My good friend Julie Olson just released her first ebook - "Princesses, Princesses, Princesses!" on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and as a PDF in the illustrated section. Her book is extremely cute (as a guy am I allowed to use the word cute?) and great for families with young girls.
But it wasn't enough for her to publish her ebook - she had to go and create a detailed step by step tutorial to let anyone interested see just how she did it! Her tutorial can be found here however you'll need a mac, adobe photoshop CS5, and InDesign CS5 to use her tutorial. Unfortunately in order to participate in this fast changing tech game of current formatting you have to either find a tutorial that fits your current set up or modify your work station to fit the tutorial. What worked six months ago might not work as well now and what works now might not be ideal in another year. Frustrating? You bet! and that's why I choose to outsource or partner for my programing needs. Call me a wimp - I'll proudly wear that title - but for you brave souls like Julie (mother of 3 small kids) it's no big deal.
Check out her tutorial!
This is very timely. I'm checking it out right now. Thanks for the link Will!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this Will! Wish I had a mac and InDesign! Great good luck to your friend, I hope she does well with her book.
ReplyDeleteAgy Wilson
Thanks Will for Julie's link. I enjoyed her video's too. I'll save this tutorial for later, that is if I ever get to that stage. Currently, I'm lost between the digital & fine art worlds.
ReplyDeleteExcellent! But, when I finish my book in a month or so, I like you will be outsourcing all that tech stuff..LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing this Will and many thanks to Julie for learning and posting it! I was going through all your earlier blogs on ebooks just yesterday to learn more about proper size and formatting! Good timing!
ReplyDeleteYou should be able to do it on a PC too, you'll just have to translate some of the instructions into PC language. :-) like control instead of command etc. and the screen shots show Mac menuing.
ReplyDeleteWithout InDesign you can still publish as a PDF.
Best wishes everyone!
Will thanks for sharing. This is a very big help. I love it when illustrators are not afraid of sharing ideas and tips.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI think it was just awesome of Julie to take the time to share this - what a community!
ReplyDeleteGreat link. Thanks, Will and Julie!
ReplyDeleteAwesome tutorial! All my questions were answered!
ReplyDeleteI-pad just came out with an app to publish yourself. Looks like you just drag in your pictures and text and you're ready to go. Might be worth it to check it out.
ReplyDeleteThe apple ibook software is free and easy to use, however you can only sell the book that you use the software to format through apple. You agree, before uploading the book that you will not sell it through any other online ebook sources like Barnes and Noble and Amazon. At least this is my current understanding of the agreement. If you are willing to only sell through apple then it appears to be a great option.
DeleteSo, I'm happy to report that I was mistaken. Dani Jones made a post correcting my understanding of this. Which makes more sense. I guess it is so new that even the apple people aren't sure of the details ;) It appears to be a great option for the ibook store and the ipad.
DeleteThanks Evilrobot and Karen for bringing up the new apple ibooks authoring software - I think all of these new developments will offer lots of options for creators. I'll probably do a blog post of the pros and cons as I see them in the near future. This technology changes so fast that I don't think anyone is an expert - I don't have time to check out each new offering but I think there are general advantages/disadvantages.
ReplyDeleteIt's for Mac computers only so if you have a PC you're out of luck.
ReplyDeletehttp://pressbooks.com
ReplyDeleteThe makers of wordpress are working on a project to allow you to format your ebooks for all markets. I just signed up for my account to give it a go. Might be worth a look as well.
Just a follow up on Pressbook...it's only for traditional print books not picture books. So looks like I'm back to hiring out my formatting oh, well.
DeleteSorry, for posting so much but wanted to post this resource I just found. It's an ebook that shows you how to format your books for Kindle and nook and you don't need any special software to use it. I actually made a 10 page test book last night using their method and shot it over to my kindle and it worked perfect. Here's where you can find it if you guys are interested. Again sorry, for posting so much. (Formatting Comics for the Kindle and Nook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Images and Ebooks)Just look this up on kindle or nook.
ReplyDeletePlease don't apologize! I love reading your findings - There's no way any one person can keep on top of all of it (and still have time to create) - so post away!
ReplyDeleteI just purchase Julie Olsens book for my kindle.... I like the story, but the orientation seems to be wrong. When I turn it horizontal, the image is vertical and vice versa. Nothing else I have here is that sensitive. I was planning to follow this tutorial, but am now having second thoughts. Has anyone else had this problem? Also, I don't want my pages to scroll up and down, but rather side to side. Has anyone actually used this tutorial for their book yet?
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you for posting this! I keep talking about how I need to self publish my book, but I actually don't know the steps and how to to even do it! So thank you & thank you Julie Olsen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this - very useful as I'm about to take my first, tentative steps into the world of epublishing.
ReplyDelete