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View Poll Results: Ebook Authors - What's your favorite word processor?
Microsoft Word 43 46.24%
Apple Pages 3 3.23%
Open Office 27 29.03%
WordPerfect 5 5.38%
Plain text editor (i.e. Notepad, etc.) 4 4.30%
Microsoft Works 1 1.08%
I use a specialized writing application 10 10.75%
Voters: 93. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 01-08-2011, 06:18 AM   #16
HealyHQ
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OpenOffice.org, hands down.
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Old 01-08-2011, 09:02 AM   #17
DanMcGirt
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My favorite is/was the antique version of WordPerfect I used up until 1999. I became a reluctant Word user and have gotten used to it, but I still miss having a real <reveal codes> capability. I prefer Word 2003 to the ribbon-bedecked revisions. I have played a bit with OpenOffice and Google Docs ... but still have to convert to Word at some point, so these seem like extra steps.
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Old 01-08-2011, 10:02 AM   #18
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I ticked Open Office on the form, but my all time favourite would be RoughDraft, a very light RTF editor created by Richard Salsbury (http://www.salsbury.f2s.com/rd.htm). Richard, himself, is a writer, and he created RoughDraft for writers. It's basically a no frills editor that will save in either TXT or RTF (Rich Text Format), or it can create a simple HTML page for you. The beauty of the HTML editor is that it makes an extremely light file with only enough HTML code to make show up, properly formatted, on the computer screen -- not like programs like front page that use a tun of unnecessary code that makes a file many times the size of the original. It has a good spelling checker, which gives you the option of either British or American spelling, and it has natural tie-in link to an outside freeware program called Wordweb, a very handy dictionary/thesaurus.

While Roughdraft is available, Richard Salisbury has left off developing it. It's only available for the Dos/Windows environment, though it's said it can be made to work partially on LINUX via Wine. Because of those limitations, I'm stuck with Open Office.
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Old 01-08-2011, 12:42 PM   #19
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Open Office, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of Mac Word (for Smashwords' sake!)
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Old 01-08-2011, 12:50 PM   #20
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I do my writing in my own software, The Journal. However, I export my stories and novels to RTF format, run the RTF through a processor (that I also wrote) to standardize the formatting and beautify a few things (like curly quotes), and, finally, bring the RTF into Word to make it a DOC. From that point on, it's all Word all the time to create the final ebook doc files for DTP, Smashwords and PubIt.

So...yeah...I write in a specialized application. I do final formatting for the ebook in Word 2002 (because I'm too cheap to replace an MS Office version that still works quite well).

-David
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Old 01-08-2011, 02:05 PM   #21
Perryw
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word processor preferences

I like Word and have used it for most of my writing career. I recently found Scrivener for Windows (beta) and now I use that for everything up to my final draft. Then I work in Word.
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Old 01-08-2011, 02:47 PM   #22
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Thumbs up MSWord

Used MSWorks for years and found it to be a user-friendly program. Loved it. However, discovered it was not popular in business offices. Forced to learn MSWord. Hated it at first (you know how we hate change) b/after the learning process, prefer it. That's been a long time ago. Then...as Microsoft will do threw a steep learning curve into MSWord 2007. Hated it, too. B/am beginning to love it after the learning process. (Is that supposed to be fun?) Have used OO b/found it not to be that great. Linux uses strange terms that you have to have a dict to follow. What '"seeking publication" writer has time for that? Anyway to sum it all up, MSWord Rocks!

View my books at:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/patrachal
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32447 God's Glorious Symphony (nature)
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32247 Halloween: Hallowed or Heinous? (apologetic)
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32654 GhiAna's Jewels (fiction)
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/33682 The Light in the Valley (non fiction)
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36419 Rhythms of Love (poetry)
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Old 01-08-2011, 03:21 PM   #23
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Open Office is what I use because it runs on Linux and Word does not. It does run on Windows as well and it is free. As far as I can tell it does everything Word does only more portable and cheaper, including exporting to doc files required by Smashwords. I have not found any issues with the doc files from OO.

I used to use an old copy of Word before I went to Linux, and I've seen the latest Word (2007) and I figured if I need to learn a new interface it might as well be OO which runs everywhere.

What I would really prefer is an XML format such as MaduraDocs (write using an XML editor and track changes using SVN). Okay, I do know I won't get much agreement on that one. Currently I can't send that format to Smashwords unless I write something to convert to doc. Well, there's an idea...

But seriously I'd rather Mark and his colleagues spent their time on other things than adding new formats. Doc is useable enough and we have alternatives to Word.
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Old 01-08-2011, 05:24 PM   #24
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I write in a specialized application (yWriter on Windows, Scrivener on Mac) but I do my final edits (especially on any collaborative works) in MS Word.
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Old 01-08-2011, 05:35 PM   #25
Richard Herley
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I checked OpenOffice, but I'm also a fan of XyWrite 3. This is a DOS program, vintage 1988 or so, about as user-unfriendly as it can possibly be, but fantastically flexible and fast -- I run it on an old Pentium laptop to avoid the distractions of the net. Nowadays though I tend to use Linux for drafting, so OO is it. The latest version of OO Writer is very nice. The small size of *.odt files means you can keep every draft of everything you write.

Mark: I hope this poll is a sign that the Smashwords meatgrinder is being prepared for more sophisticated uploads than the Style Guide presently recommends!
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Old 01-08-2011, 07:09 PM   #26
Ken Irving
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I have been using Openoffice since it was Staroffice, not just because it is extra cheap but because it runs on everything I have, from Windows 2000 to Vista, plus Linux, and it would run on a Mac if I had that. And now there are some very good epub extensions (especially writer2epub) that ease the transition from manuscript to ebook. I just bought my first copy of MS Office (2007) ever last year because I needed Excel for a particular job, and find it quite good, but Openoffice remains the standard for me.
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Old 01-08-2011, 07:20 PM   #27
DreamWriter
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I'm using MS Word 2007, which I switched to several years ago after using WordPerfect since the early 1980s! I even used a DOS version (before Windows was invented). And before WordPerfect, I typed on dedicated word-processing machines, like Vydec – before personal computers were available to the masses! That certainly dates me!

Word's "ribbon" menus felt very foreign (and frustrating!) at first, but I have no problem finding my way around the menus now.

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Old 01-08-2011, 07:31 PM   #28
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Forever Darkness Series

With all the books I have published and the ones still to come, Microsoft Word works perfectly for me.

Forever Undead
Darkness in the Light
Forever the Dark Grave
Dark Angel: Fallen
Rebirth of the Gods
B.A.B.E.S.
S.T.U.D.S.
Superion
Parellels
XKALIBUR
Pumpkin Jack Skull and Other Tales of Terror (Always FREE)
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Old 01-09-2011, 04:02 AM   #29
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Hi Richard, when I first started Smashwords 3 yrs ago, I posted a survey over at LinkedIn where I asked book authors what word processor they preferred using. At the time, 95% of them answered MS Word, which is why it made sense to build Meatgrinder and the Style Guide around it. To date, the decision has worked quite well for us and our authors, despite the non-stop ridicule we receive from people who find it absurd we'd build a publishing platform around Word. But then, many found the entire notion of Smashwords absurd, so thank you very much, I guess I like absurb. This survey represents my attempt to do a reality check and get a feel for how things have changed in the last three years. Thanks to everyone who has already provided great insight!
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Old 01-09-2011, 04:15 AM   #30
GeoffC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Perryw View Post
I like Word and have used it for most of my writing career. I recently found Scrivener for Windows (beta) and now I use that for everything up to my final draft. Then I work in Word.


welcome to mobileread ...


For years I used OneNote for poetry; then I discovered Scrivener (Beta for Windows) when tacking NaNoWriMo - but eventually WORD gets a look-in for the final stages.....
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