Picturia Press - Creating Books authored by you -->

A client contacted us the other day because she was working on creating a great book chronicling the life of her friend who was turning 30 years old in a few weeks. Although she wanted to design the book herself, she asked us to consult with her on design and layout and the concepts of "telling the story" of her friend's life. We were very happy to assist her in creating a wonderful gift.

While we consulting with our client, we also provided our image correction services to work on red-eye elimination and color correction of some old photographs. We also designed the dust jacket for her new book, seen here.

There's nothing more rewarding than working with and recovering old photographs for a client. We were asked to do this project as a commemorative piece on our client's wife who recently passed away.

We received many scans, emails, and discs full of wonderful old images to work with on creating this book. We spent a great deal of time photo editing and photo retouching the images to bring them up to print quality.

Never assume a photo can't be used in your book because it is old, damaged and/or deteriorating. A good designer will know how to edit and recover those images to use in your book. Below is an example of one such image that we recovered and used in this book.



To view more of the book, please click here.

We just finished up publishing a photographer's book of images that he captured during his travels around the world. Primarily in Latin America, the UK and the Phillipines.

Picturia Press combined the photographer's images with wonderful quotes and sayings that would compliment the look and feel of the book without distracting the viewer from the photography.

To view more of the book, please click here.

Sound interesting? Whether it's for a school, a sports team or a club....Blurb.com has new special running right now and is offering a great service to help get your book designed with no up-front expense or budget.

Here's what you'll get:

• 8"x 10" 40 page book (additional pages is negotiable)
• one soft copy proof book (to review before final order)
• 8 hours of design time (includes internal pages and cover)

Offer good through June 30
Minimum of 30 book purchasers lined up
Price of each book: $29.95 softcover, $41.95 hardcover

Please contact Picturia Press for more information.

I have a very close friend of mine who recently celebrated her birthday. As I gift to her, I made a little "celebration" book reminding her of why she is so special to so many people, friends and family alike. These kinds of gifts are the best, because they come from the heart and it's a gift that people will keep forever.

We used lots of fun colors and images and typography to make this little book fun and memorable. Everyone who attended the event loved it - especially everyone who "appeared" in the book.

If you are trying to imagine something special to give to someone for an upcoming event, consider creating and gifting a Memory Book.

To see inside the book, click here.

Picturia Press was honored today by being selected as the first ever BlurbNation "Featured Member".

"Suzzanne of Picturia Press has done a phenomenal job developing her book design business for books for a wide range of clients who regularly return with repeat business. Also, a special shout out and thank you for Suzzanne's support of BlurbNation, which included flying cross country to co-host a BlurbNation meetup and submitting a detailed article on initial client discussions."

Picturia Press has worked with several "print on demand" companies, but has found Blurb to be exceptional in its' customer service, support, quality, options and pricing. We feel very fortunate to work with them and I am personally very appreciative of their continued support of our work.

Wedding albums can be the most rewarding projects to work on for book designers. Getting started is always the hardest part, simply because the bride has hundreds of images and sometimes over a thousand. It can be difficult and time consuming to choose which pictures to use in the book. Simply going through those images can be an overwhelming process for the couple. This is where a designer can be helpful. We ask the client to select the absolute "must haves" for the album first and then we will review the rest of the images to complete the book.

In this process, there's a lot of trust that needs to be established between the client and the designer. This isn't just a photo book or coffee table album - this is something that will last a lifetime and become a precious keepsake. As a designer, we want to have as much invested in the outcome of the final book as the client.

To view the book, click here.

We just finished working with Bob Barancik on his latest book of artwork: Art Not Hate, Creative Responses to Conflict. This book features a powerful selection of Bob's mixed media paintings.

We've worked with Bob Barancik on a number of projects and hope to continue to work with him on creating more of his books in the future. For more information regarding the Art Not Hate project, please visit: http://www.artnothate.com

Picturia Press has worked with Jerry Gotkin over the last year to design and create five books showcasing the artwork of Marjorie and Jerry Gotkin. Orchids: An Intimate Portrait of Beauty, Marjorie's Table, Still Life/Florals, The Tall Ships and The Gardens of Hospice by the Sea.

After designing these wonderful books, Jerry asked if we could create a website for him, which we created and just launched today and you can visit here: www.gotkinarts.com. As always, we were very happy to work with Jerry again on this project and to help showcase his beautiful art in both print and on the web.

While Picturia Press is busy designing new books, we thought we'd share an update from Blurb.com about their 2009 Photography Book Competition. From their website:

Photography.Book.Now 2009 is here, and the call for entries is on! We're accepting submissions for the second annual competition now, and we want to see your best work. Darius Himes returns as lead judge, along with a panel of world-renowned editors, publishers, curators, and photographers.

Photography.Book.Now is a celebration of the most creative, most innovative, and finest photography books – and the people behind them. This is your chance for international recognition and a shot at a $25,000 Grand Prize.

Photographers wanting our assistance in creating a compelling and award-winning design can contact us directly at info@picturiapress.com

I know, it's been quite some time since we last posted, but that's only because we've been so busy designing books. In fact, we've got another three books coming out very shortly!

Recently we completed this fabulous book on Artesano Iron Works. The gallery is located in Philadelphia and this book is a collection of images taken during an open-house event at the gallery.

The photography, taken by our client, an award-winning photographer, Gerard Tomko, features some contemporary pieces of the artist, Ricardo Cabrera installed at the Artesano Gallery. This was a soft cover 7 x 7 book with images of the artwork, the gallery, the lighting, flower arrangements and the delicious catering for the event. What a great idea! Everyone involved in the event can now use this book for promotional purposes.

Click here to view the book.

We just finished a project working with our new client, Gerard Tomko. Mr. Tomko is an award-winning wedding photographer based out of Philadelphia. He's been in this profession for over 28 years and that definitely shows in his wonderful images. It was a great piece to create for him so that he can showcase his work during the Wedding & Portrait Photographers Convention in February.

Gerard Tomko is also a survivor, he battled and beat cancer this last year and is now back to work and creating wonderful images. We personally wish him well, much success and continued good health!

To visit his site for more information on his images or to schedule your upcoming nuptials....http://www.gerardtomko.com

We have a lot of customers inquiring about if they need an ISBN number and Bar Code for their books. While we posted about this topic before, I think it’s important enough to reprint the original posting here:

Do I need an ISBN Number and/or a Bar Code? 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, specialty stores or catalogs, (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.

Here's Why: 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. Your ISBN Number 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.


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 Numbers in blocks of 10, you can purchase a single ISBN. However, it's not as easy and it is 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 of $125.00 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 their master list.

Picturia Press has collaborated with Cheryl Brown in the past and was thrilled when she asked us to help her create and launch her new website. Cheryl is a wonderful Art Director who has worked with clients such as LL Bean and Eddie Bauer.

For more information about Cheryl, or her company CBROWNCREATE, you can visit her website here.

It's hard to believe how quickly time is passing and now Valentine's Day is only a month away. This is the perfect time to start planning that special way to proposed to your sweetheart. Proposal books are a unique and romantic way to tell the story of your love through pictures and words and something you can both treasure for years to come.

This year, Blurb is having a promotion that will give you a $75 credit (wow!) for sharing your engagement story with them. The contest runs through February 14 and they will announce the winner on February 16th. For more information, you can read Love Bound on the Blurb Blog.

Picturia Press will be happy to work with you to design something very special that will "pop the question" in an unforgettable way.

We're sending out all our best wishes to our clients, supporters and friends for a safe and happy new year. Picturia Press will be closed for the holiday, but back at work and designing new books the second week of January.

A big thanks also to Blogger Buster, they recently reviewed the Picturia Press blog in their "50 More Fabulous Blogs" posting. We we're thrilled to be included.

P.S. Watch for us during the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco, we'll be Blurbing!

Picturia Press has been asked to speak at a Blurb event during MacWorld Conference & Expo - San Francisco in January, 2009. It's a wonderful opportunity to share our experiences designing and working with the great people at Blurb over last 18 months. We're looking forward to being there and meeting everyone.