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How to Design a Book Using Adobe InDesign
Learn how to design a print version of your book using the most widely used print layout software on the market today, Adobe InDesign. This short ebook contains tips to help you create a PDF for your print book in a flash. This ebook is equipped with shortcuts, images, and other information you will need to convert your manuscript into a print-ready PDF. It is designed for people who have little or no experience using InDesign. In four chapters, readers will be able to successfully build and publish a manuscript to a print-ready PDF.
37 pages, ebook
First published July 11, 2013
9 people are currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Thomas M. Hill
13 books43 followersThomas M. Hill is an author, editor, and book shepherd who has been working in publishing for the last ten years. For the last four years he has assisted self-publishing authors in developing, editing, and producing print-ready publications that are up to traditional publishing standards. He has published four books, including his first suspense novel, Warrior's Song, which received a Readers Favorite Award in 2011.
Raised in Arlington, Virginia, Thomas began his career in publication composition, design, and production in 2000 and has worked for the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, the University of Virginia Press, the American Staffing Association, and the Computer Sciences Corporation in creative and editing departments. In 2006 he became a copy editor and proofreader for Rowan & Littlefield Publishing Group, where he worked on academic and nonfiction titles.
Among the assignments Thomas finds the most pleasurable are ones that require a great deal of research and thought--ones that take a great deal of time and energy to produce. Because he began his career in scholarly publishing, he tends to take a research-based approach to creating content while working in developmental editing roles. Character development for novels, research necessary to create a plot or write a nonfiction title, one-on-one developmental editing, and manuscript coaching: those are his strong suits. Additionally, he loves to engage his creative side by designing book covers and interiors for print or ebooks.
Thomas loves working with authors of any genre, but he is especially enthusiastic about titles that are thought-provoking, educational, or present unique perspectives on time-tested ideas. He has also studied four different languages (Spanish, German, Ancient Greek, and Arabic), so projects that deal with aspects of the cultures in which these languages are (were) spoken are of particular fascination.
Raised in Arlington, Virginia, Thomas began his career in publication composition, design, and production in 2000 and has worked for the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, the University of Virginia Press, the American Staffing Association, and the Computer Sciences Corporation in creative and editing departments. In 2006 he became a copy editor and proofreader for Rowan & Littlefield Publishing Group, where he worked on academic and nonfiction titles.
Among the assignments Thomas finds the most pleasurable are ones that require a great deal of research and thought--ones that take a great deal of time and energy to produce. Because he began his career in scholarly publishing, he tends to take a research-based approach to creating content while working in developmental editing roles. Character development for novels, research necessary to create a plot or write a nonfiction title, one-on-one developmental editing, and manuscript coaching: those are his strong suits. Additionally, he loves to engage his creative side by designing book covers and interiors for print or ebooks.
Thomas loves working with authors of any genre, but he is especially enthusiastic about titles that are thought-provoking, educational, or present unique perspectives on time-tested ideas. He has also studied four different languages (Spanish, German, Ancient Greek, and Arabic), so projects that deal with aspects of the cultures in which these languages are (were) spoken are of particular fascination.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 2, 2017
Good basic book
The author walks you through the basics of creating a book step by step. He does a good job including screen shots. If you're needing a basic instruction to get you started, this is a good resource.
The author walks you through the basics of creating a book step by step. He does a good job including screen shots. If you're needing a basic instruction to get you started, this is a good resource.
February 2, 2014
First of all, I looked around quite a bit before buying this book. It's $2.99 on Amazon and less than 40 pages. I couldn't find anything else that really addressed this topic, though. Most of the formatting for print books use Microsoft Word as their software of choice, and since I have InDesign, I'm keen to give it a try. So, I finally bit the bullet and forked out the $2.99.
This is a very basic book and doesn't go into a lot of detail on doing anything fancy. Mr. Hill refers constantly to another book, "How to Design a Book Using Adobe InDesign (Advanced)", for addressing additional information on fonts and paragraph styles. As best I can tell, this book does not exist.
For what it is, I believe the book is useful. I don't have any doubt that I will be able to do a basic format of my book in InDesign. I do feel that some of the typesetting features within InDesign that could be used for doing interesting title pages, or things like drop letters on the first paragraph of a new chapter, should have been included. Instead of suggesting the reader pick up an advanced book that doesn't exist, Mr. Hill should have included this sort of information in this single title. It would have gone a long way to making this particular reader feel less grumpy about forking out money for a book that is less than a 100 pages.
The book is formatted nice, and the included screen shots from InDesign are clear, helping to illustrate the instructions. I'll give this book three stars for providing info that I couldn't find elsewhere, but I'll hold back on a fourth star because of the incompleteness of the information.
This is a very basic book and doesn't go into a lot of detail on doing anything fancy. Mr. Hill refers constantly to another book, "How to Design a Book Using Adobe InDesign (Advanced)", for addressing additional information on fonts and paragraph styles. As best I can tell, this book does not exist.
For what it is, I believe the book is useful. I don't have any doubt that I will be able to do a basic format of my book in InDesign. I do feel that some of the typesetting features within InDesign that could be used for doing interesting title pages, or things like drop letters on the first paragraph of a new chapter, should have been included. Instead of suggesting the reader pick up an advanced book that doesn't exist, Mr. Hill should have included this sort of information in this single title. It would have gone a long way to making this particular reader feel less grumpy about forking out money for a book that is less than a 100 pages.
The book is formatted nice, and the included screen shots from InDesign are clear, helping to illustrate the instructions. I'll give this book three stars for providing info that I couldn't find elsewhere, but I'll hold back on a fourth star because of the incompleteness of the information.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews