Hey guys, I'm going to put together a book of tutorials on certain subjects and i just wanted a little bit of advice. Firstly, when compiling all this information together is there a certain program that I should use, or is MSWord 07 sufficient? Taking into account that this book will contain images to help who ever is using it. Secondly, what size page is adequate enough for a tutorial book with images? Is there a certain size or should I just leave it as A4.
It really depends on the purpose of this book. If you're writing this for a publisher, they'll have their own format and to begin with they'll just want the text of your book. You'll also have to be careful regarding copyright if the images aren't your own - just because an image is freely available on the internet, it doesnt mean you're free to use it however you want. If you're writing this for yourself or to publish yourself by printing it or putting it online, then you can do it whatever way you want. Word 2007 should be more than sufficient for either.
The images will be my own. I'll be taking screen shots as I go. I'm also looking to get this book onto shelves in book stores, so does that mean that the book dimensions/# of pages will have to be by the publishers specifications or can i have my own?
More than likely the publishers will choose that for you, but while you're writing it just work on A4, since that's the format you'll have to submit it in. In regards to the images, if you refer to them in the text, say see fig. 1 rather than see the picture on the right for example. You can't guarantee that your images will end up where you originally put them.
I would place the figures and tables in a separate Word document. The publisher will still want to see the text in manuscript format, i.e. double spaced in a 12 point font, and breaking that up with illustrations will not help the submissions editor evaluate it. Why manuscript format? So the submissions editor has plenty of space to jot notes between the lines and around the margins. The layout will be handled separately by the typesetters, when and if the book is accepted for publication. They can work just as easily, if not more so, with separate documents for the text and the illustrations. They will also determine the size for the final book. As a writer, the writing is your job, but not the layout.
Damn. Ok well thanks anyway for the advice. I've already started on my book and things are going well! Thanks again!
in re using screen shots, you need to know that copyright applies to websites, just as it does to books, magaines and such... so you may well have to get the various site-owner's permission to use any webpage content... in fact, most websites will have a statement about using content somewhere on the site... best check the relevant laws before wasting time acquiring stuff you can't use... www.copyright.gov
