self-publishing

[tulabula]

thank you for this information! I am not looking to publish but my husband has put together a small book of short stories for the local market here that he would like to publish. This has really helped!

[jackiesimmonds]

JPQ - thanks for the info about SCRIBUS, I will look at that, for sure.

Charlie - I agree. Very stupid of them. It's not as if Android is brand new!

Glad to be of help, everyone.

[jackiesimmonds]

another bit of info: I recently ordered 5 copies of the hardback version of the book......was very disappointed with the colour because I asked for a paper upgrade.......I pointed out to Blurb that since the paper was meant to be "better" I expected same colour. They did not quibble, they asked for photos, looked at them, and then instantly replaced the books.

Great after sales service.

J

[JPQ]

Originally Posted by jackiesimmonds

JPQ - thanks for the info about SCRIBUS, I will look at that, for sure.

Charlie - I agree. Very stupid of them. It's not as if Android is brand new!

Glad to be of help, everyone.

and i almost sure scribus is better than Microsoft publisher (or something like) which one cheap solution becouse i understanded this and old Corel Draw PDFs and PDFs what Mac OS X printing service makes are problems for printing industry. for example Apples Iwork Numbers (what i use make some pdfs which are published) makes gradients using RGB values not CMYK for one example what i heared when i ask one company which prints books (digital and offset) etc when i asked basic problems with file i asked i dreamed using Iwork Pages to write book becouse is so light (typing feel is much better and display updating i think,and have some really nice features but if i make book for web distrubution only i think i going use Iwork Pages) compared even openoffice,org which is still lighter than scribus. but luckily places where i send pdf can use pdfs what i make they print nice and these products are printed using offset (when problems are maybe even bigger i know digital printing services which accept rgb pdfs when all is rgb becouse they make itself conversion which is poor at least one service colours look like CMYK is exact opposite RGB but truth is no it is there is small but important differencies) becouse they are big magazines here in own categories. and iwork numbers is best solution job what i do with it maybe Adobe Illustrator is better but too pricey for now... ps. btw i not only one which maked publications with Scribus. and i used scribus in pc when i maked book but today i use mac for my main computer others are not pcs still...

[GaryNorthants]

Good info thank you Jackie. For PDF you can create your book in just about program you are comfortable using and then 'print' it into PDF format with a converter like 'DoPDF' which is completely free. This ideal for those wishing to offer an E Book on their sites or tutorials and projects
Best wishes
Gary

[edencompton]

Thanks for the info Jackie! I have seen both the blurb and lulu sites and have seen a couple of books printed from both. They do seem to be pretty good quality for the price! I guess the biggest thing is making sure you have very good photos of your work. I don't often take the time to make sure that my digital photos that I use for my blog are all that great but I guess I should. What site do you recommend for the e-books? That sounds even more interesting and I have noticed quite a few blogging artists are offering e-books of both their paintings and their process. How involved is that?

[jackiesimmonds]

I have an ebook of my book now............all done by Blurb. All I had to do was order one....it cost so little. Now it is on the Blurb bookshop, and a few people have bought it.

I think most of the self-publishing houses will make your book into an e-book if you want that.

[JPQ]

Originally Posted by GaryNorthants

Good info thank you Jackie. For PDF you can create your book in just about program you are comfortable using and then 'print' it into PDF format with a converter like 'DoPDF' which is completely free. This ideal for those wishing to offer an E Book on their sites or tutorials and projects
Best wishes
Gary

Some this kind converts like mac os x printing service (which allows wrote pdfs) make problematic files (i imagien based few things missign colour profiles etc) when they used with printing services. there is maybe also good ones but i dont know them. and i dont recommend this kind things are more hassle than good tool.

[RiJoRi]

As Bob mentioned, Watch your splelnig!! I got a Lulu book a while back, and was disgusted by the gratuitous spelling/grammar errors. And no, uSoft Word doesn't help. I fed the following into both Word 2000 & 2007:

"I wnet too the store to get to stakes for supper."

I did a grammatico-spelling check, and, aside from "wnet," both versions declared the text was fine!

I really should offer my soivices as a proppa Inglisch teesher!

--Rich

[jackiesimmonds]

I imagine that the writer of the book simply did not check carefully enough. I missed one or two in my book, despite going thro it myself numerous times, and having others check it too.
I have no grammar problems, just missed a letter out of a word. So easy to do. Most people probably cannot afford to hire a pro to check.

if a writer's grammar or spelling is not good, they probably would not even notice the problem!