Within the various writers groups to which I subscribe and in which I participate, I come across every day someone posting about difficulties producing a book. People ask about appropriate program to write their books, create illustrations, design their books, and format their e-books. Inevitably, many complain that the software they use for whichever task isn’t doing what they want it to do.
Case in point: My best friend was tapped to design the flyers and newsletter for her equestrian group. The person who had been performing that task used Microsoft PowerPoint: not the correct tool for the job. She complained about the difficulty of the task and praised my friend’s ability to design documents that met expectations.
“How do you do that?” the woman asked.
“Magic,” my friend answered, when in reality the more accurate response was to use the right tool for the job.
I understand why someone would gravitate toward a familiar tool. If you’re proficient in the use of a particular tool, then that’s the one you want to use. It’s easy for you because you’ve already mastered it. However, just because you can use that tool doesn’t mean you should use it or that it’s suitable for that particular purpose.
Using the wrong tool adds difficulty and complexity to the task and results in exasperation, frustration, and less than optimal results. Really, there’s no benefit in using a tool that makes you want to tear your hair out. Using the wrong tool that delivers amateurish results does you no favors.
This is one reason why I so strongly advocate for hiring professionals.
A professional already knows the correct tool(s) to use for the task and has mastered its(their) use. Knowledge, experience, skill, and mastery are what make a professional professional.
If you want to learn how to use a particular tool to save some money and acquire a new skill, go ahead. Be brave and adventurous! Understand that these specialized, powerful tools tend to have learning curves; it will take time and practice to learn how to use them correctly and gain proficiency. It also helps to learn the lingo of the task you want to do. The jargon accompanying designing for print differs from the language used for e-book formatting.
But until you master that tool and can produce professional results, hire a pro so you don’t inflict amateurish work on the unsuspecting public.
The correct software for the task was designed for that task. Many programs also incorporate features and functions that expand upon their original purposes. For instance, Microsoft Word has evolved to incorporate many formatting options; however, it was not created for page design and, frankly, doesn’t do a very good job of page design. Yet many people know how to use it and do use it to design their documents … then they wonder why their documents don’t look quite professional.
Use the right tool for the job.
So, what are the right tools?
- Writing (i.e., word processing): Microsoft Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice
- Illustrations: Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator
- Document design (i.e., page design): Adobe InDesign
- E-book formatting: Your guess is as good as mine because this is not my forte. (I’ve heard Sigil, Atticus, and Vellum do very well for this purpose.)
Think of it this way: If all you know how to use is a hammer, no matter how skilled you are with a hammer, it’s not going to be very useful if you want to make a cake. Writing and editing, graphic art and graphic design are all entailed in producing books, but they are not the same tasks, nor do they entail the same skill sets. If you want to produce a book but you lack skill in any of the tasks necessary to create professional results, then hire a professional for that task.
Every word counts.