5/1     Anyone recommend a word processor for writing a book? My friend's mom
        just finished her book, and it's one Word doc per chapter... I was
        wondering if there is any software out there geared to handle 300 pages?
        She's a writer, so no, she doesn't want to use LaTex.
        \_ FWIW, my mom wrote her dissertation (100s of pages, plus footnotes)
           in WordPerfect.  She seemed pretty happe, but she also used EndNote
           in WordPerfect.  She seemed pretty happy, but she also used EndNote
           to help with footnoting.
        \_ Why in god's name did she start a new doc every page?
                \_ sorry, I meant one doc per chapter.
        \_ Framemaker...kinda industrial, but powerful.
           \_ Don't be mad.  FM is such a bitch she might as well us LaTex.
        \_ People have written math books in latex. -- ilyas
                \_ that's the whole point. she has no interest in making
                   perfectly typeset symbols and the like. she probably
                   just needs something to efficiently handle many pages of text.
           \_ asking someone's mom to use latex is just plain stupid.  she
              needs a word processor.  what she really needs is for someone to
              teach her how to use Word properly.  one .doc per page is just
              user error/ignorance.  she already has the right tool.  she now
              needs lessons in basic use.
                \_ no one doc per page is my typo. it was 41 chapters, so 41
                   docs. she wanted to get the page numbers right before
                   sending the book off to the publisher, so printing each
                   document wont do. as for using 1 doc vs. 41 docs, I don't
                   think her decision to go one doc per chapter was so bad...
                   it's faster to load, easier to manage, etc. also, there are
                   probably fears of losing 1 chapter vs. losing the whole
                   document if there is corruption.
           \_ How many math books nowadays *aren't* written in LaTeX?  I can't
              imagine trying to make a 100+ page document with extensive
              mathematical typesetting without LaTeX. However, I think it's
              pretty clear that the op's friend's mom is *not* writing a
              math book.
              \_ TeX/LaTeX are good even for non-math stuff. I wrote all my
                 english essays in LaTeX, for example.
           \_ I think the OP was acknowledging that LaTeX could be used, but
              it's complexitity was too great for the intended user.
              \_ LaTeX is really not that hard to use. You can do all the
                 typing first, and then the proofing and formatting later.
                 \_ Latex is so easy, even I use it all the time. -- ilyas
              \_ aren't there plenty of graphical LaTeX editors?
                 \_ there's scientific word, but personally i don't trust
                    it.  I've seen people wrestling with it for hours to get
                    it to not fuck up their figure captions, and i've seen it
                    destroy bits and pieces of  documents in screwy ways.
                    mathematica can generate latex from its wysywyg, but
                    it's some kind of fucked up latex code that not all latex
                    compilers will recognize.  if you want a point and click
                    interface, why use latex?
                 \_ no
           \_ LaTeX is flexible, powerful, and totally impossible to use on any
              non-*nix platform.  Don't delete this again.
              \_ wrong. i used to use latex all the time on windows, using
                 miktex under cygwin. there are also other fine editing
                 environments like winedt, if you don't like CLI's.
                 \_ winedt rocks.  also, ostex for mac is really nice.
        \_ Why would she not use Word, and put the whole book in one document?
           Let the publisher worry about formatting it, that's not the
           author's job, unless it's a "book" she'll be printing out and
           binding herself.  (In which case she should still write it in Word
           and then lay it out in Quark or InDesign). -tom
           \_ I agree.  also, writing the document in word doesn't mean you
              can't typeset it in latex later, or better yet get someone
              else to deal with typesetting. as an author, typesetting
              is not really your problem.  I know of one journal(science)
              that actually lets authors submit latex manuscripts which they
              then actually *convert* to Word 97 for publication.  go figure.
        \_ Actually, this is largely the purview of the publisher.  Most
           publishers say ``Thou shalt use xxx.''  In most cases, xxx is one
           version or another of Word.  Most of them like Word for its change
           tracking features.  A handful of publishers will let you use any
           tool you want, but, unless your friend's mom is sufficiently well
           established to pick and choose among publishers, the question is
           probably moot. -dans
        \_ What's wrong with one word doc per chapter? When I was writing, I
           put each chapter in a separate word document. The publishers
           liked this as it made it easier for them to email the chapters
           between the different editors and myself.
           Once the manuscript is finished, the publishers will use
           something like frame or quark to layout all the chapters and add
           indexing codes, consistent footnote numbers, pg numbers, &c.). I
           wouldn't put all the chapters into a big word doc and worry about
           getting the pg numbers right &c.; let the publishers do that,
           they have better tools.
           Just make sure that the publishers send the proofs in ps or pdf
           so that she can get a good idea about how printed edition will
           look. I would plan to spend a couple of weeks reviewing the
           proofs in order to make sure that formatting codes and deleted
           text don't accidentally show up.
           BTW, I wouldn't recommend word for chapters longer than 50
           pages. I ran into problems with footnotes and revision control
           (office{98,X} on Mac).
        \_ I would suggest she try a stick and rock.