The microtype package One of the reasons L A TEX has been in use for a quarter century is because of the sophisticated kerning techniques it uses to produce professi professional onally ly typeset typeset documents. documents. The microtype microtype package package takes this kerning up a notch by introducing margin kerning and font expansi expansion. on. Margin Margin kerning kerning tweaks tweaks the characters characters at the margins margins for more precise optical alignment of the margins. Font expansion uses a wider or narrower font variant to get more even inter-word spac spacin ing. g. The The effe effect cts s are are subt subtle le but but they they do make make a noti notice ceab able le improvement. All it takes to use microtype is this single line of code in the L A TEX Preamble: • \usepackage{microtyp \usepackage{microtype} e}

The hypcap package

























A T X PREAMBLE APPE APPEND NDIX IX B. B. THE L E

78

Tweaking the Figure and Table captions If you use the KOMA-script document classes (highly recommended),

this line of code will put the caption label (Figure, Table, etc. along with the reference number) in bold text. It’s a nice touch. Just add this line of code: • \setkomafont{captionl \setkomafont{captionlabel}{\bfs abel}{\bfseries} eries}

PDF bookmarks Odds are you won’t need this next one at all. PDF bookmarks don’t understand the extended character set used for some words. LyX happens to be one of them. Until I found this last piece of code, I got strange characters instead of LyX. The code simply tells L A TEX to use the literal word and not the extended characters. It works. This one drove me nuts and it took me hours of digging to find a solution.

























C Alte Altern rnat ativ ive e File File Format rmatss Since there is no single ereader format that has emerged as a standard (it’s like a cat fight out there as of this writing), it’s best to stick with accepted standards until the dust clears. LyX can export to these common formats with a single mouse click from the export menu. • HTML Rich Text Text Format Format (RTF) (RTF)

























APPENDIX C. ALTERNATIVE FILE FORMATS

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HTML & Pages A T X is a typesetting language and includes sophisticated features L E that ensure professi professional onal pagination pagination.. Any feature feature that depends depends on pages will not export correctly because HTML won’t understand

them. A T X to position images and tables to minimize or elimFloats allow L E inate excessive white space when a document is paginated. Floats make no sense in the HTML environment.

Cross-referenced pages won’t translate to the HTML file because there are no pages to reference. Footnotes are all collected at the end of the HTML document. Table of Contents won’t include page numbers when translated. Graphics




























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HTML is not an acceptable E-Book format The major major self-pub self-publish lishing ing sites sites like like LULU ULU.com and Scribd Scribd don’t don’t accept the HTML format. Is this this kiss of death? Although HTML isn’t an acceptable E-Book format, it’s an important intermediate step.

HTML Advantage The The option option to export export to HTML HTML is insura insurance nce.. ePub ePub may very very well well emerge as the dominant ereader format in the future and ePUB has


























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operating system. If the worst happens and you lose your formatted

file, you never lose your content.

























D How How to Incl Includ ude e Attac ttachm hmen ents ts Run pdftk from the command line.

























APPENDIX D. HOW TO INCLUDE ATTACHMENTS

84

Running programs from the command line is a lot easier than it looks. Try it out on a sample file first to get a better understanding of the operation. The file attached to this book is watermark.scm. It’s a Gimp script that will put a watermark on a photo or graphic. Simply copy the file to your Gimp script directory (look in Gimp Preferences  Folders  Scripts for the location). After you install the script, select Xtns  Script FU  Refresh Scripts to activate your new script.

























Bibliography [1] Chris Anderson. The Long Tail : Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More . New York : Hyperion, 2006. 6

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