Is there any program designed for writing a book?

Question

Is there any program for writing a book? I tried to find it on some forums and sites, but I really couldn't find any.

Solution 1

For smaller projects, you should be fine with Libreoffice Writer.

If you are looking for a professional typesetting tool, the most well known and most widely used open source program is called LaTeX. On Ubuntu, the texlive LaTeX distribution is available in the software repository.

Beware, that LaTeX is not a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, but a WYGIWYW (What You Get Is What You Want) typesetting language, and can in some respects be compared to HTML.

LaTeX files are plain text, which are compiled by the LaTeX program into DVI or PDF files. There exist numerous style templates, and with some knowledge of the LaTeX language one can write them oneself.

Using a style template and only writing plain text spares the user the tedious work with layout, and lets the writer concentrate on what is being written instead on how it might look in the end.

Solution 2

Try Scribus. Scribus is an Open Source program that brings professional page layout to Linux, it supports professional publishing features, such as color separations, CMYK and spot colors, ICC color management, and versatile PDF creation.

For other ways to install, and Instructions for Debian/Ubuntu

Or Click to install Scribus

^{Source:Scribus}

Solution 3

Since no one else has mentioned it: If you want something as predictable as LaTeX, but don't need all of the power (and the complexity that comes with that power), Markdown is a great language. It's what's this website uses for markup.

You write plain text and it gets converted to formatted text:

Input:

# Title

This is a paragraph with *italics* and **bold**.

Output:

---

Title

This is a paragraph with italics and bold.

---

Ubuntu has a program called Pandoc, which can convert Markdown to basically any format you could want (including LaTeX, if you decide you want fancier formatting than Markdown can do).

Solution 4

If you're writing a Fiction novel, this is an answer nobody thought about: Plume Creator.

Find it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/plume-creator/

It's currently the BEST free alternative Scrivener. I've been using it for many short stories, and currently for writing a novel, and it hasn't failed me yet. Plus, the developer of this software is always open to suggestions to make the tool better. :)

That said, Plume Creator only focuses on only writing, so you aren't bothered by formatting and organizing. It also has an Outliner to plan your plot, as well as Notes for note-taking and Attendance for keeping character / items / settings data. This structure helps you finish your book in no time.

Of course, after finishing your draft, you'll need to "format" the manuscript in LibreOffice or LaTeX. So that said, Plume Creator (like Scrivener) is recommended for writing first drafts, while LibreOffice for the actual formatting, editing and processing.

Solution 5

Scrivener is an option. There is well-polished beta available for free on the Literature and Latte site . Because it is commercially available, links for download (and support) come from the dedicated forum there.

As Joe points out, "A lot of people on the SE Writers forum are very fond of Scrivener. You may want to take a look there at some of the posts about it - and for all things about writing."

Sigil, an ebook editor, is available via ppa : http://code.google.com/p/sigil/wiki/LinuxDistroPackages

You might also consider a wiki editor. One of the Writing Excuses people recommended wikidpad. I actually prefer Zim, a "graphical text editor based on wiki technologies", which is available from the repositories.

The Caligra Suite, which is associated with KDE (and Kubuntu) and is available in repositories, has a tool which for authoring books and ebooks.

Here's part of the announcement for it:

Calligra Author is a specialized tool for serious writers [....] The application will support a writer in the process of creating an eBook from concept to publication. We have two user categories in particular in mind:

Novelists who produce long texts with complicated plots involving many characters and scenes but with limited formatting. Textbook authors who want to take advantage of the added possibilities in eBooks compared to paper-based textbooks. For the first category Calligra Author will provide tools which are used in different phases of the creative process: Synopsis, writing, reviewing, polishing and publishing.

For the second category Calligra Author will provide interactive content elements like multimedia, 2D and 3D animations, embedded web content and support for javascript scripting. It is our ambition to work with other application developers to make Calligra Author integrate well with other writers tools like e.g Plume Creator.

Note that if you install Calligra Author, you will be pulling in a lot of other KDE and Calligra Suite packages.

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Comments

[Panther]

libreoffice can do most anything. If that does not suite your needs please update the question as to what is missing.

[carnendil]

Consider LaTeX. In Ubuntu, you can install texlive, and perhaps LyX if you are used to "seeing" the appearance of your files while you write them. Both are available from the Software Center.

[Alvar]

What sort of program do you want? What features do you need? What were you using before you started using Ubuntu?

[Martin Thoma]

@user169939: Can you please add some information? What type of book (academic / story) do you want to write? How do you want to publish it (printed / epub / pdf)?

[Admin]

Hey, it doesn't have all advanced features. But it's great. :D

[Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight]

I'm being pedantic but: TeX, like with programming languages, is What You ... Wrote. It doesn't come with a Do What I Meant command to read your mind and fix bugs in your markup.

[teodozjan]

For a beginner, I wouldn't go near actually writing LaTeX. Lyx makes it much easier, while still doing essentially the same thing.

[Eekhoorn]

LibreOffice Writer messed up two of my student's theses shortly before submission. I wholeheartedly recommend not to use this program if don't want to get really frustrated. LaTeX has a steep learning curve, but performs perfectly for longer texts. I've grown to be a latex fan during the last year. Plus, for writing a book, you might want to check out version control such as git or Mercurial.

[stommestack]

@biologue That really sucks :-( But that can always happen with any application... Murphy's law. Also, backup stuff.

[Sandeep]

@lonesomeday Everyone starts out as a beginner.

[Misery]

Scribus is very proffesional tool.

[Bakuriu]

How can LaTeX be compared to HTML? Latex is a turing-complete programming language, HTML is just a markup language. What they can achieve is completely different. The only common thing is that they both use plaintext sources.

[Michael Pankov]

@Bakuriu lemire.me/blog/archives/2011/03/08/…

[Lie Ryan]

@biologue: I've used LibreOffice for years, and had never had issues with it destroying my work. Don't let a single isolated incident make your decision against using an otherwise perfectly capable program.

[Bakuriu]

@Constantius I repeat: HTML is a markup language, and it's not turing-complete. Taken any language and extending it in some ways(e.g. via CSS in this case) can obviously lead to increase its computational power.

[Eekhoorn]

@LieRyan Two cases of completely ruined work are reason enough for me. Writing a letter, okay. Use LibreOffice if you want to, but I recommend against using it for anything longer than 5 pages.

[Payus]

I agree with this. LibreOffice is good for writing drafts, but for publishing you'll want Scribus. I have used it to publish books and there really is no better program for linux when it comes to publishing.

[zzzzBov]

@Bakuriu, I would assume that "HTML, CSS, and JavaScript" was implied by "compared to HTML".

[Joe]

@biologue I've been using OpenOffice/LibreOffice for almost two decades with no major issues. Some thesis templates are even available. As others have said, there is no substitute for backup with any data you care about at all - let alone a thesis. Your idea to use git, etc. is good too, but not a substitute for plain backup.

[Joe]

A lot of people on the SE Writers forum are very fond of Scrivener. You may want to take a look there at some of the posts about it - and for all things about writing.

[Joe]

+1 Never heard of plume-creator. I'm heading over to check it out now.

[Brendan Long]

@moose Yes I know, that's why I said: If you want something as predictable as LaTeX, but don't need all of the power (and the complexity that comes with that power). And see the last line for converting Markdown to LaTeX if it becomes necessary.

[Brendan Long]

@moose I really don't understand what you have against Markdown. Yes, LaTeX is more powerful, but the lack of power is what makes Markdown useful in some cases. For example, if I was writing a book, I would write the entire thing in Markdown, then convert it to LaTeX for the final draft. I don't want to think about formatting while I'm writing. Maybe you do, but then you're not the target audience for this answer.

[Martin Thoma]

@Bredan Long: I don't have anything against Markdown. I think its perfect for StackExchange. But I don't see the point of using Markdown when you want to switch to LaTeX anyway. And you should write books with LaTeX as the results are so much better than anything else.

[belacqua]

Backup is great, but if an application has had issues like this, there's no reason not to warn others. A good backup practice should be considered essential, though.

[belacqua]

I've used sphinx for some of my documentation -- I like it a lot. Since it is closely associated with python, there are also a number of users you'll find on stackoverflow.

[Alvar]

Could you add ways to get hold of each program you recommend?

[phresnel]

I think the question is about writing, not publishing.

[Mitch]

I think writing and publishing go hand in hand.

[shivams]

focuswrite is not in the official ubuntu repositories. You need to add the launchpad repo. I've updated the answer accordingly.

[blade19899]

@shivams, I just did apt-cache search focuswriter, and it found focuswriter. I am running Ubuntu 14.04.

[shivams]

I am on Linux Mint 17.1 which is based on Ubuntu 14.04. Mint uses all of Ubuntu's official repos, so if it was not present in my repo, it shouldn't be in your repo. Just check, maybe you had added the launchpad repo of gottcode previously.

[shivams]

Hey I just checked it. It is actually there in the official repository. The launchpad repo just provides the latest version. Updating the answer.

[AnotherKiwiGuy]

Can you provide a little more information? Perhaps a list of features you like, and a couple of screenshots? It would be very helpful to see and understand more about it.

[TheOdd]

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review

[LobaLuna]

@ThatGuy Yes, and I'm sorry for not being descriptive before. I'm learning how to answer here

[LobaLuna]

@WinEunuuchs2Unix I think my brief line does answer the question implicitily: Yes, there is a program called bibisco, which is specially designed for writing books.

[LobaLuna]

@OwenHines Thanks for pointing it out. I already edited my response.

[WinEunuuchs2Unix]

@celiapgt after the edit ten minutes ago your answer is appropriate.

[Admin]

This sounded like an interesting piece of software, so I went and looked at the Sourceforge page. Looks like the project has been abandoned. No updates in almost six years, uses outdated libraries, and the Web site belongs to someone else. Too bad.