What kind of software do I need to make a book?

[Ilovemycam]

I am not making a Blurb book. Getting a few hundred books printed up from a low volume printer. I need some easy software to make PDF book to give the printer. I see LR 4 has a book option but i can't figure how to use it. Seems pretty complex to me. Is there some simple software out there to make a basic PDF book for the printer?

 

[dewey]

The book option in LR4 is super easy to use... having said that everyone has a different tolerance for what is easy to use.

What kind of book? Photo book? Photos and text? Text only? What kind of paper? What size?

The software you need to produce the book is tied to the finished product.

 

[CA_]

Adobe Indesign

 

[Ilovemycam]

Photo book. Maybe 60 pictures. With some names to pictures and 5 pages intro and maybe 4 or 5 pages at end. Paper should not matter? Size maybe letter size or bigger.

 

[Ilovemycam]

Adobe Indesign? Looked it up, pretty expensive. Will have to check it out before spending the $. If it is easy then it may be worth it.

A lady told me she uses Printshop to make brochures. Can Printshop be used for books?

 

[Mully]

Blurb has free software to publish through their publishing company. LR 4 also has Blurbs software combined so you can edit in LR and publish there as well. I just did a 224pg book with LR Blurb and it is easy and the quality I got from them was good.

 

[sm4him]

I use InDesign at work and on some of my contract jobs; love it and found it pretty easy to learn the basics of, but before that I had what I would call a "master proficiency" with MS Publisher and so finding my way around in ID wasn't that tough.

If this is the only time you plan to use it, you might consider getting it via the Creative Cloud; that way, you could just pay for a one-month or three-month subscription rather than the entire cost of the software.
Actually, you could probably also download a trial version first, see if you can figure it out easily enough, then decide if you want to get a Creative Cloud subscription for it.

 

[KmH]

In case you or others didn't already know - Lightroom includes access to Lightroom tutorials that are part of Adobe Community Help.

For even more in-depth information I highly recommend the inexpensive reference - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers

Access ACH:
Open Lightroom > Press the keyboard F1 key
or
Open Lightroom > on the Applications bar near the top of the screen click on Help > Lightroom Help the scroll down to Creating Books

 

[unpopular]

I use InDesign at work and on some of my contract jobs; love it and found it pretty easy to learn the basics of, but before that I had what I would call a "master proficiency" with MS Publisher and so finding my way around in ID wasn't that tough.

On behalf of prepress specialists everywhere, THANK YOU for switching to indesign.

Microsoft "Won't Publish" Publisher is a complete POS.

 

[texkam]

InDesign is considered industry standard and yes it is expensive.

Here is a very good free, open source alternative. Scribus.net
It's also available as a portable app. Scribus Portable | PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB, portable and cloud drives