Tag Archives: Self-publishing

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 →

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 →

InDesign is the key to economy in self-publishing

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Possibly the biggest news in publishing for ministries and non-profits is that you can start out free. All it takes is an iMac or equivalent (Mac or PC) and InDesign You will need to do a bit of study. It will take some work. But, it can be done easily. The Adobe apps are all available for less than $50 per month. There is also educational and non-profit pricing. You can do this!

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Using embedded fonts in ePUBs for free: DIY Publishing wins!

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I just tried something and was surprised by the result. After learning this morning that I don’t actually buy books from Kindle, but lease them, I wanted to see what my options are if I actually buy an ePUB. More than that, as a font designer, I wanted to try an ePUB with embedded fonts. So, I simply exported an ePUB with embedded font from my KF8 version of the book and emailed it to myself. Then … Continue reading →

Writers designing their own books in InDesign? Of course!

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I posted last week about the dangers of allowing your ebook to degenerate into a Website. After all, “An ebook is just encapsulated HTML & CSS.” It was basically a plea to design your ebooks in InDesign. I missed making my core point. I wasn’t saying that code geeks cannot design ebooks. I was saying that most coders are not designers, but technicians. One of my commenters (Tom) suggested that writers are just as bad as coding … Continue reading →

What skills are needed to self-publish?

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What skills do you need? The idea is that InDesign can be learned and you can become comfortable enough with the software so that it becomes an extension of your creativity. For example, as I started this chapter in the Writing In InDesign book, I hit the shortcut to set my headline. This started the chapter on the next odd page (which is the norm). When I wrote the headline and hit the Return key, InDesign changed to … Continue reading →

Benefits of the new self-publishing paradigm

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There are many benefits of the new self-publishing options. I’ll cover the financial at the end. It is very fast! One of the real changes in the new paradigm is the speed with which you can release books, booklets, posters, and so on. If you have proofed copy that is ready to format, you can get it published and released in a day or so. The limitation is only your formatting speed. With the techniques and workflow … Continue reading →

What is On-Demand publishing?

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The concept of on-demand publishing is simple The printer or distributor stores the book on their hard drive (server farm). It is printed or downloaded only after it is ordered and paid for. So, unless there is a demand, it is not printed or downloaded. Much like just-in-time manufacturing, your book is delivered upon demand. You upload the digital files: They are stored on the servers of the on-demand printer or ebook distributor. They print the document … Continue reading →

You need your own publishing house

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Having your own publishing house is a decision you need to make In today’s version of the publishing industry, you need one regardless. Even if you sell all your books to the big six, you’ll need a way to market yourself and help your book sales. This is much like the fact that all artists need a studio name. You need a professional interface with the world. On the practical side, you need to think about how … Continue reading →