Category Archives: Writing In InDesign

Writing In InDesign means it’s ready to go when you finish!

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When you’re done writing and editing, it’s ready to print! This is probably the best part of the process. In the traditional scenario, design and formatting does not begin until the book is written and edited. If you are writing and editing in InDesign, when you are done writing, the book is ready to release. If you print on-demand, it can be available to your readers in a couple weeks or less (even today, depending on the … Continue reading →

How your readers see your letters: legibility

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8. No ALL CAPS As mentioned in the underline section, setting letters in all caps is the other way to emphasize words on a typewriter. Typesetting has many more options like italic, bold, bold italic, small caps. Plus we can use a larger size, a different font, a different color, and more. In fact, we must be careful we do not get carried away in our enthusiasm for all the options at our disposal. ALL CAPS IS … Continue reading →

You must learn to produce your own book

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For the past two decades, I have taught digital publishing skills. For the past fifteen years I have written and published books, both traditionally and on-demand. I have taught skills to present digital content transparently, effectively, and gracefully. I’ve learned how to present reader-centered books to my students and followers. But Word [and word processors in general] cannot do this. There are skills and capabilities that are necessary which are simply not available in Office. Here’s a … Continue reading →

What’s your niche? It determines your strategy

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Niche writers to limited markets Here we begin to see the modern reality of publishing. The change is of the same type as we saw with the conversion in television from three, then four, gargantuan mass-market networks to the current reality of thousands of channels on cable and satellite. The same thing has happened in magazines where there are now over 10,000 magazines in the US alone. There are now millions of active blogs. We are currently … Continue reading →

The 3 dashes: hyphen, en dash, and em dash

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5. Hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes The next major change we need to discuss is dashes. Typewriters only have one—the hyphen. Type has three—the hyphen, the en dash, and the em dash. All three have very specific usage rules. Hyphen: This is the character used to hyphenate words at the end of a line and to create compound words. For example, 10-point is the normal point size for book publishers’ body copy. In fact, hyphens are … Continue reading →

Writing in InDesign is a true reader service

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Writing within InDesign Here I am again recommending a road less traveled by—not unusual in my life and work. Before the choruses rise up in defense of other workflows, let me tell you my reasonings. I fully recognize that most people write in Word. What these people do not realize [in most cases] is this simple fact starts their book with a great handicap. If Word users are publishing their own book, they are missing out on … Continue reading →

The New Publisher in the Kingdom of God

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The New Publisher Here we are in the second decade of the new millennium and we are faced with a brand new way of serving the Lord in the Kingdom. Publishing has radically changed. The new changes are almost designed for those of us who feel called by the Lord to share the vision of what He has called us to do. The new methodologies work better for prophets, pastors, and teachers than they do for almost … Continue reading →