Typesetting (Typst, LaTeX, LyX)

For technical, academic, and literary books where typography matters, the LaTeX family is still industry standard — and Typst is rapidly displacing LaTeX for new projects in 2024-26 (faster compile, modern syntax, good error messages). For consumer-facing book interior layout (novels, non-fiction trade) use writing-book-formatting; for academic references see edu-research-citations-zotero.

Modern: Typst

• ★ ★ Typst — Apache 2.0; free OSS; ★ ★ the LaTeX successor in 2024-26. Faster compile (incremental), readable syntax, good error messages, hosted web editor at typst.app, pure CLI, growing template ecosystem. The right answer for new projects.
  • https://github.com/typst/typst
• typst.app — paid + free; hosted Typst editor; collaboration; the Overleaf for Typst.

Classic: LaTeX

• ★ TeX Live / MiKTeX — free; the LaTeX distributions; install once, has everything.
• ★ Overleaf — free + paid; ★ the dominant hosted LaTeX editor; collaborative; Overleaf Community Edition is AGPL self-hostable.
  • https://github.com/overleaf/overleaf
• VS Code + LaTeX Workshop — free; the local-IDE LaTeX setup.
• TeXShop (Mac) / TeXstudio (cross-platform) / TeXmaker — free; LaTeX IDEs.
• LyX — GPL; free OSS; ★ WYSIWYG-shape LaTeX front-end; smooths the learning curve.

Document classes for books

• memoir — LaTeX; the most-flexible book class; widely used for trade-quality books.
• Tufte-LaTeX — for Edward-Tufte-style margin-heavy non-fiction.
• KOMA-Script (scrbook) — German-flavoured book class; very flexible.
• classicthesis — popular for thesis / dissertations.
• Typst templates — book, thesis, book-template, gentle-clue, ilm etc.; the Typst Universe (typst.app/universe) is the template hub.

Bibliography / citations

• biblatex + biber — modern LaTeX citation stack.
• Hayagriva — Typst's native citation system.
• CSL — open Citation Style Language; supported by both. See edu-research-citations-zotero.
• Zotero + Better BibTeX — free; auto-syncs .bib files for LaTeX / Typst.

Diagrams / figures

• TikZ / PGFPlots — LaTeX; the canonical math-figure library.
• Typst CeTZ — Typst-native TikZ-shape.
• Mermaid / D2 / PlantUML — see diagrams-flowcharts.
• asymptote — vector graphics for LaTeX.

Markdown → LaTeX → PDF (Pandoc)

• ★ Pandoc — GPL; free OSS; ★ for markdown-first authors who output via LaTeX: write .md, run pandoc -o book.pdf --pdf-engine=xelatex. Templates control layout. See writing-version-control-prose.
• Quarto — MIT; free OSS; modern Pandoc-based academic publishing platform; HTML
  • PDF + ePub from the same source.

Fonts for body text

• Computer Modern — LaTeX default; classic.
• Latin Modern — modernized CM; better Unicode.
• Libertinus / EB Garamond / Crimson Pro — high-quality free serif fonts for prose books.
• STIX Two — for math-heavy text.

Pick this if…

• New project, modern stack: Typst.
• Existing LaTeX project / institutional requirement: stick with LaTeX + Overleaf.
• Markdown source: Pandoc + LaTeX template.
• Academic publishing with HTML + PDF + ePub from one source: Quarto.
• WYSIWYG-shape LaTeX: LyX.
• Hosted collaborative LaTeX: Overleaf (free tier or self-host CE).