On Wednesday 29 August 2007 00:17, Typhoon wrote: > "Self-publishing with LyX" is now available as a free download or as a > USD9.95 printed book from Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/content/1085870 > > Nobody on this list is going to learn much from it. It is directed at > people who want to self-publish and are probably using Word or > OpenOffice. > > But, any feedback appreciated. > > Cheers, > Alan
Excellent book Alan. I like the way you make a beautifully typeset book, describing LyX, using LyX. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for giving your opinion that the frontmatter should be freelanced rather than styled. I also liked the way you didn't make a big deal out of it not being WYSIWYG or call it WYGIWYM or whatever, and in fact praised its wordprocessor like qualities. If it weren't for those wordprocessor like qualities, I'd just use LaTeX directly. I liked your description of where NOT to use LyX (the cover, newsletters and the like). This all too important topic is often left out in a rush to evangelize LyX. I liked the way you described various things you can do from the LyX menus -- things I've been doing in ERT all these years because I didn't know they existed directly from LyX. Your book makes LyX very approachable for the newbie. There's just one little thing... <warning type="Litts usual diatribe"> The one thing you left out is what the self-publisher does when he needs a style that doesn't exist. The little boxes, in every tech book, that start with Note:, Tip:, Warning:, Caution:, or a custom title. I don't think there's a document class anywhere that includes these. Or maybe you have a special short phrase you want typeset a certain way -- maybe its your trademark product or whatever. Obviously this is beyond the scope of your book, and beyond the current technical knowledge of your reader, and it would scare the Dickens out of your reader. But shouldn't the reader at least know this issue will surface, before he's half way through a book and can't create a Tip box? Perhaps you could include a chapter on how to make and integrate a very basic paragraph style, and a very basic character style -- maybe even have it pasteable. Then tell the reader he can style it in this basic way for now, and then either he or a more LyXically proficient person can adjust it to what the intended appearance later on. If you do it right it wouldn't be too complex or too scary for the reader. On the same note, I don't remember seeing a lot about the LyX-Users mailing list. The prospective self-publisher should know this resource exists. I'm lucky Dekl Tsur was on the mailing list in 2001. Without Dekl Tsur's color text workaround for character styles (before true LyX character styles existed), I would have had to abandon LyX at the beginning of my first book. But because Dekl was on the mailing list and told me how to do it, I was able to complete my first book. </warning> In summary, it's a good book, and it's obvious upon reading that it's written by a guy who's been in the trenches, and it can be even better if very basic style customization is addressed. SteveT Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
