| 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) | User Reviews Send this to a friend | | 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) | | |  | | Manufacturer: Shepard Publications | | Customer Rating: | | | List Price: $14.00 | | Sale Price: $12.50 | | Availibility: Usually ships in 24 hours |  Free Shipping Available | | Buy Now |
| | | Product Description | | Often rejected out of hand as a typesetting tool, Microsoft Word has greater typographic capabilities than even most long-time users realize. With a little tweaking, Word can produce type that few readers could distinguish from the best of Quark or InDesign. In this book, Aaron Shepard gives a tour of the depths of the program, describing the settings, commands, and manual adjustments you need to create type that no book reviewer will scoff at. Skeptical? This book's own typesetting is the proof! |
| Product Details |  No details are available for this product | Video Reviews |  No video reviews found for this product. | Customer Reviews |  Makes self-publishing affordable for everyone | | Review Date: March 4, 2006 | | Reviewer: Brian Bischof, San Diego, CA United States | 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. |
Self-publishing with Microsoft Word | | Review Date: February 5, 2006 | | Reviewer: Mike Wickham, Rogers, AR USA | 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_.
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"Perfect Pages": a clear and accessible guide for book creation | | Review Date: March 8, 2006 | | Reviewer: K. Bell, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada | 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. |
Perfect Pages is Perfect! | | Review Date: January 30, 2006 | | Reviewer: Joel Heffner, The Big Apple | | 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. |
Good book and to the point | | Review Date: January 9, 2007 | | Reviewer: Gabriel Fernandez, Pewaukee, WI USA | | 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. |
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