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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

What's It Take To Self Publish A Book? Problem Needing HELP! Animal Wednesday And Happy Thanksgiving!

Not sure if this is cheating or not, but I am using this post from earlier in the week for Paint Party Friday. I get into the challenges of Self Publishing my book of art done over the past year at Taco Jalisco. Good news is some of the problems I ran into have been ironed out thanks to blog friends who came forward with wonderful information and know how advice!  Thank you so much!

So I will be busy working on said book this weekend and not sure how much blog hopping I'll do; but will take breaks and do as much as I am able! Thanks for following me and all this; I am ever so grateful.

I promised a blog giveaway for reaching my 200th follower earlier in the week, and in fact got one more making 201! The giveaway will be a copy of my book once it is finally published! I hope the winner will want that! If you want a chance at it just leave a comment at the end of this post to that effect and I'll put you in the draw. I'll pick a name by next Friday and post the winner then. Of course the winner has to wait until the book is published. I hope it will be worth the wait! ;-)

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This is not the turkey in my story below. This is another turkey we saw in someones yard the other day! We have lots of turkeys around here.

Before I start my Book STORY below I have to tell you that on my way to work today I drove down our suburban street only to stop when ONE LONE TALL TURKEY was crossing the STREET in front of my car! I'm used to seeing them in fields, in a yard but never crossing a much traffic'd street!
 
That is my Happy Animal Wednesday Post
(Henry Sends His best, he is fine!)
 
 
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Now about self publishing a book:

 First you thank the people you  know in blog land who sent you lots of suggestions and those who answer on going emails with tips, and help, and support, and encouragement, and know how!!!!!

Then you gather all the drawings/paintings/art you want to put in your book and you scan them into your computer! No small task as in my case so far I am working with 86 drawings/paintings. (I know some of you have made books with hundreds of photos, but I am trying to keep the price down on this book to as low a roar as possible).

You scan each picture at 300 dpi.

  And then I chose to edit my scanned paintings in my Picasa program, which does a good enough job, I hope, of brightening the color and cropping the size.
From there you send them to the Publishing Program you have downloaded onto your computer.
I have chosen to go with BLURB. I wanted something that had a template/format to follow. I thought that would be the easiest way to go with so many pictures involved.

And it's been going smoothly for several days (many, many, many hours of work)...to get this far; and plus time spent writing the text that goes along with the pictures in the book.

I will not bore you with the hitch I ran into last night, well, maybe I will, as maybe just maybe someone out there can help me solve the "hitch"/problem.

I deftly added pictures and text to 32 pages, when I decided I needed a dedication page and an Introduction page at the front of the book. I saw how to "ADD A PAGE" after another already in place page. Well this was fine but all of a sudden I noticed that that MOVED all the other pages so what was page 5 now was page 6 and page 6 now was page 7 etc. Still okay even though it upset the flow of my layout. Oh well, I can deal with that.

But THEN!!!! I notice some of the text was sliding from one page to a different page and was no longer matching the picture I had written it for. OY VEY! What the HECK?

Huston, we have a problem.

So tonight I hastily sat and copied and pasted most of my text into a WORD document so I would not lose it entirely. But when I try to go and put it back where it belongs the "moving text keeps moving to other text boxes. And it does NOT want to STAY where it BELONGS!!!!

I am not screaming. I am just a tad frustrated as I really want to get this book to the Publishers and back to me asap. Was hoping for before the big December Holidays. But not looking good right now for that.

This problem is solved for now!

And I am wishing you who celebrate it a happy Thanksgiving Holiday,as I have no Idea when I will be back here. I have much to be grateful for!

38 comments:

  1. Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving anyway.

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  2. I'm clueless about blurb. Did you try changing the font size to make it smaller so it would fit?

    Happy thanksgiving!

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    1. Yes, the text is the right size for the text box, but something is causing it to move from box to box and I can't stop it.

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    2. Yep! I fixed it it was about locking pages together, and removing pages. Complicated.!

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  3. Your turkeys must be related to all the ones we have around here.
    Happy thanksgivimg
    HAW also.
    Hi to Henry.

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  4. Sounds like you have your hands full! I am quite interested about the book ... do the Jericho sketches figure in it?

    Hope your formatting woes come to an end soon!

    Best wishes,

    Seema

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    1. Yes Seema, it is all about my one year of drawing at Jalsco's ! I hope to pull this off! I think I am getting problem UNO ironed out. May have run into a new one about dpi which means I may have to re scan all my pictures! Oy vey...this is a real lesson in patience!

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  5. My brother's girl friend spent MONTHS getting her book in order on Blurb. And she had way fewer photos of artworks.

    This problem sounds like the same one that happens in WORD actually. You save the page like you want it, but then add something and everything in the Mss moves. I hate it. back in the day of typewriters, when you typed out a page it stayed that way. of course, to make changes you had to retype the whole thing but......

    So, a similar frustration for sure. I dont know how to help you though.

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  6. Happy Thanksgiving. This sounds like time to contact Blurb!

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  7. Hang in there Lynn, you'll work it out. Happy Thanksgiving Holiday

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  8. What a great shot of that Turkey. Love that it has a friend there. :))
    Wish I could help you with the book but I am clueless but Christine sounds right.. Time to contact Blurb.I cant see you taking months to do this book.

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  9. Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you find a remedy ti your problem soon. Wish I could be more help.
    Hugs,

    Kate

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  10. I am not as far as this with mine yet- so can't help you. I am self-publishing through Amazon- don't know when it will or if it will ever happen.

    I am rooting for you and I know you are rooting for me. We can do this gal.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you all too. I just shake my head about Israel and sigh just sigh.

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    1. Excited to learn you too will be self publishing a book of your art. I sure do want a copy of that!!!! We'll have to compare notes. Why did you chose Amazon over Blurb? Pros and Cons, etc. Tell all.

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  11. Hi Lynn, I wish I could help you. What a great idea to make a book with all your lovely drawings, cant wait to buy one :-) today I got Rachel Awes book. All I did was listen, have you heard about her book? i love her drawing as well as I love yours :-) have a great Thanks givivg, I so glad that Im not in the USA as Im having a flu and would not be able to enjoy the turkey... We dont have this Thanks given hollyday here in Iceland.

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    1. Thank you Sigga! so sweet of you to post a comment when you are not feeling well. I hope you heal soon.
      Thank you for wanting my book! That warms my heart in more ways than you can imagine. It also makes me want to struggle through the difficulties of making it happen even more than before! To know my art will go to someone elses home and bookshelf is beyond my wildest dreams!

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    2. Im so lucky having an Ipad :-) Ill follow to see when your book is ready :-)

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  12. I love your illustrations! And I would love to win your book.
    Rinda

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  13. Sound frustrating but layout is with any software programme, all I suggest is to go to Blurb website and see if they have answers in their fag. We don't have thanksgiving here, too hot to eat a Roast Turkey! Enjoy yours.

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  14. How exciting to be moving forward with your book. Thank you for sharing your struggles along the way. This will help all of us who are just thinking about doing the same thing. I love your art and would love to be part of the drawing. Have a wonderful week.

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  15. So glad that you got help there is nothing more frustrating than computer work. Grrrr. I think my hubby chose Amazon over any others, as you immediately get a code and onto their 'shelves' (I think). Good luck my pal, you can do it! Happy PPF.

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  16. So glad you got help too. I published a book years ago that my daughter and I wrote, and it was very frustrating. http://www.lulu.com/shop/jessica-sporn/old-enough-to-do-good-in-the-world/paperback/product-11041706.html
    I ended up paying Lulu for extra help... Glad you got the help you needed. I love your artwork and seeing these slices of life on your blog each week, so PLEASE enter me into the drawing!!

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  17. Understand about Blurb and how the text keeps moving ~ I am in the process of working on a book of Haiku (poetry) and it takes very tedious work to get it all right ~ I printed out pages to help with the editing ~ so still working on it ~ (A Creative Harbor) ^_^


    Much success to you in the process of publishing your book ~ You will get there soon!

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    1. I figured out/actually Rosemary told me/ to lock the pages together to keep that from happening and it has not happened since. Also if the book adds pages not where you ask but infront of where you asked that can cause the text to run as well. Delete those unwanted pages and it fixes it too. Such a learning experience this has been.

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  18. How maddening and exhausting! Why do they make things so complicated, if only it was all just copy and paste and nothing more complicated! I wish you good luck and know you will get it all figured out and get it published. I also would love to have one of your books.

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  19. Good luck on the book. Your drawings are always so fascinating that I know your book will be a big success.

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  20. So cool that you have wild turkeys where you live. Publishing a book sounds overwhelming, but so exciting. Good luck!

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  21. Wishing you well with the book and loving your drawings. Happy PPF, Annette x

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  22. Book layout is not for the faint of heart. I have had more clients who ignored my advice and copy proofs and got some very expensive, and unpleasant surprises when their printed copies showed up.

    A personal favorite was the client who called as the truck was delivering 1000 copies of her book to say, "When I ordered a thousand I didn't think they printed them all at once. Where am I supposed to put these?"

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  23. Good luck on the book! I'm sure you will eventually get it right and wonderful, and I sure would love win a copy!

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  24. Good luck and have fun while doing the book. Just enjoy.Great drawings as always and who wouldn't want to win your book. Put me on the list of wanting your book.)

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  25. I am so glad you finally was able to fix the problem. I would love to receive your book. Your art is so amazing along with your stories. Blessings, Janet PPF

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  26. Hi and good luck with your book! Sorry I can be no help at all!!!

    That turkey was living dangerously btw!!!!

    Karenx

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  27. I just did 3 books at 20 pages per book....took a exactly one month to get it back. I did them all online...and didn't follow the 300 dpi rule. For the most part they turned out pretty good.. I got a really super deal on them through groupon. I'll write more about them in the coming weeks. They were just for me to have snippets of my art and a few things about family and such. Also wanted to see what they looked like when I do a kids book one day!! It was frustrating to say the least!! Now that I know how to do it, I will gladly take it on again!! The binding isn't my favorite though. Only a few picture turned out a bit fuzzy...but if you are doing them 300 dpi they will be excellent!! Good luck my friend!!

    Ps I wanted to switch the order of one part which meant changing everything so I just left it out of sequence...I'll know better next time and have it planned out way better!! My daughter loved them!

    Hugs Giggles

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  28. What a huge task you have undertaken...and it looks like you are having success. I will be interested to hear how it progresses.
    I have just finished e- publishing a book (novel) for a friend...that was a hair tearing out experience too! Good luck with your book and I will be back to hear more...
    And that is a funny photo...the turkey looking a the lucky (inedible) bird:)

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  29. Wish you good luck in all your endeavors :)

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  30. I am so excited for you, Lynn! You're going to have some of the books for sale at Taco Jalisco, right?

    Please enter me for the drawing!

    Happy PPF!

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Thanks for leaving your comments as I love hearing from you. Your words of encouragement are why I continue to draw!