layout devices

[kylewilliam campol]

so i am working on my first large scale zine/book, i am going to publish it in a paperback form and am very excited about it... it is called "get the fuck out of here: a guide to diy touring" and will encompass a how-to guide for bringing a band, zine, or any real project on tour, as well as a section on how to book a show / event in your own town the right way, and a bunch of tour horror/cautionary tales from touring musicians / people. 

i have the writing part down, but as far as layout goes i am completely novice. what programs do you use to layout larger scale projects? i know cut and paste and photocopy are largely used, but i'm looking into something like scribus [which, for the life of me, i cannot figure out how to use.]

thanks for your help, i've lurked this community for a while, this is my first post, it is nice to try to contribute.

kw

[Fluxxii]

Hey! For larger scale projects, you should probably check out Adobe InDesign (if you can't get your hands on it, you can probably find it on some college computers). I use it for all of my publishing needs and you can set chapters, sections, etc. It's pretty overwhelming at first but once you figure out how to use it, it's pretty much invaluable! Otherwise I think you can also use Lulu to self publish a book.

Good luck!

[Jerianne]

I also recommend InDesign if you can access it.

[ManDuh]

Scribus, in my opinion, actually functions very similar to InDesign, but with the added bonus of being free. It might be best to just mess around with it for a while and check out some forums until you feel comfortable with it (that's not really a lot of help though, is it? Sorry :) ).

I feel like I've heard a lot of bad things about Lulu; I could be thinking of a different self-publishing company though.

[Erica S.]

Lulu is basically just a book publishing service, not a vanity publisher like PublishAmerica or Xlibris. It's the cheapest way to publish a perfect-bound book unless you're printing thousands of copies, and if you're not looking to make any money off the book, you can print it for under $5 and also offer it as a free PDF. I really recommend it for small-run perfect-bound books, I tried to get my old writing group to publish their anthology through there since it's so much cheaper than a copy shop.

[lauramarie]

This is the first I've heard of Scribus--thanks for the tip.