Book is done; new speed bump

[birdographer]

The book is done, many edits after readings by me and helpful friends. I'm happy with it. I am on the fence about publishing, but that's moot for right now. When I started it, as a hobby, I just started writing. I put in page numbers and chapter numbers and so on. No title page, no dedication page. I would like to add those. It is in .docx format. I have 3 different word processing programs. I cannot seem to add a title page and dedication page without them being pages 1 and 2. In the old Word, which I used a lot a long time ago, this was simple--insert page numbers, and start here with page 1. Not these. I also need a header on book pages with my name on the left pages, book title on right.

I put a post in Next Door for some local person to help with word processing. By now I am sure that is buried and will not get a response. I discovered "Upwork" online, where you can hire people to do such things for a reasonable cost. Registered, logged in later, and then when they wanted to "verify" me, my login no longer was valid. Huh? Yeah, sorry, buh bye.

So I am stuck unless I can find someone to do this bit of formatting for me. Anyone know of a reliable online place to find an editor for something as simple and basic as this? Or where else to look?

ETA: I have watched many YouTube tutorials for the different programs I have. Clearly the programs have updated and of course changed since the videos were made. I do not get the screens that they do. So I need a different path to get there, and I have no idea how.

ETA: It's not the program. I'm sure it is doable in all of these. But apparently not by me. I need to find someone who can do this. Perfectly happy to pay a freelancer, but Upwork is the only online place I can find such a person, and that did not work out.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. You don't say which 3 programs you use. I suggest LibreOffice. It can do it and can read/write docx

It's free and Free (open source).

Setting up LibreOffice for writing your novel or how-to book

https://www.bmyers.com/public/Setting_up_LibreOffice_Writer_for_writing_your_book.cfm

I'd go for 7.6.5 on this page: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download-libreoffice/

Simple Book Template: https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/libreoffice-book-template

[birdographer]

4. I have Pages

and WPS and Textmaker. It's not the program, it's the instructions that are the problem. I have tried and tried.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Struggle away. LibreOffice template has page numbering built in that starts where you want

But hey, if you want to use up people's time by insisting on one program and not stating that program as the requirement, mission accomplished.

[birdographer]

8. Thanks for the kind and thoughtful help

Last edited Sun Mar 17, 2024, 06:05 PM - Edit history (1)

I have Pages, WPS, and TextMaker, as I mentioned.

LibreOffice will let me put in page breaks, which is a step forward. However, I cannot find any instruction on how to have headers that are different on even number pages and odd numbered pages. Please direct me to the menu options and instruct me in how to do that in that program. I assume by your post that you are a proud expert in formatting or you would be far more supportive and encouraging for one who is not.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Many writers use Scrivener or similar, those are paid software with a monthly fee

There are a few free similar programs such as Manuskript.

Any chance of converting to one of those, importing the .docx?

[birdographer]

5. Problem is not the program

It's the user....IOW, me. Cannot do it. Three different programs, cannot get page 1 footer off of the title page. I need someone else to do it.

[4dog]

3. In Word a while back, you used to be able to

insert a section break, and you could paginate the sections separately, using i or 1 for example. You can format the headers using menu View .. Header and Footer.

[birdographer]

6. Yep..

I got all that. Tried many times to insert section break before page 1 in Pages. Then put title on page above the section break. And in the footer...page 1. I can't get away from it. This is why I need someone else to do it. I can put a header and footer--have the page number in footer and I can probably add header, but not a different header for odd numbered pages (or whatever is on the left) than on the other pages. Need someone to do it.

I knew I should have had kids. A great-grand child could probably do this for me...

[4dog]

9. I have heard of a program with web site where

you can hire someone to do a certain job cheap. I think the people bid for the job. If they can do your format for a few bucks, it should carry over. Sorry I don't have the name, but you know where to go...

[birdographer]

10. I think that is probably Upwork, which I tried

I got halfway to what I needed, thanks to the extremely rude and unkind advice of a fellow poster. (This is just how desperate I am, I will try anything!) That was good, but I am still stuck on the header being different on different pages. Since he is so wise, I can only hope that he will share his great wisdom on that. Otherwise I am still stuck. I do have the option to make all the headers the same, but I would rather not.

Anyway, thank you 4dog (great name ❤️ !!!) for taking the time to helpfully respond. This is why I came here seeking help--most of the people in this forum have been so great. Can't win 'em all....

[4dog]

11. So send me a few pages and I will try to tinker.

DM me and I will give you an email, or perhaps you can attach a short file to the DM. I'm crazy busy, but this seems like it should only take 5 minutes to fail or succeed. I'm in Word 365, and of course cross-program compatibility if far from guaranteed. But you can try your three.

[4dog]

12. And send details on what you want nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. I use Word and formatting it is pretty easy.

First off, are you using correct manuscript format? Use this: https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/

I have edited a couple of anthologies, and it's frustrating how many submissions I got from people who claimed to be published many times, and didn't use the correct format. I gave them the above link and told the to re-submit when they got that right. I also wound up reformatting more of the stories than I should have.

.docx is the best, because essentially every word processing program can read it.

You may need to actually re-type two of the three parts of your novel, to get everything copacetic.

I'm curious as to what three programs you are using, and why did you end up using three?

[birdographer]

14. Big change

I finally bit the bullet and got Word. I had resisted because of the subscription price, BUT it eventually made no sense to just not get it. Absolutely every tutorial out there about various formatting things teach you how to do it in Word.

So I am moving forward at a better pace on Word. Am in the middle of proper formatting. I have not gotten to the headers stuff I wasn't sure how to do it, but I have links to instructions on those in Word and I'm sure I will be fine with those. In addition to moving forward through it with the formatting, I am tweaking some words that can be changed for the better, and have found two major goofs. I had five "beta readers" who I assumed would catch stuff, but a few things slid past all of them, and also me the first three times through it. Amazing. The read-aloud proofreading technique is always a good one.

Thanks for the link. Will check it out--I have looked at many, many sites about formatting for publishing, but it never hurts to see if another one has even one little thing that the others left out.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. The site I've linked is THE standard in publishing.

[birdographer]

16. It's very thorough

When I googled "Industry standard for formatting for publishing" it did not turn up on the lengthy first page of results, which were all specifically about formatting a book to be published. Pretty much same info on the ones I looked at.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

17. Hope it's been helpful.

But just in case it's not clear, chances are if you try to submit a ms not in standard format, it won't even be read.

[birdographer]

18. Got it

Thanks!

[4dog]

19. For editing rather than writing, I found a great resource

Word macros can ease the tedium of doing something repeatedly. The following links to a major macro site that I have just begun to explore.
https://www.rabbitwitharedpen.com/blog/using-word-macros-for-editing

[mikelewis]

20. Curious to how you view AI's assistance with this question... not the writing but seeing what idea it has on how to....

proceed...

[birdographer]

21. Long time ago!

First, an update: My book is now self-published as paperback and e-book on Amazon. I ended up buying Word ($70) and PDF Reader Pro ($60) and finally was able to properly format both versions.

AI question is interesting. I have used ChatGPT but only for fun questions, nothing of any use. Perhaps it could have helped me when I was foundering so badly back then. I think AI has good uses, but it's too bad it is so often misused.