[scribus] New to publishing, Scribus, and this list

[Gregory Pittman]

Mike Breiding wrote:
>
> Greetings,
>
> I just fired up Scribus this morning and spent some time getting the 
> feel of it.
>
> Pardon the off-topicness of this post but I felt I needed to give some 
> background.
>
> I am about to embark on my first book publishing project.  And right 
> now it looks rather daunting for a first timer.
> My hope it to take this website: http://EpicRoadTrips.us/ca2007 and 
> make it into a book.
> There are around 800 images and comments for most.
> My target finish date is 15Dec2008
>
> The primary reason for doing this is to give it to my aging mother who 
> has never owned a computer and never will.
> But, she is a lifelong bibliophile.
> For her to be able to see the website in print would be a huge thrill 
> for her and the book would be something she would cherish.
>
> I started thinking about this project a month ago and did a lot of 
> rooting around on the web looking for book publishing apps such as 
> Blurb's  BookSmart. I tried a number of them and found them all to 
> rigid and proprietary
> So, I then looked into iPhoto and Aperture. Similar problems.
>
> I then test drove an old copy of PageMaker 6.5 WIN. Aaargghh! Painful.
> I then decided to check out InDesign when a local WVU Publications 
> person suggested I look into Scribus, which I had never heard of. I am 
> glad he did.
>
> So along with some hand holding  and help with Scribus I am also 
> hoping to get some more general guidance on publishing as it relates 
> to size, layout, printing services, etc.
> I am going to keep it *very simple* otherwise I fear I will never get 
> it done.
>
> I plan to make only a few copies and I am currently looking at VioVio 
> for printing.
> See: http://www.viovio.com/index.php?structure_id=483
>
> So, I am now going to get started with some basic photo and text 
> layout and then start making a list of question I am unable to answer 
> for myself.
>
> But my first question is:
> Is this do-able for a newbie? Or am I nuts?
As long as you allow some time to learn and are patient, it's doable.
With this many images (and presumably many pages), you will need to 
break the job down to 30 page chunks, make PDFs, then assemble those 
into a larger whole PDF -- this last part will require software other 
than Scribus, but this is easily available.

Do not use the development versions for this, use the stable 1.3.3.12.

Take some time to learn how to do things with frames, documents, using 
Master Pages. There is a documentation site, and the wiki is helpful too.

Find out what your printer requires -- type of PDF, any particulars.

Come back to the list as needed for help.

Greg