I'm reading Hampton Sides these days - The Wide, Wide Sea (Captain Cook's last voyage), In the Kingdom of Ice (good ship Jeannette searching for Northern passage). Am on wait list for a few others. I listen to fiction when driving, cleaning, etc. - mostly mysteries (just finished all Louise Penny's, have embarked on Tana French). I'm a slow reader, and love the luxury of reading purely for pleasure. A friend just gave me The Eight Mountains (Paolo Cognetti, but in English), and I've two books of same title to read for a book club (The Art Thief - one fiction, one non-fiction). Looks like you have to read a lot of businessy, time-management stuff... work or pleasure?
Hi Jeremy, I'm looking to create a handbook for my sports club athletes/ parents. 10-15 pages long, and convert it to an ebook. Do you know of any good software for the design/ layout? Thank you
Hi James, I would recommend Canva for this — it's easy to use and has lots of useful templates and graphic elements. If you're on a Mac, I'd also recommend Apple's Pages, which is also easy to use and has nice templates for this kind of handbook/ebook. CHeck out: https://www.canva.com/create/ebooks/ and https://www.canva.com/booklets/templates/
p.s. When I queried Perplexity about this, it offered some additional tools you could consider if Canva or Pages doesn't work for you:
• Adobe InDesign: Industry-standard for professional book and ebook design, with advanced layout, typography, and export options. Best for those comfortable with more complex tools.
• Blurb BookWright: Free, user-friendly software with templates, ideal for photo-heavy or visually engaging handbooks. Exports to print and digital formats.
None of our to-read titles match, but I'm thrilled to see your books are from the Library. Ha.
What’s at the top of your reading list now, Louise?
I'm reading Hampton Sides these days - The Wide, Wide Sea (Captain Cook's last voyage), In the Kingdom of Ice (good ship Jeannette searching for Northern passage). Am on wait list for a few others. I listen to fiction when driving, cleaning, etc. - mostly mysteries (just finished all Louise Penny's, have embarked on Tana French). I'm a slow reader, and love the luxury of reading purely for pleasure. A friend just gave me The Eight Mountains (Paolo Cognetti, but in English), and I've two books of same title to read for a book club (The Art Thief - one fiction, one non-fiction). Looks like you have to read a lot of businessy, time-management stuff... work or pleasure?
Nice list! Interesting mix. Mine is a combo of work and pleasure.
Hi Jeremy, I'm looking to create a handbook for my sports club athletes/ parents. 10-15 pages long, and convert it to an ebook. Do you know of any good software for the design/ layout? Thank you
Hi James, I would recommend Canva for this — it's easy to use and has lots of useful templates and graphic elements. If you're on a Mac, I'd also recommend Apple's Pages, which is also easy to use and has nice templates for this kind of handbook/ebook. CHeck out: https://www.canva.com/create/ebooks/ and https://www.canva.com/booklets/templates/
p.s. When I queried Perplexity about this, it offered some additional tools you could consider if Canva or Pages doesn't work for you:
• Adobe InDesign: Industry-standard for professional book and ebook design, with advanced layout, typography, and export options. Best for those comfortable with more complex tools.
https://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html
• Blurb BookWright: Free, user-friendly software with templates, ideal for photo-heavy or visually engaging handbooks. Exports to print and digital formats.
https://www.blurb.com/bookwright
• Visme: Cloud-based design tool with interactive ebook templates and drag-and-drop editing, suitable for visually rich handbooks.
https://www.visme.co/ebooks/
• Scribus: Free, open-source desktop publishing software for more advanced users who want full control over layout and design.
https://www.scribus.net/
• Draft2Digital: Free ebook formatting and distribution platform, best if you plan to publish and distribute the handbook widely as an ebook.
https://www.draft2digital.com/
Thank you :)