It’s no secret that some of the most celebrated people in the world are avid readers. Notable figures like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey are all a testament to this relationship between reading books and actualizing success. In an interview with Time, Gates mentions that “reading fuels a sense of curiosity about the world,” attributing reading to catapulting his career. 

It’s high time to embrace one’s growth potential in reading more books—not just in brief spurts—but as a lifelong practice. Beyond the case studies of highly-successful readers, ample science supports the benefit of developing consistent book-reading habits. From expanding your literacy and writing skills to staying stimulated and warding off cognitive decline, learning how to read more books offers a wide range of benefits.

So, how do you cultivate the ability to read more books? Try these practices to develop healthy and mindful reading habits.

Read what you find interesting (or what you’re writing about)

One of the fundamental rules of reading more books is simply reading what you like or find interesting. Pretty easy, right? Well, sort of. 

The challenge is doing some homework and experimentation to know these types of books. Determining your preference between fiction and non-fiction books is an excellent place to start. Those who are mentally active throughout the day may be intrigued by books that take us out of our sense of reality, like a gripping fantasy or otherworldly sci-fi. 

Conversely, your interest in reading books may be better sustained by actively learning and exploring the tangible world of non-fiction. Educational and inspirational books can offer greater meaning for certain readers, especially writers, authors, and creatives. If you’re actively writing about specific topics like travel, reading books about the history of early pioneers and legendary world travelers may broaden your creative horizons and inspire you in unique ways. 

Research book ideas and create a reading list

Now that you have an idea of what you find interesting, it’s time to research the books in your chosen genre. In addition to discovering good reads, creating a reading list can help keep you organized without getting lost in the rabbit hole of “what’s next?” This is your to-be-read list (that’s TBR pile in book lingo).

K.W. Colyard, a book features writer, shares some timeless tips to help build your reading list, starting with determining how much time you have and creating realistic reading goals. But, perhaps her most valuable takeaway tip is to mix it up. Instead of creating a linear reading list, alternate between genres, authors, and book lengths to prevent boredom or feeling bogged down. 

As part of mixing it up, Colyard recommends not ordering your list at all. Instead, read whatever you feel like at the time and cross each book off your reading list as you finish it. That way, you’re always reading exactly what you’re in the mood for.

Need reading list inspiration? Check out Listopia on GoodReads.com to explore a range of reading lists by genre and popular picks. 

Set time aside to read

As with most new habits worth cultivating, setting aside time is essential. For busy people, it’s critical to make time to read. It could be 15 minutes first thing in the morning or before bed. Reading is proven to help with relaxation and stress reduction, so a pre-bedtime reading routine can even set the stage for a good night’s sleep.    

Trade in some TV time or keep your digital devices out of sight. You can also chunk out your daily reading by setting goals based on how many pages you want to read in a single sitting. Whenever you choose to read, carving out a set amount of time is critical to making your book-reading habits routine.

Bring a book with you wherever you go

In the current digital age, where everyone carries a smartphone, the default behavior during downtime is to look at your phone. However, bringing a book with you wherever you go can replace mindless digital consumption with something that tangibly advances your reading goals.

Depending on the book, reading can prime your interpersonal skills while you’re out and about. A published study determined a connection between reading fiction and showing greater empathy and social acumen. So just maybe avoid psychopathic thrillers before your social outings.

Reading a book is the perfect activity for work breaks, lunch breaks, or random moments of waiting. Try keeping a book handy at your desk, car, or backpack. It’s an easy hack to have a book within reach instead of your phone. 

Of course, your phone is also a book—so feel free to open your favorite ebook app or audiobook if you don’t feel like lugging around that 500-page hardcover!

Read multiple books at once

With the help of your reading list, it never hurts to read multiple books simultaneously. For most avid readers, reading numerous books at once is second nature. However, even blossoming readers can build momentum with their reading routine by having a couple of books going.

While reading multiple books at once may sound overwhelming, here are a few tips to make it doable.

• Read different genres and balance pleasure reading with informative reading and emotional books with lighthearted books.
• Read certain books in the right environments. Mix up your atmosphere based on the vibe of the book. Try marketing how-tos at the dining room table during lunch break, and romance tucked in before bed.
• Read based on your mood and what you feel like reading. 
• Read different mediums. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, and ebooks provide suitable book alternatives.

And while we’re on the topic of different mediums…

Try audiobooks and assistive technologies

For those who can’t get to a library or bookstore very often, e-readers like Kindles and iPads are practical tech that can store an entire library worth of books. Although digital, reading from an e-reader still provides the same benefits as reading from a book. You can also configure the text size on most e-readers, which is crucial for those with visual impairments.

Although reading books can be better for comprehension and retention, audiobooks are another practical alternative that helps people consume more books by listening to them. So if sitting still to read isn’t possible or enjoyable, grab some headphones and expand your imagination, absorb new information, and find inspiration with an audiobook.

Join a book club or social media community

Incorporating a social element into your reading interests is a great way to add a layer of accountability and motivation to read more. You can usually find book clubs at local libraries and bookstores. But you can also keep it casual with smaller and less structured reading groups or by creating a book club amongst friends. 

Not into IRL events? Try an online book club, log in to your favorite social media app, and find a community. The #BookTok and #Bookstagram communities are thriving. And when the entire world is opened up, you can find your perfect reading counterparts—no matter how niche your reading genre.

In person or online, there’s something special about reading the same book with a group of people and getting together to discuss it. You can enjoy engaging conversations, meet new people, and discover new perspectives, which can inspire your writing or help you develop new ideas for a self-published book. 

Set realistic reading goals

If you’re currently starting at ground zero with your reading endeavors, set realistic goals and expectations. If it’s been years since you picked up a book, it’s probably not feasible to expect you’ll be plowing through a book every week. However, you can increase your volume by building consistent reading habits and finding books you love reading. 

Set realistic reading goals on both a micro and a macro level. For instance, setting micro goals like reading for 20 minutes a day is an achievable objective that doesn’t demand a lot of time out of your day. Similarly, you can have big-picture macro goals of reading one book per month or 20 books in a year. Don’t attach to any expectations or outcomes, but use goal-setting to help keep yourself accountable. 

Lastly, read more for longevity and mental health

There’s something tactile and engaging about a good book. It’s sensory and stimulating on many levels, and reading itself activates the brain while helping advance one’s imagination, creativity, and logic.

Beyond the short-term mental benefits, one compelling study found that reading just 30 minutes per day was shown to extend longevity and minimize cognitive decline. So instead of wasting precious minutes scrolling addictive reels and TikTok, replace your phone with a good book. You’ll develop lifelong reading habits along the journey, and as the science says, you could live longer.

Are you interested in learning how to read more? Track your progress with A RAD Reading Journal to help you do that and more.

The post How to read more books appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Not so with a custom coffee table book you’ve made for yourself. Or one you’ve made for someone else. Especially if you make a great one. The best serve as awesome conversation starters, bring their own beauty to an otherwise functional piece of furniture, and reward repeat reexamination—even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time.

Here, we’ll explore some popular themes and provide a quick rundown of some tips, tricks, and ideas to help make your coffee table’s centerpiece a masterpiece.

Pick a theme for your coffee table book

Because it’s always right there on display, your custom coffee table book is likely to become one of the most prominent and revisited books in your home. So it’s important to put some serious thought and consideration into making it. That starts with picking a theme for your coffee table book. The potential subjects are virtually limitless, but there are a few popular and time-tested coffee table book ideas that can make for a great finished volume.

Travel Book

If your travel photos live in a drawer somewhere (or exist only as digital data), you probably don’t revisit them nearly often enough. A personal travel coffee table book is guaranteed to change that—and it gives you the opportunity to capture memories beyond the photos themselves for extra context.

A single vacation can make for a concise, focused travel book, allowing you to go into great detail if you’d like. Or your travel photo book could be made up of highlights from multiple trips, telling a complete story of all your globetrotting. Either way, consider taking the opportunity to include some quotes and notes about what happened where. And think about featuring an annotated map (or two, or ten) pinpointing where you stayed, where you ate, how you got there, and more. It’s a great memory-jogging device. Plus, who doesn’t like a good map?

Check out this post for tips and ideas for creating a travel photo book

Year-In-Review

If you make an annual holiday card, you know how hard it can be to capture the essence of an entire year in one or two images. A year-in-review coffee table book takes all those restraints away. Include as many photos and milestones as you like. Break it out into sub-themes (birthdays, sports heroics, school year highlights), or keep things chronological.

This can become a great annual tradition—one that leads to an eminently revisitable series that keeps growing year after year. (Keep at it, and eventually, you may need a bigger coffee table.)

Family Album

Family memories are made around the coffee table. It’s only fitting that it becomes a place to celebrate and relive them. Collect an assortment of your family’s favorite photos in one place, or create a chronological record of your favorite family moments. Even if you don’t spend as much time together at that coffee table, a family photo book or album is always there and can reinforce the bonds you’ve already forged.

Nature Photography

Are you a birder? Do you take your camera on hikes, bike rides, or fishing trips? You’ve probably got all sorts of great nature photos just begging for a new home. Collect your favorites and create a photo anthology. And remember, while coffee table books aren’t meant to be reference materials, including any notes about the context or the subject of each photo can add extra meaning to your collection.

With or without words, a nature-themed coffee table book can be a great source of zen in your home, especially if you live in the city, or somewhere that’s too cold (or hot, or rainy) to get out and explore during certain months. We can’t always get our fill of forest bathing, but a great coffee table book can be a great substitute.

Wedding Book

Too many wedding albums get put up on a shelf, and only come down for special occasions. Not so when it’s got a prominent place on your coffee table. If you’ve had a wedding, chances are you’ve got the photos to make an awesome coffee table book that captures all the emotion and memories of that day (and the honeymoon, too!). Making your own wedding photo book is a great personal project to surprise your partner—or it can make for a fantastic team exercise to do together.

Check out this post for tips on how to create a show-stopping wedding photo book

Your Own Creations

Coffee table books are usually rich in imagery, but those images aren’t always photographs, and sometimes the words can take center stage, too. If you’re a creator, try making a coffee table book with the works you’ve already created. Paintings, sketches, collages, poems, jokes. Mix up your mediums, or stick to one. Make a collection of some of your favorites, or document the process of one big DIY, automotive, or art project from start to finish. Seriously, anything goes. If you can make it, it can make a coffee table book.

Consider the reader

While there aren’t many rules with a format as unrestrictive as a coffee table book, there are a few considerations every coffee table book author should take into account.

First, think about how it’s likely to be read—or rather perused. A good coffee table book can have a narrative, but it should also be easy to pick it up and dive right in. That means you should probably go heavy on the images and usually limit your text to contained blocks that don’t require a page turn to complete.

With that in mind, start by making an outline of your book. While Blurb’s digital design tools make creating a layout easy, you’ll save a lot of time if you have a rough (or less than rough) idea of what you’re including, what should go where, and how many pages you expect to need. This will also be a good time to explore templates that might work for your project or to determine whether you’d like to start something completely new from scratch.

The next step will be collecting your content—and giving some thought to how it will all work together. For instance, if you’re assembling a collection of photos taken on different cameras in different conditions, look at those photos side by side to ensure their image quality and color will make for a cohesive look and feel, and make any adjustments you think will help every page feel like it’s part of a greater whole.

And while no one should judge a book by its cover, with coffee table books, the cover is kind of a big deal, as it’s going to be on display as part of your decor. So before you publish your coffee table book creation, give some extra thought to how it’ll look in (and on) its new home.

Finally, consider the physical format of the book itself. A coffee table book that gets a lot of use should be durable and feel good in your hands, so explore the paper and binding types to find one you think is suited to your book and its place in your home. For example, a layflat coffee table photo book can be left open to different pages, for times when you want to show off more than that perfect cover you’ve made. And if you’re planning on printing multiple copies, to sell or to give, weigh the different cost implications of your options.

Examples of coffee table books we love

The Blurb creator community can demonstrate better than words can just how beautiful, unique, and personal a coffee table book can be. While they’re not all strictly intended to live on a coffee table, they’re great examples of formats and themes that lend themselves to prominent display and page-at-a-time reading. Some show the potential of familiar themes, while others blaze their own trail. Get ready for some inspiration!

collage work by Diane Jodes

We mentioned collages, and this is a top-shelf (or table-top) example of how they can come together. Diane Jodes is a Luxembourg-based printmaker and founder of the nation’s only collective printmaking studio. Her book serves as more than a showcase of the finished creative output, with works-in-progress and extended notes on certain pieces.

Bent on the Dirt Road by Andrew Wrisley

A travel book with a generous shot of nature album, Photographer Andrew Wrisley’s ode to van overlanding is filled with page after page of striking images of heart-pounding drives through breathtaking places. The book is, as he puts it, his “letter to nature and to those explorers who appreciate getting lost and finding new ways home.”

The book itself is full of photos, but the cover features custom lettering against a bold, solid background that adds a serious splash of color to even the most subdued of coffee tables.

Late Night Bumpers by Marc Karzen

Here’s a great compilation of a creator’s creations. Mark Karzen revisits ten years’ worth of his photos that served as now-iconic television commercial break bumpers for Late Night with David Letterman. Every image features a recollection, an insight, or an anecdote. Every bit of context makes the image that much more meaningful. Remember: your photos have a story to tell, too, even if you don’t rub elbows with late-night royalty.

In Paris – Coffee, Photography, Design by Tallitha Campos & Sabrina Silveira

A theme focused around a single location gets a mixed-media treatment, as photos and illustrations (and design!) bring the magic of the City of Light to life. A thoughtful introduction sets the tone, and complimentary images with complementary colors tell the rest of the story on their own. This is what a breath of fresh croissant-scented air looks like in book form. One can only hope the coffee on your coffee table is as excellent as the petite cup featured in this volume almost certainly was.

Let’s get making

If that has inspired you, and if you’ve got your idea, we’ve got everything it takes to get started making your own custom coffee table book. The sooner you publish it, the sooner you can put your feet up and enjoy it. So clear space on that coffee table and get ready to bask in your accomplishment.

Want to Learn More? Check out photo books to get started!

The post Custom coffee table photo book ideas appeared first on Blurb Blog.

But getting all that content together is really just the mise en place for your finished cookbook. Before it’s ready to serve and enjoy, you’ve got to organize your recipes in a way that makes your cookbook easier to use, more enjoyable, more meaningful, and, ideally, both familiar and unique at the same time. And remember, this isn’t just about arranging what you’ve got into the right order. Sometimes, the organization itself can serve as creative inspiration and take your work in new directions.

Here, we’ll dive into how to organize recipes for your custom cookbook, different recipe categories to consider, some unique themes to try out, and essential principles for making any cookbook friendlier for both readers and chefs.

Organize your recipes by course

Appetizers, soups, salads, main dishes, desserts. If your recipes span these familiar categories, grouping them by their place in a full meal could be the right approach. It might sound straightforward, but it’s an organizational cookbook tradition that works. And if you’re feeling saucy, you could even plot out entire meal suggestions with your groupings.

…or get untraditional

Let’s be honest: most people these days aren’t planning their food or meals around courses. (Not that we’re afraid of commitment, but meals like that are hard. And sometimes we’re tired.)

Take a look at your recipes, and see if a different type of grouping emerges that seems more helpful. Try arranging them by types (breads, pastas, etc.) or by ingredients (vegetables, eggs). You may find that your collection of recipes makes more sense that way. And your readers may find it more useful when they’ve already got an idea of what they want to make—or they’re looking to cook something up using an ingredient they have on hand.

Cater your recipes to modern tastes

If your recipes cater to a particular type of diet or lifestyle, those could make for a solid chapter in a cookbook—or an entire book unto itself. If a meal (or a guest) calls for something gluten-free, dairy-free, or vegan, grouping recipes that way can give the cook a better way to explore their options.

This approach can extend beyond what’s being cooked to how it’s being cooked. Think slow cookers, pressure cookers, and air fryers. When the weather’s great, it can be handy to be able to flip directly to all the grilling recipes. When it’s not, you can head straight to the chapter on cozy, oven-roasted comforts. People who hate doing dishes might appreciate a section devoted to single-pan meals.

The same principle can apply to prep times. Your cookbook can start with a chapter of 10-minute-or-less quick bites and scale up to all-day marathon masterpieces. And if your cookbook is more focused on one type of fare (i.e., soups, smoothies, etc.), keep the chapters smaller and tighter.

Find a deeper meaning behind your cookbook

For most of us, food transcends ingredients, taste, and texture. It can be linked to emotion, history, moments, and memory. Your recipes might have profound personal meanings to you, so using that as an organizational strategy can help your cookbook tell a story. Or they might lend themselves to different holidays, events, or moods.

Reflect on what your food means and try organizing your recipes outside of the familiar and expected ways. You might find you have entire chapters of recipes perfect for a rainy day, favorites Grandma made better than anyone, kid-friendly dishes, or treats that never fail to cheer you up

Think beyond recipes

There’s so much more to cooking than recipes—and there can be more to your cookbook, too! Consider all the other knowledge you’ve got to share that goes hand-in-hand with your recipes like: Tips for shopping on a budget. The best places to seek out hard-to-find ingredients. Picking out the perfect produce. How to maintain a well-stocked pantry. Fundamental methods for preparing soups, sauces, desserts, and dressings. Kitchen tools you just can’t live without. Mistakes you’ll never make again, or things you wish you’d learned earlier.

Topics like these can make for a great sidebar, a special feature page, or even an entire chapter. Take a step back and look at the big picture, and what was once a simple collection of recipes could become an essential kitchen resource, or an eye-opening source of vital insights.

Design a great user experience for your cookbook

Even if your cookbook and its cuisine already make for a creative culinary triumph, some left-brain thinking can elevate it further. Contemplate how people use cookbooks and navigate books in general. A comprehensive recipe table of contents is a must and can help set the stage for your complete vision. And there’s more to that table than just names and page numbers. Whatever categories or themes you’ve chosen to organize your cookbook, this can be a place to define them up front or provide quick, at-a-glance information like main ingredients and preparation times.

If you’ve put something where you would expect it to be, also give some thought to where someone else might look for it, and cross-reference or repeat it there. For instance, it can be helpful to include a list of recipes on each chapter’s breaker page, even if they’re already in the table of contents. And if you’ve got one recipe that’s a perfect pairing with another, call it out on both of those pages to invite exploration.

Color coding is a great way to organize your recipes and make them more readily accessible and easier to find in a hurry. Play with the headers, margins, or other design elements to set the sections apart, and consider carrying that color coding over into table of contents.

Finally, if you’ve ever made a note in a cookbook, you know how that can form a sense of ownership and a more personal connection to it—or at least lead to future success during the next cook. Adding extra pages or areas for notes is a great way to encourage participation learning, and customization.

Turning to page counts…

Just as there are infinite ways to prepare a recipe, there’s no hard and fast best practice when it comes to lengths for a cookbook. If 30 pages sounds overwhelming, pare it back to 20. And if your recipe list is bursting with can’t-miss winners, keep adding them—but if it’s more than 100 pages, you’ll want to consider publishing that cookbook in separate volumes. It shouldn’t be heavier than that cast iron skillet!

That’s the long and short of cookbook organization. If this sparked some ideas, and you’re ready to begin, roll up your sleeves and get started on making your own cookbook today!.

The post How to Organize Recipes for Your Custom Cookbook appeared first on Blurb Blog.

• Which book design software to use 
• How to start a photo book project 
• The image that changed his worldview
• Sharing creative projects and receiving feedback 
• The age or career stage when people do their best work 
• Image transfer techniques in journals 
• The difference between a photo story and a photo essay 
• The future of book publishing 

BookWright or Booksmart? 

A hundred percent of the time: BookWright. BookSmart is the original Blurb application that is no longer supported. BookWright is the up-to-date, current Blurb software that allows you to make Photo Books, Trade Books, and Magazines. 

What is the first step in a photo book project? 

The first step is to download the Blurb BookWright software so you can make a test book. Think: 7×7 inches, 20 pages, softcover. Use the test book as a way of experimenting with your photography, typography, and page design. Then use that test book as a road map for all your future bookmaking needs. 

Have you ever made a picture that changed your worldview? 

Yes, I learned something from every project I did. However, what I want to share with you is the image that made me a photographer. In 1966, an English photographer named Larry Burrows made a photograph in Vietnam called “Reaching Out,” which was made on a hilltop landing zone. I saw this photograph when I was either in middle school or high school, and it made me feel in a way that I never had felt seeing a photograph before. When I saw that picture, I said to myself, I want to get a camera and I want to make other people feel that same way. That is the reason I became a photographer. So in essence, that is the one image that really changed my worldview and made me into the photographer I am.  

How do I prevent myself from evaluating my work based on how others feel about it? 

I think this question is a byproduct of living in the Internet Age, when we sometimes feel we have to share every single thing we are doing in real time. I think as a photographer it’s better to wait until you really have something to say. Wait until you’ve worked on a project long enough where you can show your absolute best work. Then you have something relevant to say, you have something strong to share. I think it makes it a healthier experience all around.

What time of someone’s career do they make their best work? Do photographers make their best work when they are young, or do they make their best work when they are older? 

The short answer is: all of the above. I’ve seen young photographers come along that are basically transcendent image makers. And every generation, there are several people worldwide who come along that really do or say something that no one has done before. At the same time, other photographers take longer to mature and they do some of their best work later in their career. I don’t think there is one answer for every person. I think each photographer is an individual and unique. And it doesn’t really matter when you get the best work done. 

What is the best technique for image transfer into a journal? 

As a longtime journal keeper, I’ve got two ideas for you. The first is to get an instant camera, like a Fujifilm Instax that allows you to make pictures in the field, and take those little prints and glue them into your journal in real time. The second option is to wait until your project is done. Come back and actually design a journal in the Blurb BookWright software and fill that journal with whatever work you feel like putting in there. Then once you’ve got that book, you can take it into the field and continue to add to it with your Instax. So you have a short-term solution and a long-term solution. 

What is the difference between a photo story and a photo essay?

Personally, I use them interchangeably. I don’t think there is much of a difference. But I have heard some people believe that a photo story is about one particular person, story, or place. And a photo essay is a collection of people, places, and things. But again, I use them interchangeably and I think they are basically referring to the same thing. 

What do you worry about in publishing and what do you hope for in the future? 

I actually don’t worry about much in the publishing field. I think economically today, the world is in a tricky place. So, if I was going to worry about something, it’s that most of the people who work in publishing realize that there is so much good work being done, it’s impossible to publish all of it. So there are going to be some great projects out there that actually don’t find publishers. I think that’s been true forever and I think it will be true moving forward. What I hope is that the publishing industry remains healthy. And I hope that the alternative methods of publishing, outside of using a traditional publisher, continue to expand and grow. I think the more options that creatives have, the better off we all are. 

Ready to choose a trim size and cover type for your book project? Explore your options and get started today. 

The post Photo Books to Journals: Q&A with Dan Milnor appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Creating a kids artwork portfolio is an easy way to get organized and support your child’s growing imagination. Instead of nesting away every piece of artwork in storage bins or covering every inch of wall space, here’s your chance to get a clean start while teaching your little one creative tips for organization over the long term. Plus, you get a one-of-a-kind keepsake the whole family can enjoy looking at together.

Follow these steps to build your kids art portfolio book:

#1 Select and organize the artwork

Whether or not you decide to hang on to the original artwork, this sorting step involves the most decision-making. You may want to create separate piles of art to store, to print in a portfolio book, and to toss. Depending on your child’s age, he or she may be able to help with the process, too.

Once you know which pieces you want to include in your kid’s artwork portfolio, consider how you will arrange the book: by month, by year, or by theme. You could have enough pieces from a single month to fill a book, or you might opt to feature a wide assortment of pictures and order them chronologically to show how your child’s artwork has changed over time.

If your art collection is already quite large, you may decide to create more than one volume of artwork. The good news is, once you get a system in place for sorting and preserving these little masterpieces, the easier it is to repeat the process in the future and create a series of artwork portfolios.

#2 Scan or photograph your child’s artwork

The fastest and easiest way to capture a lot of images in one sitting is to take photos of them. This is also the best option for any pieces that have texture or 3-D elements. You just have to make sure the pictures are in focus to capture those small details. For flat, 2-D drawings or paintings, scanning is a great method to create quality reproductions of the artwork. Once you’ve finished documenting your kid’s art, organize all the scans or photos into one folder for easy access, and label the image files if needed.

#3 Choose a book size and format

Blurb portfolio books come in a range of sizes, paper options, and cover types, so you have options about what the finished artwork portfolio will look like. Large, small, square, rectangular, soft cover, hard cover—which format will best capture your child’s art collection? You get to serve as creative director for this project!

#4 Design a layout with easy-to-use tools

If you prefer to work on a laptop or desktop computer, BookWright’s pre-built templates can give you a quick start on creating your children’s portfolio book layout—no design experience needed. Simply download our free book layout software, then drag and drop images into the template of your choice. There are handy videos and tutorials built right into the application in case you need extra tips along the way.

If you are running especially short on time, Blurb’s mobile app is the fastest way to create a photo book using your iPhone or iPad. In a matter of minutes, you can autoflow images from your photo albums for easy placement on the page.

Consider adding captions for each photo within your artwork portfolio, such as your child’s name, the date it was created, and the motivation behind it. Or your aspiring little artiste might have ideas about how to label their creations!

#5 Choose an image for the artwork portfolio cover

This is another step that can be fun to do with your child. Most kids will get a kick out of choosing which artwork to feature on their very own portfolio cover! You can finish by simply adding a name and month (or year) for the book title, or put your heads together to brainstorm something more creative.

#6 Order copies to share with family and friends

This is the big moment! Time to print your kid’s art portfolio book and decide how many copies to order. These special artwork portfolios make a wonderful birthday or holiday gift for parents, grandparents, and relatives. You can also create a portfolio book to celebrate milestones in your child’s life, such as graduating from one grade level or preparing for a new school year.

No matter what occasion or inspiration moves you, creating a kid’s art portfolio book is a wonderful way to encourage your child’s blooming creativity and build confidence. Years down the road, you and your child can continue to share moments of wonder and joy as you flip through this one-of-a-kind art collection together.

Ready to get creative? Start making a children’s artwork portfolio today!

The post How to Make a Kids Art Portfolio Book in 6 Steps appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Whether you’ve only written a few stanzas or a whole stack of poems, you can create your own path to publication. Follow this guide to learn how to write a poetry book or develop your poetry manuscript into a full-length volume:

1. Write daily

Cultivating a regular writing practice is essential if you want to write enough poems to fill a book. Some poets begin daily writing sessions with a specific project in mind. Others start by journaling or free writing (a technique akin to brainstorming, which involves quickly writing down sentences or phrases as they come to you, without stopping or thinking about grammar). This can help get ideas flowing or lead you to an image or line that will inspire a new poem. For a list of poetry writing prompts, swing by the Poets & Writers website.

2. Read lots of poetry

Think of it as creative fuel! The more books you read, the more you broaden your understanding of what a poem can be, and how many different kinds of poetry books there are. Familiarize yourself with classic poetry as well as contemporary books by living writers. Explore various schools of poetry (from Modernist to Beat to Confessional poetry, and everything in between). Knowing the history of your genre is part of the creative process, and it’s empowering. When you write a poetry book, you become part of the creative conversation with poets past and present.

3. Study the craft of writing poems

As with any creative field, learning the traditions and techniques of poetry will improve your writing skills. Take some time to immerse yourself in the craft of poetry. You may know instantly whether or not you like a particular poem, but do you know what makes the writing effective? Think about the way stanzas, enjambment, meter (or rhythm), diction, imagery, similes, and metaphors function in a poem you love. If that sounds like a lot, focus on one poetic element at a time—observe how it works in poems you read and practice using it in your own writing. The Poetry Foundation has a wonderful glossary of poetic terms to get you started, along with daily poems, an online magazine, podcasts, and literary reviews.

4. Experiment with different forms

Most writers are familiar with poems that feature rhyming patterns, like the sonnet or haiku form. But have you ever tried writing a sestina or villanelle? Do you typically write in short, unpunctuated lines or long stanzas full of complete sentences? A lot of contemporary poetry is written in free verse (without a rhyme structure or regular meter). There’s plenty of room for experimentation in the world of poetry, while still making use of key literary techniques. As a challenge, try writing poems that look and sound different from the ones you typically write. Taking creative risks can lead to great discoveries!

5. Avoid clichés

This writing tip might summon up memories from English class, but it’s sound advice for writers at every level. You know a clichéd phrase when you see it or hear it, which is proof that it’s overused and unoriginal. Examples include: “fluffy as a cloud,” “at the speed of light,” “clear blue water,” “scared to death,” “the writing on the wall,” and “lasted an eternity.” Get in the habit of checking your poems for such hackneyed phrases and removing them. Poetry derives its power from the creative use of language, so choose your words carefully.

6. Ask for feedback

Opening yourself up to positive and negative feedback is part of the creative process when writing a poetry book. If the thought of getting constructive criticism makes you recoil, remember that growing and improving as a writer involves assessing your work. Successful and experienced poets need help editing, and so will you. Try joining a poetry community online or creating a writing group at your local bookstore or café. If you look around, you will discover poets just like you who want to become better writers, exchange work, and support one another.

7. Give yourself time to revise

It’s natural to latch on to that surge of creative energy when you’ve just written something new, and you love it, and wouldn’t change a thing! Occasionally you might keep the first draft as is, but more often, you’ll want to step away and return to it another day with fresh eyes. After reflection, you may decide to add another whole page or cut repetitive, vague lines to make the poem even tighter and stronger.

8. Choose your best work

It can be tempting to include every poem you’ve ever written, especially if this is your first poetry book. However, any weak poem you leave in will detract from the best ones in the book. To showcase the writing, you are most proud of, you’ll probably need to cut some poems (You can always send these to friends, submit them to journals, or put them in your next collection!). For a full-length poetry book, aim to collect around 40 to 70 pages of polished work. If your stack of poems is on the small side, don’t stress—publish a chapbook instead! Chapbooks are shorter collections of poems that average between 20 to 40 pages, and they make a great first book project.

9. Organize your poems

Your poetry book should be a collection of poems that work together or feel related in some way. Maybe the book centers around a particular theme, form, style, or series of life events. It’s your creation, so you decide what connects the individual poems and how they should be sequenced. Think of the first poem in your book as an opening act. Which poem best invites readers into your world and sets up the entire book? Similarly, what is the last poem (the final image!) that you want to impart on your reader?

10. Select a book title

Choosing a title for your book is an exciting moment! If you need ideas, consider naming the book after one of your strongest poems or borrowing a favorite line or image from the collection. You want your poetry book to capture the imagination of a new reader, so don’t settle for generic titles like “Selected Works” or “Poetry by …” Instead, give your poetry collection a unique title that is intriguing and reflects your own poetic language.

***

Ready to see your collection of poems in print? Keep the creative momentum going with tips on how to self-publish your poetry book with Blurb.

The post How to write a poetry book appeared first on Blurb Blog.

To create a travel blog, you will need a strategic plan that covers naming your site, finding a solid hosting platform, choosing a theme, and creating your brand. You also need to decide how you want to monetize your travel blog. This might seem like a lot but nothing is that difficult, so don’t let the logistics get the best of you. Let’s take this step by step.

#1 Name your travel blog

This is a crucial step. Keep it simple and unique. Avoid the common industry clichés that will make it difficult for you to stand out. One of the keys to blogging is to keep things as personal as possible, so finding a name that is uniquely you is the goal. Remember to make sure the domain name is still available!

#2 Find a suitable host and platform

Companies like Bluehost and Dreamhost are popular, inexpensive, and feature-rich web hosting options. Once your host is established, you will also need an actual blogging website platform. Again, there are many options, but one of the most popular, and my platform of choice is WordPress. WordPress is stable, provides great customer service, and offers an almost endless amount of choice when it comes to things like themes and plugins, both of which are critical to the success of your travel blog.

Once your platform is installed and connected to your web hosting service, you will need to begin to understand your ‘behind the scenes’ website dashboard. You will want to get familiar with things like creating posts, moderating comments, plugins that optimize your content, and how to tweak your blog’s appearance and structure. Take your time, create a few test pieces, and learn the basics before going live with your first travel blog post.

#3 Customize your travel blog

Choosing a theme for your travel blog website is both critical and fun. The theme dictates what your blog will look like to your readership. There are plenty of free website themes available through platforms like WordPress, but if those aren’t quite what you are looking for, then there are theme-specific companies offering more paid-for customizable options.

Branding your travel blog website is where things get interesting. Your branding will shape the experience of engaging with your site. Your brand and this experience are what distinguish you from your competition. When readers think of you, they will often not only be thinking of your writing and information but also of your overall brand. One of the great ways of getting started on your brand is developing your logo or your website’s banner. I love Canva, which is a free, online design platform that allows you to design a myriad of things including logos and banners.

#4 Choose your plugins

A plugin is a piece of software that acts as an add-on to your website to allow for greater functionality. There are a few essential plugins that you will want to make sure you have. First up is Akismet, a spam filtering service that filters spam from comments, trackbacks, and contact form messages. Next, think about an SEO plugin to help you refine your content and keep you at the top of Google search listings. Additionally, a good contact form plugin helps you communicate with your audience. Finally, choose a plugin that allows you to add your social media buttons to your travel blog website’s homepage.

#5 Create your ‘About Me’ page

You are now so close to launching that first blog post, but there is just one more task you should complete: Creating your ‘About Me’ page. Blogging is not just about your travels or the data and stories you share. Your travel blog is about YOU. You, and your personality, quirks, beliefs, and insecurities are all part of what makes your travel blog, and your story, so alluring. Your ‘About Me’ page is a great way to introduce yourself and set the tone for your blog. The more information you can share, the better your ‘About Me’ page will be.

Now your travel blog website is set up and ready for your first post. When writing your blog posts, remember to let your personality shine through. You have a unique way of seeing the world, and that’s what you want to share with your readers.

Top tip: Installing Google Analytics is a great way to track which posts are gaining the most traction. Don’t let the analytics dominate your process, but knowing what is getting the most engagement can help you shape future posts.

Ultimately you might decide to monetize your travel blog. The easiest way to start making money with your travel blog is through something like Adsense, which allows you to place ad-code anywhere on your website. In addition, affiliate marketing through something like Amazon Associates allows you to collect a small commission anytime someone buys something through your affiliate links.

So, what’s the secret to starting a travel blog? Well, that’s easy. Just start. Like most things, developing a good travel blog will take time and patience, but once your plan is in place, you will quickly start to build your audience. Be safe, be you, and be adventurous. Happy travels!

Want to add a new dimension to your travel blog? Collect your most popular blog posts together in a printed travel book for your readers to buy. Get started today!

The post How to Start a Travel Blog appeared first on Blurb Blog.

So how do you get started? Creating a comic book requires skill, patience, and planning ahead, but it’s thrilling to see all the elements come together in the end.

Follow this step-by-step guide to bring your comic book project to life:

1. Choose an idea you believe in

With all the serial content being created online and in print, your creative vision is what sets you apart. Start with an idea that you strongly believe in. Starting a comic book requires a significant time commitment, so you want to make sure you have enough interest in your characters and storyline to see your project through to the finish.

The brainstorming phase looks a little different for everyone, but you can expect your original idea to evolve a bit as you’re just getting started. Be sure to keep a notebook on hand to jot down dialogue, sketches, and comic ideas when they come to mind.

2. Write the story first

As tempting as it may be to jump right in and start drawing for your comic book, try not to get ahead of yourself. You know from reading your favorite comics that creating a solid storyline is crucial. The text drives the visual action and fills in key plot details and character traits.

If your goal is to make a comic book that feels cohesive and well-designed from cover to cover, then develop your script before you start illustrating. Otherwise, you risk creating a bunch of panels that may have to be reworked or discarded if the narrative doesn’t line up with them. Beginners will realize very quickly that revising text is much easier than redrawing an entire page.

Consider the following story elements as you start writing your comic book:

• Setting: Is there a clear sense of time, place, and overall mood?
• Characters: Are the main characters fully developed and believable? Do they have distinct personalities, motivations, and challenges?
• Plot: Does the story follow a natural sequence or arc (background information, rising action, conflict, resolution)? Are there any gaps in information that might confuse readers?
• Narration: Is the point of view consistent?
• Theme: What lessons do the characters learn?

3. Research the craft of making comics

You may feel like you’ve consumed enough comics to know how to make your own. However, there is always plenty to learn from more experienced illustrators. In between your own creative work sessions, read books, interviews, and blogs by your favorite comic book creators to discover their tips and techniques. It’s also worthwhile to research essential illustration tools to help you.

For each step in this guide, you can find all kinds of in-depth tutorials and advice for artists that are new to comic book creation. Use these resources as teaching tools and inspiration whenever you find yourself getting stuck.

You can also do research from your own bookshelves. Think about what draws you to a particular comic series, and study it from a creative and technical standpoint. Notice the decisions the artist made regarding layout, drawing style, color, character, and story. Understanding which elements you find intriguing or effective in another person’s work can help you develop your own skills and style.

4. Plan the layout

You’re almost to the actual drawing phase (promise!), but the focus here is to work out the composition of each comic book page and the overall flow. Most comic book artists use thumbnails (very rough sketches of each page layout) to see if the content works.

You want to make sure the text and illustrations fit each panel while also creating momentum in the story to keep readers interested. Does the dialog work? Is the action clear? Is there too much or not enough happening on each page? Too much text, or too little? Think about how you might create suspense at the end of a page, so the reader is compelled to keep going.

If you find problems in your first round of thumbnails, simply toss that page out and create a new sketch. This part of the creative process can involve a lot of trial and error—that’s ok! It’s always better to figure out how the story progresses before you spend time inking and coloring your comic book drawings. Otherwise, you’ll be setting yourself up for potential frustration later.

The more you draw, the better you’ll get at determining how to sequence your panels and when to make cuts. For now, if you’re just starting out in the world of comic book creation, stick to simple layouts. Leave the complicated compositions for a future project when you’ve acquired more skills.

5. Create a set of rules for drawing

One recommendation from experienced comic book artists is to establish a consistent style of illustration that is doable and efficient for the scope of your project. That could mean assigning specific textures, shading, or coloring effects to certain characters or backgrounds. Or you may decide to limit the number of frames per page. These are your personal guidelines to create visual continuity and to avoid making drawings so complex that you cannot replicate the look and feel.

For beginners, it’s especially important to know your strengths and master the drawing techniques you’ll be using before getting too far along with your comic book. You don’t want to be learning the basics or trying to draw figures you’ve never attempted before while also making your first comic. That is a recipe for slow, frustrating work sessions! Also, if you experiment too much while creating your comic, the evolution of your drawings will show in the finished version. The first few pages will look drastically different from later panels, where you’ve perfected your style.

6. Draw the illustrations

You’ve done all the pre-planning and troubleshooting, so here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! The process of drawing will look different depending on whether you use pencil and ink, tablets, or drawing apps and software. No matter which drawing method you choose, you can find countless blogs, tutorials, and forums to answer your questions along the way.

Generally, you will follow these steps to complete your comic book illustrations:

• Drawing: If you choose to work on paper, the first step will be drawing in pencil. If you are using digital drawing tools or applications, begin by outlining your illustrations. On this first pass, try not to stress about making each drawing perfect just yet; there will be time to add all those details. Just remember to leave space for any captions or text!
• Inking: Fill in the drawings, adding texture, depth, and shading effects. (Remember the rules you set for yourself in step 5!)
• Coloring: Select the color palette for your entire project—keep it simple. Then assign colors to each character or scene, and be sure to use the same colors every time those elements repeat. Continuity is a big part of visual storytelling!
• Lettering: Decide whether to use hand lettering or installed fonts on a digital device. Regardless, your text needs to be legible in order to make an impact. (If you want to digitally add text boxes to your layout, you’ll have a chance to do that in step 8.)

7. Choose a format

With print comics, the format you select contributes to the overall reading experience. Blurb’s Magazine format is a classic choice for comics. You get plenty of space on each page, and you can print a high volume at a low cost.

For more ideas and inspiration, check out comic book projects in the Blurb bookstore.

8. Select a bookmaking tool

Once you know your format, decide which publishing tool fits your skill level. Here’s where the pace of your comic book project really starts to pick up, and you can see the finished product within reach!

If you created illustrations by hand, the fastest and simplest way to make a book is Blurb’s PDF uploader. Scan your pages and cover to create PDFs, select a trim size, and upload your PDFs to create a print-ready comic book!

For more creative control, use Blurb’s free desktop tool BookWright. Just drag and drop your image files (at least 300 DPI) into premade templates, or create your own comic book layout. This option also lets you add captions or text boxes to each page.

If you already used Adobe InDesign to create your comic book layout, use our free plug-in to set up your book. It provides trim and bleed guidelines for each book size and format.

9. Publish and order your comic book

It’s time to release your creative vision into the world! Order copies of your comic to share with family and friends, host a comic book launch event or sell your comic book online.

Now that you know how to start a comic book and self-publish it, the creative power is in your hands!

Are you ready to get started? Make a comic book with our free desktop tool, BookWright. Download for free today!

The post 9 steps to start and create a comic book appeared first on Blurb Blog.

A stand-out architecture portfolio doesn’t just showcase your best work. It’s a celebration of your skill, talent, and work ethic. After seeing it, potential employers should be excited to see what you can do for them and become inspired by your ideas and vision for the future.

So how do you pack all of that into a concise, professional architecture portfolio? Here are several tips that could help.

Make it relevant

Just as your work as an architect is unique, so is each new opportunity. Clients and employers want to know that you understand what they’re trying to achieve and that you’ll add to their brand and ethos. The surest way to demonstrate that you’re the best fit for their firm is with a tailored architect portfolio.

When you’re choosing which pieces of work to feature in your tailored architecture portfolio, consider which branch of architecture your prospective employer specializes in (e.g., landscape architecture, restoration, residence design, internal design), and select projects that showcase your skills in that area. Does the role you’re applying for demand confidence with technical drawings or renderings? Keep these specific requirements in mind as you put your portfolio together.

Creating a new architecture portfolio for each new role also means you’ll be providing the most up to date reflection of your work, and it shows your ability to change the way you design projects as new trends are introduced into the industry.

Non-Linear is OK

Avoid giving a chronological or narrative account of your career from start to finish. Your architecture portfolio should instead take prospective clients or employers on a journey through the work that has shaped you into the architect you are today and demonstrates your potential. And that may not necessarily be a linear story. A better approach might be to show more recent projects to display your ability to understand your potential employer’s business and how you can improve their revenue.

Presentation is everything

The best work in the world won’t win you a role as an architect if your portfolio’s design lacks a professional touch. Start by choosing a software you’re comfortable with to design and layout your architecture portfolio. If you’re confident using it, Adobe InDesign is the tool of choice for many creative professionals when building their portfolios and offers you complete creative control. As an added bonus, the handy Blurb InDesign Plug-in means you can print a copy of your architecture portfolio without ever leaving your workflow.

If you’re not familiar with Adobe InDesign but still want to achieve that professional-quality look and feel, Blurb’s free desktop software BookWright is a great alternative. You can choose from a range of professionally designed templates or create your own layouts from scratch with its easy drag and drop design feature.

Pro Tip: A good architecture portfolio design is uncluttered and allows each image room to breathe. Your layout is important and must display images in a creative way that does not waste whitespace but keeps them organized to where your story flows seamlessly.

For more inspiration and more ideas on how to layout your portfolio, check out these examples in the Blurb Bookstore.

Show the big picture

For each piece of work you feature, provide a brief piece of text to set the scene and provide more details that explain your vision. Who was the client? What was the design direction? How long did it take to complete? What were your lessons learned after completing the project? Did you receive any reviews, awards, or accolades?

Pro tip: When it comes to typography, keep it clean and simple. You want the focus to be on your work, not a fancy font. It’s also helpful to know how to choose the best font for print. Untraditional fonts can take away from the focus of your portfolio – your images and architectural designs

Go behind the scenes

Including snapshots of your workflow, from initial concept through various iterations, to final design will give employers and clients a fuller picture of your technical skills and creative thought process. Consider including things like your initial hand sketches, WIP renders completed for internal design reviews, and construction documentation to demonstrate the breadth of your skill set. Add these documents sparingly though so that they do not take away from your images.

Create multiple portfolios

When you first express interest in an opportunity, you’ll want to accompany your cover letter and resume with a ‘mini portfolio,’ offering an enticing sneak preview of your work. You can then build and expand on this ‘teaser trailer’ with a fuller, more in-depth architecture portfolio at the interview or pitch stage. Also, having multiple portfolios allows you to use the most relevant one when applying to a specific firm.

Create a CV page

A CV page shows potential employers what you bring to the table. It is also an important piece of your architecture portfolio. Your CV should not be several pages long. It should be maximum two pages with brief yet important information that describes your experience, education, interests, and past job responsibilities. You can add a personal touch to your CV page by describing hobbies that might make you stand out against competitors.

Know your audience

Before you design your architecture portfolio, you should understand the audience who will eventually read it. Applying for a position at a large architectural firm will be a different type of audience than working with government projects. Research into your potential employer, view their current and past projects, and prioritize your portfolio items with the most relevant ones first that match their business.

Choose a format

For portfolios online, you must choose a format. The two primary ways portfolios are displayed are using web pages and downloadable PDF files. Web pages offer a way to make an attractive portfolio completely available using a URL that can be sent to a potential employer. A PDF file, however, provides a way for employers to download your projects and easily search them should they decide to revisit your opportunity in the future. You can even create a digital portfolio website and add a downloadable PDF.

Select the best projects

A CV is your first impression, and you should put your best foot forward. Your architecture portfolio should not be every project you’ve ever worked on. Instead, it should be only the best projects that shows off your best work.

Less is more

Your portfolio should be rich with images that show off your best work, but it should be organized and filled with only your best work. Less text leaves you with plenty of room to display several images, but you should also pic the very best images. Not every image of a specific project should be included in your portfolio.

Team projects

Many architects work as a team, and some team members aren’t other architects. Showing that you can work as a team player helps improve your chance of working in a large firm that has several people managing the many moving parts of a project. It also shows that you can work on larger projects with other architects to see it to the end. Make sure that you specify your role in the project and specify that you were part of a team.

Showcase your drawing skills

A CV is a first impression of your skills, but submitting drawings can distract from the final product. You should keep drawings at a minimum in your portfolio and avoid explaining too much in the CV. Instead, bring drawings with you during the interview to get into technical detail.

View other examples

To get an idea of what a great portfolio looks like, view several CVs and architecture portfolio designs from experts. Notice that they limit file sizes to a maximum of 15MB and you’ll find no typos or mistakes. It should be creative, organized, and avoid wasting white space without creating too much clutter. The layout should be consistent across pages so that every image fits well with its short description.

Update frequently

As you continue to work in the industry, you should eliminate older projects and replace them with better ones. Your portfolio should always have the most attractive images and the latest most relevant projects. Keeping your portfolio current helps attract employers searching for architects that are familiar with the latest design trends and development.

Proofread

Typos, grammar errors, and misspellings show that you don’t have attention to detail. In architecture, you must have attention to detail to ensure projects run smoothly and you help the design process rather than hinder it. Always proofread all of your documentation before it’s presented to your next potential employer or client.

Ready to make your own professional architecture portfolio? Get started today with one of our high-on-design templates or create your own custom layout. Check out our professional services for everything you need.

The post How to create a winning architecture portfolio appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Here are a few tips that have helped me create my own design portfolio:

Tip #1: Self-Assess and Play

Go to your favorite place or create a safe place in your room where you can just be you. Remove yourself from all distractions and let your mind wander. Feel and embrace the discomfort of silence. Once you’re relaxed, interview yourself by asking questions like:

• What am I most afraid of?
• Who am I?
• What am I interested in and attracted to?
• Who inspires me?
• What work do I want to be doing?
• Do I love what I do?
• What work am I willing to do for a paycheck?
• Am I being honest with myself?
• What do I believe in?
• Did I answer any of these questions out of fear?

If you answered a question with fear in mind (you will know), ask yourself again until you get an honest answer.

Tip #2: Concept

Gather together visual inspiration and examples of things that make you feel the way you want your portfolio to make others feel. Build a mood board by gathering inspirational photography, layout designs, and typography. This will help you establish and narrow down a portfolio design direction that feels like you.

Identify, integrate, and adapt trends and styles that align with your identity. For example, there are two current trends in that I plan on using for my portfolio in 2019: “Buxom” serifs and all things Art Deco. I will use them because I like them aesthetically, and they align with my interests and who I am as a creative.

Another 2019 trend is the use of liquefied metallic imagery and electric gradients. While I can appreciate this style, it just isn’t me, so I won’t be including it in my concept work and mood boards.

Tip #3: Curate Your Portfolio Work

Choose 3-5 pieces of work that you are most proud of and order them starting with your favorite project. Write some accompanying notes explaining the background to each piece of work: the who, what, why, how, and its impact.

Only include and show work that you believe in and can talk passionately about. Just because a piece of work wasn’t approved by your Creative Director, doesn’t mean you can’t use it in your portfolio. The reality is, nine times out of ten the best work never makes into the “real world.”

Make sure one of your pieces is a personal project. Showing a personal project gives the viewer insight into who you are as an artist and what you like to do in your free time. Passion goes a long way.

Also remember to give credit where credit is due—very few creative campaigns are the work of one person. If you worked alongside other designers or writers, make sure to credit them. It is the right thing to do.

Tip #4: Give the Viewer Something to Remember

A viewer will spend approximately three seconds looking at your work in your portfolio before deciding whether they are interested. Use those three seconds wisely. Consider doing something unexpected with your portfolio that represents your style and approach to design. This could be in the form of imagery, animation, illustration, or an unusual UX.

Tip #5: Put it in Print

In today’s digital economy, presenting a print piece has become a way to stand out. While your prospective clients or managers are used to scrolling without end, print offers you a chance to curate something for them to hold—another opportunity to get and keep their attention. Consider creating a beautiful statement book to bring to interviews, or a magazine as a sample of your work to leave behind.

Ready to make your own professional portfolio? Start with one of our high-on-design templates or create your own custom layout. Get started today.

The post How to Create a Standout Design Portfolio appeared first on Blurb Blog.

What is a layout?
Let’s just start at the beginning with what I will call a layman’s definition of layout. A layout is the blend of elements you need to include on a given page or spread. This could include photographs, copy, illustration, artwork, etc. A layout is how you blend these elements.

What is the purpose of a great layout?
There are several key aspects of any good layout. The first being the layout ties together your required elements, meaning images and text, but more importantly a good layout helps the viewer look at the elements in the order in which you want them to look. A good layout is a visual roadmap so to speak.

Are there any basic rules for making a great layout?
Yes, there are, but all of these rules can be broken. Having said that, think about keeping things simple with your photo book. Try to introduce one concept, or idea, per page. Also keep in mind things like shapes, colors, fonts, and try to keep those simple and concise. Too much of anything isn’t a good thing and often times ends up confusing the reader.

How do I make sure I use the right photographs in my layout?
Great question. Editing is an art form, so if editing isn’t your strong suit, get help from someone who can look at your work objectively. To start, think about whether or not your images are cohesive, and that the color and tone are related. Four images of a Southwest landscape might be perfect, but the fifth image from a foggy Northwest might not work. I also think the lens choice, or framing choice has an impact on what images work well together. Imagine having four tight portraits but the fifth image is a landscape. They might all be important to the story but they might not all work on the same spread.

What about finding balance with the photography?
This goes back to editing. What is the single best photograph? What is the single most important photograph in regard to conveying the message you need to convey? These might be two different images, and their size will reflect their importance. Another thing to look for is symmetry. Does the layout feel balanced when I take step back and look at the overall spread? Sometimes things just feel right, other times not so much.

How many images per page should I use?
There is no right answer here, but what I will say is less is more. Yes, a cliché, for sure but still true. Another answer is use just enough, and no more. Sometimes a spread might require four or five images. Let’s say you were photographing an action sequence and want to show the progression of a moment. Other situations might only require a single large photograph that is strong enough to stand on its own. A great designer once told me, ‘If your images are strong, you don’t need to over design.”

How do I know when I have a strong layout?
You know your layout works when the message you are trying to convey is easily consumed by the reader. The reader will flow from element to element, just as you hoped they would. This becomes especially poignant when you are able to blend your true style and vision with the elements required and the viewer is still able to easily navigate your layout. Another trick is to hand your friends a publication and watch how they consume it. I’ve learned a lot about design (and failure) by doing this exact thing.

Are there any key things to avoid?
Sure. Doing too much on one spread or layout is a common mistake. Too many colors, fonts, images, etc. Remember, what you are after is undivided attention, which isn’t easy accomplished when the reader doesn’t know what to do next.

What about typography?
Try to keep to one font for the entire layout, book, etc. And use this one font at the same size if possible. At the most, you could use a second font for a subtitle or captions, but try to keep your font choices as simple as the layout itself.

What if I don’t even know where to begin?
Believe me, I’ve been there and will probably be there again at some point. Staring at a blank spread can be intimidating, which is why   are a great place to start if you are new to designing layouts. Templates are not set in stone either, so just because you used a template as a starting point doesn’t mean you can’t tweak it and make it your own. Even if you end up discarding the templates, using these premade options is a great exercise at the very least.

Ready to get started? Our free desktop software, BookWright can help. Learn more today!

The post How to Make a Great Page Layout—Q&A with Dan Milnor appeared first on Blurb Blog.

It’s not an exact science. Luck, timing, and wider circumstances beyond your control will always have an impact. But there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of standing out and getting noticed.

1. Define your brand

As an individual creative professional your brand is likely to be based on you—your skills, your passion, and the way you see the world. To make your brand stand out as unique and instantly recognizable, the way you work, the clients you choose to represent, and the work you produce should consistently reflect these traits. So, what makes you you? Discover more promoting and marketing resources here.

2. Pay attention to the details

Memorable and influential brands have consistency and integrity. As a creative professional trying to make an impression, the same branding methodology applies to you. In today’s digital world, pretty much everything we do, say, or even think is out there for all to see. So, to make your brand stand out, it’s important to pay attention to all the ways you are represented, across every channel and face-to-face.

3. Do your research

Identify your peers and competitors. What kind of work are they doing? Who do they work for and how do they meet their client’s needs? How do they represent themselves? Research their approach and then do it differently. To make your brand stand out, add your own twist to establish yourself as something different.

4. Collaborate

Working with like-minded creative professionals can highlight your own skills in your particular field and expose your work to brand-new audiences. Joint projects are a great way to stand out and raise wider awareness of your work and talent.

5. Step out of your comfort zone

You’re an expert in your field, but what else inspires you? How do other creative fields inform or influence your work? Expand your reading list, the movies you watch, the galleries you visit, the places you go, and even the food you eat. Blending a wider, varied range of sources of inspiration will help you stand out and serve to give your work a more distinct look and feel.

6. Do one thing well

While you should always seek inspiration in a variety of places, when it comes to your work, focus your time, energy, and creativity on honing your particular craft or skill. Your creative brand cannot stand out in your field if you are a jack-of-all-trades. You need to be a master.

7. Don’t be afraid to fail

Throughout history, countless experiments and innovations have gone nowhere near according to plan, yet have still resulted in steps forward and new ideas. Not everything you try will be a resounding success. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a go. You never know where it might take you. Failure is all part of the journey.

8. Blow your own trumpet

Being shy and modest is lovely, but it’s not going to make your creative brand stand out in a crowded scene. If you produce great work, shout about it. When someone else says they love it too, let everyone else know. If you land a great pitch, celebrate loudly. As humans, we tend to find the idea of self-promotion uncomfortable, but if you won’t celebrate your work, why should anyone else?

9. Don’t try to please everyone

As a creative professional with a distinctive, memorable style, you’re never going to please everybody. And that’s ok! Trying to be everyone’s cup of tea will only result in bland work that’s easily forgettable. Part of standing out from the crowd will involve stoking conversation and controversy amongst your peers and your wider audience.

10. Work on your portfolio

Back up your creative brand with a polished, professional portfolio, that showcases the true breadth of your talent. An impressive digital presence is important, but a tangible leave behind for potential clients will always give you an edge over a link in an email. We’d suggest making a portfolio book, full of your best work. Learn how to make a professional portfolio.

***

Sometimes it’s hard to stand out as a creative professional, especially in a crowded, competitive market. So, avoid blending in and learn how to make your brand stand out by implementing these 10 tips.

The post How to make your brand stand out in 10 ways appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Typography refers to the style, arrangement, and appearance of letters, numbers, symbols, words, and lines. It’s the art and technique of arranging words and letters to make your text visually meaningful, legible, and appealing. Follow these typography tips to ensure your project has that pro look.

ty·pog·ra·phy
tīˈpäɡrəfē/
noun

Tip 01
Stick to a small, complementary font palette

With so many cool and interesting fonts available, it can be tempting to get a bit too creative in our choices. Restrain your creativity in favor of consistency and readability—2-3 fonts for the whole project. Choose one font for display—headlines, large copy, logos, and labels. Choose a readable, basic font for block text and body copy—serif fonts in long text guide the eye. You can choose a third font for additional headings and labels, but often, these are just done in a larger version of your body copy font. Pair a sans-serif font with a serif font, a script font with a more rigid, classic font. That typography contrast is interesting and helps with readability.

Tip 02
Create a purposeful hierarchy 

Create a pattern of headings, subheadings, labels, captions, and body copy, then break your text into these categories. Be consistent with the formatting for each of these types of text—always use the same font, weight, size, etc.  The most important information gets the biggest, boldest treatment in your layout. The goal is to create text that is easy to scan and navigate.

Tip 03
Prioritize readability 

Three things make your project clear and readable: lots of white space, font choice, and color. Make sure your letters have plenty of space between them, leave enough space between lines, between heading, and text boxes. Leave large margins, opting for more pages over less white space. Choose high contrast (black on white, black on pale green, etc) in complementary colors. Too much color activity is hard to read, so use harmonious colors that work together.

Tip 04
Align and shape your text blocks 

When in doubt, justify to the left. Right justification is for small blocks of text and style contrast. Center justification is mostly used for headlines and light copy that’s 3 lines or fewer unless it’s a poem. When you justify to one side, you’ll see one side is ragged. After the copy is placed, go back through and create your own line breaks to make that ragged edge as even as possible. Also, check to make sure there are no “widows and orphans”—lines that land on the next page or single words at the end of text blocks.  

Tip 05
Design for the shape of the book 

Mind the gutter! You never want any part of a word to be lost in the center crease of the book. You also want your typography and text blog styling to reflect the shape of the page where it’ll be. Text blocks should follow the portrait and landscape shape—either tall, narrow blocks or wide blocks, or multi-column layouts. The most readable lines have only 30-40 characters including spaces unless you’re working with text-only full-page layouts, which are around 100 characters.

You can get ideas and tips for your own typography by looking around you—pay attention to the different arrangements of words, and notice how they work, what they make you feel, and what associations they bring to mind. As you’re laying out your text on your own book pages, ask yourself: Is this text working as hard as it could? Could I say more if I formatted it differently? Is it as clear and distraction-free as I could make it? The more attention you pay to the arrangement and appearance of your characters, the clearer and louder your message becomes.

Read more about the power of typography and layouts.

The post Quick Typography Tips for Non-Designers appeared first on Blurb Blog.

A layout is the way in which text and images are arranged. When these elements are combined effectively, the memorability of your content, its visual impact, and the viewer’s experience will be heightened exponentially. Media such as books, websites, advertisements, and museum walls all use layout in different forms.

In order to understand the different effects of various layouts, it’s vital to be familiar with the universal principles of design, as well as your own personal philosophy surrounding it. Our hope is that these layout design tips will give you the necessary foundation to develop your own process and make your layouts more successful.

Design Layout Ideas

1. Research

Before you begin a creative project, it’s important to understand your place in the larger history of art and design. Never stop researching and learning about different styles, movements, and aesthetics—historical and contemporary. The popular minimalist style of web design, for example, is an evolution of the aesthetic popularized by the early 20th-century German art and design movement known as Bauhaus.

Drawing upon your own education and paying attention to what speaks to you personally will help you develop a unique, but relevant, voice that will allow you to reference (without ripping off) the work you admire most.

When starting a new project, refer back to mood boards you’ve created and images you’ve saved over time. If you don’t have a mood board that feels relevant to your current project, make a new one and take the time to understand the historical relevance of the direction.

2. Content and Concept

The most important step in layout design is deciding on your design concept.

After reviewing your content, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is your audience?
• What is your message?
• Why is your message important?
• How do I want the viewer to feel?

After answering these questions, consider any additional parameters and whether or not you think your content is best communicated through traditional or non-traditional methods. For example, are you designing a layout for a medical brochure for a hospital or the album insert for a punk band?

Different projects require wildly different approaches. It is up to you to determine the best way to communicate your message to your audience.

3. Hierarchy

It’s often said within the advertising industry that consumers decide if they’re interested in a product within three seconds of viewing of an ad. For this reason, your layout design must always communicate the most important message first. Structuring the text and imagery of your layout with this hierarchy in mind will provide you with the necessary parameters when considering format, grid, and alignment.

Design should never dictate the text elements, and vice-versa. As a designer, it is your job to make sure these two components work together in harmony and that your message is understood.

4. Format, Grid, and Alignment

At this point, the format that will work best with your visual direction, concept, and established hierarchy should be starting to solidify. From here, you should be able to establish the correct dimensions of your layout and the basis of your grid.

A grid will help you position your elements based on a sequenced number of columns and rows. Grids provide us with the ability to align our work with precision and are integral to completing your layout design.

When considering the alignment of your layout, keep these principles in mind:

• The Golden Ratio: a special number approximately equal to 1.618 that appears many times in geometry, art, architecture, and other areas. It can be used to create pleasing, natural looking compositions in your design work.
• Rhythm and consistency
• Balance and/or tension
• Deviation from alignment or “breaking the grid” (when it enhances your concept)
• Typography (more on that next)

5. Typography and Font Pairing

Choosing the best typefaces for your layout can be a daunting task. First, because there are so many options; second, because the aesthetics of typography are subjective. This is where your knowledge of typeface and the history of various fonts will come in handy. For example, if you unknowingly choose a font that has previously been used in a popular ad campaign, it may have an unintended connotation for your audience.

Do your research and refer back to your project’s mood board before you make a decision.

There are four main categories of typography: Sans Serif, Serif, Decorative, and Script. Here are a few basics to keep in mind as you play with different font pairings:

• The Readability of a font should take precedence over aesthetic. To ensure readability, consider your text alignment as well as the typeface(s) leading and kerning. Minor adjustments to spacing can make a big difference.

• Create Visual Contrast by combining two different fonts or using the same font in different weights. The classic pairing of a Sans-Serif headline and Serif body copy is a good example of a simple, high-impact font pairing. A common rule of thumb is to use no more or less than two or three fonts within one layout, but once you’re familiar with the rules, it’s possible to break them effectively.

• Superfamily to the Rescue! When in doubt, the easiest solution to a font-pairing dilemma is selecting typefaces from one font-family with multiple font-weights. These fonts work together naturally. All you have to figure out is how you want to arrange them.

• Consider the Mood of a font or its ineffable emotional qualities. These are the adjectives we use to describe the way the font ‘feels’—playful, mysterious, retro, serious, sad, etc. Determining the mood of a font is easily the most subjective part of typography, but it’s one of the most important concepts to keep in mind when pairing fonts. Mixing fonts of incompatible moods can derail even the best content. All you can do is rely on your research and go with your gut.
• Know Where to Look for interesting classic or original typographies. Everyone has their go-to websites, (mine is Typewolf) but there are countless resources available.

• Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment or break the rules. This is how we learn. Font pairing can be scary because it is not an exact science, but when creative professionals speak in absolutes, it hinders progress and rewards “sameness.”

Take a deeper dive into Typography.

6. Review and Improve Your Layout Design

Being able to edit and modify your layout design is crucial to the creative process. It takes practice, patience, and the ability to differentiate between constructive vs aesthetic criticism.

I have a mental checklist that I use as part of my review process:

• Am I communicating exactly what I want? Will my audience understand my concept?
• Is there a rhythm and consistency to my layout and design?
• Do I have enough contrast? If I squint, is my eye still drawn to the main message?
• Is everything evenly spaced and does the hierarchy feel balanced?
• Are there “orphans” within my body copy?
• Are the design rules I am breaking necessary?
• Do I need to edit or remove text or imagery that feels redundant?

After proofing, you may also want to ask a colleague or peer for constructive feedback.

Final Thoughts

In summary, when approaching layout design remember to research and understand the universal principles of design. Keep these six layout design ips in mind for yoru next media project. In the words of Picasso, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Share your top layout design tips in the comments below. Or, put Stacey’s tips into practice and start designing the layout of your own book.

The post 6 Professional Layout Design Tips appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Take a look at these:

BookWright (Free book-making software)

If you’re making a book, Blurb’s free book creation software, BookWright, allows you to make custom layouts with an easy drag-and-drop interface. Pro tip: Once you’ve perfected your custom layouts, you can use the Save Layout feature to save and apply them to other pages in your book with a single click. Consistency is one of the easiest ways to make your book look more professional, so this is a great feature to try on your next project.

Unsplash (Free high-resolution photographs)

Unsplash is a collection of free, curated, high-res photos, submitted by photographers from around the world. The content of these gorgeous photos is very diverse, and the resolution is high enough that you can use them for both web and print projects.

CreativeMarket, (A marketplace of visual assets)

CreativeMarket is a marketplace of visual assets created for designers, by designers. Think fonts, logos, images, mockups, etc. While the majority of items here are for sale (with profits going to independent designers), many items cost less than $20. They also have a section of their website called “Freebies” where they offer a sampling of products for free; it’s updated weekly.

The Noun Project (Free iconography)

If you ever need vector icons or simple illustrated graphics, The Noun Project has you covered. This community-supported site offers thousands of vector icons, free to use under a Creative Commons [In other words, you may use the image for free as long as you credit the creator.] Icons are also available to purchase if you decide not to use the Creative Commons license.

Canva (Free customizable graphic design templates)

Canva is an online tool that makes it easy to create custom graphics. Their robust database offers pre-made templates for all the most common social media and marketing sizes. You can create assets specifically sized for every major online platform: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Etsy, to name a few.

A Color Story (Free photo-editing app)

If you’re looking to dress up some of your photos, try applying a filter to them. A Color Story offers a variety of simple editing and filtering tools, which are great giving your photos a stylized look. You can download this app for free in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Gridulator (Free customizable grids)

If you read our post about creating great layouts, you know how important The Grid is to great design. Gridulator allows you to create a custom-size grid which you can download and use as a guide for any project. Just enter the width of your book in pixels and the number of columns you want. It will then generate a downloadable PNG for you. (This tool is best suited for digital projects.)

Google Fonts (Free open-source fonts)

Google has compiled a huge database of open-source designer fonts. They’re all free to download and use in any way you need. Since BookWright allows you to use any font on your machine in printed books, this opens up your project to a whole new world of beautiful fonts.

So there you have it; eight free resources for you to try on your next project. Have you ever used any of these? Do you know of any other great tools for designers? Let us know in the comments!

The post Our Favorite Free Resources for Designers appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Here are 10 tips from Blurb’s very own professional photographer-at-large and accomplished book-maker, Dan Milnor, that, if followed, will make for a successful, professional book.

1. What is it?

What is the purpose of your book? Is it a photo book, will there be text? Is it a catalog or portfolio book? A catalog typically represents a specific body of work for a specific purpose, like an exhibition. A portfolio is about your best work but might not tell a story. A photo book has a theme, story, etc.

2. Size matters

What trim size will best suit the project? Reference other books and consider the various price points. Bigger is not always better. The world has changed and so has our ability to ingest visual information. Sometimes, depending on the circumstance, a smaller book, or a set of smaller books, can be equally as impactful as a larger more traditional book.

3. Tell a story

Books have a story, a narrative, or an arc. This means that you need to choose your imagery accordingly. Does the viewer have everything they need, not only to understand, but to keep reading or viewing? How are you arranging your content? Consider how the order affects the message—tell a story.

4. Edit, Edit, Edit.

One of the biggest mistakes we see, and most common, are books with far too many images. A good exercise for book-making is to take any story you have completed: a trip abroad, a family gathering, or a work trip, for example, and reduce it to the ten best. What are the ten best images that will make your book? Only print what you need to get the story across, nothing more. Think a single image per page as opposed to pages with numerous images.

5. Sequencing

Sequencing a book sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of choosing a cover and editing the work. But sequencing which images come first and which images go last can make all the difference. When people talk about literature or film they refer to “narrative arc”—how audiences are taken on a rollercoaster ride of plot and action. The same applies to your book. Start strong, end strong, and give the viewer an arc in between. Just because you love a certain image doesn’t mean it should come at the very start of the book.

6. Cover design

Don’t judge? They will. Look at other books, gather inspiration, and play with various options before making your book cover. Good book covers are typically simple, easy reads. Sometimes the cover works as a trick to get someone to slow down and crack the book open. Here are some of our favorites from 2017.

7. Typography

With most books, think about two fonts, three at the most—title, body copy, and captions. Don’t use a default font found in your font folder. Use something that fits with the story you’re telling. Typography is critical and is an art form in itself, so you have to respect it to make a successful book.

8. Page layout

Think about consistency and flow. Less is more. Whatever you choose, try to be consistent. Experiment with image size—just because you have a 10×8 book doesn’t mean you have to make the images 10×8. Often a smaller image has more energy. Busy pages make for busy readers, so slow it down and keep it simple. Let your photographs speak for themselves, and give them room to breathe. We asked our own designers what makes a great layout. Here’s what they had to say.

9. Proof it

New tools and technologies give us the option, ease, and affordability to create sample or proof books. I highly recommend doing so. If you’re new to book-making, take the pressure off and have some fun by printing a sample of what you think your perfect book is. Even after hundreds of books, I still print samples when I feel a bit unsure. Plus, catching errors at this point will save time and money later.

10. Ask for feedback

As photographers, we fall in love with our own images. We were there and know what it sounded like when we made the photographs, we know what it smelled like and we had the experience of making the work. The problem is that the reader wasn’t there. So just because you love an image doesn’t mean it works in the book. Get a second opinion. Make prints and give them to someone else to edit and sequence. You will be surprised at what comes back.

Share your top tips for making a professional book in the comments below.

The post How to Make a Professional Book – 10 Top Tips appeared first on Blurb Blog.

As I was creating this book with Blurb, I intentionally left some pages blank to make space for ticket stubs and handwritten captions. The hand-lettered titles for each city I visited were created on the iPad, and transferred into Adobe InDesign as I was creating the book with the Blurb plugin.

Here’s a peek at my travel book, and 5 ways you can include more stuff in your next photo book:

1. Add a personal touch with handwritten journaling.

I love the cleanliness of a beautifully made photo book, but I sometimes feel that the person creating it isn’t always felt through the pages. I love all things analog, especially handwriting, and adding this into my book was one of the first things I knew I wanted to do. Writing out captions or little snippets of what I remember from my trip was a meaningful way to capture my story in a personal way. Don’t be afraid to write on your photos, add candid captions, and use your handwriting, no matter how messy you feel it looks—this is your story, make sure you’re in it!

2. Include the bits and pieces you collect from your trip.

I’m a graphic designer and self-confessed paper lover (and hoarder), so there’s no doubt that my idea of collecting keepsakes from a trip is saving every little ticket, postcard, flyer, and restaurant/store business card I come across—especially if it’s a cool example of local graphic design from the city I’m visiting. I collect these and never know what to do with them (or I make a promise to myself to scrapbook them someday), so adding them into my photo book made perfect sense. My book includes train tickets, flight boarding passes, business cards from fun stores I stopped at, and even a large flyer I trimmed down to fit in my pages. I love that these make my book more visually interesting and fun to flip through.

3. Fit in even more photos after printing.

As a definite lover of all things analog, I knew I wanted to add to the story of my trip by including some instant photos within the pages. They’re imperfect, in-the-moment, and add an extra layer to your story. Old school Polaroid cameras or the more modern Fujifilm Instax cameras (now in several sizes of film!) are fun to use on your trips to get unexpected moments. If you like the look of instant but would rather have more control, Fujifilm has an Instax Printer that turns photos from your phone into mini Instax shots. I used this on some of my pages and love the extra layer it adds!

4. Add little graphic accents to your pages with clear stamps.

Stamps are a staple for scrapbook makers and crafty planners, and I love using them as a finishing touch! I run a paper line called Everyday Explorers Co. and clear stamps are a customer favorite, simply because they’re easy to use and are fun little graphics to add on to projects. I love to travel, so most of the stamps are travel themed and perfect additions to travel books. The clear polymer stamps stick onto clear blocks, so you can finally see where you’re stamping (perfect for a nitpicky designer like me). This came in handy as I figured out how to balance my journaling and graphic elements.

5. Get creative with your travel book’s dust jacket!

In the spirit of adding even more dimension to this project, I decided to do something fun with the dust jacket that comes with my Blurb book. Inspired by airline luggage tags that mark where the bags are from and where they eventually have to go, I designed my dust jacket to just have a tag with my book title and city stops clearly marked on it. When my book arrived, I trimmed down the jacket to create a fun luggage tag bellyband!

Summer is just around the corner, and amazing adventures await. As you go on and capture beautiful photos, don’t forget to save the little physical bits and pieces from the places you see—they’re all part of the bigger story, and they make cool additions to your travel books!

About Christine Herrin
Current status: Making awesome things, and building my brand. I was also honored to be picked as a 2016 Adobe Creative Resident — an entire year of working on dream projects and meeting design heroes. But before that, I was freelancin’ for awesome clients, handlettering things, and running my online shop of stamps, journals, and more.

The post Capture, Collect, and Create: 5 Creative Ways to Spice up your Travel Books appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Trade books are one of Blurb’s secret weapons, ideal for self-publishers (or anyone else) who wants to create an economically produced yet beautiful book. Designed from the get-go for wide distribution, trade books have the most competitive pricing of any of Blurb’s books while still maintaining the sky-high quality standards and customizations you’d expect.

What’s a trade book?

A trade book is a book designed to be sold to the general public via regular booksellers, like a New York Times Bestseller paperback at an airport bookstore. In the publishing industry, trade books are typically mass-produced and bound in perfect binding, distinguished from textbooks, academic works, and limited editions by these production and distribution methods.

At Blurb, when you choose the trade book format, you balance print quality with page cost—so you can get more of your work out in the world. As a result, they’re affordable books for bookmakers who want to sell their work—whether you’re making a children’s book, cookbook, memoir, comic book, or even commercial photo book.

Available in three standard sizes, four printing options, and three cover types (both soft and hardcover), trade books offer all the customization you need to capture your vision. You’ll likely want to choose a trade book when distributing your work requires a lower cost per copy.

Learn more about trade books.

Why print a trade book?

Now that we’ve established what a trade book is both in the publishing industry and at Blurb, we can get into the reasons why you might choose to create your own.

1. Easy worldwide distribution

Amazon? Barnes & Noble? Indie bookstore? Check. Check. Check. Trade books make it easy to print, distribute, and ship your work—wherever you want to sell it.

That means you can reach a global audience or keep it local. Blurb partners with Ingram, the world’s largest book distributor, so whether you’re looking to get your work into the hands of significant retailers or just your friends and family, you’re covered. What’s more, there are no minimum order quantities, so you can print as few or as many copies of your book as you like.

Last but not least, when you sell through Blurb, you’ll automatically have a personal storefront for your book on the Blurb Bookstore. That makes it easy for people to find, preview, and buy your work. The Blurb system takes care of all the time-consuming parts, like shipping and fulfillment. And unlike Amazon, Ingram, and Apple Books, there are no distribution fees or commissions for your sales.

“Blurb made it such a seamless process for me to keep all of the rights to my work, print copies on demand, and distribute my books through a global network. Couldn’t really ask for more than that!”

—Jewel Guy, author of the trade book Dear Black Women

2. Priced for sellers

As we mentioned before, trade books are an extremely affordable option for printing your book. Since the key to successfully selling any book is making sure your pricing covers the cost of production while also leaving you with a decent profit, getting that production cost down is essential.

You have way more room to competitively price your creations and still make good earnings with trade books, as they offer a very low base price (that’s the cost of producing your book). In fact, black-and-white printed softcovers start as low as $2.99.

Confused about bookmaking finances? We have comprehensive guides that walk you through the costs of self-publishing and pricing your book.

To estimate fees, visit our pricing calculator.

“Fellow knitting authors have shared with me that their book advances and profits weren’t necessarily lucrative. … Self-publishing felt like the risk-free option. …If I had one wish, it would be that I knew earlier that I could indeed reach new audiences so easily from a printed book.”

—Kristen McDonnell, author of Blurb bestselling trade book 50 Knit + Purl Patterns

3. Bookstore-grade quality and customization

Even though trade books are Blurb’s most affordable option, that doesn’t mean you’ll sacrifice quality. Trade books allow full customization, from the cover to the spine to the paper type you choose for the interior pages. The real difference is in the paper, which has a fantastic hand-feel and is the same quality as any book you’d see in your local bookstore.

Of course, what’s on the paper matters, too. Blurb’s Standard Color paper trade books use the same printers as many of Blurb’s museum-quality photo books. That translates to rich, black ink and deep, bold colors—ideal for full-color image spreads and any other book featuring collages, illustrations, and graphics.

Economy printing uses toner-based machines, just like most text-heavy books you’d find in a bookstore. You’ll get dark blacks and sharp edges, which is just what you’d need for clear and easy reading. Economy Black and White printing also offers a cream-colored paper, which is common in traditionally published titles and helps reduce eye strain for text-dense books. Economy Color lets you add pops of color to help important sections stand out, and it gives you a rougher, lo-fi look—like you might want if you’re making a zine.

Watch professional photographer Jonathan Moore‘s trade book review:

4. Free tools and templates

It should be simple for anyone to create a stunning, professional-grade book, especially for first-time bookmakers and indie creators without tons of funds to spend on tools. That’s why Blurb offers free, easy-to-use software and design templates to help you make your book effortlessly.

BookWright is a free desktop publishing software that makes designing your entire book layout quick and painless. And if you’re not feeling particularly creative or just want a little guidance, you can choose from dozens of page layouts and themes.

Plus, Blurb has InDesign, Photoshop, and Lightroom plugins for those already with pro tools, along with an easy-to-use iOS app for on-the-go creating.

“I did everything right in Blurb BookWright. I found it to be super user-friendly, and it gave me complete control over all of the design elements.”

—McKenna Ganz, creator of the cooking trade book Will Travel for Food

5. Included ISBN

To market your book in stores, get it in libraries, or sell it with an online bookseller, you need an International Standard Book Number (ISBN). Unfortunately, those don’t come cheaply. ISBNs, if purchased separately, could cost up to $125.00 each from the ISBN distributor.

What’s nice about Blurb’s trade books is that each of your titles automatically gets a number. This number even changes if you create a second or third edition. Also, every cover type—hardcover, softcover, etc.—gets its own ISBN.

One note about ISBNs: They are part of the Blurb printing process and are always located in the standard industry spot on the back cover. Be sure to consider them when designing the back of your book.

Get started

Now that you’re an expert on the what and why of trade books, it’s time to get started making one. What will you create?

***
Learn more about the cost of self-publishing a trade book with Blurb. Then, head over to BookWright to start designing your dream project.

The post 5 reasons to make a trade book appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Gift a book from an independent creator

The Blurb Bookstore contains thousands of titles from independent and DIY authors with dozens of categories to browse through. Oleg Ershov’s coffee table book contains fine art landscape photos taken by the author during ten photo trips to Iceland from 2009 to 2017.

Keep calm and carry on

Our friends over at Timbuk2 have been making bags built to last a lifetime right here in San Francisco since 1989. For those on your list with insatiable wanderlust, may we suggest the Quest Duffle? Available in 3 colors and 3 sizes. We’re fans of the Medium size so you can pack everything you need and still carry on the plane.

Spoil ’em with a camera

Go big or go home! This Fujifilm X100 camera is perfect for travelers since it’s both lightweight and compact enough to throw in their bag while they explore. For those who are more than amateur photographers, this camera has plenty of extras to keep them creating professional images for years to come.

The post Gifts for travelers: your gift guide for the travel enthusiast appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. Pay attention to convention

Your trade book trim size will give people a subtle, unconscious heads-up as to what’s inside. Traditionally, smaller books are used for fiction and storytelling—the 5×8 in. size. The larger 6×9 is closer to the industry standard for non-fiction, essays, and memoirs. It’s a hand-held size that has room for the occasional photo or chart.

2. Design for the shape of the pages

Trade books are in portrait format—taller than they are wide. This means your ideal layouts will also feature portrait-oriented images. When selecting your content and creating your layouts, you’ll want to make the most of that vertical space, which can be tricky to do if you usually create your images in landscape mode. As you gather your visual content, keep an eye out for images with a strong vertical, and if you’re creating your content for a trade book, keep that portrait orientation in mind.

3. Give your content room to breathe

With smaller pages, it’s tempting to put as much as you can in the space, but the most beautiful books take a counter-intuitive approach: leave lots and lots of white space. Be careful not to clutter your pages. These smaller, narrower pages need a narrower focus with generous margins and white space between headlines and body text, between images, and on navigation pages.

4. Optimize for readability

A few tricks of the trade: Use serif typefaces for large blocks of text, increase the space between lines, and write in black. When it comes to text that’s meant to be read thoroughly, there are tried-and-true guides for the eye that help the text get out of the way so the ideas can shine through.

Serifs are the flags that hang off letters, and they were originally added to guide the eye as it runs along line after line on the page. Even though serif typefaces might not feel as modern, there’s a reason they live on the printed page.

Another thing that entices the reader to actually read is plenty of space between lines, called leading. Your leading should be 2-4 points larger than your type size. Your best bet is to add more pages before you shrink your type size or leading. And while you can, in your software, change the color of your text blocks, absolutely nothing beats the clarity and contrast of true-black text.

5. Mind your margins

Variation in your margins or content that breaks your margin lines is the dead giveaway when you’re going for that pro look yourself. Double-check that your margins are consistent page to page and that no content spills into them. One good way to check is to go page by page backward through your book, inspecting the edges. Even one error with your margins will stick out and annoy you after all your hard work. It’s best to double and triple-check these before printing.

6. Pages: more is better

This format is designed for bigger content. With a lower page price, don’t shy away from taking all the room you need. You’ll also need more pages to get sufficient space for text on the spine of your book. If you have too few pages, your spine will be too narrow for a title. Trade books look and feel best at 80-300 pages.

7. Don’t forget navigation pages

Since you have those extra pages, don’t forget your standalone pages for section, book, and chapter navigation. You’ll also need a title page, a table of contents, a copyright page, and an introduction. You may also need end matter with an author bio or info about your next project.

Grab a book like the one you’re making from the shelf and make sure you have all the official navigation in place. It goes without saying, but most of this navigation can’t be done without page numbers, so don’t forget to add those in a uniform place throughout the book.

8. Find the right ink for your content

Trade books offer four kinds of printing, both standard and economy print in both color and black and white.

Economy black and white is for books that are nearly straight text—novels, essays, guides, etc. If you have black and white photography, say in a memoir, you’ll want to go with standard black and white.

If you have color photography, you’ll be astonished at the gorgeous print quality of standard color in a trade book, but economy color is best reserved for color graphics, charts, and small color elements. If economy color is stretched to print photographs and big, saturated spaces, some streaking may occur that wouldn’t otherwise be visible in standard color.

9. Create an eye-catching cover

All books are judged by their covers, and where covers are concerned, less is more. When designing your cover, keep the design bold and simple. Big shapes, simple images, and very, very clear text. All text on your cover should be set apart and not be overlapping anything distracting. It should be centered and clearly visible.

Don’t forget, with trade books, you get a free ISBN, so you’ll want to be sure you’ve designed around where the ISBN will go on the back. Depending on the scale of your project, this is one place where you might want to consider getting the help of a design pro.

10. Print a proof copy

Go through your book backward and forward, several times over several days. Send the file to a friend and get a friend to look at it, checking for spelling, grammar, typos, and margins. Then print one copy, go through it backward and forward, and share it with a friend.

You will never see your pages on a screen like you can see them printed in your hand, so that proof copy will make all the difference. Don’t order several copies until you’ve combed over and perfected a printed copy—this heads off any frustration from overlooking something when the rest of it looks great.

***

Trade books are remarkable for their price and print quality. They can work for almost any project and have beautiful, professional-looking results. Plus, you can easily distribute your finished product to your audience via Amazon, the Blurb Bookstore, and thousands of others. Make a trade book today!

The post 10 tips to make a gorgeous trade book appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Photography skill: Storytelling 

It starts with you

Jared Platt, a ShootDotEdit Wedding Pro, reveals that storytelling starts with you. Compelling storytelling requires you to discover who you are and then share it with clients. The story you share starts with marketing and branding for your photography business and continues when clients access your website or see your work elsewhere (a sample album or a published image). When you share a genuine story with your clients, you begin to build trust with them. Storytelling isn’t just what you do with the camera, it’s everything you do.

Photography skill: Flash Techniques

Off-camera flash techniques allow you to create memorable images

Photography duo, Zach and Jody Gray, share how using off-camera flash techniques can help you shoot through any situation, especially when you understand the direction of light in relation to your couple. As a tip, start practicing with something as simple as your flash. Learn how the position of the light effects the look and feel of your images. Then, once you master that, you can move on to more than one off-camera light, or even strobes.

Photography skill: Posing

Intention creates genuine interaction and expressions

Roberto Valenzuela, a ShootDotEdit Customer, dives into how to create natural interaction between your subject. Keep in mind that in every image, your couple needs to have the same energy in their pose. To achieve this, tell them exactly where to place their hands, where to look, and then break the pose and have them do it again in motion. Don’t be shy about providing direction—this will make their pose and their expressions look and feel more genuine in the image.

Photography skill: Branding

Mistakes lessen the trust your clients have with you

ShootDotEdit Wedding Pro, Ben Hartley of Style & Story Creative urges you to share a specific specialty with clients to avoid confusion. If you have trouble narrowing down your specialty, ask yourself “why” questions.

• Why do I shoot?
• Why am I a photographer?
• Why have I gone into business?

These questions can help direct you to find the specialty that best fits you. Once you choose a specialty, you can represent it on your website and appeal to ideal clients.

Photography skill: Marketing

Targeting ideal clients increases your bookings

Justin and Mary Marantz, a wedding photography duo, use sample wedding albums to attract and book ideal clients to their business. Use sample albums as free wedding photography advertising to preview your website, images, and business. Connect with your favorite venues to see if you can provide them with a sample album to share. This gesture promotes your work and the venue and brings in more ideal clients for your photography business.

The post Photography: Storytelling, Lighting, Posing, Branding, and Marketing Tips appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. Say it without words

A cover image should quickly convey the essence of a book—and it should be striking. Using an Imagewrap allows you to tell the story of your book with one stunning, seamless image. Is there an object or recurring character that conveys the idea of the book? Is there a photo in your book that illustrates your book’s theme and is eye-catching?

2. Pare it back

Keep it simple. Give your cover image and title room enough to make a powerful impact. White space is your friend. Emptiness could seem odd as a creator since there is always a desire to add more, but simplicity will help bring focus to your work. 

Remove backgrounds if needed, and don’t be afraid to mix different visuals, such as combining photography and illustrations. People don’t need to read everything that your book is about—if your cover gets their attention, they’ll pick it up to learn more.

3. Use contrast

Whether it’s through color or size, create a contrast between the image and text so both will catch the eye. If you have a dark background, white text and a light foreground will work nicely. That opposition will help your composition create a focal point. 

Be aware that contrast does not only refer to opposite colors. You can find contrast amongst monotone palettes as long as your colors do not share the same intensity. A good way to test if your colors are working together is to turn your composition to black and white in your preferred image editor (such as Photoshop) and see if the contrast holds.

4. Create leading lines

Use the natural shapes and lines in your image to help place your text. This guides the reader’s eye and points to the specific meaning and message in your image.

Basic shapes can make your composition stand out and also provide the illusion of movement. If you are afraid of shapes, using grids can be useful. Some of our favorite grids to use are the fibonacci grid, the vertical rhythm grid, and the multi-column grid (we prefer to set 16 columns, but the choice is yours).

5. Choose the final finish

Pick a cover type that suits the content. Formal, archival content might be at home in cloth and a dust jacket, while short stories and poems might want the portability of a softcover paperback. If you want to upgrade your book and will be placing a large order, you can explore foil stamping, embossing, and debossing.

Ready to make a book? Get started!

Special thanks to Stacey Toth for creating the wonderful book covers used in this story.

The post 5 tips for a standout book cover appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Some may choose to just print out all the photos and pop them in a standard album. But making a wedding album into a professional photo book will keep those treasured memories in a book that will stand the test of time. And it allows you to choose what pictures to put in your wedding album that will showcase your special day. Determining how many photos you want to include, your wedding album layout, template, etc., are all up to you. Going the DIY route allows you to customize your wedding album to tell your romantic story in your own way.

1. Choose the shots that matter most

Deciding what pictures to put in your wedding album might seem daunting when you have hundreds of photos to choose from. How many photos should go into your wedding album? How do you narrow it down? This should go without saying, but it’s your wedding album. When you make your selections, your favorites are the priority. Start with 20-30 photos that you absolutely love. Go with your instincts. For this set, it doesn’t matter when in the day they happened or who’s in them. Your favorites are your favorites.

Next, select the shots with the best detail and highlight the atmosphere of the day. You’re looking for the pictures that capture the mood, décor, and dress-up subtleties that get lost in the photos of people. Then, find the best photo from each major event of the day. Getting ready, signing the license, key ceremony, and reception moments. To do this, it helps to revisit your timeline for the day so that you have a good representation of it.

Finally, go through the formal portrait shots of family and wedding party. As you cull through these, be sure to check everyone’s faces for strange expressions or closed eyes. Check around each person’s head, and their clothes, etc. You’re looking for the photo with the best expressions and least number of distractions. Group shots are rarely perfect, but with a good eye, you can get close. You may be happy with how you look in a particular shot now, but a bridesmaid with closed eyes will bug you more later on. A good guideline is to select 100-150 pictures for your photo album book.

Tip: Save some pictures to create an anniversary photo book in a few years.

2. Tell a story

Wedding albums work best chronologically. Start with the beginning of the day and work your way through. Your wedding album should help you remember not only who was there but how it all happened. This helps relate one page to the next as you go through the album. The photo book tells a story, but so does each spread (two pages facing each other.) Each spread should have 2-6 photos that cover the same subject and relate to each other. Arrange them so that as your eye moves from right to left, top to bottom so you also get a feel for action and reaction. For instance, a spread about The First Look would have the groom waiting on the left, then the bride’s approach, then his reaction as you move across the page. If you have a lovely photo of mom crying, be sure you show what moment made her cry. Create relationships between your photos. Try doing a series of formal portrait shots at the end as a finale.

3. Go for a clean layout

Less is actually more in your page spreads. When determining a wedding photo album layout, the fewer photos you have, the more they speak for themselves. Take photos all the way to the edge of the page for high drama and impact, and put white space around more intimate photos to draw the viewer in. Minimize text (the photo will be enough for you to remember who’s in it or what’s happening), and never overlap photos. It can look cluttered or busy. Also, beware of the way design embellishments can make your album look dated in the long run. Adding things like text, shadows, and ornaments detract from your photos. Keep photos aligned straight on the page, keep spacing between them even, and use more white space than you think you need to create focus. It’s the cleanest, simplest wedding album layouts with plenty of white space that look most timeless.

4. Make a strong, emotional cover

You’re looking for a cover that makes you want to pick up your album again and again. Whether it’s a cloth color you love or an image, you want something you love the most. If you choose a cloth cover, your first photo inside your wedding album should be your absolute favorite one of the bunch. If you’re choosing an image for the cover, pick one that not only features you as a couple in a gorgeous way but also has some open space in the photo composition where the title of the album can appear. Look for horizontal images with the focal point on the right, and you can wrap the cover in one stunning picture.

5. Multiple wedding albums solve selection problems

Inevitably, you’ll have some photos leftover from your initial choices. That’s common, but you may still want to use them. Watch for any connections they have, and consider a smaller, themed album. You may also feel pressured or obligated to put some photos of certain people in the album. Or your parents want a wedding album for themselves that features more pictures of your family. Don’t forget you can scale. Create smaller themed albums to cover your bases.

You can even do an album of all the formal portrait shots so everyone is represented, and then a separate album of all the table shots so you have a record of every guest at the reception. Those candid shots may not be as professional as the ones from your hired photographer, so maybe you don’t want them in your formal album. But they do represent how your guests experienced your wedding day, so they are certainly something you want to remember. Smaller, themed wedding albums not only make great gifts, but they take the pressure off when it comes to curating your perfect album and meeting expectations.

***

Ready to make your wedding photo book? Use Blurb’s free desktop tool, BookWright, to select the best size, format, and layout for your project. Get started today!

The post 5 show-stopping tips for making a wedding album appeared first on Blurb Blog.

As you might know, it’s highly recommended to place all the graphics you are planning to use into one source folder in your computer before making a book. It’s also important to rename them so the first few characters of your file are numerical (eg. 001_PhotoDescription.jpg). This allows you to easily view your graphics in the order you’d like them in your book. The benefit of grouping your photos is that you’ll start to get a feel of your book’s story before even laying down a pixel in Adobe InDesign or Blurb BookWright (our favorite book-making tools and apps).

Keep these book design tips in mind when choosing your images:

1. Go Big or Go Home

Not only should your photos be big enough to be printed (300DPI is the usual resolution for books), but they should also have a point of view. If you have 20 photos of the same thing, then just use one of that set instead of putting off your audience with all of the photos from that set. Edit the redundant ones out.

2. Portrait vs Landscape

Landscape images are fantastic for end sheets, the beginning of a chapter or to introduce a concept. Think of TIME Magazine’s articles and how most of them start with a beautiful landscape image, followed by smaller images that portray supportive information. Portrait orientation is also great for, well, you guessed it, portraits! Nothing says “focus” like framing a person or animal this way. With the rise of Instagram though, we’ve seen an increase of portrait images cropped into squares before being shared with the world.

3. Less is More

Rather than cramming multiple photos into one spread, think of the least amount of photos you can get away with. The best spreads have a minimal amount of photos, so unless you have a particular reason to do so, the recommendation is to include 1 to 3 images per spread. This also applies to images in a book. If your original source folder has more than 100 photos, chances are you have one too many.

4. Mind the Gutter

Traditionally, an image that extends over two pages and across the gutters is known as a double truck. These full-bleed layouts are highly impactful but sometimes find themselves being implemented erroneously. You have to make sure your point of interest is not located in the very middle of the spread. A centered focus can cause the loss of half of your subject’s face to the book’s binding.

5. Match the Mood

Color and consistency is key to your book’s identity. If one photo looks like it was taken with a Mark iii, while the next photo looks like it was taken with an iPhone 4, you will have a crisis of identity with a less than desirable result. Whatever tone and color palette you choose, keep it contained and well balanced. Also, don’t forget to use photo editing tools such as Photoshop or Lightroom. They are there to help you bring that sense of visual unity to the next level.

6. Send in the Pros

Bringing in a pro to help with your cover design is a great idea if you’re planning on selling your book. The average consumer spends around 8 seconds looking at the front cover of a book and 15 seconds studying the back cover before making a buying decision. Show the book cover design to your friends and compare it also with other book covers within your genre; chances are you will benefit from being similar to your competition. Remember, your cover is not about you being original, it’s about helping your audience find you.

As usual, these recommendations are not set in stone, and you can follow your own path when choosing the photos that will populate the pages of your next book. However, one thing is for sure: Storytelling is at the heart of your book, and no matter what your subject might be, originality is not as important as being open with your content. Most stories have been told before, but the ones that are told from the heart are told best.

The post 6 Ways to Choose Images for Your Book appeared first on Blurb Blog.

In talking to people who have made books with Blurb over the years, they make them for all different reasons. Some people are making books for a client. Others are making books to document ideas, to cherish experiences, or illustrate an artistic vision. Some have a message to share with the world.

What we want is a book that transmits inspiration to others, across miles and years to come. Here’s a map to get there:

1. ESTABLISH THE DIRECTION

Envision

Every book starts with a core idea; take that idea and explore it. Record your thoughts. Take photos. Collect ideas. Talk to others about your vision. Explore the Blurb Bookstore to see what others have done.

Plan

This step is really about research and thinking ahead. Going back and forth between envisioning and planning will help you stay motivated and inspired you to go.

If you’re using Blurb to publish your book, here are some things to consider:

• What are my goals for the book?
• What is my timeline and milestones along the way? Consider milestones in gathering content, laying out pages, promoting the project, and ordering copies.
• Do I want to publish a book, magazine, and/or an ebook? Magazines will lower your cost, but also impact the experience with your content. Format conversion to ebooks is easy.
• What size book do I want? How many pages will it be?
• How many copies do I want to ultimately want to order? This is the time to consider volume printing or bespoke options as you work on your design.

2. CRAFT THE BOOK

Create

Let your ideas drive and lose yourself in the creative process. This is the fun part!

Blurb lets you create your book in any application you like. If you have a PDF, make sure you take a look at how to prep your PDF for upload.

Or use one of our recommended book-making tools. The tool you choose depends on how much time you have to complete the project. We have some online tools that make the most of the pre-designed layouts, and other tools, like InDesign, which give you more granular control. Tools like the plug in for Adobe InDesign have a steeper learning curve for new users, so one of our online tools might work best for projects that need a quick turnaround.

Proofing

If I had to pick, I’d say that proofing is the most important step of the process. Once you feel like you’ve finished your book, especially if it’s going to a wide audience, it’s important to proofread it. ALWAYS. Check to make sure everything is exactly in place after the upload. Double check the edges of your content on each page to make sure nothing is actually cut off. Check and recheck for typos, spelling errors, and missing words. And if you are going to order multiple copies, you’re a lot better off if you order a proof copy first.

You have a few ways to proof:

• Order a PDF version of your file for $4.99
• Order a softcover print version of your book
• If you’re using BookWright, review a watermarked PDF of your book for free

3. SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD

Publish

Once you’re happy with your book, and you’re sure it’s ready for the world, you can set it up for sale from your dashboard on Blurb.

Things to consider:

• Is it visible to people you invite only or do you want the world to be able to find it?
• Think of how you talk about your book—your description, categories and tags
• Which pages do you want others to see? You can customize your preview.
• Do you want to earn a profit on the book or sell it with no markup?
• Do you want it to be available for sale on Blurb.com, Amazon or through Global Distribution? It’s helpful to think about this when you’re selecting your book format since not all of our book formats can be sold on all channels. Get more info on selling your book.

Before you finish publishing your book, make sure your profile is looking up to snuff!

Promote

Promote, share, spread the word, describe it however you like. Some people order a volume run of their books to sell in person or giveaway.

The bottom line is now that you’ve done all the hard work, you’re ready to share your book with others. Share it on Facebook, Twitter, email—however, you like. If you’ve got a website, you can embed your book preview right in there! (To do this, go to the promote tab under the settings page for your book.)

Let us know how it went

We are always working on improving the customer experience to support your needs when it comes to creating and publishing your books. Please comment with any feedback that you have, either on this map or on how this process works for you in general.

Go forth, create and inspire!

The post From Idea to Book appeared first on Blurb Blog.

For a self-publisher—or soon-to-be one—it’s vital to understand the terms used in the book industry. The right vocabulary will help you include the necessary pieces in your finished book. Knowing the common book terminology can also provide credibility when speaking about them with others in the industry.

When it comes to books, we know a thing or two about making them. We’ve received countless questions about how books come together over the years. If you’re self-publishing your first book, or even if you just want to learn more about the industry, you’ve come to the right place to learn more about book terminology.

To help understand the bookmaking process, we broke down some more well-known book terms. Read through them below to get up to speed when turning your memories into treasures.

Book terms (in alphabetical order)

Acknowledgments

An acknowledgment is a section at the end of a book that thanks the people who contributed to its creation. Acknowledgments tend to be in long paragraph format and often tell a bit about the process of making the book and who was involved. They can be a single page or several pages.

Depending on the book genre, they may mention editors and publishers, friends and family, or everyday individuals who shared their stories with the author. They may even include universities (or specific departments), associations, mentors, or inspiring experts in a field. The acknowledgments give the author the chance to recognize everyone who impacted the book and the author in some way, shape, or form.

Afterword or epilogue

In some books, there’s more to tell after the story ends. An afterword or epilogue can be used to provide closure, an update on the characters, or even foreshadowing for a sequel. These sections are usually shorter than other chapters in the book and are placed after the story ends. In general, an epilogue is part of the story while an afterword is not.

Authors can use these sections to share additional details that may be interesting to the reader about what happens next. In some cases, authors use an epilogue to tee up a sequel to the book.

Some books may end with a cliffhanger or with a not-so-happy ending. In these cases, the story may seem to end abruptly. While that can be helpful to add a dramatic flair, it can leave the reader wanting more. An epilogue can help further explain the ending or what happened afterward. It may also pose questions to the reader about common themes mentioned in the book. Whatever the reason, afterwords and epilogues add value after the story ends.

Appendix or addendum

Often used in nonfiction, an appendix or addendum is a section at the end of a book that contains supplemental information. This could be in the form of data, lists, charts, images, maps, or other materials not found in the main text.

Appendices and addendums are often used to provide extra support for claims made in the book or to share detailed information that may be of interest to the reader.

Anything not relevant to the book’s main body can go into the appendix. It can add context or further information to add credibility to the text. Some items included in the appendix are references, citations, or additional reading recommendations. Authors and editors can also use an addendum when making new additions to an already published book.

Author biography

An author biography (or author profile) is a short summary of the author’s life and work. It includes background about the author, which helps illustrate the author’s credibility. It can be simple and stick to the facts about where they grew up, their education, unique experiences related to the subject, and other books they wrote. Or it can tell more of a story to help readers get to know the author.

In nonfiction books, the author biography is often used to establish the author’s qualifications. For example, if an author is writing a book about early childhood development, they may mention their experience as a professor or share research they’ve conducted in the field. For fiction books, an author biography is typically used to give context about where the author draws their inspiration and create a personal connection with readers.

Depending on the genre and format, author bios can be on the back cover, the bottom of the back page, or on the book jacket flap of a hardcover book. It can be a single paragraph or several paragraphs long. Many authors choose to include a headshot along with their bio and some include their website and social media profiles as well.

Back matter

This refers to all the material in the back of the book. The back matter has everything after the body of the book. It provides readers with further information about the story, the author, or related details. The back matter can include the following items (and more!):

• Afterword or epilogue
• Appendix or addendum
• Glossary
• Bibliography or endnotes
• Index
• List of contributors
• Author biography

Backing

Backing is a part of the bookbinding process to protect the book and allow it to hold up through repeat opening and closing. It helps prevent the text block’s spine from collapsing into a concave shape over time. Basically, backing is the shaping of a ridge (or shoulder) on each side of the spine of a text block of a book, accommodating the boards’ thickness and creating a hinge for them to swing on.

Two techniques used in backing—rounding and lay flat—are common in many books. Rounding provides the rounded shape of some book edges and helps keep the spine intact. This technique has been around for centuries and is common among many hardcover books. Layflat books open completely flat on a surface. It allows the reader to lay the book on a table and have the book remain open to a page on its own. This technique was initially used in the mid-twentieth century and is an excellent technique for photo books.

Bibliography or endnotes

Both bibliographies and endnotes are important in academic and nonfiction books. They provide readers with a list of resources to consult if they want to learn more about the subject—usually consisting of a formal list of citations and references for quotes, statistics, and other facts or opinions mentioned in the body of the book.

A bibliography is a list of all the sources used in researching and writing the book. It includes books, articles, websites, and interviews, and sits at the very back of a book, after the epilogue and appendix.

An endnote is a reference, citation, or comment placed at the end of a chapter or section. Endnotes provide additional information about something mentioned in the text. They are often used to give credit to sources or add comments.

Body matter

Authors, publishers, and bookmakers use the term body for everything inside the main content of the book. The body matter consists of the story or content of the book and is often divided into chapters.

However, the format of the body will vary depending on the book genre. A fiction book typically includes chapters that separate different scenes in a story. For a nonfiction book, chapters may separate time periods or topics discussed. For example, cookbooks may have recipe sections rather than chapters, and textbooks may have subjects or units.

Bookbinding

This is the process of physically assembling a book. Bookbinding begins with an ordered stack of paper sheets that are folded together into sections or sometimes left as a stack of individual sheets. The stack is then bound together along one edge by either sewing with thread through the folds or by a layer of flexible adhesive. There are three main types of binding:

• Library binding: An especially durable book bound following standards established by the American Library Association.
• Perfect binding: A binding method that uses glue to fasten the pages together after the folds are trimmed off. This method uses only adhesive, usually a hot melt, to secure the pages into a wrap-around cover. Telephone books and paperbacks are typical book forms that use perfect binding. We make all Blurb books with this binding technique.
• Saddle stitch: This binding method focuses on holding the pages of a single signature together by using a staple, wire, or thread.

Case

The case is the hardcover that protects the text inside. The book cover case consists of two stiff boards, an inlay, and covering material. The case is made separately from the text block and attached at a later step in the bookbinding process.

Copyright page

The copyright page provides legal ownership of who owns the rights to the book. It can help avoid any potential legal disputes in the future. The copyright page appears directly after the title page. It includes the copyright notice (who owns the rights); Library of Congress catalog identification; ISBN, the edition, if applicable; any legal terms or notices; credits for book design, illustration, or photography; and the production entities. Occasionally, books include the contact information of the author or editor, as well.

Covering

The covering is the material or finish on the outside of the book. While most books are hardback or paperback, there are many variations within these two categories:

1. Hardback: Also known as a hardcover, they are high-quality, sturdy books. Modern hardback books use cardboard as backing, covered with a glossy material. They are usually priced higher because of their durability and high quality. Covering options for hardback books include cloth binding, ImageWrap, or Dust Jacket.
2. Paperback: Paperbacks, or softcover books, are backed with paper instead of heavy bound cardboard. Paperbacks are lightweight and perfect for on-the-go reading. They are priced lower than hardbacks because of the lower-cost backing. Covering options include conventional softcover finish or softcover with flaps.

Dedication

This dedicates the book to a person or group of people. The dedication page usually appears just after the copyright page. Unlike the acknowledgments, the dedication is short, consisting of only a sentence or two. An author may choose to dedicate the book to a parent or friend who inspired them. Or they may dedicate it to a larger group of people who are the book’s subject.

End sheets

Also called endpapers, end sheets are the pages glued to the inside of your hardcover book’s front and back cover. These sheets are blank pages and use heavier paper than the book’s main content. They form the first and last unprinted pages of a hardback book. Each end sheet is folded in half and glued to the backing on one side and the first and last pages of the book on the other side. Softcover books and magazines do not have end sheets.

Foreword

Often written by someone other than the author of the book, a foreword is a short introduction that comes before the main text. It usually gives context or background information about the book. The foreword is written by someone who can speak to the author’s qualifications or the book’s significance. It is not to be confused with a preface, which comes after the table of contents in most books.

Forewords are most common in works of nonfiction and usually are written by someone notable in the field or the book’s editor. They introduce the author to the reader and help provide credibility for the author and the book itself. They most often appear towards the front of the book before the body.

Glossary

Glossaries provide definitions for terms that may be unfamiliar to the reader and are most common in nonfiction books. Glossaries are usually found at the end of the book, after the index.

A glossary lists terms in alphabetical order to allow readers to find definitions or more details about terms used in the body of the book. It may include both common terminology and industry-specific terms—or even be used in fiction books to provide details about each character.

Head and tail bands

These are small ornamental bands glued to the book block’s head and tail. Early books used head and tail bands to protect the head and tail of bindings. Nowadays, the bands are primarily ornamental and made of cotton or silk.

Index

The index is located at the back of the book and is a guide to help find terms, people, places, and events throughout a book. It includes an alphabetical list of words with the page references for each time the word was mentioned. Nonfiction works, like history books and textbooks, are more likely to use indexes. That’s because they help readers quickly locate and read everything related to a particular topic or term.

Introduction (for nonfiction)

The introduction written for nonfiction books provides information or background about the book’s subject. It may include related historical details or topical data that is helpful for readers to know before diving into the main body. It comes just before the body and can help set the book up with contextual details. Although it’s not a biography, it can also add credibility for the author to explain why they are knowledgeable about a subject.

Preface or introduction

A preface is a short statement from the author that comes before the text. It includes information about why they wrote the book, their intentions for the reader, and other relevant details. A preface is not to be confused with a foreword, which is written by someone else and comes before the preface in most books.

For fiction books, a preface can lead the reader into the story and inspire them to read further. For works of nonfiction, like an opinion book or a single account of a widespread event, it might explain the author’s point of view.

Prologue

A prologue is often used in fiction to tell a backstory that can provide context for the book’s main story. It can be the part of a fictional story that happened just before the events that are about to occur. Or the prologue may include a story or history of the main character’s past that is relevant to the larger story told in the book. It appears just before the body of the book and sets up the main narrative.

Signature (book block)

The signature, or book block, is a group of pages printed on both sides of a sheet of paper. The paper is then folded, cut, and trimmed down to the finished page size before being bound into a book. The number of pages on a signature depends on the book’s page size and the size of the press sheet they fit on.

Spine

The spine is the part of the book that’s glued to the cover and holds all the pages together. The spine usually has the title, author, and/or publisher’s name printed on it.

Fun fact: Modern-day books are shelved with the spine out (unless you’re taking part of the backward book home decor trend), but in earlier times, people shelved books with the spine facing inwards and not always vertically.

Table of contents

The table of contents is the outline of the sections included in the book and the pages where each section starts. Books usually have outlines toward their front, usually after the dedication page.

For fiction books, this table includes each chapter or part covered in the book. Some tables of context just have chapter or section numbers, whereas others also add the names of each chapter or section.

In nonfiction, tables of context also include chapters, usually with chapter names. There may also be sub-sections within each chapter to help readers quickly locate the main elements of each chapter and topic.

In addition to the chapters or sections, a table of content will also list the different parts of the book, such as the foreword, preface, acknowledgments, index, and appendix.

Title page

The title page is at the front of the book and includes the title of the book, subtitle (if applicable), the author(s), and the publisher. This is usually the book’s first page; however, some publishers will include a list of other books by the author or publisher, book reviews, or other marketing pages before the title page.

In some cases, publishers add a half-title page just before the full title page. This may be the first page in the book, used in place of a blank page. The half-title page simply includes the title of the book and no other details.

A few words on using book terminology

Hopefully, these book terms and definitions help you better understand the parts of books that you’ve probably seen in books you’ve read. For self-publishing authors, they can help you understand which elements you should include in your book. Depending on the type of book you are creating, you may include many or only a few items discussed.

You probably know that there are hundreds of terms to know when it comes to bookmaking. We wanted to focus on those that are vital to the creation of the books you have on your shelves. Did we miss a word you want to know more about? Tell us in the comments below.

***

Feeling inspired to finish that book of yours? Let’s get it down on paper in print! Start now with a trade book.

The post Parts of a book: common terms explained appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Ebooks have really shaken up the publishing industry. People feared they would overtake print books the way digital music did to CDs and records, but sales numbers and studies proved instead that ebooks and print books coexist quite happily on the market. It turns out, people love both the tactile experience of hard copies and the weightless speed and freedom of e-readers.

Better yet, ebooks offer new opportunities to writers and creators that weren’t available with traditional publishing. Both formats are here to stay, and they aren’t enemies. In fact, they can work together. At Blurb, we love how both print and digital offer unique ways to showcase of your content.

But what do you choose? How can you make the most of your format options? Consider your content and ask yourself:

1. What is my material?

Is your work personal or professional? Primarily images or mainly text? Multi-media or static? Each format has its benefits. If your work is a personal photo book, the delight of the project is having something to hold in your hands and knowing there is an artifact for your memories. If your want to enhance your static content with web links, an ebook is a great fit.

2. Who will view my work?

Do you have a blog or an online following for your creative work? An ebook gives you the chance to expand your expert content beyond what an article or a blog post allows, while still being universally available. Are you collecting photos to print so that even your youngest family members can enjoy them? Pages (which can be reprinted) are more durable than screens. Ebooks also work for family projects: Think about how fun it is to flip through a photo album on social media for faraway friends and family—that is, until someone who doesn’t use social media can’t log in. Ebooks are “free” to ship and have all the digital immediacy and ease without the required login.

3. What is my ideal cost?

Print-on-demand makes hard copies more accessible than they used to be when most things required offset printing. However, the elaborate nature of your project might still make multiple copies cost-prohibitive. Now that EPUB3 files are friendlier to horizontal layouts, fonts, and images, there is plenty of creative freedom that comes with the lower conversion cost. With print books, the price is set by the cost of printing. With ebooks, you set the price in accordance with how and where you plan to distribute it.

4. How wide is my distribution?

How many copies of the project do you need? Is it a personal book where a few for family and friends will do? That’s a great time to go all out with gorgeous printing. Are you trying out new content with a wider audience? Even though print-on-demand frees you from having to offload hundreds of copies as best you can, the price per book can hinder profit and wider reach. Trying to build a following? Ebooks can help pave the way for a printed version by creating a market for your content.

5. What kind of experience do I want with my work?

If you want to include multimedia elements, ebooks are the way to go. If you want a large spread that fills a 12×12 page, or want to carry your content far from a power source, printed pages make that possible. If your content is vibrant or intricate, it might render better on photo paper than it would on a screen. Your work and your effort deserve the best possible display.

Print books and ebooks together have so much potential for getting great work into the world. Digital media pushes the boundaries on what we thought possible for communicating ideas and art, while the pleasures of print are everlasting. With two great options to choose from, we can’t wait to see how you put them to work.

The post Ebooks vs Printed Books – 5 Things to Consider appeared first on Blurb Blog.

The number one reason people ask to cancel an order after they’ve made it is because they’ve noticed a spelling, grammar, or pagination issue when it was too late.

So, we packed a neat little feature into Blurb BookWright: And it sounds boring. But it’s great: Save as Test PDF.

You’ll find it right under the File menu (to print your saved PDF, just open it with Acrobat, Preview, or another PDF reader).

First, here’s what the Test PDF is not: It’s not for proofing images. The PDF prints low-resolution—so go ahead and save your color ink and just print it out in black and white.

But it is great for old-fashioned, pen-and-paper copyediting. It’s great for checking your layout. It’s perfect for pagination and sequencing. Most of all, it’s great for making sure you’re saying what you want to say.

Plus, you can print out a copy and bribe a good friend, or pay a copy editor, to spend some time going through it and give it an extra set of eyes.

And it works! I used it for a recent portfolio, and it’s the first time I’ve received a book where I didn’t curse myself for stupid little errors.

Try it. You’ll be glad you did.

The post How (and Why) to Proof Your Book appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Remember, my images date back to about 1988, so I’ve got a lot of work to catalog, file, organize and on a near daily basis, retrieve. This isn’t easy. This requires a strategy and the sooner you decide on a strategy the better of you are going to be. Every photographer seems to have their own digital “archiving” path. .

One of the biggest obstacles to bookmaking is organization. In great part, I’m able to be the self-publisher I am because I start making organizational decisions in the field. Yep, that early. First of all, I think when I shoot. There is no reason to make fifty images of a static object, or a moving object for that reason. I come from the “decisive moment,” tradition, and I know that the best images in history, typically, are single frame images. But why is this important? Editing. Get ready I’m about to all cap something. EDITING IS AN ART FORM AND IN THE DIGITAL AGE THE SKILL OF EDITING HAS NEARLY VANISHED. “Editing” your shoot from 1000 images to 500 isn’t editing. Editing is finding the single most important image of the entire take and then backing your way out, through narrative needs, until you are staring at the ten most important images. THAT is editing, and THAT is how you start a book. “I’ve got so many images I don’t know where to start,” is not something you want to ever hear emerge from your own lips.

My next step is the “tweaking” process. Again, there are hundreds of ways to get your images from Point A to Point B, and those of you who know me are probably laughing, or crying, even thinking about me giving advice here. So I’m not going to. HDR yourself into oblivion. Not my business. Just tweak and tell me when you are done……I’m waiting…….now? How about now? Now? Okay, good.

The next little hurdle is exporting your images. I’ve been doing the same thing for over a decade. I make three exports of my images. Large or “archive” file, midsize JPG and web file, each landing in their own folder under the master folder from the particular shoot. In essence I’ve got three different sizes ready to go at any time. This was my main system going back to my wedding and portrait days, and I’m still doing it after switching to Lightroom a month ago. Why do this when you can just go back to Lightroom and make the conversions? Time. Don’t need to go convert, they are already done. Now, doing this takes up more drive space, but I’ll direct you back to the first point of this entire post. How I shoot in the field. I’m not amassing tens of thousands of images. Secondly, drive space is affordable now, so this shouldn’t be an issue. When I decide to do books I want those images in final prepped mode the MOMENT I decide what book to make.

For example, my latest book is a Magcloud Digest I did for no particular reason. This publication is a promo for this website. I decided to do this in the middle of a multiple of other projects and this publications contains images I did a month ago an others I made over ten years ago. Boom. Done. Uploaded. Print. All in less than an hour because I knew where the images were, what size I needed and didn’t have to spend any time prepping the files. They were print ready. Now, if you are making a book within Lightroom you can skip some of these steps. You could even create a book folder and just keep adding prepped images until you have what you need, then make the book in Lightroom and never leave the program. Me, I tend to use Adobe InDesign and the Blurb plugin for my bookmaking needs.

The bottom line of this little story is that the sooner you make a plan the better off you are going to be. If you don’t master the technology the technology will master you. There are several fantastic books in regard to digital asset management, including Peter Krogh’s The DAM Book. Organizing images isn’t as entertaining as making them, but it’s a part of the process that requires equal focus and perhaps even more time.

The post Organizing Photos: Our Photographer at Large Weighs In appeared first on Blurb Blog.

To prove the point, I followed my own advice on a recent trip to Thailand. I went there with the intention of recording the trip in a documentary-style book. Even though the trip was quite short, I wanted to bring home some unique and informative stories about the people and their culture, along with the typical scenic landscape and touristy shots. Perhaps because time was limited I was even more intent on making the most of every day.

Although I did some research in advance I left all the doors open—no reservations after the first night. Every morning I found a coffee shop with WiFi (even in very remote locations) and Googled around for awhile. Soon I was on a twenty-four hour cycle— planning tomorrow’s itinerary today, always looking for the unexpected and willing to chase it down.

As I moved around northern Thailand, camera and journal at the ready, I began to think about how the book would present. After the first page I would toss out the first person. No more “on Saturday we went to the small town of Chaing Rai.” In favor of “Chaing Rai is the gateway to several tiny secluded villages high up in the hill country, including the Akha Tribe, which originated in Mongolia, hundreds of years ago.” Which story would you rather read? To be sure, I had no illusions of creating some great masterpiece destined for widespread publication. I just wanted more than a slide show to share with family and friends when I returned home.

It was really fun. And it truly broadened my perspective, piqued my curiosity, and transformed a normal vacation into a spectacular one. I’m sure that will be the case for many of you.

You can expect to:

• Take better pictures, and more of them

• Embrace ideas and experiences you might otherwise have overlooked

• Meet more people, try more food, walk more paths

• Learn more about the history, culture, geography and language

• Return home with a book that is already a success, before you even make it!

The post Plan your book. Then plan your trip. appeared first on Blurb Blog.

When I sketch on paper, I prefer to use non-photo blue pencils. But they’re practically obsolete. My work around is a regular blue pencil. Then I scan my sketch into Adobe Photoshop CC, kill the color frequencies to just have the black and white ink levels.

I tried out Illustrator Draw CC, a free mobile app from Adobe. I wanted to see if it could speed up my pre-production work and give me more time for other details.

Draw’s been cool to work with. It’s got layers and the convenience of digital environment. Here are a few tips to help you get your footing in Draw:

1. Change the location of your toolbar. I’m not left-handed so I changed my settings to put the tray on the right side of the screen.
2. Set up your toolbar with brushes you like. Long-press on a brush to change the individual brush. I like taper. 

3. Associate your brushes with colors. Since I’m working with blue and black, I’m going to set up those brushes and colors from the get-go. Tap the brush once and see the color menu that’ll let you change the color, opacity and size of the stroke for that specific brush.

Let’s get started.

• Sign into Draw and start a new Project.

• Tap into one of the canvases to start working.

• I recreated y blue line sketch on the canvas using the taper brush and here I am inking it with the same taper brush but with black ink.

• After my image is filled in, I changed brushes to a basic chisel brush to get that nice edge and angle to mimic tape.

• Here’s an update where I used another brush and changed the color to highlight the tape a bit more.

Now I got to figure out how to capture reflected light into my piece… stay tuned.

#ArtistWorkflow.

Robert Generette III is an illustrator, teacher, and vector art monster based in Maryland. He is sharing his workflow to create and build a Blurb book, Eject.

The post How I Accelerate My Workflow with Free Mobile Apps appeared first on Blurb Blog.

For starters, I work concepts out in my head until I’ve exhausted all angles, options and ideas. My process is a kind of an 80/20 thing; 80% in my head and 20% with my hands. You know the saying, measure twice and cut once.

Like with this project, I was talking with a group of folks in the music industry. I wrote down notes and quotes. I let my mind wrap itself inside of the music they were talking about. The beat and harmony was coming to me the way I’d hear it on a cassette tape. I thought, “straight out of the cassette, yeah.”

I envisioned tape spilling out everywhere. In my head I grabbed a piece of it, pulled at it and watched it stream out, flutter in the air, and drop into large clumps on the ground. I imagined the tape creating the artists’ profiles and how the reflected light picked up details and dimensions.

And then it was time to get it out of my head and onto my canvas.

Step 1: Blue line.
Old-school artists used a non-photo blue pencil to sketch because the marks didn’t get picked up in a photo when it was shot for reproduction. Some artists use red or another color. I like blue.

Step 2: Ink.
I like to go back over my blue line with ink. That’s where I start seeing what was in my head executed with my hands.

Step 3: Character.
This is where pieces of the cassette tape would come in. I would use a black marker and change the angle and pressure to control the strokes. The goal is to imitate the curves and bends tape has when it falls and has fallen.

This analog approach typically takes me about an hour and a half when I use pencils and markers on paper. What was that I said about time?

Stay with me and to see how I accelerate this process you can recreate too.
#ArtistWorkflow.

Robert Generette III is an illustrator, teacher, and vector art monster based in Maryland. He is sharing his workflow to create and build a Blurb book, Eject.

The post An 80/20 Analog Approach appeared first on Blurb Blog.

If you have 1 hour…

Make a Mobile Book

Your photos on your phone likely feature great photos of friends and family or beautiful shots of where you’ve been. Why not turn your coveted Instagram feed or Facebook albums into a beautiful book for your inner circle?

1. Download the Blurb Mobile App.
2. Start a new book in a 7×7 in. or the exclusive Mini Square 5×5 in. size
3. Pull photos from your Camera Roll or your Facebook Albums!
4. Upload while connected to WiFi, and order!

If you have an hour and you created your book in one of your favorite tools, you can also use our PDF Uploader to quickly create your print file.

If you have 1 day…

Make an Online Photo Book

Pull photos from Facebook, Flickr, or Instagram to autoflow your images into the pages of a beautiful book. Build your layouts quickly by using one of our Bookify templates.

1. Open the online tool by choosing a book size. 
2. Connect to your albums and import.
3. Create your covers.
4. Save and Finish your book. 
5. Place your order!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

You can also create a custom photo book from your everyday photo editing workflow by using the Book Module in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Choose from hundreds of layout possibilities to create a book in any of the 5 photo book sizes.

If you have 1 week…

Make a Custom Book

A custom book can turn a handful of recipes into a beautiful cookbook,  or it can ensure that your last family vacation continues to be treasured. With multiple designs and layout options, BookWright makes creating a custom book easy. Bring your vision to life with captions and photos uploaded from your computer.

1. Download BookWright and choose your book size and type
2. Upload your photos from your computer
3. Place your photos and text into layouts. For a starting point, try our Templates.
4. Create your cover.
5. Upload and order!

Make a professional book

If you want a completely designed book, our Adobe InDesign Plug-In is the way to go. Create and upload your print book and ebook with only one click using our plug-in. Plus, you can take advantage of automatic, customized template creation based on your book size and page count.

1. Download the Adobe InDesign Plug-In.
2. Choose Blurb Book Creator at the bottom of InDesign’s File menu.
3. Create and lay out your book directly in InDesign.
4. Do your usual pre-flight
5. Upload and order!

Feeling inspired? Build your book today.

Post updated 11/8/2017

The post Make a Book (or many!) in Time for the Holidays appeared first on Blurb Blog.

For a broad look at our product range and customization options and what you can get for your money, read on.

Page Counts

There are several things to consider when estimating page counts to cost your book. If you plan to include a good number of images, an obvious start is to visualize how many you will want on any given page, which of those might warrant a double page spread etc. and begin to tally it up. Don’t forget to include pages for intro copy or contents pages, and any additional text throughout.

You can’t beat looking at other (real life) book examples for inspiration, but as a starting point we’ve looked at average page counts across our products to give you an idea of what other book-makers are doing.

Types of Book Covers

There are two to three cover options to choose from for both our Photo Book and Trade Book options, depending on the size of your book.

Soft cover
• Soft, flexible, high gloss cover
• No cover flaps or end sheets
• Durable library binding
* Not available for large format books
* Available for all Trade Book sizes

Dust Jacket
• Black linen, Proline Oatmeal or Proline Charcoal Linen covers
• Laminated full-color dust jacket
• Durable library binding
• Printable front and back flaps
* Available for all photo books
* Not available for Trade Book Size 3

ImageWrap
• Matte finish, image-printed cover
• End sheets – medium-gray as standard
• Durable library binding
• No cover flaps
* Available for all photo books
* Not available for Trade Book Size 3

Paper Type

Blurb’s standard paper offers superb quality, but the paper you choose for your book can make a big difference in how it looks and feels—and even how much it weighs—so giving your paper choice proper consideration is important.

Photo Books

Standard Paper
80# (118 GSM)
Smooth, with an ever-so-slight shine, our Standard Paper has a silky feel and a good weight suitable for a wide range of books.

Premium Matte
100# (148 GSM)
This coated paper has a subtle matte finish. It’s about 35% heavier and is more opaque than our Standard Paper, adding a softer feel to the pages.

Premium Lustre
100# (148 GSM)
This paper has a hint of gloss. It’s about 35% heavier and is more opaque than our Standard Paper, adding an extra hint of shine to the pages.

Mohawk Superfine Eggshell
100# (148 GSM)
This archival-quality, eggshell-textured paper offers deep saturation and velvety solids, yet it prints with excellent color fidelity, retaining image detail even in shadows. A favorite with designers, this paper suits a wide range of book projects.

Mohawk proPhoto Pearl
140# (190 GSM)
Made for use in high-end photo books, this medium-gloss, lusciously thick paper offers superb opacity and great tonal range. It has a slightly glossier finish than our Premium Lustre Paper and is slightly heavier than our other papers. Images print crisp and sharp with excellent color saturation and deep blacks, making for great contrast and beautiful range.

Trade Books and Magazines

There are uncoated white and cream paper options for Trade books, and Economy Gloss or Premium Matte options for our print magazine products.

Blurb Logo

There’s even the option to not include the Blurb logo on the last page of your book, a small detail to many, but a valuable option none-the-less.

So, armed with all this information how are you meant to go about costing all the various options for your book?

We have made that incredibly easy for you. Blurb’s Pricing Calculator lets you select each and every option individually, from product, size, page count, cover, paper, end sheets, linens and logo.

And for those people looking to create an even more complex book…

Custom Books

There are further options available to customize your Blurb books; from custom end sheets, embossing, debossing, foil stamping and even entirely bespoke books for volume orders of 100+. These options require custom quotes for which you can contact our Large Order Services team using our simple quote form.

Blurb allows you to make your own book the way you want to while understanding the costs before you start. Hopefully you feel ready to get started on your project. Click here to find the perfect tool for building your book.

The post How Much Does It Cost to Make & Print a Book? appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Here’s what these creators had to say.

Start with what you love

It’s easy to get caught up in book trends and try to make work that you think will be popular, but the subjects you love have the most staying power. These are the projects you’ll actually wake up wanting to work on.

Michael Seif is a former New Yorker with a lifelong passion for photography and a book entitled 60s New York City. The advice that he has taken to heart is “photograph places and people you love.” In his case, he turned years of street photography into a stunning coffee table book that captured an entire decade.

“Eventually, those photographs become a time capsule,” he says. “[I’m an] 80-year-old now; my daughter, grandchildren, and old friends love to look back at life in the 1960s.”

Make your passion contagious

Write what you know is something we’ve all heard at least once. And there’s a reason it endures. The things we are most passionate about are the ones we are most likely to stick with—and to be good at. So while Seif suggests creating art based on what you love, this advice is about sharing it with others.

Because it’s one thing to make art that is fun to create, but it’s another to make it marketable.

One of our gift guide creators, Gary Blake, followed his passion into a successful book with a second publication on the way. Blake has spent the past 50 years collecting and perfecting hundreds of recipes. When the COVID-19 lockdowns started, he decided it was time to organize his collection and share his passion for cooking and entertaining with the world. Thus Gary Blake’s Extraordinary Ordinary Cooking came to be!

When building his books, he strives to make his passion for cooking easy for others to join in on. He does this by keeping his cookbooks simple enough for even beginning cooks to enjoy. “Focus on your passion,” he advises. “Choose the one thing you love most and share it with others.”

Gregory M. Guity, New York-based Afro-Latin writer, jokesmith, and graphic designer, wholeheartedly agrees with Blake. He shared the same age-old advice we did, “Write what you know.” But he didn’t stop there. 

“Write what you care about,” Guity continues. “There are others out there for whom your work will resonate. Create, and they will come.”

That’s proved true for Guity, as his book, Alleycat 2.0: Pilot, has found an excited audience in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Darkwing Duck fans. 

Stick to a theme

If you’re going to make a book, it’s vital that your work feels cohesive. This can be tricky if you’re passionate about many different things—trust us, we know. But there are ways to focus your creativity so that your final product feels like a refined version of your interests.

One way to do this is by sticking to a theme. Choose one country or region and do a deep dive if you want to make a book about your travels. Or turn your cooking class’s homemade recipes and fun into a connected cookbook.

That’s just what Kim Mahan and Sue Clancy did with their hilarious and helpful cookbook, Kim Cooks Sue Draws.

“A book doesn’t have to be complicated or perfect, just heartfelt,” they state. “The hardest part is finding a theme and tying it all together so it flows sequentially from cover to cover.”

But just how do you pick a theme and stick to it? The cookbook duo took notes from two of their favorite books: Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner and Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor by Lynda Barry. Whether you’re planning out an illustrated cookbook or not, you should do the same!

Don’t forget the theme staples

Whatever the theme of your self-published book, one of the easiest ways to stay on topic and get audience attention is to add genre fundamentals. These will make your book immediately recognizable as belonging to your chosen category and help give your book structure as you start a draft.

For cookbooks, this might be easily understood ingredient lists, measurements, and step-by-step instructions. Travel books might include maps, itineraries, and packing tips at the front. And if you’re planning a book for the holidays, take a page from Erica Graham, South Australian teacher, writer, and illustrator. 

“My advice for people creating books for the holidays is to look to include the features of Christmas that we know so well, like trees, characters, lights, food, and presents,” she says. “But never forget the thing that makes it most special—family.”

Her children’s book, Grandma Makes the Christmas Cake, does all of the above by sharing a family recipe and tradition with kids. She included not only the holiday staples in her illustrations but also the nostalgia from a real family recipe. To successfully bridge the genre gap between children’s books and cookbooks, she embedded the ingredients, times, and temperatures in the visuals themselves.

Spend time concepting

Now that you have bookmaking ideas for planning and structuring your book, it’s time to focus on your creative process. Of course, this is different for everyone, but there are a few things that all great creators have in common: they take their time, are persistent, and continuously iterate.

It takes time to create something great. You might have to write (or draw or cook) a lot of not-so-good content before you get to the good stuff. And that’s okay. The important thing is to keep going and not give up.

“My creative process always begins with producing plenty of concept art, experimenting with colours, characters, and composition before I find something that I really like,” says Morvern Anderson, Scottish illustrator behind The Wee Stravaigers.

Spending time on your book’s initial look and feel is essential, as it will inform the rest of the creative process. But don’t get too attached to your early concepts—be willing to experiment and change things up if necessary.

The next step for Anderson is always a comic script, which she breaks into sections to develop the story further. From there, she moves to thumbnails and page layouts before starting the pages themselves.

Even if you’re not an illustrator or visual designer, it can be helpful to sketch out your ideas or create an inspiration board full of images or colors that capture the feel of your book. And writers, you likely also want to spend time on voice and tone exercises to get a feel for how your book will sound before sitting down to create the first draft.

Set (and stick to) goals

Staying persistent is key to any creative endeavor, and it’s imperative when you’re learning how to self-publish a book. Once you have an idea of what you want to publish and notes on creative direction, set some goals—and do your best to stick to them. This will help you stay on track and keep your project moving forward.

“The most important piece of advice I can share with other book creators for the holidays is to stick with the process,” says artist and illustrator Alexandria Bonner.

Setting goals was integral when Bonner illustrated Michaela Tameling’s story, Wyatt the Pirate. Bonner gave herself a smaller goal of finishing two pages a week. “She was able to stay on top of her overall goal at her pace, and I was thrilled to receive updates from her!” writes Tameling.

One more thing from Bonner? “It may seem daunting, but make sure to pick a story that gives you the motivation needed to pull you toward the goal,” she advises. “It is so rewarding to see any idea turned into a physical item that brings joy to others!”

Team up!

Just as author Tameling found illustrator Bonner to bring her ideas to life with beautiful visuals, you might find that teaming up with someone else can help you bring your book to fruition.

When self-publishing a book, there are many moving parts—writing, editing, designing, printing, and more. Trying to do it all yourself can be overwhelming, so why not team up with someone with expertise in areas where you need support? This way, you can focus on what you’re good at and delegate the rest.

It’s also a great way to build relationships with other creatives in your field. Collaborating with someone can help you learn new skills and techniques, and it’s always nice to have a support system when you’re taking on a big project like self-publishing a book.

“Thanks to early social media…I connected with Kent Clark, an illustrator from Oklahoma who was as hungry to draw comics as I was to write one, and we made it happen,” writes Guity, creator of Alleycat 2.0: Pilot.

The comic co-creators initially planned their book as part of a larger anthology, but those plans stalled, and their project ended up sitting on Guity’s computer for years. Finally, when COVID struck, he decided it was now or never. Thanks to print-on-demand and his work with Clark, they could get Alleycat out into the world.

Utilize artificial intelligence

If you’re not ready to team up with a human, there’s no need to worry—you can still get help from technology.

That’s what artist and author Mark Terry did with his dystopian robot spy book, The Truth About Bees. All the artwork in this graphic novel was created with AI (plus Terry’s Photoshop skills). He even included an interview with the artist at the end of the book—written entirely by a robot.

Not sure about artificial intelligence doing your art? Terry explains that the concept of author and artist is changing now that computer programs can write prose or artwork indistinguishable from human creators.

“We can fear this change, this upset to the status quo, or we can use it to expand our artistic outputs,” Terry writes. “People did not stop painting when photography was invented. People did not stop writing songs with the advent of the synthesizer and sequencer. It is now possible for anyone to produce a graphic novel, even with no artistic ability at all.”

Follow in Terry’s footsteps with his two favorite AI tools: DreamStudio, which can create paintings in any art style in seconds, and NovelAI, which can generate text but not necessarily great plots or consistent storylines. He used both as partners in his unique book project.

Seek constructive criticism

Whether creating your book alone, with a team, or with a robot, it’s important to get feedback from others—preferably from people you trust to give you helpful and kind constructive criticism. If you have a finished product, it’s a great idea to seek out beta readers who can give you feedback on the story, characters, and more.

Artist and illustrator Donna Huntriss found her beta readers invaluable when creating her book, The Birds in the Backyard. At first, she wanted to do a book with only illustrations and no words. The feedback she got was, “We want more! We want to know about the birds you have featured.” Huntriss heard them loud and clear: “I really did my research on each of the birds to demonstrate how birds interact in our backyards.”

Although Huntriss waited until she had a finished product to request feedback, others, like musician, composer, and illustrator Michael Johnson, look for it each step of the way.

“While you’re making [your book], seek advice, get criticism, reach out to experts who will help you, and keep remaking it until it is the best version of itself it can be,” Johnson suggests. “Be honest with yourself about whether what you made is worthwhile. If you feel what you made is worthwhile, then at that point, share it with the world.”

Johnson spent years on his book, Success!, continuing to refine it until it was exactly what he envisioned.

“Above all, take heart,” he continues. “The world may not be ready for what you made in your lifetime, or ever, but at least you will have spent your time on earth doing what you love, and the beautiful things you made will live on.”

Print a proof

Once you’ve created, formatted, critiqued, and readied your book, it’s time to print a single copy. A proof is a test copy of your book that allows you to check for any errors or changes you need to make before sharing the final version with the world.

Stephanie Ryan, an intuitive artist, watercolorist, and teacher based out of Pennsylvania, did just that. She began imagining and working on her book, EMPATH, in the late spring, giving herself nearly a year to be ready for selling this holiday season.

“I ordered many draft copies and spent time being with them, carrying them around and having them out in my space,” Ryan states.

She suggests everyone should do the same: “Start early and let yourself be with your book, make the adjustments, and actually hold it in your hands for a time.”

Enjoy the final product!

After all the hard work of creating, writing, illustrating, and formatting your book, it’s finally time to enjoy and share the finished product. So sit back, relax, and flip through the pages of your beautiful new book—you did it!

“Despite so much of our lives being digital, I’m a designer who truly values the real, physical things in this world; in books, I appreciate the quality of the paper, type, color, and images, and feeling the pages turn,” says Claudia Mauner von Kaenel Gellert, a graphic designer, author, illustrator, and teacher. She loves flipping through her book, Fashion and Humor.

“It’s very rewarding to hold your own beautifully produced book in your hands and give it to friends or sell to clients,” she continues.

A finished book is well worth the journey. Hopefully, you find the process of creating just as rewarding.

***
Find inspiration from these creator’s in our Holiday Gift Guide. Or get started on your self-published book today!

The post Bookmaking tips from Blurb creators appeared first on Blurb Blog.