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Recommended Templates for Beginner?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
June 5, 2022
4 replies
1710 views

I've been publishing ebooks, but I now want to create a paperback. Since I'm on a Mac, I was going to use Pages, but I also have an Adobe subscription, so I thought I'd try InDesign.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem real intuitive. In fact, I haven't been able to set up a book project yet.

Can anyone recommend a good source of templates that are already set up for various book formats? My first experiment is going to be 6" X 9", no bleed.

Thank you.

Feature request

Correct answer Randy Hagan

The best places to find templates are with printers running paperback books. They know what works, and if you book business with them, they'll have a rat-hole file somewhere with quality templates that are compatible with their production systems.

The next-best places are with custom publishers/vanity press operations which have templates they use for their own production work and may be willing to share if you're working with them.

In both of these instances, you're dealing with people who want to make money from you and know that customer satisfaction means return customers. Their templates are the best because their bottom line depends on it.

Following these superior options, this is a good place to start:

https://redokun.com/blog/indesign-book-templates#free-indesign-book-templates

Hope this helps,

Randy

G

GeobopAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks for all the tips. Lots to think about!

Randy Hagan

Correct answer

Community Expert

The best places to find templates are with printers running paperback books. They know what works, and if you book business with them, they'll have a rat-hole file somewhere with quality templates that are compatible with their production systems.

The next-best places are with custom publishers/vanity press operations which have templates they use for their own production work and may be willing to share if you're working with them.

In both of these instances, you're dealing with people who want to make money from you and know that customer satisfaction means return customers. Their templates are the best because their bottom line depends on it.

Following these superior options, this is a good place to start:

https://redokun.com/blog/indesign-book-templates#free-indesign-book-templates

Hope this helps,

Randy

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

I am not sure why, but this suggestion troubles me.

Maybe it's an acquired distrust of the WePrintYerBook 'publishers.'

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James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

I'm sorry you've had unfortunate experiences. I work with a couple of custom publishers regularly that turn out quality work and have satisfied customers.

Methinks you're painting an entire industry with a pretty broad brush.

Randy

None of the above. But this isn't the place to unpeel that onion. 🙂

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Scott Citron

Legend

Just a tip. Do not bother using InDesign's Book feature unless you're working with a remote design team. If you're doing all the work yourself, keep it simple and only create one InDesign file. If you need help let me know. I've designed many books and pubs with InDesign over the past 20 years.

G

GeobopAuthor

Known Participant

Are you saying 1) don't use InDesign for designing books, or 2) you can use InDesign to design books without using the "book feature"?

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

The Book feature combines multiple ID files into one document for printing, export and (limited) management. Its only real use is when separate chapter or section files need to be maintained at different times or by different authors.

It has no good use in a one-person (at a time) "book" project, despite the name.

Definitely use InDesign for books. 🙂

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Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

IMHO, it is difficult to find a template that one doesn't want to "tweak" somewhat. I would suggest taking some long-documentation tutorials or classes.

Here is a link to LinkedIn training:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/indesign-creating-long-documents-13887227

(I have not watched it, so you may need other classes too. You can get 30 days for free.)

Classes/online, custom instruction options from Adobe Certified Instructions:

https://learning.adobe.com/partner-finder.html?products=InDesign&learningOptions=Web-based&partnerType=Certified%20Instructor&country=USA

(I filtered it to the USA, but you can adjust the regions. Look for long-documentation expertice.)

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

This. Templates are often crutches that end up slowing you down or hampering your efforts more than they help. If you don't understand how to lay out book pages—which, honest, is not very hard although it's worth looking at examples and tutorials to gain some judgment about the esthetic aspects of layout—a template is going to be hard to work with anyway.

Learn the basics. They are basics and worth knowing. And ID is very much the right tool for the job; Word and Pages and so forth are past their abilities for anything more than formatted reports.

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