Customer Reviews

Perfect Pages: Self Publishing with Microsoft Word, or How to Design Your Own Book for Desktop Publishing and Print on Demand (Word 97-2003 for Windows, Word 2004 for Mac)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I decided to self-publish my first book, I was intimidated by how expensive it was going to cost to buy Page Maker and I also didn't want to spend a month learning how to use it properly. Luckily, I found Aaron's ebook on Amazon and it made it possible for me to use Word and create a professional book that was accepted by the bookstores (they have a very high standard for quality print work). Now that I'm working on my second self-published book, I'm happy to see that Aaron's ebook has been updated in a paperback format. Just like the ebook, this book is essential for learning how to use Word to professionally produce your book.

The biggest benefit of Aaron's book is his experience with using both the MS and Mac versions of Word for self-publishing. He doesn't just tell you how to set the necessary properties and list the steps to perform, he also tells you the "gotchas" that can catch you off guard. His advice can save you many hours of headaches. For example, when I wrote my last book, I didn't take the advice of "Don't use Master pages. Buy more memory if necessary to store the entire book in one file." Stupid me, I used Master pages instead and literally lost most of my hair as I watched Word continuously corrupt my documents and lose my hard work. Even some of my backups were corrupted! What I do now is that as I write the book I keep each chapter in a separate file and store it in its own folder on my harddrive (with all supporting documents). When I'm ready to print the final version I copy and paste everything into one HUGE file (over 500 pages) and print that. That works much better and I haven't lost anymore hair since. ;-)

Another benefit is that he points out the differences between using Print On Demand services versus a commercial printing press. There are important layout decisions you need to know about.

A couple things I thought were missing is that at the end of the book he lists great resources to check out, but in my opinion he doesn't empahsize James Filici's book on typography enough. I feel that this book should be read first because is has so much great informatin about typography in it. Secondly, I didn't see any mention of where to get Postscript fonts. If you check Adobe's website, they have an introductory set of fonts that give you everything you need and its much cheaper than buying individual fonts. Search for "Adobe Type Basics".

Overall, this book is just what you need to print professional quality books without using PageMaker or Quark Express. It will save money as well as future headaches.

I just received my copy of Aaron Shepard's new book, _Perfect Pages, Self Publishing with Microsoft Word_. It's an update of his former e-book, _Books, Typography, and Microsoft Word_.

I don't normally recommend Word for page layout. I prefer to use Word for writing, and then pump the manuscript into a proper page layout program for final book production. But then, I create heavily illustrated books, something Word just can't handle. Still, Word is perfectly capable of producing a simple, text-only book, if one knows what he is doing-- but not using the default Word settings! Luckily, Aaron Shepard knows what he is doing.

In _Perfect Pages_, Aaron does a great job of showing the user how to alter Word's defaults so that it produces professional looking text. He shows them how to use the program to format pages and how to avoid the typical typographic blunders that identify a publisher as an amateur. He explains styles and templates, and even shows how to create a simple book cover. I also like that he's not afraid to point out Word's limitations, even noting differences between versions and OS platforms. The information on preparing for press is indispensable for any newby publisher.

All in all, it's a great book for any self-publisher who is on a tight budget and can't justify the purchase of expensive page layout software. Even those who recommend true page layout software for book design can find useful tips in here for improving the performance of Word, or the typography of their own publications. Heck, I even learned that straight quotes were not the best choice to represent inches and feet. There are actually prime and double prime symbols available.

I highly recommend _Perfect Pages_.

I picked this up along with the author's "Aiming At Amazon" since the small press I work with is POD and works with Word and Lightning Source (as does Shepherd) so I figured this would be an excellent educational tool for the basics of layout.

This really is an excellent introduction to the basics laying out a book in Microsoft Word (2003 and older--the 2007 update hasn't appeared yet, but it's on my want list!). Everything from properly sizing pages to tweaking text to make it look nicer is covered. The author's writing style is clear without being loaded with jargon, and he manages to describe visuals without pictures quite effectively.

There are a few things missing that I would have like to have seen covered. For example, he doesn't explain how to deal with the invisible, nonembeddable fonts that can make Lightning Source send your manuscript back to you for reformatting, nor does he explain the various formatting marks that you may have to go through if something doesn't turn out right. Additionally, his main focus seems to be the bare-bones approach to layout, rather than covering the little details that can make POD look just as good, if not better, than traditionally printed books.

However, I have found this to be an absolutely invaluable guide to basic layout. Shepherd is an expert at POD, and this is a definite plus for any POD publisher or self-publisher's bookshelf.

I enjoyed Aaron Shepard's "Perfect Pages", a clear and accessible guide for book creation using Microsoft Word instead of expensive publishing software. Shepard shows that Word actually has some advantages for publishers, tells how to make Word do what's needed, while avoiding some of Word's hazards. Thus the book delivers worthwhile Word tips for novices and experts alike---and there are more web resources at the end of the book---but it's more than that, because a book is more than a manuscript: it has to look good and read easily. "Perfect Pages" covers the details (fonts, typography, trim sizes, formatting, covers, generating PDF files, common errors . . .), showing how to make manuscripts into attractive and readable books. The book provides the ideal bridge between a Word software manual and a publishing manual (such as Morris Rosenthal's) that teaches business and strategic decisions. "Perfect Pages" is a gracefully written book that wastes few words, and minces none.
The book will be helpful to authors, in-house publishers, students preparing theses, and others.

If you have ever considered self-publishing a book and didn't know how to get it ready for publication you must read this little book! Aaron Shepard provides everything you need to format your own book using...Microsoft Word. You will see how you can do everything using Word. The book itself is an example of how a book can look when you follow his advice. You will not be sorry if you get this book. You will use it for reference often. This one is a definite keeper for any writer who is even thinking about writing a book and publishing it themselves.

This book had exactly what I was looking for. I was writing a new set of manuals using Microsoft Word and needed to set up a new template that had all the styles and page formatting options I wanted. The book goes directly to the point and explains exaclty the options that you need to use and set for getting the character spacing or avoid typographical mistakes. I loved the fact that included information about both Windows and Mac OS versions, since I use both of them. More drawings and diagrams and perhaps a few more examples would have been nice, but all the information I needed was there. If I think about it, all those things would have made the book bigger and bulkier. I did not really skipped any sections because I thought had useless information. I read it from front to back. Note that the information provided in this book is useful for apprentice, intermediate and expert users. Some things that the author explains were common sense to me, but I did not feel they were condescending or boring. In many cases, they reinforced what I already new. Note also that this is not a user manual for Microsoft Word, nor is it the primer for book design or typesetting. It is a book that does what is says in the title. Overall, I am very happy with this book and I think that it is a great value for the price.

This little book shows you how to use a word processor to produce results that are so much better than what the usual defaults produce. The book is oriented toward Microsoft Word, but I have used the ideas both in Word and OpenOffice to produce documents that look so much better on paper. Get this book and learn how really use a word processor.

My wife started a publishing company. I am the typesetter. I just finished typesetting her book using MS Word and Aaron's book was indispensible! I knew how to use Word to type letters, etc, but to turn a manuscript into a professional quality book is a different matter. The book helped me tremendously. I even had a question and emailed the author--Aaron responded that same day with an answer. Highly recommend to those starting out in the POD publishing business. I don't think I even need to buy one of those thick MS WORD manuals now. He taught me what I needed to know (along with a fair amount of software savvy of my own). The book assumes a certain level of competence to begin with.

Dear John: Letters From a Fan in New York City: An Interactive Book I wished I had purchased this book before I embarked on publishing my own. It would have saved me a lot of money and aggravation along the way. This is the economical way to go, especially if you don't have a graphic intensive book, but it can hangle graphics, too. Practical advice, and you can contact the author an the Yahoo forums.

After using one of the most prominent POD/vanity press companies (and deciding I could do better myself), I started to learn about self-publishing.

Eventually, I found Aaron's books and, more important, his recommended model for POD. The good news? They really advanced my understanding about this field--very quickly.

More good news? Using Aaron's idea (Word + POD + Amazon), this book helped me when I was at an impasse with Word (2003) and completely stumped and frustrated. (If you've ever been in this situation, you'll know this is no small recommendation.)

If I recommended 3 books for POD authors, two of them would be Shepard's.

So, why only 3 stars?

First, because Word 2007 is so VASTLY different from the previous versions that this book deals with, that the title should clearly show this ISN'T for Word 2007 (his website has information, but not enough).

Second, using Aaron's book, I was able to create a POD book that really looks "professional" to the typical book buyer. From cover design to layout, it took a long, long time to adjust all the things you need to use Word well, but...the result is very good (even librarians have complimented it).

So, this could easily have been a 4- or even 5- star review. The problem is that Aaron is advocating and representing POD and yet he doesn't practice what he preaches with his OWN books. "Perfect Pages" really DOESN'T look "perfect"--i.e. "professional". The cover isn't right, and some of the layout choices say, "amateur" and "self-published".

He obviously has the knowledge and skills to do better. This book should be an EXAMPLE of "best practices" given the goal and the readership. Sadly, it isn't.

So...3 stars for his own presentation--plus some well-deserved praise--will have to do. Hopefully, "Perfect Pages For Word 2007" will be better.