My Obsidian Setup For Writing Books and How It Works?
Recently, I decided to write another book. I had done the first using Scrivener and since discovering Obsidian, I debated which platform I would use. Scrivener of course is a specialised piece of software specifically for writing of books. Obsidian, on the other hand, is a powerful piece of note making software.
I decided ongoing with Scrivener because of the specialised nature of the software and that I had used it before. That turned out to be a rather huge mistake. I had forgotten my way around the software and was constantly turning to the help to set the interface up how I wanted it to appear. After completing all the front matter for the book, I gave up and turn my attention towards Obsidian. I am very glad I did.
My Obsidian Process
The first decision I made was to go with a separate vault for the book. That way I could set up the workspace to be as minimalist as possible for purpose. It also would mean that I could structure my folder setup to reflect the actual book structure.
So, with a new vault in hand, these are the steps I used to set up Obsidian for writing a book.
Folder Structure
I have used numbers in the folder names in order to preserve the structure of the book. Medium is not particularly friendly with lists or tables, so I am including a screenshot of the structure.
Theme
I have installed the LYT Theme, simply because that is what I normally work in and I like the structure. It is available from the Themes directory in Obsidian by Nick Milo and is free.
I make a few changes to the appearance, but that is personal choice. For me, dark mode is a must because of the long hours I spend on the screen. I also use Segoe UI as my preferred font and increase the font size to 18 so it’s easier on my eyes. Again, personal preference.
Plugins
Having a project specific vault allows me to install the minimum number of community plugins. I am still experimenting somewhat and will add more if needed, but initially, these are the ones I have deployed and the reasons.
- Banners — This is all about aesthetics. It’s always nice to be greeted by a pleasing home page when opening your vault. This plugin needs a couple of other bits and pieces to be effective.
- Calendar — Installed to take advantage of Daily Notes. Allows you to keep a journal on your progress with the book.
- cMenu — When writing a non-fiction book, you will often need to add superscript for references. This plugin sits in the editor screen and allows you to do that besides other formatting commands.
- Dataview — Installed as I like to use this plugin to set up my Maps of Content (MOCs). I am using this from the Homepage with direct links to the MOCs in various sections. It is simply providing an alternate for the folder/file view in the left sidebar.
- Dashboard CSS — This is not a plugin, but a CSS snippet you can deploy to create an organised and navigation structure for the home page. You can read more about this on the Obsidian Forum.
- Emoji Toolbar — Another aesthetic plugin but unnecessary.
- Homepage — A plugin to specify which note opens when you open Obsidian. I set this up to always open at the Home note in Reading View.
- Markdown Formatting Assistant — A useful plugin if you aren’t familiar with markdown formatting, but not essential.
- Pandoc Plugin — You will need this plugin to export the Obsidian markdown document to Word or PDF.
- Raindrop Highlights — Raindrop is my tool of choice for web clipping and I use the paid service. When writing non-fiction books or articles, it is fantastic to collect references from the web and importing them to Obsidian.
- Templater — I have installed this plugin for formatting pages and other items but haven’t used it as yet. It is just one of my “goto” plugins.
The Final Result
Here is an image of the completed vault. This will remain a template so I can use it in the future for any other books I may write.
To set up a new vault, simply copy all the files from your template vault to a new directory on your computer. Then go into Obsidian and click on the third icon from the bottom in the left-hand corner. You will see a modal pop-up asking what you wish to do. Go to Open Folder as Vault and navigate to your new book vault.
I hope these notes will simplify the process of book writing and that you have many best sellers.
Thanks! I really appreciate you reading my work. If you enjoyed this article and found it useful, you can clap (up to 50 times) and follow me for more articles. If you spotted something that wasn’t clear or wish to add to the content, please leave a comment below.
