# Good, Cheap, Book Design Software **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540 "2009-05-06T14:53:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/1 "2009-05-06T14:53:58Z")
Did I mention cheap? The prices for Adobe InDesign and Quark XPress are way higher than I can afford. But having done two books in Word I realize I need something with more flexibility aimed specifically at book design. Any suggestions for alternative products that do the same thing? My needs are mostly text-driven with some graphics dropped in. Regular books, nothing fancy. A short learning curve would also be nice, but I’m not sure such a thing exists. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/2 "2009-05-06T15:09:12Z")
Have you tried LaTeX? It’s free, and comes with styles specifically for writing books (handles tables of contents, bibliographies, tables of figure, etc.) automatically. As long as you’re only writing prose, the learning curve should be pretty small. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/3 "2009-05-06T15:23:38Z")
If you are comfortable with Word, and you know how to use a layout program (but can’t afford InDesign/XPress), then you might look at Microsoft Publisher. It’s Layout for Dummies, but it can do a surprising amount of things you’d do with a layout program. I’m sure a lot of people will scoff at the suggestion, but it might fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/4 "2009-05-06T21:26:29Z")
Thanks, but neither of these seems like they’re what I’m looking for. I’ll check further, but both seem to emphasize different and irrelevant strengths from my needs. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/5 "2009-05-06T21:33:02Z")
Do you know anything about [Lyx](http://www.lyx.org/)? It’s supposed to have most of the power of LaTeX without the learning curve. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/6 "2009-05-06T21:49:47Z")
What needs do you have that latex doesn’t address? The fact that it can do much more seems to me to be irrelevant. It is free and works well. I have published three books using it. Granted they are formula and diagram heavy, it still makes excellent books, with, as mentioned above, automatic generation of indices, tables of contents, etc. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/7 "2009-05-06T21:49:47Z")
What about [Scribus](http://www.scribus.net/)? It’s open-source desktop publishing software, and is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/8 "2009-05-06T21:49:56Z")
You might try Apple’s “Pages” word processing suite - it is basically a hybrid of Word and Publisher / Indesign / XPress. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/9 "2009-05-06T23:40:10Z")
LyX **is** LaTeX. That is, it’s a program that’s made to look like a word processor but spits out LaTeX out the back, which is then compiled. Personally, I can’t stand it, as it looks ugly and hides loads of things from the user, but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/10 "2009-05-07T00:34:04Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > What needs do you have that latex doesn’t address? The fact that it can do much more seems to me to be irrelevant. It is free and works well. I have published three books using it. Granted they are formula and diagram heavy, it still makes excellent books, with, as mentioned above, automatic generation of indices, tables of contents, etc. Just looking at it makes me want to run screaming into the night. And I don’t need most of that. I just want images to stay put when I insert them plus more control over justification and little things like that. If Word did those as well as I wanted I wouldn’t go elsewhere. There are 5000 other things I’m behind on that have priority over learning new software. > [@Capt. Ridley's Shooting Party](#): > > That is, it’s a program that’s made to look like a word processor So this gives me happy feet. I’m still in the exploration stage, so Lyx may not be right at all. Scribus is another possibility. I’m in Windows and I don’t see a Windows version of Pages. I may or may not be able to get online the next few days as I travel, but thanks in advance for any other comments. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/11 "2009-05-07T07:16:36Z")
I use Serif PagePlus and am pretty well satisfied with it. The newest version costs about $90, but you can download older versions for free. And the older ones work fine for all but the most complicated page design. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cheap-book-design-software/495540/12 "2009-05-07T07:52:59Z")
An amazing number of people think Word is a publishing program when it really isn’t. Of course their next question is, “then what is it for?” Which I never know the answer to.