Picturia Press - Creating Books authored by you -->

Today, we finally finished part 2 of a set of 2 books on a mothers blog journaling her daughter's first year. Whew, it was a big one. The second book coming in at 425 pages. Again, very grateful to Blurb for their "slurping abilities - which allowed us to pull down all the entries including the images. If we weren't able to grab all the text and images that way, my client's child would be graduating college before we finished this book!

My client is not only creating a book to save and share with her child when she gets older, but is gifting the book to all the relatives and friends that they have all over the world. It's going to be a very special gift to all of them.

Click here to view the book

This was a wonderful book to work on, simply because it serves such a higher purpose. I was contacted by my client on behalf of the Metta Institute to create a book reflecting the journal writings of Mr. Frank Ostaseski. The founder of the Metta Institute, a teacher and a wonderful man who recently had several heart attacks and is now on the road to recovery. They plan to use the book as a gift to donors who attend the Journey of the Heart benefit for the Metta Institute in late September.

Although there was very little imagery, we worked with the text and used typography to call-out important or emotional points in Frank's journal and used color for more impact in delivering the overall message. This was a very quick turn around in order to make the deadline for the client, but it was a real pleasure to work with them and hope we can create more books for them in the near future. We wish them great success in their fundraising efforts.

Click here to see the book.

I am very happy to say that things have been quite exciting around Picturia Press lately and we are growing daily. It's been quite difficult to get to the blog and post any updates when we have been so busy. But, we want to keep you updated on our work.

Currently Picturia Press is designing and finishing up seven (7 )new books! Here's just a sampling of images from some of the books that are getting ready to go to print soon.

The first one going to press hopefully by next week, is a lovely cookbook we've been working on for a Des Moines Ladies Book Group. While crazy and challenging to work with 14 ladies on one project....we are finally getting it done, and it will be a beautiful book when it's completed. In fact, I am ordering a copy of this book for myself, since the recipes are so delicious! Look for it to be published soon.


We are also finishing up and putting the final touches on a beautiful photography book for a wonderful artist, Angel Herrero de Frutos, from Barcelona. (http://www.pinopic.com). His work is stunning and elegant and we were really pleased and honored to be working on this portfolio for him. You should see a sampling of this book within the next week or two!

Still more to come out next week will be a beautiful book we have been working on for the people at the Metta Institute (http://www.mettainstitute.org) for a fund raising event. Beautiful people doing such great work in the hospice care field. It's an honor to help them create something to further build awareness of this cause.

And of course, it is our privilege to be working with Jerry Gotkin again in producing another photography portfolio of his wife's work of florals. This will be our third book for Jerry and we always enjoy the beautiful art work and the friendship that has grown out of working together so much. This book should be out within the next three weeks.

So as you can see, it's been quite hectic at Pictura Press, but all of the projects we have are so great to work on and we are happy to play a part in each and every one of these wonderful books!

It's always wonderful when we have the opportunity to work with a client on another project. Today, we just wrapped up and published a second book for our client, Jerry Gotkin. If you recall, we worked with Jerry to publish "Gardens of Hospice by the Sea".

We worked with Mr. Gotkin to create a artist portfolio of work created by his wife and noted artist, Marjorie Gotkin. The Tall Ships Watercolor and Gouache is a beautiful book showcasing over 150 of Marjorie's pieces in her Tall Ship series.

Even more works to come as we again work with Jerry to produce another book on Marjorie's floral series. Click here to view the book.

Today, we completed a new book design for one of our clients. The book is going to be a surprise gift to my client's girlfriend on their upcoming vacation. He plans to propose to her and wanted to put together a book commemorating special moments in their life and of course ending the book with a marriage proposal.

My client knew exactly what he wanted to say and even had selected a majority of the images before the book production began. We worked with our client to find additional images and put together a beautiful book that I am sure his soon-to-be fiancé will greatly appreciate. Our congratulations and best wishes to them both.

Click here to view the book.

Just finished designing another beautiful book for our client, Bob Barancik of Creative Ledge Studios. The book, Wabi Sabi Dreams | Water, Weather and Time, is a compilation of Bob's paintings and photographs that follows the wabi sabi technique.

What is Wabi Sabi? According to Mr. Barancik:

The best answer that I can express with words is that wabi sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that reveres the imperfect, incomplete, and impermanent. Although wabi sabi is often associated with Zen Buddhism, the Western eye can readily appreciate the beauty of deeply worn and roughened elemental surfaces. The green patina on a bronze sculpture, rusted farm tools, fallen leaves and apples, paint peeling off an old brick wall or an abandoned wooden rowboat, a barn or garden falling to ruin — somehow makes us feel somber, serene, and autumnal.

Hau`oli la Hanau!
That's Hawaiian for Happy Birthday.....Picturia Press is pleased to have just finished publishing another new book this weekend that was very fun to design. My client recently had a wonderful Luau themed 40th birthday party in San Francisco. She had many pictures taken of the event from her own collection and from others who were at the party.

We sorted through quite a few images and managed to work with the client to capture the "essence" of her party. Which was all about fun and friends. We hope she enjoys the book as much as we enjoyed making it.

Click here to view the book.

Today, we finally finished part 1 of a set of 2 books (yes, 2 books!) we are creating for a mother's blog on the first year of her daughter's life. It took us about two months to complete it and all I can say is that I am eternally grateful for the "slurping" abilities at Blurb.com. Their software has the capability of pulling down all the text and images from where they are stored online and importing them directly into the application. I seriously doubt we could have done this project as effectively and as quickly had we not had that option available to us.

This is my client's first child, so there you can imagine, there were quite a lot of pictures and copy to be used. To give you an idea, the first book was roughly 370 pages! When you get to that size book, it becomes increasingly difficult for the client to review the pages and make changes. We broke it up into phases so we could review and modify the pages within each section thereby avoiding my client getting overwhelmed.

I believe the end result was a great success and now that it's in print, we're ready to start on the second book. Click here to view the book

Just the other day I had a customer inquire as to how they might go about preserving their new book. Although not every customer needs to store their book for safekeeping, some clients, such as photographers who may have portfolio pieces, or clients who have had a wedding album designed, do want a presentation box or folder to keep their book clean and well protected.

We looked around and found a company who creates personalized photobook boxes. They actually appear to be quite nice. Made of thick fiber carton and with velcro corners. The interesting things is they also offer engraving on the box covers. The "ouch" factor is that the company is in Denmark, so the shipping is pretty steep ($23 for up to 2 boxes) and in fact is close to the same price for the box itself! The good news is that the boxes will work with Blurb.com's large size 13 x 11 and also with MyPublisher's classic size 12.25 x 8.75.

I'm ordering a box next week to see and touch one for myself, so I'll keep you posted.

It's been a very hectic summer at Picturia Press, we actually have six books going to press within a week of each other! All of them amazing and different and with their own great stories.

We are happy to be working with Mr. Jerry Gotkin again (see the recently released book "Gardens of Hospice by the Sea") on producing a portfolio of work on his wife Marjorie Gotkin's Tall Ships. Along with that book releasing soon, we are also working with renowned artist Bob Barancik on his book showcasing his Wabi Sabi artwork that I think is going to be really wonderful.

In final production this week is a mother's blog on the first year of her daughter's life. This is actually going to be two books, with the first one being roughly 350 pages! Another exciting book in progress is a very unique cookbook for a ladies' reading group which I'll be sharing more with you later.

Finally, a really fun 40th Birthday party book and a gentleman who contracted us to design a surprise "Will You Marry Me?" wedding proposal book for his girlfriend.

Look to see the inside of these books and the project details soon. More exciting releases from Picturia Press!

So you’d like to produce a book. Regardless of whether it is a portfolio of your work, an event or wedding album, a blog, a cookbook, or a novel, the first decision to make is should you do it yourself, or should you hire a professional?

The most important thing to consider is the time and effort put into creating the book versus the desired outcome of the finished product. Time is always something we are short on, and trial and error in designing your own book can be time-consuming, costly and frustrating. Hiring a professional book designer can simplify this process for you. This way you work with a designer to establish the look and feel of the book, and the designer then implements and/or enhances your vision.

Professional designers do this for a living and therefore understand the technology and the graphic design layout process a book requires. If your desire is to create a professional portfolio, or a book that is personal and emotive, a designer will know how to convey your concept.

Additionally, their skills in designing allow them to provide creative input such as use of color, use of design elements, typography and photo editing. All of these skills not only add to, but enhance the look of your finished book.

In preparing a quote for a client, it isn’t as simple as quoting a set price and going from there. There are many things a professional designer will need to know from you in order to establish a base cost. Let's review some of the things you'll need to know about designing your book before you hire a designer...

Take some time to think about your book before selecting a designer. This process will really help you establish what exactly you want to create and will also enable the vendor to give you a quote based on your true needs and not on a “guesstimate”. And keep in mind that hiring a vendor to design the book does not in most cases include the cost of purchasing and shipping the book. Be sure to verify that with any vendor you hire.

What format shall my book be in?
Blurb.com has several book size selections to choose from as follows:



Blurb books come in soft cover, hard cover with a dust jacket and hard cover with an image wrap. (An image wrap allows you to print an image directly on the front and back of any hard cover book.

Deciding right away on the size of your book is important to begin the design process. You may already know what you want, or you can consult with your designer to determine the best size suited for your project.

Blurb offers great flexibility with ordering your book when it is completed, you have the choice of either soft covers or a hard covers. However, for design purposes, you will need to know if you want the book to have the option of a hard cover with a dust jacket or a hard cover with an image wrap. The reason for this is the designer will need to “lay out” the inside flaps of a dust jacket, and will also need to meet specific design parameters if the cover is to be image wrapped.

How big will my book be?
This can often be a question you find hard to answer and the book designer understands that. However, you may have an idea of how many pages you would “like” the book to be, or you know how many pictures you have or pages of text. This will help enormously when asking a vendor to give you a quote.

What are the elements in my book?
This is important to know for the designer to determine the needs and time required for designing. While your concept can change, a basic understanding of what materials will be included will help the vendor determine pricing.

Most importantly, know what is the content of your book – is it photographs, text, or a combination of both.

Photographs
Know approximately how many images you have.
Can the vendor use a selection of the images, or must they use them all.
Indicate if the images are in digital format or printed format.
If not, will you require them to be scanned by the vendor.
Do the images required editing (such as color enhancement, editing background).
How many of your images require editing.

Text
What format do you have the text in now. (i.e. a Word document)
How much text will you have. (Is it captions for the photographs, quotations, dedications, or the entire book consists of text.

Timeline
It is important as a client for you to convey any deadline for your project. In most cases this determines if and when a vendor can take on your project. Do not assume that because the vendor is a professional, your book can be completed in two days. Be sure to allow enough time for the designer to create a design for you to review and revise and deliver a polished finished product. Most vendors can and will work with you on your timeline but may need to charge you a “rush” fee if it falls outside of the normal time it takes to design the book.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Not all vendors offer additional services, but here are some to consider.

Additional Design Elements
Enhancing your book to complete your vision may require additional photography, illustration, or text. For example, you may wish to add quotes to the book, or customize a front cover. You may desire specialty design treatments, such unique backgrounds or typography. These things require additional time and services from the vendor.

Color profiling. This assures your images will get a truer contrast and more accurate color consistency in your printing. For most individuals, this is not a service you will require. Usually, a professional photographer wanting to assure absolute color consistency would use this process.

ISBN Code.Will you require as ISBN Code. If you are unsure if you need an ISBN code or not, please read my post. If you need an ISBN Code for your book, you can either do this yourself or ask if your vendor can perform this service for you.

Picturia Press had the pleasure of working with noted artist, Jerry Gotkin on his latest project, a book of photography and artwork for Hospice by the Sea in Boca Raton, Florida.

It was an absolute pleasure to work with an artist such as Jerry and his images were so beautiful it was actually difficult to choose from all of them! I wish all projects were challenging in that manner. The book is beautiful to view and is a wonderful tribute to the people who do such good work at Hospice by the Sea.

This is the first of several books Jerry is putting together to showcase his art and his talent and we look forward to being able to work with him on his next project.
Click here to view the book.

It's been some time since I've posted on the blog. But that's not because there aren't any books being published! In fact, quite the opposite! The most recent book published is "Enduring Impact". This was a book we created for Mr. Michael Dunn, the CEO of Prophet, a San Francisco based branding agency.

Michael is celebrating his 10 year anniversary at the company and his associates collected anecdotes, letters, quotes and pictures to put together this book. A very big book I might add, weighing in at a whopping 58 pages!! Seems like he is very well loved and respected. Hope he enjoys the book as much as we did making it for him. Congratulations Michael Dunn.

The most challenging (and rewarding) part of this project was that there was very little imagery and a great deal of text. Taking this into account, we used plenty of typography and color to make the book more engaging and visual.

Click here to view this book

Don't we all love surprises? This one is a good one, no make that a great one. I was contacted by a gentleman who wanted to surprise his daughter by publishing a book she copyrighted in 2002, but never managed to get published. Dads are great aren't they?

My client had done his homework before he even approached us. He had all the copyright information, he had already obtained the original manuscript and converted it to an electronic document and he had contacted an illustrator to create the illustrations. All this done before he even contacted us to do the layout and design!

The important thing to remember when creating a book that requires illustrations is the time frame. Illustrations take much longer to create than photography or graphic images. Sometimes it can take months depending upon the number of illustrations you require. This book used 13 illustrations and I believe he waited about 4 months for that end of this project. If you have a specific time line, you will need to take this into consideration. It's also recommended to have the book designer work with the illustrator so you are sure to get the images sized properly for your book.

I plan to write an article shortly on "Working with Illustrators for your next book". Until then, I'm just going to take time out to appreciate the release of a new book by Picturia Press. Click here to view the book.

This is a follow up to my recent post "Understanding ISBN numbers and UPC Codes". I felt I needed to add a few more bits of information about getting the ISBN Numbers and UPC Codes and their costs.

Bowker is the U.S. broker of ISBN numbers. This is the place to go to get your number. Usually, Bowker sells numbers in blocks of 10, for approximately $250, or a cost of $25 per book. This price also includes the UPC Code (Bar Code) which you will also need. If you don't wish to purchase ISBN's in blocks of 10, you can purchase a single ISBN. However, it's not as easy, and not as cost effective. You have to call Bowker directly at 877-310-7333 and request a faxed application for $125.00. I haven't yet been able to find the form downloadable from their site. Additionally, this cost is for the ISBN number only and you have to purchase the bar codes separately for a cost of $25.00.

You don't have to purchase the bar code from Bowker though, there are other options available. If you want to do it yourself, there is a whole list of ISBN software available online for generating your own codes, or you can try companies such as Bar Code Graphics that will create the bar code image for you for about $10.

On a final note, you may also want to consider registering your book with Bowker's directory "Books in Print". This is their master list of all books available. Oddly enough, when you buy your ISBN number from Bowker, you aren't automatically registered into the master list.

I had the pleasure and fun of recently completing a book for an associate of mine. Fun because it was a book about two of her best friends, her dog and cat. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big animal lover, so this book was something I was looking forward to working on. It’s going to be a gift to her mother for Mother’s Day.

What made this more interesting is having the opportunity to work with and play with typography. Something I enjoy just as much as graphic design and they go well together. As you can see, using typography in some of these pages can make a simple image come alive. It can add sentiment that the image alone might not convey. Treatments like these are emotive and add to the quality of the overall presentation.

When designing a book, consider working with and trying out different fonts, different sizes, and different colors. Images tell a story, but so can typography. The images above were not taken by a professional photographer, but as you can see, they didn’t need to be. We converted the image to black and white and then added the appropriate text to convey personality.



Bear in mind that when you hire a designer, there are additional costs and time to create these types of pages for your book. But, as with everything, they are well worth the cost when you see the end results.

Click here to view the book

You know you are doing something worthwhile when the NY Times decides to write an article about it. I've been an advocate for self-publishing for over two years now and as the demand and the desire grows, so does the market. That means publicity and that's good for business.

Peter Wayner just wrote an article for the New York Times, "Turn Those Bytes into Books" about the blossoming market for self-published books. Picturia Press was interviewed for the article a month ago and only recently was contacted asking if I could have my picture taken for the article. Unfortunately, I was out of town during the time this was going to print, but we're all proud to have the article in print anyway.