Would like to start a thread for Indie Authors using MSWord.

I tried Scrivener, but quickly realized it's just a file structure gimmick, and doesn't mesh with Word's Track Changes feature outside editor's use. Track is critical for most Indies.

But Scrivener did allowed me to organize my workflow and end up with a document I could easily Export/Compile in any format. Word does not.

But! I think I've figured Scrivener out enough to write a 100k words in Word that's formatted properly and can be Imported in Scrivener, et al, so that I can output to all formats.

So I'm asking if anyone has written a chaptered piece in Word, formatted it properly for the Indie Author market, and can explain here how to set up a docx. to the end.

Ray Bright

Scrivener claims to be able to "Export your finished document to a wide variety of file formats, including Microsoft Word, RTF, PDF and HTML" - all of which Word can already do. What Word doesn't provide native formats for include the ePub & Kindle formats, but there are plenty of converters out there for that, too. Doubtless, Word also has export formats that Scrivener lacks...

Scrivener's functions for combining content from several documents is also supported in Word (using INCLUDETEXT fields), which has the advantage of allowing you to drag content between documents AND use Track Changes.

See also: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/o...6-e6be6161086a

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

SCRIVENER has many very useful functions that MSW doesn't, but in the end I have send a .docx to my editor, and it falls flat right there. You can Export from Scriv to .docx but then you're right where you'd be if you wrote in MSW.

I'm doing an experiment: Reformatting a 150k word .docx as follows. Set tabs to auto 0.25, manually making all Chapter headings - Heading 1. I think I can Import into Scriv using Separater #, which will make each Heading 1 into a separate chapter, and give me all the Scriv functionality.

My only reservation is in preserving that formatting during my editor's Track Changes.

Scriv is hard to beat in outlining, general organization and especially research, and Exports to eBook file formats.

Hearing good things about Vellum, a finishing application for .docx. Microsoft doesn't seem interested in Independent Authors, so newer, more hungry developers are running away with these programs.

There will always be room for niche markets. Doubtless, if MS sees a worthwhile demand for the kind of functionality you see in Scrivener, etc., and for saving to eBook formats, it will provide it in due course. I hardly think its market share in the word-processing space is under threat from Scrivener et al.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]