Perfect Pages: Self Publishing with Microsoft Word, or How to Avoid High-Priced Page Layout Programs or Book Design Fees and Produce Fine Books in MS Word for Desktop Publishing and Print on Demand | 
 enlarge | Author: Aaron Shepard
Publisher: Shepard Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $12.25
You Save: $3.75 (23%)
New (15) Used (9) from $10.11
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 27130
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 158
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.5
ISBN: 0938497332
Dewey Decimal Number: 686
EAN: 9780938497332
ASIN: 0938497332
Publication Date: January 24, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Often rejected out of hand as a typesetting tool, Microsoft Word has greater typographic capabilities than even most long-time users realize. With a little tweaking, Word can produce type that few readers could distinguish from the best of Quark or InDesign. In this book, Aaron Shepard gives a tour of the depths of the program, describing the settings, commands, and manual adjustments you need to create type that no book reviewer will scoff at. Skeptical? This book's own typesetting is the proof!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 If you're going to self-publish you need to read Shepard June 2, 2008
Perfect Pages and Aiming at Amazon are must reads for anyone considering self-publishing and/or POD. With the right software (and of course writing skills) you will be able to publish a book and get it listed on Amazon after reading these two books.
Perfect Book, Perfect Pudding May 20, 2008
Flower, A Story Of The Nativity Every word in
this review of Perfect Pages is true. First let me say that I don't know Aaron nor have I ever met him, but like many Americans I have
long nursed the desire to write a book. Last year I decided the time
had come. The story flowed from me with little effort, but alas,
writing the Great American Novel (GAN) seemed not so hard as getting it
published. I began exploring options and soon discovered the POD
industry. It turns out that publishing a novel is even easier than
writing one. The only thing you need is a manuscript and money, lots
and lots of money. Did I mention that you need money? You do. Oh
well, investing hundreds of dollars to get my GAN out there seemed
like the only way. I had hoped to make some money on my effort, but
that seemed unlikely given the deals the POD's were offering. They
said I would make money, but after paying them for setup charges,
printing costs, and their cut of the revenue the amount of pie left
over, if any, seemed pretty meager. Oh well a slightly tarnished
dream is better than no dream at all. I sucked it up and continued
on. One day I happened upon Aiming at Amazon on Amazon and ordered
it. Do you know what an epiphany is? It is a moment of wonderous
discovery, a life changing event. Aiming at Amazon was an epiphany
for me. It changed my world view and allowed me to reclaim my shiny
dream of the GAN. After reading AAA, I went back to work on my book confident in its future success. But wait, Aaron Shephard had another book for sale, Perfect Pages. It promised to let me publish my book using nothing but plain old MS Word. The price seemed steep for a 158 page book, but I owed Shep one for AAA so I bought Perfect Pages. I figure the advice on one page of PP alone saved be $1500 and that all told the money I have spent on Aaron's books has saved me $2500-$3000. One of the reviews of PP rates it only a 2. That reviewer said that the proof is in the pudding. I agree but that reviewer did not use PP to publish a book, I DID. Using nothing, NOTHING, do you hear me NOTHING but Aaron's books, a regular PC with regular MSword, I wrote, formatted and published: Flower, A Story of the Nativity, ISBN 9781606430811 proudly for sale on Amazon.com. I did everything myself, including the front cover, spine, and back cover using the information in PP. You know, Aaron's books aren't long. In fact the page count seems low, but that is deceptive. Aaron packs his books full of information and the fact that they are slim volumes make it easy to read them and return to important information without getting lost in the forest. If the proof is in the pudding check out the link to my book included in this review. It still amazes me. There's the pudding. Buy this book.
 Perfect Information May 19, 2008
This book was perfect for me. It gave me step by step instructions on formatting my book.One or two instructions took me a minute to understand but with time I was able to make the changes. I am very famaliar with Word but this book showed me features I never used before. And when I had any questions I emailed the author and he responded in a very timely manner. I highly recommend this book.
Hoping This Will Help Me May 18, 2008
I was in a online group with this author. The people in the group were so rude to this lady asking information about book publishing and editiong. I never posted and never went back there, but I did look at some of the author's books. I want to design books and I hope this book will give me the proper guidelines I need.
So far, it is giving me a lot of informaiton.
 It looks like it was designed with Word May 6, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The promise and premise of the book is to use Word instead of more expensive programs in designing your book, pages "no reviewer will scoff at." The acid test for most readers will be, "Does it look like a 'real' book?" Order a copy, if you want to verify for yourself, since there is no Search Inside feature with this book. When I look at this "book" I see what appears to be a Word document with "book" margins around the page. I felt let down. The book shows how to create blocks of text with correct book formatting; if this is what you are looking for you won't be disappointed. I'm not sure how helpful this would be to someone that is expecting more from a book. Good luck.
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