Painless Memoir Class Book Template

Question

I would like to find a memoir class book template that has the basic features of a book already configured (with dummy type, dummy figures, etc.) that compiles properly, so I can just start writing without having to read any long and tedious manuals.

Where can I find such a thing?

Answer 1

Seems like a legitimate question to me, though granted that customization creates an infinity of choices. Here's book template that's worked for me:

\documentclass[10pt,twoside,openright]{memoir}
%\usepackage{createspace}
%\usepackage[size=pocket,noicc]{createspace}
\usepackage[paperwidth=4.25in, paperheight=6.875in,bindingoffset=.75in]{geometry}
%\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage[spanish]{babel}
\usepackage{tgtermes}

%\usepackage{mathpazo}
\usepackage[protrusion=true,expansion=true]{microtype}
%\usepackage{type1cm}
%\usepackage{lettrine}

%\checkandfixthelayout

% See the ``Memoir customise'' template for some common customisations
% Don't forget to read the Memoir manual: memman.pdf

%\title{TITLE OF BOOK}
%\author{NAME OF AUTHOR}
%\date{} % Delete this line to display the current date

%% BEGIN TITLE

\makeatletter
\def\maketitle{%
  \null
  \thispagestyle{empty}%
  \vfill
  \begin{center}\leavevmode
    \normalfont
    {\LARGE\raggedleft \@author\par}%
    \hrulefill\par
    {\huge\raggedright \@title\par}%
    \vskip 1cm
%    {\Large \@date\par}%
  \end{center}%
  \vfill
  \null
  \cleardoublepage
  }
\makeatother
\author{NAME OF AUTHOR}
\author{NAME OF AUTHOR}
\title{TITLE OF BOOK}
\date{}










%%% BEGIN DOCUMENT

\begin{document}

\let\cleardoublepage\clearpage


\maketitle






\frontmatter

\null\vfill

\begin{flushleft}
\textit{NAME OF BOOK}


© COPYRIGHT INFO


ISBN--INFO

ISBN--13: 
\bigskip





ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OR COPYRIGHT LICENSE LANGUAGE




\end{flushleft}
\let\cleardoublepage\clearpage

\mainmatter
\sloppy

BOOK TEXT GOES HERE

\end{document}

A lot of mass market paperbacks are printed with Nimbus 9, tgtermes is derived from (or shares a similar parentage with) this font.

createspace package is for printing with Amazon.

Answer 2

It is not a direct answer to your question, because it is not build on memoir, but tufte-latex is a framework for a book, build on the theories of the famous typographic designer, Edward Tufte. Using that class, you can be sure to produce a document that is pleasant and nice.

The package has its own web page, too.

Answer 3

Here is another example as an alternative to the one given by Michael OKane:

%%% DOCUMENTCLASS 
%%%-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\documentclass[
a4paper, % Stock and paper size.
11pt, % Type size.
% article,
% oneside, 
onecolumn, % Only one column of text on a page.
% openright, % Each chapter will start on a recto page.
% openleft, % Each chapter will start on a verso page.
openany, % A chapter may start on either a recto or verso page.
]{memoir}

%%% PACKAGES 
%%%------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % If utf8 encoding
% \usepackage[lantin1]{inputenc} % If not utf8 encoding, then this is probably the way to go
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}    %
\usepackage[english]{babel} % English please
\usepackage[final]{microtype} % Less badboxes

% \usepackage{kpfonts} %Font

\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,mathtools} % Math

% \usepackage{tikz} % Figures
\usepackage{graphicx} % Include figures

%%% PAGE LAYOUT 
%%%------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\setlrmarginsandblock{0.15\paperwidth}{*}{1} % Left and right margin
\setulmarginsandblock{0.2\paperwidth}{*}{1}  % Upper and lower margin
\checkandfixthelayout

%%% SECTIONAL DIVISIONS
%%%------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\maxsecnumdepth{subsection} % Subsections (and higher) are numbered
\setsecnumdepth{subsection}

\makeatletter %
\makechapterstyle{standard}{
  \setlength{\beforechapskip}{0\baselineskip}
  \setlength{\midchapskip}{1\baselineskip}
  \setlength{\afterchapskip}{8\baselineskip}
  \renewcommand{\chapterheadstart}{\vspace*{\beforechapskip}}
  \renewcommand{\chapnamefont}{\centering\normalfont\Large}
  \renewcommand{\printchaptername}{\chapnamefont \@chapapp}
  \renewcommand{\chapternamenum}{\space}
  \renewcommand{\chapnumfont}{\normalfont\Large}
  \renewcommand{\printchapternum}{\chapnumfont \thechapter}
  \renewcommand{\afterchapternum}{\par\nobreak\vskip \midchapskip}
  \renewcommand{\printchapternonum}{\vspace*{\midchapskip}\vspace*{5mm}}
  \renewcommand{\chaptitlefont}{\centering\bfseries\LARGE}
  \renewcommand{\printchaptertitle}[1]{\chaptitlefont ##1}
  \renewcommand{\afterchaptertitle}{\par\nobreak\vskip \afterchapskip}
}
\makeatother

\chapterstyle{standard}

\setsecheadstyle{\normalfont\large\bfseries}
\setsubsecheadstyle{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}
\setparaheadstyle{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}
\setparaindent{0pt}\setafterparaskip{0pt}

%%% FLOATS AND CAPTIONS
%%%------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\makeatletter                  % You do not need to write [htpb] all the time
\renewcommand\fps@figure{htbp} %
\renewcommand\fps@table{htbp}  %
\makeatother                   %

\captiondelim{\space } % A space between caption name and text
\captionnamefont{\small\bfseries} % Font of the caption name
\captiontitlefont{\small\normalfont} % Font of the caption text

\changecaptionwidth          % Change the width of the caption
\captionwidth{1\textwidth} %

%%% ABSTRACT
%%%------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\renewcommand{\abstractnamefont}{\normalfont\small\bfseries} % Font of abstract title
\setlength{\absleftindent}{0.1\textwidth} % Width of abstract
\setlength{\absrightindent}{\absleftindent}

%%% HEADER AND FOOTER 
%%%------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\makepagestyle{standard} % Make standard pagestyle

\makeatletter                 % Define standard pagestyle
\makeevenfoot{standard}{}{}{} %
\makeoddfoot{standard}{}{}{}  %
\makeevenhead{standard}{\bfseries\thepage\normalfont\qquad\small\leftmark}{}{}
\makeoddhead{standard}{}{}{\small\rightmark\qquad\bfseries\thepage}
% \makeheadrule{standard}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}
\makeatother                  %

\makeatletter
\makepsmarks{standard}{
\createmark{chapter}{both}{shownumber}{\@chapapp\ }{ \quad }
\createmark{section}{right}{shownumber}{}{ \quad }
\createplainmark{toc}{both}{\contentsname}
\createplainmark{lof}{both}{\listfigurename}
\createplainmark{lot}{both}{\listtablename}
\createplainmark{bib}{both}{\bibname}
\createplainmark{index}{both}{\indexname}
\createplainmark{glossary}{both}{\glossaryname}
}
\makeatother                               %

\makepagestyle{chap} % Make new chapter pagestyle

\makeatletter
\makeevenfoot{chap}{}{\small\bfseries\thepage}{} % Define new chapter pagestyle
\makeoddfoot{chap}{}{\small\bfseries\thepage}{}  %
\makeevenhead{chap}{}{}{}   %
\makeoddhead{chap}{}{}{}    %
% \makeheadrule{chap}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}
\makeatother

\nouppercaseheads
\pagestyle{standard}               % Choosing pagestyle and chapter pagestyle
\aliaspagestyle{chapter}{chap} %

%%% NEW COMMANDS
%%%------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\newcommand{\p}{\partial} %Partial
% Or what ever you want

%%% TABLE OF CONTENTS
%%%------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\maxtocdepth{subsection} % Only parts, chapters and sections in the table of contents
\settocdepth{subsection}

\AtEndDocument{\addtocontents{toc}{\par}} % Add a \par to the end of the TOC

%%% INTERNAL HYPERLINKS
%%%-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\usepackage{hyperref}   % Internal hyperlinks
\hypersetup{
pdfborder={0 0 0},      % No borders around internal hyperlinks
pdfauthor={I am the Author} % author
}
\usepackage{memhfixc}   %

%%% THE DOCUMENT
%%% Where all the important stuff is included!
%%%-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\author{A. Author}
\title{The amazing Book about Timemachines}

\usepackage{lipsum} % Just to put in some text

\begin{document}

\frontmatter

\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
\lipsum[1-2]
\end{abstract}
\clearpage

\tableofcontents*
\clearpage

\chapter{Introduction}

\lipsum[1-12]

\mainmatter

\chapter{How to Build a Timemachine}

\lipsum[1-13] 

\chapter{How to Destroy a Timemachine}

\lipsum[1-14]

\appendix

\chapter{Causality}

\lipsum[1-15]

\backmatter

%%% BIBLIOGRAPHY
%%% -------------------------------------------------------------

% \bibliographystyle{utphysics}
% \bibliography{ref}

\end{document}

In order to make nice titlepages see e.g. ti­tlepages – Sam­ple ti­tlepages, and how to code them

Answer 4

For me it seems you ask for the "Eier legende Wollmilchsau" (a german word I can't translate to english, literally "egg-laying wool-milk-sow". Thanks to @episanty for the link in the comment!), a thing that is not possible, because:

1. Which preferences are given (margins, fonts, content of the titlepage, ...)? You have to realise them by your own.
2. Which LaTeX system should be used? pdftex, pdflatex, lua(la)tex, context, ...
3. Which kind of grafics do you have to use? jpg, eps, png, ...
4. ...

Start with the design guide of your institution, ask for examples of thesises written in LaTeX and ask, if there are templates you can use as a start. Then build your own template to realise your thesis or book.

Most painless will be to use only that things from the templates you have understood. If you didn't understand them do not use it or ask on this webpage what it does.