Book writing and layout programs

[KCC]

A friend and I would like to create pocket field guides for our area on certain insects (bees, butterflies, dragonflies, etc.) that can be distributed to schools, libraries, nature centers, senior centers, etc. Our Parks & Rec published one for birds, but they do not want to create more for a set, but we'd like to pursue it on our own, and financing & the equipment for the book printing/binding is not an issue. We are starting with dragonflies since we've both been working on the project for the last 5 years and have the most training, experience, and photos.

Can anyone suggest a program that has a variety of layouts allows me to design pages for the different sections of the book? Some will have photos, some will have just words, some will have illustrations, etc. The books will be roughly 3.5"x5" (i.e., 4 copies to a sheet), 50 sheets/100 page sides, spiral bound. (It needs to be the same size as the bird field guide so that eventually they can all be bundled together as a set.)

 

[Simone411]

I don't know if this will help you, but I've used it for years. I even sent it to a friend of mine that was a Microsoft MVP. He liked it so much that he shared it on his message board. It's a freeware that is very safe, and the owners of the word processor now give away the upgraded version for free.

The word processor is called Jarte. It's much better than Word Pad and is compatible with Microsoft Word. I used it a lot in writing my book. It includes several features that I really like a lot. I've even written several documents and printed them out as PDF files.

Here's a link to it.

FREE Word Processor Based on Microsoft's WordPad Engine

The Jarte word processor uses Microsoft's reliable, fast starting WordPad word processing engine while adding many features missing in WordPad.

www.jarte.com

Here's a link to some of the Jarte Plus Features.

Exclusive Jarte Plus Features

And a link to the download page for Jarte Plus which is free now.

Jarte Plus Store

Also, here's the Jarte Help page. It shows just about everything it can do. I also found this about inserting tables for columns.

Inserting Tables

And here's something about inserting pictures.

Inserting Pictures

I hope this helps. If not, it's still a great word processor and I use it all the time.

 

[KCC]

@Simone411 , thanks so much! I'll check it out and let you know how it goes.

 

[Simone411]

@Simone411 , thanks so much! I'll check it out and let you know how it goes.

You're so welcome! I just hope it's what you're looking for.

 

[Lizziebeth]

I don't know if this will help you, but I've used it for years. I even sent it to a friend of mine that was a Microsoft MVP. He liked it so much that he shared it on his message board. It's a freeware that is very safe, and the owners of the word processor now give away the upgraded version for free.

The word processor is called Jarte. It's much better than Word Pad and is compatible with Microsoft Word. I used it a lot in writing my book. It includes several features that I really like a lot. I've even written several documents and printed them out as PDF files.

Here's a link to it.

FREE Word Processor Based on Microsoft's WordPad Engine

The Jarte word processor uses Microsoft's reliable, fast starting WordPad word processing engine while adding many features missing in WordPad.

www.jarte.com

Here's a link to some of the Jarte Plus Features.

Exclusive Jarte Plus Features

And a link to the download page for Jarte Plus which is free now.

Jarte Plus Store

Also, here's the Jarte Help page. It shows just about everything it can do. I also found this about inserting tables for columns.

Inserting Tables

And here's something about inserting pictures.

Inserting Pictures

I hope this helps. If not, it's still a great word processor and I use it all the time.

Would this be suitable for a book on family history? I have lots of information and photos, plus I would like to insert some genealogy charts and maps. I have never done this before but I hope I am capable of learning this. What is your opinion on the suitability of this for my project?

 

[Simone411]

Would this be suitable for a book on family history? I have lots of information and photos, plus I would like to insert some genealogy charts and maps. I have never done this before but I hope I am capable of learning this. What is your opinion on the suitability of this for my project?

Here's the Jarte Help Manual online

Jarte Help

I know that you can insert lots of photos and I think you would be able to insert those genealogy charts. It also has templates that you can download to use. It would be worth giving it a try since Jarte is free, and also, Jarte Plus is now free

ETA: Here's a guideline on how to custom insert a type of object. It uses as an example of inserting sound. Since that's just an example, I'm sure you can insert any object, maybe even charts and maps.

Custom Insert Item

 

[KCC]

Would this be suitable for a book on family history? I have lots of information and photos, plus I would like to insert some genealogy charts and maps. I have never done this before but I hope I am capable of learning this. What is your opinion on the suitability of this for my project?

If you decide to write your family book -- depending on how many books you want to make and how you want to bind them, equipment is available from Amazon to cut the pages, punch holes and insert a spiral binding. We got bids from office stores of over $30/book for their printing and binding, but we could buy or borrow equipment and do it ourselves for less than 30% of that price. It will require a lot of manual effort, but we have the time. I also like that we will be able to make changes and control the inventory better than if we outsourced the production.

Good luck!

 

[KCC]

@Simone411, just an update -- after reviewing Jarte and taking a second look at Microsoft Publisher, I decided to go with Publisher to lay out my pocket field guide. Publisher came with my computer and is already installed. It doesn't have everything that I wanted, but after listening to a 15-minute tutorial, I'm on my way with my book's pages and hope to have all 100 or so pages laid out before the end of the weekend.

And with Black Friday deals at Amazon, the final price per book is coming out to be closer to $5-7 (depending on the ink cost), which is going to make it easier to get funding for the copies donated to libraries, schools, senior centers, and nature centers. This has been a productive week and I finally see a path forward for this book.

Thanks so much for introducing me to Jarte - I may use that for other projects in the near future! Since you've already written a book, I'm open to any other suggestions that you have for me!

 

[Simone411]

@Simone411, just an update -- after reviewing Jarte and taking a second look at Microsoft Publisher, I decided to go with Publisher to lay out my pocket field guide. Publisher came with my computer and is already installed. It doesn't have everything that I wanted, but after listening to a 15-minute tutorial, I'm on my way with my book's pages and hope to have all 100 or so pages laid out before the end of the weekend.

And with Black Friday deals at Amazon, the final price per book is coming out to be closer to $5-7 (depending on the ink cost), which is going to make it easier to get funding for the copies donated to libraries, schools, senior centers, and nature centers. This has been a productive week and I finally see a path forward for this book.

Thanks so much for introducing me to Jarte - I may use that for other projects in the near future! Since you've already written a book, I'm open to any other suggestions that you have for me!

All of this sounds so wonderful, and I'm glad that you have Publisher. The black Friday deal from Amazon also sounds perfect!

It was required from my publisher to use Microsoft Word when I wrote my book (a book of poetry). I discovered that it was much easier to use Jarte for editing and critiquing. I then saved the final draft as a Microsoft Word document. Jarte comes in handy for me regarding editing, etc.