Re: I'm new, and yes...plea
My personal opinion is that templates lull people into a sense of false security.
So you want to create a book - have a look at some of the books you already own.
Are any of these in a similar format to what you would like to produce.
If the books are on you bookshelf then the reason they are there is because they sell.
Take a ruler - measure the page size, measure the margins, identify the font and it's size.
Then create a document to a similar spec - but first check what sizes Lulu supports as your document size must be the same size as the finsihed book size.
Once you've created your book use the Lulu Publishing Wizard to upload you files and make your book.
It's free - it doesn't matter if the first try is a total failure (although it's unlikely to be one).
The buy a copy (yes that might cost you a few pounds, euros, dollars, drachma) but gosh you've got a hard copy in your hand.
Now I don't use Open Office but you may find this tutorial of help as it's based on producing a book in .doc format.
...and when you fin the occasional niggle or problem come and ask here - most of us are very friendly.
As Ken says, have a look at many other books of the size you want and measure the margins and headers/footers. But take in to account that the book makers will trim a bit off, so add a bit for that. Also remember that the thicker the book the harder it is to fully open so the left hand text may be hard to see. So the more pages you have, the larger the left margin needs to be, in my opinion, which will be wider than the right to start with.
One problem I had with my last batch of books was the trimming seemed to have gone off-centre! So I have added a tad more to all the 'borders' to account for this ever happening again. (After all, you do not see what your customers get and it's not often you know who they are anyway.) It's a bind (sic) but there you go.
