Hello there,
I was wondering if anyone (self-publishers) is using Scrivener to generate their manuscript to submit to Print on Demand (PoD) services like Lightning Source or Amazon’s CreateSpace?
I’ve been using Scrivener for a couple weeks and I like it but can I use it to create a typeset file ready for printing? Or do authors using Scrivener export it out to another program to be typeset for publishing?
Thanks!
Alan
Lightning Source and CreateSpace both want PDFs properly laid out on a page that’s the proper size. You might be able to manage to meet Lightning’s file specs with Scrivener alone using OS X’s save to PDF ability, but it wouldn’t be pretty. You can get Lightning’s specs from the public area of lightningsource.com. I don’t use CreateSpace, so I can’t comment on them. And keep in mind that Amazon and Lightning Source/Ingram are in the process of creating an agreement that will mean that publishing with one will mean publishing with the other. Given the choice, I’d go with Lightning Source.
But to make a book look decent, you need a page layout application that’s intended for creating books, typically InDesign or Quark. It can be done with Word and Word-like applications, but you have to be more careful and reconciled to something that isn’t quite like it’d look from a major publisher. The latest two versions of InDesign also let you publish in the ePub format, one of the most popular for ebooks.
My own book creating procedure has varied over time, but is settling down to:
Collection ideas in WriteRoom on an iPod touch while a book gels in my mind.
Create a draft of the book in Scrivener, using as many of its features as I can to get the text almost up to final quality but not caring about appearance. I write in plain text rather than RTF, tagging italic «this way,» bold with two of those symbols and bold italic with three. I have search & replace scripts for InDesign that apply the proper text styles to each of those. That takes care of most of my formatting needs.
Finally, I format it to look right in InDesign. It’s pricey and has a steep learning curve, but it can’t be beat for making a book look professional, that is if you learn how to use it properly.
If you just want to do an occasional book, you might find it easier to go through one of the self-publishing companies such as BookLocker. They can generate a book from an RTF/Word file that you could probably create with Scrivener not bothering with Word. You’d have to ask them if that would work though.
Be careful which self-publishing company you go with and don’t expect any of them to make your book a bestseller. With them, promotion is your responsibility.
–Michael W. Perry, author of Untangling Tolkien
MMD/LaTeX is also an option. Fletcher posted some time back a 6x9 book format that works wonderfully with Scrivener, and the Lulu 6x9 book format. It makes a print-ready PDF.
That’s what I use when I want to get something printed via Lulu - done 3 already, getting 2 more done soon.
May I bump this old post and ask if there are any updates?
Roy
Welcome to our community of writers.
To what aspect of the discussion are you referring? Are you asking about Scrivener’s capabilities, for suggestions outside of Scrivener, or both?
Well, nothing changed regarding the PDF generation in Scrivener. The original advice still stands.
As the previous posts date back to 2010, some things have changed. While the Scrivener compile directly to PDF hasn’t changed, there have been developments in the compiler particularly in Markdown/Pandoc/Quarto/Typst areas with output to publishable quality PDF.
On the other hand, as rivals to InDesign and Quark, the Affinity suite with Publisher is a much lower cost page-makeup option if a visual approach is more to your liking, Scribus is free I believe.
Mark
The Affinity suite is now free following its acquisition by Canva. There have been interesting discussions about it in the forum, including concerns about possible privacy issues. Personally, after checking out the privacy thing, I’ve become comfortable with using it — though I haven’t actually used it yet.
I have had the Affinity suite since it was first launched. I haven’t used it much, but will continue to have the version 2 set available as long as they work on current MacOS versions.
But I have been spending time getting to grips with Typst and am now at the stage of beginning to develop some pure-Typst Scrivener templates for a simple book layout, and one with margin notes, tip/alert boxes, etc., which I will post here when they’re ready.
Mark
I guess a bump helped.
Is Scrivener output better for POD services than it was before?
Asked differently, do I still need to go out to a third party like indesign?
thank you
W Roy
Our official position is that Scrivener’s PDF output is not intended to replace professional typesetting software.
Whether it’s adequate for your purposes depends on your requirements. Novels have simpler formatting demands than technical textbooks.
Wow, blast from the past. I was confused when I got the alert since I’m not very active here anymore, and suddenly a 15-year-old post of mine popped back up. 
For an update: I still use Scrivener for writing, but I don’t use it to generate print-ready files. Instead, I export from Scrivener using its Word option specifically designed for Vellum, then import that file into Vellum.
Vellum handles all the print layout and generates the final PDF for print-on-demand, as well as ebook files. Much easier and more reliable than it was back in 2010.
Just wanted to share how I handle print these days.