Any other Linux-using authors here?

[DragonRiderOz]

G’day. folks!

Just wondering if there are any other Linux diehards in the crowd using it for writing and publishing. I’m running Linux Mint (Debian Edition) with NovelWriter and LibreOffice Writer mostly, and I’ve been dabbling with Markdown in plain text lately too.

Would love to swap tips, workflows, or rants about what works (or doesn’t) for your writing setup. Always on the lookout for tools that won’t break the bank or my brain.

[Quoth]

Lots.
KATE for plain text resources.

[DragonRiderOz]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Lots.
KATE for plain text resources.

I'm sorry, I'm unfamiliar with KATE. What is that please?

[DragonRiderOz]

Ah, sorry. Now I know. I've never heard of that one before. Looks handy for the next time I work on source or Markdown. Thanks.

[arjaybe]

I use MX as my OS. I write by hand, transcribe with LibreOffice and convert to ePub with Calibre. I record with Audacity. In keeping with the Free Software philosophy, many of my novels are licensed with Creative Commons. When the world finally discovers my work and lavishes me with money, I will make larger donations to the Free Software creators.-)

[retiredbiker]

My method might seem a bit techie, but once set up it works like a charm. Used on Pop_os! at the moment.

I use LibreOffice and Sigil. I have a LibreOffice template set up to start the process--it has all the custom styles I would use in a book (of course more can be added as needed). Use this for the text, and no ad-hoc formatting except short italics or bold.

Then in the Sigil ODTImport plugin I have a css file that exactly matches the styles in the LibreOffice template, but with units of em (not pt or cm) for the ebook. Import the LO file using the plugin, and you get two css files in the epub, a default and the custom one. Delete the default one, and voila, you have an epub styled just like to LO document, and even with the same style names. If you have added some style, you have to add that into the epub, but that is about all.

You may need to diddle the metadata, TOC, and so on. Sometimes I use the Calibre editor for that; it makes some things easier than Sigil.

LibreOffice of course can do a PDF suitable for publishing on paper, no problem. The template actually can have the page sizes and margins for a 6x9 paperback as well as the styling stuff.

[roger64]

Using exactly the same technique as retiredbiker, with Arch linux.

[rjwse@aol.com]

I have been writing using the calibre editor in Ubuntu. When finished, it is already in EPUB format for delivery to Amazon as an ebook. I use calbre's converter (click 'C') to make PDF version for upload to Amazon as paperback and hardback versions. I use Gimp to make the cover jacket. For the process of writing and editing itself calibre's snippets and .XCompose are my main tools. I became ever-so-interested in fancy word processors decades ago, leading up to 'desktop publishing' software. Now I've come back full circle to simple editing without so many features. Books are on Amazon under R J W Seddon

[rcentros]

I can't really count myself as an author since I've only sold a couple short stories to tiny magazines back in the 80s. (My brother and I also published a couple very short-lived small press magazines in the late 80s and early 90s.)

But I do use Linux for writing. Mostly (since about 2000) I play around with short screen plays (now only a hobby) and use either Trelby or Fountain-Mode (a mark-up format) in Emacs for writing them. I also own Fade In (bought that mostly to support the publisher since they put out a Linux version). I can use ScriptThing for DOS in DOSBox-X, export to .ascii and import that into Fade In and it preserves all formatting. ScriptThing for DOS was my first screenplay writing software, so I enjoy using it for nostalgic reasons. (And it's still a good program.)

If I was going write short stories or a novel now, I would use WordStar 7 for DOS in DOSBox-X, then use the Convert utility to convert the WordStar file to RTF format and load that into LibreOffice. It works well (preserving most formatting) with just a few adjustments in LibreOffice. WordStar is by far my favorite word processor — I like keeping my fingers on the "home keys" of the keyboard. And I've been using WordStar since the late-80s, so my fingers have been "hard wired" for WordStar keystrokes (for over 45 years now). I also use the Jstar "flavor" (WordStar keystrokes) of the JOE editor in the Linux terminal.

For what it's worth.

[Hellmark]

I do most of my work for stuff in Sigil. Writing before that, I am kinda all over the place. Sometimes google docs, sometimes libreoffice, sometimes Pulsar.

[WillAdams]

If I don't use a plain text editor/development environment such as TeXstudio or something along those lines, I use LyX, a "What You See Is What You Mean" document processor.

[nana77]

Hi, if you want give it a look, OnlyOffice doesn't looks bad (imho): https://www.onlyoffice.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnlyOffice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar..._office_suites

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by nana77

Hi, if you want give it a look, OnlyOffice doesn't looks bad (imho):

As an alternative to Google Docs or MS 365 it's maybe great. But it's designed for online or LAN plus server.

A terrible solution for a writer, or anyone not doing real time collaboration.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by Quoth

As an alternative to Google Docs or MS 365 it's maybe great. But it's designed for online or LAN plus server.

A terrible solution for a writer, or anyone not doing real time collaboration.

Ok! Sorry.
Ghostwriter looks nice: https://ghostwriter.kde.org/