Lulu Marketplace

Occasionally, in the hurly-burly of life, a little gem comes along that has class written all over it, and, just as pleasantly surprising, it's not taxing on the wallet. LyX the desktop publishing program is as good as the A-List software programs on the market for over $1,000. For what I do - writing novels, articles and books of essays - it's better, in that it's geared up for that specific task, along with mnay others, using the amazing and powerful LaTeX engine.

I knew the quality of the LaTeX software,and that it has a steep learning curve because of its Rolls Royce quality. What I didn't know is that LyX makes it easy, acting as a quasi-WYSIWYG interface with LaTeX, effectively... More > pushing LaTeX into the background to do all the muscle work while you operate it all through the almost word processor LyX dashboard. Alan's book makes the task of producing a thoroughly professional-looking book ready for the printer a relative breeze, used in conjunction with the various LyX tutorials on the web and iin its Help section.

I can spot a self-published book a mile off sitting on a bookshop shelf to be sold under consignment. It has 'home-made' and 'backyard job' stamped all over it. I bought Adobe InDesign (ouch, expensive) to avoid that trap. I delegated the job of typesetting to an expert using Adobe Pagemaker 7 while I trained myself up for the second. Everything I needed to know on how to do all that is in Alan's book and in the Help Section of the software as well as on community forums on the web. And the software needed to put it into effect is free on the web.

For $11, I could have avoided a price tag of $1,119 to get set up with InDesign, which is overkill for a novelist and article/essay writer like me.
I like Alan's teaching style too. I just wish I'd got onto this LaTeX-LyX goldmine earlier. For the author who wants to become an Indie Publisher-as I did-this is not only the cheapest way to do it but the simplest and the best. That, in anybody's terms, is an unusual combination in our confused, money-driven world. Have a look at the free e-book version here to see what you're getting before you buy the hard copy (cheaper and better than photocopying a PDF download). Look at the quality of the typesetting that no word processor can or will deliver.

My advice is to get in before more people wake up to the incredible cheapness/quality combination and the price goes up where it belongs. You'll never go back to the kids''publishing' software computers come equipped with. With LyX, you're at the adult's table. < Less