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RSKrules
Participating Frequently
March 12, 2024
Answered

Import my entire novel to InDesign?

  • March 12, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 3410 views

My novel currently exists in Scrivener, but that allows me to compile and export into any number of different file formats. 

Which file format will allow me to import this 56k book directly into InDesign? Is there any way for me to keep my formatting while doing so (font changes, spacing, page breaks, etc)? 

This is for the print version, a standard 6x9 paperback for both KDP and Ingram Spark. 

I feel like this is a normal thing people use InDesign for? I was sold on this product specifically because it is used for book formatting, so if anyone can tell me how to import my book so I can use it for formatting, please let me know!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer BobLevine

I'd be happy to learn if there were any actual tutorials on how to do this. I spent a few hours trying to find someone who has done this before and this is my last resort. Was I mistaken in thinking that I can import 56,000 words into InDesign to use it as formatting software for a print version? 

 

Place isn't available unless I make a page, and regardless of which file format I use to "Place" it only gives me the first page, not all 56,000 words I've written. Unless there are more steps needed beyond just Place? If you have any tutorials on how to import 56,000 words into InDesign pages please let me know. 


Create a new one page document. Then use the file >place command to browse to the doc you want to import. Here's the important part...with the cursors loaded, hold down the shift key and then click on the page. If you do that right, the document will be populated and new pages created to hold it.

1 reply

James Gifford—NitroPress
Legend
March 12, 2024

Well, there are several layers of answer here. The first that occurs to me is that Scrivener is supposed to be a soup-to-nuts tool, from organizing your ideas all the way to exporting print-ready pages — isn't it? If you've come this far in the tool, and your goal is the relatively simple one of print editions of a novel from amateur/indie publisher friendly sources like KDP, why complicate things by switching to any other tool?

 

The other end of the answers is that yes, InDesign is probably the premier publication layout tool available, with few limitations in producing print-ready pages of any complexity and for any destination print method or process. So if you want maximum capability and professional features, there are few if any serious challengers you could choose instead.

 

As for the direct question  — I don't know offhand what formats Scrivener exports to, but in general the whole writing/publishing industry is pretty Word-centric, and InDesign imports Word very well, especially when the files are very "clean" (which can get into fairly complex areas to fully explain). I would export to either RTF or Word DOCX, and then as a suspenders-and-belt operation, open that export file in a copy of Word and re-save it as DOCX. (Word as a standard is a little slack, and import problems often trace to faults in export from tools like Google Docs, Pages, and — I would suppose — Scrivener. A cleanup pass through Word can often help. But in general any Word format from any source is as good as any other, and most import problems come with things like extensive endnotes and complex formatting, not basic novel layouts.)

 

Note that InDesign is not 'yet another word processor' and does not work quite like Word etc. There is a fairly steep initial learning curve, even for what seems like the basic process of setting up a document with page sizes and margins and then dumping prepared text into it. It's also extremely styles-driven, so if you are the sort of word processor user who is casual about defining and using styles and uses a lot of local or spot formatting (grab some text, apply bold, grab some text, apply a font, etc.) then you may find getting started with InDesign, and getting to a clean, press-ready layout, a bit of a headache. In a word, ID is more "manual" than most word processors and you have to tell it, define, apply, and adjust things that Word et al. sort of do automatically (if badly, from a document management perspective). ID can handle complexities like multi-file Books, footnotes, endnotes, many kinds of lists like TOCs, Indexes and cross-references, tables and illustrations without breaking a sweat... but that's not saying the same for a new user who may not need any of those advanced layout features.

 

The best thing you can do is work through the basic set of InDesign tutorials until you're comfortable setting up a new document with all the features needed for book printing, with page sizes, format, margins, and a set of styles that accomplish your goals. Just plunging in and figuring it out while you go has not, if reported experience is any guide, the most productive path.

 

So, again: why do you want to make this midstream choice if you are (apparently) comfortable with Scrivener? Especially with a novel, which as simply pages of flowing text with some chapter and section breaks, is pretty much the simplest long-form document there is? What do you expect ID to bring to the effort?

Peter Spier
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 12, 2024

If you don't have Word, and Scrivener can export RTF, I would try just importing that direct into InDesign.

BobLevine
Community Expert
BobLevineCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
March 12, 2024

I'd be happy to learn if there were any actual tutorials on how to do this. I spent a few hours trying to find someone who has done this before and this is my last resort. Was I mistaken in thinking that I can import 56,000 words into InDesign to use it as formatting software for a print version? 

 

Place isn't available unless I make a page, and regardless of which file format I use to "Place" it only gives me the first page, not all 56,000 words I've written. Unless there are more steps needed beyond just Place? If you have any tutorials on how to import 56,000 words into InDesign pages please let me know. 


Create a new one page document. Then use the file >place command to browse to the doc you want to import. Here's the important part...with the cursors loaded, hold down the shift key and then click on the page. If you do that right, the document will be populated and new pages created to hold it.