On 22 Mar 2003, Ronald Florence wrote:
> Todd Flaming <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > The trade publishers frequently
> > do a very nice job of editing and typesetting a book. But if you can hire
> > a good editor and do the typesetting youself, you probably will do just as
> > well self-publishing. Big publishing houses expect you to promote your own
> > book, except in rare circumstances. They'll do some work, but not enough.
>
> I don't know what experience you've had with trade publishing houses,
> but the comments above are misleading or downright wrong. Trade
> publishers have resources, access to distribution channels, and PR
> capabilities that dwarf self-publishing. For works that are not
> appropriate to trade, technical, or university presses -- which alas,
> is an increasingly large segment of books today -- self-publishing may
> be effective alternative to not getting published. But despite the
> do-it-yourself guides that tell you can match the resources and
> distribution of a Random House, Knopf, or St. Martins -- it just ain't
> so!
>
> Your comments on using LyX for self-published manuscripts seem very
> apt.
I didn't mean to offend or suggest that the large publishing houses are a
bad place to be. My works would have much more limited distribution than
yours apparently have. And I should have stated I have no direct
experience with large publishers, only what I've heard second-hand from other
authors. So take my comment with a glass of salt.
But now I'm curious -- you say the publishing houses have a lot of
resources for promoting and distributing a book. Do they use them? What
kind of numbers of copies (broad ranges) can you expect for non-fiction
material otherwise appropriate for a university press? I don't mean to get
off topic. If you are inclined to discuss, please e-mail me directly.
Back on topic - I realized a limitation of my solution to the *** section
break. I looked at a model book (yes, put out by a major publisher) and
noticed that section breaks with blank pages (or *** between them) are
followed by paragraphs that have a first line flush left. But with my
solution, the next paragraph is just an ordinary one, so it has an indent.
Here's a fix: create a new section* (not the numbered one) and use the
ERT for the text of that section. Only use this one instead, to make the
font smaller:
\makebox[\textwidth][c]{\small* * *}
That should work. Then you'll have a logical section break, divided as you
want it to be.
Todd Flaming
