Category Archives: On-Demand Publishing

Just released a 69 page preview of my Self Publishing Handbook

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The book is due out in May, 2013. It will be called: Practical Professional Self Publishing Handbook The book is written for those authors who recognize that professional production is key to having their books taken seriously. They are also tired of paying hundreds or thousands of dollars every time they release a book. In addition, they are sick of the need to be constantly contacting their designer to get special previews, gift editions, updates, and all … Continue reading →

Libraries starting to stock self publishers

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It’s just a small opening, and it’s in California, but the news is good from DBW this morning. Some California library systems buying from Smashwords Coker seems to have the knack of being in the right place. That’s the main thing that keeps me in his world of restricted design capabilities. Getting two library systems to spring for $30,000 to buy Smashwords 10,000 best sellers looks really good. It remains to be seen if this builds into a … Continue reading →

The Book Designer’s Book Typography and Fonts package

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Make your book professional with the Contenu/Buddy production group Self Publisher Book Typography & 16 Fonts Only $49.99 or 12 Radiqx house fonts for book design Only $29.99 For self publishers the conversion from Word to InDesign is a huge leap. The goal is a professional look to their book designs, but immediately the problems of typography raise their head. In Word that is not so much of an issue because the typography controls in Word are … Continue reading →

Graphics In InDesign: an excerpt from “Practical Professional Self Publishing Handbook”

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This is the first portion of the new Practical Professional Self Publishing Handbook due out before summer this year. InDesign is the true replacement for FreeHand Many designers are still upset that Adobe took FreeHand off the market. We remain convinced that FreeHand was a far superior vector drawing program to Illustrator. Actually, I bring good news. InDesign is actually more closely related to FreeHand than it is to Illustrator. Ole Kvern and I have commented on this many … Continue reading →

Nook dying? B&N could go DRM-free and hook up with the iPad

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Now I admit, I’m going on the words of others. I personally bailed on the Nook app and B&N a while ago. I am saddened by the troubles of the local B&N—it’s the only bookstore in town. I was hoping for viable competition to Amazon, but it is just not there. As they are stuck in a supposedly poor version of proprietary DRM, the smelly ears syndrome has got them in its clutches. I’m slightly hopeful that Riggio … Continue reading →

The sadness of Word & how it’s damaging self publishing

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As I have become more social online, the prevailing grief for me is listening to all the new authors whose main problem is that they are using Word. Whether it’s one of my Facebook groups like Christian Indie Authors or Indie Christian Authors, a Google+ community like Christian Authors, or the authors who tweet, the ones in Linked-In groups, or GoodReads groups, and many more, the common lament is, “How do I do this in Word?” The … Continue reading →

Typography does not start with font design

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This is the first major confusion in typography. Many believe that typography is font choices. They spend a huge amount of time on which fonts to choose, how fonts developed historically, and the reader reactions to these fonts. This indeed is a good portion of typography, but this pursuit misses the entire point. The point of typography is to use words to communicate. Font choices can help—but this is really a small portion of what we need … Continue reading →

Smashwords now takes ePUBs!

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This is really big news. This is especially true for someone who writes and works in InDesign. Up ’til now, I’d finish a book and spend a full day to: export the PDFs, export the KF8 file for Kindle, and export the various ePUBs for the iBookstore, Nook, and Kobo—then  uploading to Createspace for print, Kindle KDP for the Kindle version, and Lulu, PubIt, and Kobo Writing Life. Then if I wanted to release at Smashwords, I’d spend … Continue reading →

Access the stuff in docx

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I found this interesting. Bob Levine pointed out in InDesign Magazine that Word’s DOCX file format is a glorified ZIP file. “Change the extension to ZIP, unzip it, and you’ll find all of the document’s original assets, including the images as individual files in a folder. More importantly, InDesign can access the original high-resolution images when you place a DOCX file, even if they’re CMYK. The older DOC format converts all images to RGB PNG files.” http://www.indesignmag.com/Content.asp/id/tipoftheweek-2012

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Formatting your books and ebooks: DIY or paid?

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Most of you have probably read one of my rants about the difficulty and absurdity of producing finished books in Word. Except for Smashwords, where this is required, you should never use Word for final output. So, what are your options? Do it yourself or pay someone else There are several factors involved here. You need to carefully look at your needs and choose what works best for you. But the bottomline is certain. Sooner or later, … Continue reading →