Osirus,

I've been thinking about my last post and I feel I should apologize. I've had some negative experiences with Word that I've let get the best of me.

Let me say this: all things being equal, I do feel you're better off using PageMaker or FrameMaker than Word to do your publication. However, all things are almost always not equal.

The most important thing is not which software to use, rather it's to begin taking action as soon as you can. Don't let the software you use become a bottleneck -- if you are comfortable with Word and can get your document to look the way you want with it, then get started with it (but check with your printer first to see what file type they accept). After you have some income coming in from your project, then you can consider upgrading your software. The important thing is to get moving and test your idea as quickly as is reasonable.

Having said that, here are some tips if you do use Word:

• learn a little about styles (if you don't understand them already) and get that feature working for you -- if used well, they will save you a lot of time.
• go and bookmark http://www.mvps.org/word/ -- there you will find the most helpful information on Word I've ever seen anywhere. Check there first if you run into any trouble.
• ask your printer if they accept .ps (for "postscript" -- not .eps or "encapsulated postscript") files. If so, you can generate a .ps file just by printing your Word doc and, before actually printing, checking the "Print to File" option. (I assume here that you have a postscript printer, if not this won't work.)
• Or, another alternative is to pick up a copy of Adobe Acrobat (~$250 new) and use it to convert your Word file to a PDF file -- but check with your printer first to make sure they accept PDF files (most do).

Those are some ideas. I hope that's more helpful than my last post.

Best to you,
Phil

P.S. -- You might get the impression from my last post that I'm against MS Word. Not so -- I think Word is fantastic for composing and manipulating text. It's a great thinking tool. However, I feel it could be much better at document formatting.