OpenOffice formatting?

[Thaddeus]

Just changed to Windows 7, and Microsoft Office couldn't be (freely) transferred over, so, for the time being, I'm using OpenOffice. I was wondering whether anyone here had experience self-publishing (through Smashwords and Amazon, and Lulu) using OpenOffice, and if it went smoothly, or not.

[Jake]

I've only been able to use OpenOffice. For Createspace I had to make a pdf file out of the .odt in order to get it through, but if I recall this may have been because of the font I chose. There are some differences that you have to get used to, but it can be done without too much trouble. I think, for instance, I used 'Default' as the body copy instead of MS Word's 'Normal' style.

I found 'Basic Fiction Formatting for Smashwords in OpenOffice' by L. Leona Davis to be pretty helpful as a starting point.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

[Thaddeus]

Mika, Jake, many thanks for those replies. It's good to know that this probably won't be a serious problem.

I've downloaded that book and will give it a look later on.

[A.L.]

There are occasionally a few formatting issues but usually they are fixable.