Re: [O] LaTex export questions

[Steven Arntson]

Nick Dokos <address@hidden> writes:

> Igor Sosa Mayor <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> Steven Arntson <address@hidden> writes:
>>
>>> Hi, I'm trying to export an org-mode doc to LaTex and subsequently to
>>> PDF. This is a literary novel, written in prose. Right now when I run
>>> the export command, the resulting file is incorrectly formatted for the
>>> literary world, and I'm not sure how to change it. Is there a dialog or
>>> "customize" menu that allows users to eliminate some default settings,
>>> and add others?
>>
>> Maybe you can configure it with 
>> M-x customize-group org
>>
>> But I think a look at the manual is pretty useful and you can configure
>> it in your .emacs without very much complication:
>>
>> http://orgmode.org/manual/Export-settings.html#Export-settings
>> http://orgmode.org/manual/LaTeX-and-PDF-export.html#LaTeX-and-PDF-export
>
> I may be barking up the wrong tree, but to me the problem seems to be
> not so much what org does, but what latex does. If that is so, then
> perhaps what is needed is a latex style file that formats prose
> "correctly for the literary world". That may be a non-trivial
> undertaking (but maybe not: typographical demands for a novel are
> trivial compared to say mathematics). Integrating such a hypothetical
> style file into org would be pretty easy.
>
> But perhaps the OP can clarify: what does "incorrectly formatted for
> the literary world" mean?
>
> Nick

Full disclosure: I'm a beginning emacs user, and I know nothing about
LaTex at all!

I'm not producing a "book" per se, but a manuscript that will be
printed on 8.5 x 11 pages and read by my agent or a publisher. The
conventions are simple, but thus far I haven't been able to understand
much of what I'm reading in the customize menu for org-mode.

Until now I've done this formatting with MS Word or Libre Office. I
dislike those programs, but I know how to use them. Simplest has been to
take my raw org-mode txt files and convert them manually. It's a tedious
last step before sending downstream, which I'd love to replace, and I've
seen some beautiful LaTex examples online, so I know it's possible ... 

Literary format redux:
+ 12 point text
+ Title page has title and author name, centered both horizontally and
vertically. Contact info for agent is in the bottom left, single spaced.
+ Remaining pages are double-spaced
+ Page numbers are centered at the bottom of the page (but no page number
on title page)
+ Each page has a right-justified header in the format LASTNAME/TITLE

That's it. I guess I'm wondering now--should I be learning more about
org-mode, or more about LaTex?

Thank you very much for taking the time to read all of this.

-Steven