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Summer

 Projects
If you are self-publishing, one of your tasks is to design the interior of your book. (http://johnosterho
You can use your word processor, but that often leads to a shoddy job (see projects/)
Book Interior Design: Tips to Avoid the Amateur Look
(http://johnosterhout.com/?p=455)). Scribus (https://www.scribus.net/) is
an open-source desktop publishing program that you can use for your book
interior design. In this post, I’m going to provide some Scribus files that you can
use as templates to develop your book interior design. Instructions included. Search …

SEARCH
SCRIBUS
You will, of course, need Scribus (https://www.scribus.net/), which is
available for a number of platforms. As a believer in open-source software, I’m
using Linux (Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/download), to be exact). If you RECENT POSTS
are new to Scribus, be warned: Scribus has a moderately steep learning curve.
(Not as steep, however, as Adobe InDesign.) This is why you want to start with
It’s That Chemistry
a template to work with as you learn the ins and outs of the program.
Algebra
(http://johnosterhout.com
THE TEMPLATES that-chemistry-
algebra/)
I’ve made three templates: one for the front matter of your book, one for the
book chapters, and one which is the front matter and beginning of the soon-to- Schnoz of the Rings
be-best-selling novel “Lollipop” by Volomire Nobakeoff. The templates are for a – Free Ebook
9 in x 6 in page size book and are available in the Downloads section below. As Promotion
examples, I made Lollipop.pdf (http://johnosterhout.com/wp- (http://johnosterhout.com
content/uploads/2016/05/Lollipop.pdf) from Lollipop.sla and Mody_Dick.pdf of-the-rings-free-
(http://johnosterhout.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Mody_Dick.pdf) ebook-promotion/)
from the basic novel templates. I provide everything you need to make the files
except the fonts. The San Angelo
Writers Club
(http://johnosterhout.com
THE FONTS san-angelo-writers-
club/)
The templates use only two fonts; download them here: EB Garamond
(https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/eb-garamond) and Sorts Mill Goudy
The Schnoz of the
(https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/sorts-mill-goudy). Instead of
Rings Now on Kindle
these fonts, you can use any fonts on your system. In order to use different
Unlimited
fonts, you will have to edit the Scribus styles.
(http://johnosterhout.com
schnoz-of-the-rings-
WORK FLOW now-on-kindle-
unlimited/)
Scribus slows down with large files. I once tried to work with a 68,000 word
novel and it was unusable. The best way to use Scribus is to make your front Community Editor
matter and individual chapters as single files then put them together later with a for Flipped
separate program. I used pdftk in Linux but there are programs for Windows Chemistry
and the Mac that will do the same thing. Below, I provide a file called (http://johnosterhout.com
How_to_Use_the_Templates.pdf which describes the making of editor-for-flipped-
Moby_Dick.pdf (http://johnosterhout.com/wp- chemistry/)
content/uploads/2016/05/Mody_Dick.pdf) from the basic novel templates.

An advantage to this method is it is easy to find a mistake that you know is in,
for instance, chapter 3 and fix it. Another is that if you make a horrible mistake
and completely mess up, you have only destroyed one chapter an not the whole
RECENT
book. COMMENTS

One of the drawbacks to this method is that changing anything in your book that
affects the whole book, such as margins, fonts, location of headers, or page NW Daniel on It’s
size requires you edit all the files. So carefully consider the look and feel of your That Chemistry
book before you start final production. I make a bunch of separate front matter Algebra
and chapter files and print them out to see how they look. When I’ve got the (http://johnosterhout.com
look I want, I start making the final book. that-chemistry-
algebra/#comment-
492)
DOWNLOADS
John Osterhout
(http://johnosterhout.com
basic_novel.zip (http://johnosterhout.com/wp- on New Book – New
content/uploads/2016/05/basic_novel.zip) – (896 kB) – This zip file unzips to Template – Just
a folder containing everything below. (896.5 kB) Lorem Ipsum
(http://johnosterhout.com
Lollipop.sla (http://johnosterhout.com/wp-
book-new-template-
content/uploads/2016/05/Lollipop.sla) – (86.8 kB) – The Scribus file for the
just-lorem-
beginning of “Lollipop” by Volomire Nobakeoff.
ipsum/#comment-
Lollipop.pdf (http://johnosterhout.com/wp- 480)
content/uploads/2016/05/Lollipop.pdf) – (238.4 kB) – The PDF file from
Lollipop.sla. John Osterhout
(http://johnosterhout.com
basic_novel_front_matter_template.sla (http://johnosterhout.com/wp-
on Basic Book
content/uploads/2016/05/basic_novel_front_matter_template.sla) – (60.2
Template for Scribus
kB) – The Scribus file for the front matter of your book. This is a text file. It may
(http://johnosterhout.com
open directly in your browser. Just “Save Page as” – it will have the extension
book-template-for-
.sla and it will work fine.
scribus/#comment-
basic_novel_chapter_template.sla (http://johnosterhout.com/wp- 479)
content/uploads/2016/05/basic_novel_chapter_template.sla) – (78.2 kB) –
The Scribus file for the book chapters. Opens as a text file. “Save Page as”. Asar Imhotep on
Basic Book Template
basic_novel_template_information.txt (http://johnosterhout.com/wp-
for Scribus
content/uploads/2016/05/basic_novel_template_information.txt) – (1.3 kB)
(http://johnosterhout.com
– This file contains information about page size, margins, fonts, styles, and
book-template-for-
more. A big help if you are trying to learn Scribus.
scribus/#comment-
How_To_Use_the_Templates.pdf (http://johnosterhout.com/wp- 477)
content/uploads/2016/05/How_To_Use_the_Templates.pdf) – (43.4 kB) –
The instructions for how to use the basic novel templates. Required reading. I Michael Hackney on
use the example of making Moby_Dick.pdf from the basic novel templates and New Book – New
the Moby Dick text. Template – Just
Lorem Ipsum
Moby_Dick.txt (http://johnosterhout.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/Moby_Dick.txt) – (52.4 kB) – The text of the first (http://johnosterhout.com
book-new-template-
three chapters of Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
just-lorem-
Mody_Dick.pdf (http://johnosterhout.com/wp-
ipsum/#comment-
content/uploads/2016/05/Mody_Dick.pdf) – (758.8 kB) – The PDF file
476)
resulting from the How_To_Use_the_Templates.pdf instructions.

UPDATE
This posted was updated on 5/23/16. The first paragraph of chapter 1 in ARCHIVES
“Lollipop” and the first paragraph in chapter 3 of “Moby Dick” were formatted as
“paragraph indent”. This is, of course, wrong: the first paragraph of the chapter
should be “paragraph no indent”. This has been corrected in all files.
November 2017
A third font, Alegreya, slipped into the templates as the page number font. This (http://johnosterhout.com
has been changed to EB Garamond. Also one of the page numbers was
formatted as italic. This has been changed to normal. June 2017
(http://johnosterhout.com

May 2017
(http://johnosterhout.com
Tags:
book interior design (http://johnosterhout.com/tag/book-interior-design/)
November 2016
books (http://johnosterhout.com/tag/books/) (http://johnosterhout.com
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September 2016
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July 2016
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5 THOUGHTS ON “BASIC BOOK TEMPLATE
FOR SCRIBUS” June 2016
(http://johnosterhout.com

May 2016
(http://johnosterhout.com
Gabe
October 6, 2016 at 1:55 pm (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-book-
February 2016
template-for-scribus/#comment-470)
(http://johnosterhout.com

Thank you!!
January 2016
Reply (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-book-template-for-scribus/? (http://johnosterhout.com
replytocom=470#respond)

December 2015
(http://johnosterhout.com

jay murphy
November 2015
November 10, 2016 at 9:57 pm (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-
(http://johnosterhout.com
book-template-for-scribus/#comment-474)

September 2015
How do you download templates for Scribus? I have been
(http://johnosterhout.com
unable to find a step by step guide on how to see the new
templates which I have downloaded directly to the templates
July 2015
folder in Scribus. Thank you.
(http://johnosterhout.com
Reply (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-book-template-for-scribus/?

replytocom=474#respond)
 June 2015
(http://johnosterhout.com
John Osterhout (http://johnosterhout.com)
November 12, 2016 at 4:31 am (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-
May 2015
book-template-for-scribus/#comment-475)
(http://johnosterhout.com
Hi Jay,

My template files are regular Scribus .sla files. Make copies,

put the files in your working folder, and open them as you
would any file in Scribus. Double clicking on the file usually CATEGORIES
works. If not, start Scribus and use File Menu -> Open… and
you should be able to select the file you want to use.
Antibacterials
Hope this helps. (http://johnosterhout.com

Reply (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-book-template-for-scribus/?
Books
replytocom=475#respond)
(http://johnosterhout.com

Climate Change
Asar Imhotep (http://johnosterhout.com
March 11, 2017 at 8:56 am (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-book- change/)
template-for-scribus/#comment-477)
Education
I have a question. In InDesign, you can sync up all of the (http://johnosterhout.com
individual chapter files (if you decide to make each chapter
different files) and if you add or subtract a page from that file, Flipping the
the entire collection of files updates its page numbers to reflect Classroom
the change. There is also a master template(s) from which one (http://johnosterhout.com
can assign to each page. The advantage of this is that when the-classroom/)
make a change there, it automatically updates all of the files
using that master template. Lastly, one of the reasons why I am Header
searching for alternative software is because InDesign does not (http://johnosterhout.com

allow footnotes with tables, which is critical for academic writing.

HIV/AIDS
So how does Scribus handle each of these issues provided
above? I appreciate your time and look forward to your reply. (http://johnosterhout.com

Reply (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-book-template-for-scribus/? Quotes

replytocom=477#respond) (http://johnosterhout.com

Science
(http://johnosterhout.com
John Osterhout (http://johnosterhout.com)
May 8, 2017 at 11:28 am (http://johnosterhout.com/basic-book-
template-for-scribus/#comment-479)
 In Scribus, you can put all the chapter together and get the
META
advantages you mention. However, with all the Scribus
versions I’ve used, the programs gets very, very slow. So
slow as to be unusable. For my book-length projects, I’ve Register
broken the chapters down into separate files, as I indicate in (http://johnosterhout.com
my post. This means that small changes, like repositioning login.php?
the running heads are a pain. The Scribus people know it is action=register)
slow with book-length files. I would advise using Scribus only
for your final production. It is likely a bad idea to use it for Log in
writing or much editing. (http://johnosterhout.com

I have not tried to use tables in footnotes. The table function login.php)

in the version I’m using, 1.4.6, is kludgey. The scribus wiki

has an announcement about the improved table handling in Entries RSS (Really

Scribus 1.6. See here (https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/1.6- Simple Syndication)

(http://johnosterhout.com
new-features-and-fixes).
I wish you luck. If you are writing academic papers or a
Comments RSS
dissertation, you might try Latex. I have used Latex for my
(Really Simple
document preparation for years. I think Scribus is better for
Syndication)
book projects and magazine-style layouts, but Latex works
(http://johnosterhout.com
well for documents.

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