Create a template that works for paperback and epub...

Question

Hello Framemakers,
I am in the process of switching from Word to FrameMaker 12.0. I need to typeset a book and all the research I have done suggests FrameMaker is more stable and less, shall we say finicky that Word is.
I have begun creating a book template. Things are moving well but a few things are still confusing me: Please answer whatever you can. Your feedback is truly appreciated!
1. Word as a notion of a 'gutter' which is an extra space resulting in uneven margins. Framemaker does not seem to have this concept, so I have
     1. Set the left margin of the left page to 0.6" and
     2. The left margin of the right page to 0.9"
Is this the right way to do this in FrameMaker?
Additionally, the first page of a chapter is more complex. It has
     1. A title with a different font and size
     2. An image
     3. One or two quotations
     4. The top left corner of the body is set to 4.0" instead of 0.76" for the remaining pages.
3. Now a chapter can start on the left or right page. Per question 1 above, these pages have different margins. I am thinking I shoud create a left title page and a right title page and apply these manually whenever a title page falls on the left or right side. Again, is this the right way to do this in FrameMaker?
4.  Do I create Separate frames for each of the title, the image, the two quotes or do I apply paragraph styling within the body? Word gave me real grief whenever I would export to pdf because it would (a) move the last line of one page to the next wrecking my layout or worse move the image to the next page! I want to make sure that the pdf output matches the layout.
5. I want the text to flow around the image on the title page. Do I (a) create a graphics frame for the image and a text frame for the text into the master page, and overlay the image frame on top of the text frame? Or do I insert the image into the text frame directly? Which way is best? Note that each chapter has a different image.
6. Lastly, and most confusedly is the fact that I need to publish to epub, kindle, and paperback. Do I (a) create three different templates for each? Or do I create one template with conditional formatting? Perhaps there is a completely different way to solve this problem?
Your thoughts and suggestions are eagerly thought and gladly accepted!
Thanks!

Answer 1

First, of course, congratulations! and welcome to a more stable world ;-}
Assorted suggestions …
different margins for right and left pages sounds like the right approach to creating a gutter for a facing-pages layout
firstRight and firstLeft would be possible (plus judicious use of the Double-sided/First page side property)
to place a graphic and other elements on a title-page, I'd stick with paragraph styling; don't forget that you can create a separate style for the anchor of any graphic
This simple suggestion may not be compatible with your runaround requirements, though; that's something I've never needed to handle.
for multiple layouts, I'd go for multiple template documents with different page layout definitions and different definitions (f'r instance, larger font, different colour, no numbering …) for each style
Other forum contributors will be a lot more up-to-date than I am on new-fangled formats such as ePub, so keep an eye open for updates, completions and corrections.
Have fun!