Picturia Press - Creating Books authored by you -->

We have a lot of customers inquiring about if they need an ISBN number and Bar Code for their books. The answer to that depends upon your needs. Let’s start with the ISBN Number. You are not legally required to have an ISBN number. It simply depends upon if and how you are going to sell your book. So if you are selling your book through workshops, direct mail or through the Internet, you most likely will NOT need an ISBN number or Bar Code.

If you plan to sell your books through retail chains, and specialty stores and catalogues, (Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.) you will most likely be required by the reseller to obtain an ISBN number for your book for inventory and general ordering purposes.

An ISBN number identifies a book title or edition from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition, meaning that it can never be reused. This also means that if you sell both a hard copy and a soft cover of your book, you must have two unique ISBN numbers.

The ISBN itself is a 10-digit number that is divided into four parts separated by hyphens. The first part of the ISBN is a group or country identifier. The second part is a publisher identifier. The third part is a title identifier. The last digit is a check digit used to validate the ISBN. In other words, the ISBN is a code that identifies your book around the world. You can apply for an ISBN number by contacting Bowker, who is the U.S. broker for ISBN numbers.

Now for the Universal Product Code (UPC), also known as the Bar Code. This is a computerized product identification system. The ISBN is not the same thing as your Bar Code. Most retail chains require both a ISBN Number and Bar Code. However, the ISBN Number can be translated into bar code format. When you purchase your ISBN number through Bowker, you can also purchase the Bar Code, or you can find a list of UPC Code (or Bar Code) suppliers here.

A common issue we frequently handle with photographs we receive is the dreaded "red eye". It's unavoidable, one out of three pictures a client gives us inevitably has one person or more in the picture with red eye. Most professional photographers know how to avoid it, and at the very least, know how to correct it in post production image editing. The point here is how much money you can save in book production/image editing costs if your designer doesn't have to do this work for you. But let's face it, not everyone has the know-how to fix their photographs.



News comes down today in the New York Times that now anyone can go online, upload their photos and fix red eye easily. It is has been a long time coming, but it's finally here. Online photo editing in the form of Adobe Photoshop Express. Of course, it's in beta right now, so I'm sure there are some glitches to be smoothed out. But generally, the service offers storage of your images, easy editing for removal of red eye and other options that range from the useful (cropping, exposure, etc) to the slightly tacky and quite unnecessary graffiti. Personal choices for everyone I'm sure. Even more useful is the "UNDO" feature for those of us who might get carried away.....

Save the difficult image editing and effects to the pros, but red-eye? Adobe just made that easier for you.

One of the challenges a designer faces is that sometimes (well, more than sometimes....) we have less than perfect images to work with for creating the client's book. That's where image editing can take a good picture and turn it into a great picture. And honestly, from a designer's standpoint; the better the image, the better the book.

Often all that an image requires is a little retouching. That can be something as simple as the removal of red eye or perhaps turning a color photograph into a black and white image to provide a more visual impact. Then there are the bigger challenges like removing background "noise" (i.e.: items or individuals) from a photograph.


This is an example of a picture the client had of her parents at her wedding. Of course this was a photograph that had to go into the book, but every time the client looked at the image, she saw those pesky uninvited people standing in the background. They would just have to go! Figure B reflects the image editing we did so that we could use this picture in our client's book.

Another example of making an image work is the one below. The client had a picture with her newborn baby. Again, this was a must have in the client's book. But as you can see....it was too dark to use (see, or not see Figure A).


Fortunately, editing the image enabled us to brighten it enough to use the picture (see Figure B) and actually the end result made this one of her favorite pages in the book.

Unless you are blessed with being a professional photographer, you can assume that a percentage of images you provide us with will require some kind of image editing. The end result will be well worth the investment.

Have you gone outside today? Spring is definitely in the air and the cherry blossoms are out. Well, at least in Washington, D.C. they are. And that's a really big deal! They have a festival to commemorate the gift of 3,000 cherry trees given to Washington, D.C. in 1912 by Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo. It didn't stop there either, the US and Japan have been exchanging/gifting trees to each other for sometime now and in 1999 a new cutting from a Japanese tree, reputed to be over 1500 years old was gifted to Washington, D.C.

To commemorate the big festivities (two weeks worth of events!), Lulu.com is holding a photo contest to create a beautiful calendar for 2009. So all you photographers, get out there and shoot some cherry blossoms, then submit them to the contest.

When you are all cherry blossomed out, let us help you create a beautiful book with the rest of your festival photos!!

Just finished another great book that was lots of fun to design. I know, I know...I say that about all the books. This one is going to be a one year anniversary present from a wife to her husband. I really had fun working with the client, as it appears from working with her, she must be as organized as I am. All the digital images and files were transferred to us separated in folders by sequence of events. Remember my post on how organizing images makes life easier for the designer? Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

It was a "Good Thing" (as Martha Stewart says...) that my client took the time to organize the files, as we were working on an extremely short deadline if she was going to be able to give it to her husband on their anniversary. My client was very creative with her ideas and open to suggestions from us on how to make it the best book it could be. I think we were both satisfied with the end results. I'd sure love to be there when he sees it.

Click here to view the book

There are so many POD’s (Print/Publish On Demand) services cropping up daily because they now have the book production technology to finally provide self-publishing authors with a way to get their books into print without costing them an arm and a leg.

More exciting than finally getting that novel of yours printed, is the other avenues that have opened up because of POD’s. We might not all be blessed with writing skills, but for sure we’ve all got something to say or something to share.

Like it or not, there is a mass appeal to be able to publish your own cookbook, how-to book, family photos, a tribute to your pet, or book of your photography. Now that POD’s are flooding the market, you can easily get your book printed for under $50, and have it look like something you bought at Borders. Provided of course, you hire a talented book design agency such as Picturia Press to do the layout... And just like that, you can tell your friends you are a “published author”. And who doesn’t find an appeal to that? I bet you’re digging out your old photographs as we speak. Honestly, who can truly deny the lure of ego gratification at a cost we can afford?

Of course many people have ambitions (perhaps delusions?) that they will sell millions of copies of their books. Who’s to say that won’t happen? Some people are just targeting a narrow niche, like a fund raising cookbook. Others are just content to have a beautifully produced book to sit on their coffee table, or perhaps just give as gifts to their friends.

The beauty of it all is that we now have another channel to express our individuality, creativity and words. And the good news is, the window of opportunity just swung wide open.

Deadlines are looming but the good news is I am passionate about my work. Some days it seems like an effortless engagement other days I need to take a time out and detox from my computer. But it seems that even when I take time away from my work, I'm still at the computer looking at what everyone else is doing. Now, the great thing about that is what you can really stumble upon. I really like author Tim Ferriss, and his book, "The 4-Hour Workweek". Even more so, I like his blog, here's just one of his recent entries: -21-day-no-complaint-experiment. Read this article and it may just change your life..... I'm only on day two.

Now back to my work in progress. and on the schedule for this week.

Wedding Album

Baby Blog Book

I am actively seeking photographers who are interested in having a book created by us to be submitted and reviewed by renowned experts in the field of photography. Blurb is hosting an international symposium and a competition for photography books. The deadline for submitting books is July 14, 2008. Please email me if you are interested in this photo competition.

Today I made a customer happy by completing the design and layout of his new coffee table book. He was a lot of fun to work with and we became on such good terms that he's invited me visit him whenever I'm in his neck of the woods!


The client takes pictures for a hobby, but I must say he's got a very good eye and I really loved some of his pictures. The challenge here was getting the high resolution pictures from him to us and explaining why a low resolution picture can look good on your computer screen, but not in print. That is a common problem customers have....

By the end of the project, by George, I think he got it. I also worked with him to understand the FTP (file transfer protocol) process. Typically Picturia Press works with clients to receive their files this way rather than having them email photos (forget about it, impossible!) or mail CD's<(too time consuming/expensive). I recommend CuteFTP or Fetch as a free FTP program.

Click here to view the book!

We've just finished an amazing book this week. Yes, another one. This was a blog that a client wanted converted to a 10 x 8 book. The good thing about using Blurb software for blog books is the "slurping" feature they offer. The process of getting all the images and blog text from a person's blog downloaded to your computer and imported to the software. This makes life much, much easier.

My customer had been keeping a daily blog on her children's every day life for a year. Details, commentaries and pictures to go with each entry. Wow. This is a great gift to give your children when they grow up and it is her desire to create these books for each year. Can you imagine? Think about all the little things we miss or forget over the years and you could just pull one of these books off the shelf and read about yourself at age 9!! I love the idea.

Blog books are invariably more complicated then say just a book of photography. There's quite a bit of editing required, and the correct layout of images with text and captions. Our client's book ended up being around 118 pages. Be prepared when creating a blog book for a long design turnaround time.
Click here to view the book!

Since my last post, I've seen, spoken, emailed and called clients to no end and have now tried to develop a set of questions most commonly asked. Hopefully for you bloggers out there, it will save you some time.

How many pages can my book be?
As many as you like, but we don't recommend going over 400 pages.

How do I decide on the size and cover?
That size of the book is up to the client. Small books can be 7 x 7 inches, large books can be 13 x 11, but the most common size is 10 x 8 or 8 x 10. Choosing between a hard back or soft cover is completely up to the client.

How many pictures should I have?
Assume you'll need 40% more images than pages. So for example a 100 page book, you'd want to provide us with at least 140 images.

What size/resolution should the images be?
The higher the resolution of the image, the better quality the image will print. Even though a 380K file size image will show wonderfully on the Internet, it needs to be at least 1.2MB file size image to print on paper. If you give us images that are low resolution, we will either not be able to use them, or they may have to be the size of thumbnail images!

Will you edit my images?
Not all book designers do editing. In our case, we have the experience to do so. Editing can consist of color correction, removing unwanted spots or other items from a photograph to adding effects. This is not usually in the bid price for the project and is priced out separately.

How does the creative process work?
Every book designer is different. But at Picturia Press, we work with you to get the look and feel you want for the project. Then we go away and create that vision. We'll put a draft of your book online for you to view and make changes/suggestions. We work with you until you are satisfied with the end results

How do you get my images?
There is a variety of way for us to access your images. You can create a CD and mail it to us. We can set up an FTP on line where you transfer the files, or we can access them through an online photo gallery such as Picasa. We work with what's easiest for the client.

How long will it take?
Well, that can vary on the size of the project. But usually allow 2 to 3 weeks for the project to be completed, then it has to go to print - usually another week to 10 days. So, basically, don't expect to get a finished book in under a week.....

How much will it cost?
The magic question. Unfortunately, there is no magic answer. Book design can range from $250 to $5,000. It all depends. Just remember the reward of seeing your book in print is worth every penny!!

Side Note: Make sure you own all the rights to the images you provide us with, as you will need to confirm that in writing.

It's been a busy few weeks around here!. Managed to build two websites, a tri-fold brochure and oh, also managed to squeeze in a book design too!

My dearest friend Natalie is getting married, so I helped her create a tri-fold "SAVE THE DATE" Card. This was supposed to be quick and dirty project - but are they ever? First I went to Kinko's to print the brochures, only to be told the printers were all down for service. Then they say they can do it on their own printer, but I have to use their paper, rather than the dye cut beautiful tri-fold paper I had brought. Then....I realize the CD I brought only had the layout and not the fonts included. And my client Natalie is waiting patiently to get her 125 brochures to mail out the next day!

During all this, we built a website for a San Francisco personal trainer, JJ Everett. I've had the privilege and the pain of training with him, and it was much easier to build his website than it is to build my muscles!! If you want a great workout, be sure to check out his site.

Onto the next job, which was a landing page for a Passion Parties consultant. This one was a breeze compared to the brochure and the website. One page, no heavy programming, and the best news is the client loved it. It's always great when your client likes your first draft on a design.

Now I can get back to book designing. Crazy week....

I'm excited to be working with a man who has been writing his own poetry for the last 10 years. Just like photographs however, they are all over the place and in many different forms. He's got them hand written, scanned, typed (on a REAL typewriter) and on his computer (remember Word Perfect?)

All his work needs to be edited before it's actually ready for a published book version, so we are taking all his content and retyping it all in a word document that he can edit and then resubmit to us for conversion and layout. This is one of those long running projects, but should be really rewarding to complete. We'll keep you posted.

Pleased to say I just finished another book. This one was a wedding album, which always makes me cry. Don't get me wrong, it's a good cry. I enjoy working with the photographs because they are taken by professionals, and that always makes our job easier. This was was especially good to do because most of the photographs were taken by my good friend Colin Vincent.

Click here to view the book!

Since being listed in Blurb as a preferred vendor, we've been hit with a magnitude of inquiries. Now the trick is to turn inquiries into books.....

Here are some of the more interesting projects being considered:

• Love letters from WW2
• A Professional LaCrosse Promotional Book
• A Book of old Christmas Caroles
• A PTA Recipe Book (Fundraiser)
• Pre-schooler/Kindergarten Yearbook
• How To Book on Motherly Advice
• 10 years of personal poetry
• Mother's blog of baby's first year

Can I just tell you how much I like Blurb? They are so great, the people there are so wonderful and supportive. Blurbidee, Blurbidee, Blurb. But seriously...for a Publishing On Demand business, they have really made an effort to work with good designers and give them the support and marketing they need to get business.

Just this week they asked a select few of us to be in their Blurb Nation. Which is a directory of approved vendors and designers. I was thrilled for the business it could potentially bring Picturia Press.

This project was for a client who literally travels all over the United States during the three months of Summer. He is a personal chef, who has his summers free and takes that time to visit his numerous friends. He is also quite the photographer and delivered over 400 pictures to me for this project.

The good thing, and the thing that will save your designer's time is he delivered the images all to me in "sequential" folders. That way, there could be no mistaking the time line or putting "Jane from San Francisco" next to an image of Tony from Wisconsin.....you get the picture. (No pun intended)

Loved this project and my client purchased multiple copies to give to every friend that was in the book!

Click here to see the book.