Chapter One

This is an example of how to write a book chapter in plain text, formatted with Markdown formatting. This is a paragraph. You just write.

Blank lines separate paragraphs. This is the second paragraph.

This is the third paragraph. To make italic text you surround it with single asterisks. To make bold text you surround it with double asterisks.

You can start new chapters by starting a line with a # sign and a space, and then typing your chapter title.

You can have multiple chapters in one file, but we recommend one chapter per file. This way, it’s easier to navigate. So, for example, this chapter is contained in the “Chapter 1” file that you can see listed under the “Manuscript” menu to the left.

(If you start typing in here, the Manuscript menu and all the other menus will go away so that you can relax and focus on your writing. Just click outside of this text area and the menus will come back.)

“This is in quotes.”

You make a thematic break with three asterisks, like this:

By the way, the above formatting is actually all you need to know to write a novel using Markdown formatting. To write a technical book, however, you’ll need to know a bit more Markdown.

We have a handy manual at https://leanpub.com/markua/read and we have a Markdown quick-start guide in Chapter 2. If you want to read this guide, click on “Chapter 2” under the Manuscript menu to select that file now.

Or, if you’re ready to start writing your book, simply select all the text in this file, delete it, and then start writing! (Start with # Your Chapter Name and then a blank line, and then write your first paragraph.) You can create new files by clicking the + button, and you can delete the Chapter 2 file by mousing over it, clicking the gear icon, and clicking the red Delete File button.

On behalf of everyone at Leanpub, we really hope that you enjoy the experience of writing and publishing in-progress on Leanpub. We are a bootstrapped startup which is entirely supported by our authors, and we’re really grateful that you have chosen to write your book using Leanpub…