Moving My Book from Google Docs to InDesign | Writing The Instructional Design Handbook (Ep. 4)

How do you actually turn a manuscript into a real, fully designed book?

In Episode 4 of my behind-the-scenes working out loud series on creating The Instructional Design Handbook, I’m walking through the process of taking content out of a Google Doc and bringing it into Adobe InDesign to start building the actual book.

This is where things start to get real.

It’s not just copy and paste. It’s layout decisions, spacing constraints, formatting challenges, and figuring out how everything fits together into a cohesive learning experience. In many ways, it feels less like writing…and more like solving a design puzzle.

In this video, I share what that process actually looks like as I begin building Chapter 5 of the book and work through the realities of designing a professional instructional design resource from scratch.

This video covers:

- How I move a manuscript from Google Docs into Adobe InDesign
- The realities of designing a book layout with constraints
- How I use paragraph styles, parent pages, and formatting in InDesign
- Why book design often feels like a “Tetris” game
- How I structure chapters, sections, and callouts
- Fixing widows, orphans, and formatting issues
- How I design “Reality Check” and other instructional callouts
- Why designing a book is about creating a full learning experience

This series is a working-out-loud look at the creation of my new book, The Instructional Design Handbook, a follow-up to The eLearning Designer’s Handbook.

If you’re interested in instructional design, eLearning development, or learning and development, this series gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into creating a real-world instructional design resource.

Follow the full series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqq0if6rsK0olXOKyEPMT6MYcZNqpLBki

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This program is designed for aspiring instructional designers, career transitioners, and learning professionals who want to build real skills—not just watch videos.

Learn more here:
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Timestamps
00:00 Welcome and Working Out Loud Series Update
00:17 Overview of The Instructional Design Handbook Project
01:16 Instructional Design Certificate Program and Book Access
02:59 Moving a Manuscript from Google Docs into Adobe InDesign
03:21 Book Layout Challenges: Designing Within Constraints (The “Tetris” Effect)
04:44 Tour of Current Book Layout and Page Design
07:06 Setting Up Chapter Five in Adobe InDesign
07:44 Designing Chapter Covers and Adding Visual Elements
10:06 Importing Text and Applying Paragraph Styles in InDesign
12:20 Flowing Text Across Pages and Adding Impact Callouts
14:06 Fixing Widows, Orphans, and Text Formatting Issues
16:58 Structuring Content: Outputs of the Design Phase Section
19:40 Building a “Reality Check” Callout in the Book Layout
22:18 Wrap-Up and What’s Next in the Book Creation Process

#InstructionalDesign #eLearning #LearningAndDevelopment #BookWriting #BookDesign

Видео Moving My Book from Google Docs to InDesign | Writing The Instructional Design Handbook (Ep. 4) канала The eLearning Designer's Academy by Tim Slade