出版与作家生涯2016medium.com编辑精选
我如何仅用开源工具写作并出版了我的小说
How I wrote and published my novel using only open source tools
导读
这篇讲作者如何只用开源工具写作并自出版小说，重点涉及纯文本写作、脚本化排版和 PDF/发行流程。对写作者来说，它提供了一套减少工具摩擦、把初稿与最终排版分开的可借鉴工作流，也提醒出版并不只是“写完”。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
初稿阶段用 Markdown 或纯文本快速捕捉结构和想法，避免排版细节打断写作。
- 02
用 Git 等版本控制提交长文修改，配合预览工具，让草稿历史可回溯。
- 03
把初稿格式和最终出版排版分开：轻量格式便于快写，定稿时再导入排版工具并做二次编辑。
- 04
若计划自出版，提前把封面/内文 PDF、目录更新和发行平台费用纳入流程，而不是写完才考虑。
HN 评论精选
Markdown 的价值在于低摩擦快速记录与版本管理，并能在定稿时触发二次编辑。
不错的总结。我目前用 Markdown 写一本技术书，知道以后会为此付出代价，但我不在乎，因为能快速写作、没有东西妨碍我。我可以用 git 提交修改，并用一堆工具预览。现在用 Markdown 也会迫使我在交给正式编辑做最终版时再编辑一次。对怀疑者：我不觉得用 Markdown 比用打字机差；它只是临时媒介，便于快速捕捉结构和想法。
binarymax查看英文原文
Nice writeup. I'm currently writing a (technical) book in markdown, and I know I am going to pay for it later, but I don't care because I'm able to write quickly without anything getting in the way. I'm able to use git to commit changes and a host of tools to preview the work. Also, using markdown now will force me to edit it again when putting a final version together for a real editor. For the skeptics: I don't see how using markdown is any worse than using a typewriter. Its an interim medium that allows for quick capture of structure and thought.
Markdown 加脚本可自动完成大部分排版，但目录等少量步骤仍需人工检查。
我用类似流程写自己的书，只是用 Perl 脚本代替 Pandoc；从 Markdown 风格文本开始非常舒服。LibreOffice 文档本质是压缩的 XML，所以可自动生成格式正确的 ODF，唯一要手动更新目录再导出 PDF；gitbook 也适合展示 Markdown 书并收集修改。
PieterH查看英文原文
I use a similar flow for my own books, except Perl scripts instead of Pandoc. Starting with a markdown-style text format is so nice. One thing with LibreOffice is that you can generate documents, they are just XML zipped up. So my tools produce ODF files with proper formatting (ready for CreateSpace), automatically. The only thing I can't automate is producing the table of contents; for that I have to open the document once and update the ToC, then export the PDF. My tools are on github (https://github.com/booksbyus/mkbook) and there's an example book using them (https://github.com/booksbyus/scalable-c). Also to note: * gitbook works really well as a front-end to show Markdown books off a git repo and collect edits. See https://www.gitbook.com/book/hintjens/social-architecture/details. * If you write your own filters (text to whatever) you can do really interesting things. It's worth learning Perl just for this kind of work. * CreateSpace is excellent, once you have cracked how to produce perfect PDFs for the cover and interior. Highly recommended. * Amazon's author tools are overall good. A bit clunky sometimes (e.g. lots of separate logins), yet they work and can produce decent income for a self-published author. * LibreOffice produces excellent PDFs. Really top class, once you've figured out the details. The way I use it in the mkbook tool is by templating the format; i.e. design a book by hand, then slice out the various pieces of XML, and then generate the body of the book text using the template. This gives me 100% control over the results. * When you automate this, it can work really quickly, as in a few hours to to make a publishable draft, and perhaps 30 minutes to release a new version of the text to CreateSpace. * Get a professional cover designer. It isn't that expensive and makes a big difference.
写完不是终点，自出版需要提前规划营销、发行渠道和费用结构。
恭喜。顺带说，我觉得你逆向工程 Dan Brown 的那篇文章比这篇有趣得多。但写作似乎只是容易的部分；你打算怎么营销这本书？写了四年，肯定希望最大曝光。有具体计划吗？是否考虑过把书交给出版社，还是一直决定自出版？对亚马逊收费结构有何评论？
chatmasta查看英文原文
Congratulations on a great accomplishment. For what it's worth, I found your post on how you reverse engineered Dan Brown [0] far more interesting than this one. Very cool! But it seems writing was the easy part; how do you plan to market the book? After four years of writing, surely you want to make sure it gets maximum exposure. Do you have any concrete plans here? Did you ever consider shopping the book around to publishers, or were you always set on publishing it yourself? Any comment on the fee structure of Amazon? [0] https://medium.com/@gabrielgambetta/how-i-wrote-my-first-novel-during-my-daily-commute-e1d02c9447b9#.6i2bynt95
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