How to Write a Book

How to Write a Book: Step-by-Step Guide

This guide provides a structured approach to starting a new book project using provided scripts. Follow these steps to set up your project, write content, and generate various book formats.

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1. Install Required Software

Before you start, install the necessary tools:

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install pandoc calibre

macOS (using Homebrew)

brew install pandoc calibre

Windows

• Install Pandoc
• Install Calibre
• Use Git Bash or WSL for running scripts

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2. Create a New Book Project

✅ Precondition: You’ve already created your own repository based on this template.

Run the following script to automatically generate a well-structured directory layout for your book project:

chmod +x create_project_structure.sh
./create_project_structure.sh

This will create the following structure (replace book-project/ with your actual repository name):

book-project/
│── manuscript/
│   ├── chapters/
│   │   ├── 01-introduction.md
│   │   ├── 02-chapter-title.md
│   ├── front-matter/
│   │   ├── toc.md
│   │   ├── preface.md
│   │   ├── acknowledgments.md
│   │   ├── foreword.md
│   ├── back-matter/
│   │   ├── appendix.md
│   │   ├── glossary.md
│   │   ├── faq.md
│   │   ├── bibliography.md
│   │   ├── index.md
│   │   ├── about-the-author.md
│── assets/
│── config/
│── output/
│── README.md
│── LICENSE

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3. Write Your Book

• Create or edit markdown files in manuscript/chapters/
• Add your content chapter-by-chapter.

Example:

manuscript/chapters/01-introduction.md

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4. Add Metadata and Style

Edit config/metadata.yaml and config/styles.css to customize your book's metadata and style.

Example metadata:

title: "My Awesome Book"
author: "Your Name"
date: "2025"
isbn: "123-4567890123"

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5. Generate Book Formats

Use the preferred script:

• Recommended (robust and flexible): full_export_book.py

Run the script:

python full_export_book.py

Outputs will be in the output/ directory:

• PDF
• EPUB
• DOCX
• Markdown

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6. Preview and Edit

• Open output/book.pdf for a preview.
• Modify content in manuscript/chapters/ as needed.
• Re-run the export script to regenerate outputs.

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7. Publish Your Book

Once you're satisfied:

• Print it: Upload book.pdf to a printing service like Amazon KDP.
• Ebooks: Upload book.epub and book.mobi to Kindle Direct Publishing or other platforms.

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8. Additional Book Sections

Enhance your book readability by adding:

• Preface, Acknowledgments, Epilogue
• Glossary, Bibliography, Appendix
• Index, About the Author

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For detailed usage of the export script, see the documentation for full_export_book.py.

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🎉 Congratulations! You are now ready to publish your book! 🚀