ambient Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Based on the work that I’m doing for my PhD. Probably just an ebook to start with. I’m looking for suggestions on how to do it, is there an app that someone can recommend I use? The book will feature lots of photos, plus writing, maps and audio; either composed soundscapes or just raw field recordings, possibly also finished compositions. The idea is that it’ll give the reader a chance to experience the place. It’ll hopefully be interesting and aesthetically pleasing, without being academic, an expanded version of my website. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 4 hours ago, ambient said: Based on the work that I’m doing for my PhD. Probably just an ebook to start with. I’m looking for suggestions on how to do it, is there an app that someone can recommend I use? The book will feature lots of photos, plus writing, maps and audio; either composed soundscapes or just raw field recordings, possibly also finished compositions. The idea is that it’ll give the reader a chance to experience the place. It’ll hopefully be interesting and aesthetically pleasing, without being academic, an expanded version of my website. Hi. I've written a few books, self-published a few more and edit a magazine. If you haven't got a publisher but want to get someone else to publish it, even as an e-book, best advice is to generate the text in word or some other word processor with as little formatting as possible. Clearly indicate where photos/figures go in the text but don't put them in line Keep all photos as large and good quality as possible, don't crop them. Keep as separate files. Number the files to match the references in the text If you insist on writing on photos, also supply and unmarked version so the designer can do it properly with a decent font at the right size. Captions as a separate list numbered to match the references. Any figures the same as photos, but best treated as vector images and saved as high-resolution PDFs then the designer will see exactly what you see. They will have indesign that lets them edit pdfs. Most publishers want figures and photos all numbered in one set, but not all. If you have views about layout, create a fancy pdf version of your document as guide for the designer to ignore completely. It's highly unlikely the format and font they end up using will suit the proprotions of your example. In other words, the basic rule is keep everything as simple as possible and let your editor and designer earn their money. If you have a publisher, ignore all the above and follow the guidelines they will send you. If you want to self publish, consider using Amazon and follow their online guides, however they probably won't let you embed multi media. If you want to do this, consider getting an advanced publishing program or even publishing it as an extension to your website. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knirirr Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 The advice given above sounds good to me. Another possibility, should you like working that way, would be to write your book using LaTeX* and self-publish on Lulu. I've got a martial arts book on there at present which contains a lot of photos. Apparently adding audio to a PDF is possible** though I've never done it. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX ** https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/7502/how-to-include-audio-file-in-pdf 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Scrivener. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 8 minutes ago, Bilbo said: Scrivener. Thanks, someone mentioned that on Facebook. It gets a lot of good reviews, and works on iPad too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 It's cheap as chips too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
converse320 Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 Scrivener is brilliant in my opinion. It's more a project management tool for writing than just a simple word processor, and I like the way it almost forces you to organise your thoughts rather than just writing stuff. But my wife hates its for the same reason. Definitely worth a look, it suits the way I think. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 4 minutes ago, converse320 said: Scrivener is brilliant in my opinion. It's more a project management tool for writing than just a simple word processor, and I like the way it almost forces you to organise your thoughts rather than just writing stuff. But my wife hates its for the same reason. Definitely worth a look, it suits the way I think. Thanks, it’s only £19 or so on the App Store too, so I’ll probably go for it. I’m a big fan of pen and paper too 😊, at the moment that’s what I’m using to plan out what I’m going to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
converse320 Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 Scrivener's great for planning - its like a big pin board full of labeled envelopes that you can stuff things into. Honestly, brilliant software. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taunton-hobbit Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 I'm glad someone started this thread - I'll give Scrivener a look.......I've written a couple of fiction books, one is completely (?) finished/edited and sits in Word, glaring at me - I downloaded an earlier version to Kindle, but I found it very hard work - anyone know a service that can take a Word manuscript and (for a fee)do this for me? 😎 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 5 hours ago, taunton-hobbit said: I'm glad someone started this thread - I'll give Scrivener a look.......I've written a couple of fiction books, one is completely (?) finished/edited and sits in Word, glaring at me - I downloaded an earlier version to Kindle, but I found it very hard work - anyone know a service that can take a Word manuscript and (for a fee)do this for me? 😎 You can download a 30 trial version. That’s 30 days of usage too, only days where you actually use it count. https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/download 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taunton-hobbit Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 12 hours ago, ambient said: You can download a 30 trial version I'll probably do this for book 3, which is getting towards completion - book 1 is complete on Word, & book 2 is currently being transcribed in Word, which is why I'm looking for someone who can do the uploads for me......... 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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