In this interview, we explore the book’s conception, Nakata’s bookmaking and marketing experience, and the remarkable impact his work has had on families, educators, and therapists. This conversation is not just about a book; it’s about a movement toward inclusivity, creativity, and community-driven change. Plus, you’ll get tips and tricks on how you can launch your self-published book into the world.

Can you describe the moment that inspired you to use your architectural skills for adapted designs?

My inspiration is my daughter, who has disabilities. We were first introduced to switch-adapted toys in her therapy sessions. She gets so much joy when she is able to play with a device that has been adapted. I immediately started taking apart toys to see how I could adapt them for her. 

A major part of architecture is problem-solving, finding a solution that takes into account many different factors to produce the best design outcome. By approaching adapting from the lens of an architect I am able to find ways to adapt toys and devices that take into consideration not only function and efficiency but aesthetics and clarity, too.

What challenges have you faced in advocating for better accessibility standards, and how have you overcome them?

As a licensed architect, I have always advocated for accessibility in my projects because inclusive design benefits everyone. That advocacy now extends to access to adapted toys and devices for folks of all ages with disabilities. For many children, like my daughter, the toys sold in stores are challenging to use without assistance, which limits play and independence. Adapting toys and devices immediately creates a way for individuals to access learning and play.

However, since adapting is done primarily in the secondary market by individuals and companies that cater to those with disabilities, there are a lot of opportunities for profiteering by selling adapted toys way above their original price. I personally find this pricing to be exploitative when you consider that many families can only afford one adapted toy (or have to pool together funds to afford one that could be hundreds of dollars) and how important these accessible items are to child development. 

This is why I wrote my guide to adapting, showing that everyone can adapt. It isn’t a skill that should be gatekept but one that everyone can learn to do. This simple act will increase the number of adapted toys in classrooms, clinics, and homes, making adapting more affordable and accessible to all. 

Why is access and affordability so important to your advocacy? 

As soon as something is marketed to the disabled or for medical purposes, it invariably gets marked up—sometimes 1000%. This makes these items exclusive, and price becomes the barrier to access. I personally cannot understand the justification for profiting off of someone truly in need, limiting their potential and their ability to live their fullest life. These adapted toys are not like other toys. They are sometimes the only toy a child may have that they can fully engage with independently. 

In the foreword of my book, play is described as vital to childhood development. Play is considered a fundamental human right by the UN. With this in mind, it is clear that access to adapted toys should not be exclusive and should be made available without barriers (especially exorbitant cost) in homes, schools, and clinics. This is why teaching adapting is important. It empowers families, educators, and therapists to take toys and devices off the shelf and, for a few dollars, transform them into gateways for play, learning, and independence. 

What’s more, these devices can start to go beyond toys for play and become truly functional items that help build skills as these young individuals grow up, such as an adapted turntable that helps someone access music who then grows up to be a prolific DJ; an adapted bead spinner that assists someone in making jewelry such as friendship bracelets that they can then trade with their friends at a concert; an adapted food peeler that allows someone to be able to participate in food preparation and one day could find themselves as a professional chef with a whole array of adapted culinary devices. 

Adapted devices not only provide independence, preference, and build skills, but also help people achieve a sense of dignity where their potential can be realized by us learning to adapt for everyone. 

What’s your process behind creating AdaptedDesign tutorials?

Creating adapting tutorials began when I noticed that existing adapting tutorials seemed to skip over critical information, rambling, or too technical, which could be discouraging for someone unfamiliar with the process. I, a beginner to adapting, created these tutorials with beginners in mind, focusing on each step in sequence. I use photos and text in my tutorials, allowing better control over the clarity of the directions. I expand on these directions in my book and provide tips and tricks that I have developed, which have helped me along the way. 

Many of my adapting tutorials come from families requesting devices and toys to be adapted that they aren’t able to find anywhere else online. Many times, this is the first time anyone has seen this particular device or toy adapted online, let alone step-by-step directions on how to do it. I love the challenge of a new item, like a puzzle that needs to be solved, and I am always thinking about how I can better communicate this process to others so they can adapt it as well. 

Your Instagram account is equal parts memes and educational content—and it all gets great engagement. How do you involve the community in your work, and why is this important to you?

Memes have been a great way for me to create relationships with other families in the disability community. The memes that I create focus on inaccessibility and ableism, health insurance companies, challenges with medical equipment, and systemic problems with inaccessibility and lack of inclusion. They are written from my perspective as a parent of a child with disabilities, but I make an effort to make them relatable to and cognizant of the greater disability and caregiving community. I do make a point to never make the joke about the child because the problem is not with them but with society accepting and accommodating them as they are. 

Humor seems to be a great method for coping with difficult issues and these memes have created a lot of connections and community at AdaptedDesign. It is important to me to listen to this community and continue to learn and grow with them. I hope that my content reflects this ethos and that everyone can feel safe, enjoy, and learn from AdaptedDesign as much as I have learned from others. 

Why did you create Let’s Adapt for Everyone!, and what has the feedback been like?

In my experience, looking for resources for toy adapting were a bit limited. It all felt a bit niche, and some folks were seemingly gatekeeping the information so they could continue to profit by selling adapted toys at a huge markup. As a self-taught adapter, I wanted to share with everyone that adapting could be learned and would have an outsized impact on people’s lives. 

Let’s Adapt for Everyone! is the first of its kind guide to adapting toys and devices, showing all the tools and supplies one would need, what to look for in the store when looking for toys to adapt, and includes a series of step-by-step tutorials for adapting toys for play, devices for craft-making, and devices like a fan that provides thermal comfort. Let’s Adapt for Everyone! has been sold all over the United States and around the world and has become a top resource for groups that already adapt and those just getting started.

The reviews and feedback have been immensely supportive and have inspired many to start adapting for themselves and others. They have even inspired adapting parties with friends and family, adapting toys for schools and clinics using this book. Let’s Adapt for Everyone! has even created opportunities for adapting clinics. 

I recently taught 40 educators, therapists, and administrators in a local school district how to adapt a toy that they could take back to their students. That’s a lot of adapted toys now in the school district that weren’t there before, going to help children with their therapy, learning, and play at a fraction of the cost that they might have paid online. More importantly, many of the attendees purchased copies of the book and now have the skills and confidence to adapt more toys and devices—expanding access to these adapted items. 

In addition to my book, I sell a complete adapting kit to accompany my adapting guide, where all the tools and supplies are in one place. With Let’s Adapt for Everyone! and the AdaptedDesign Adapting Kit, you can start adapting several things right away. 

Describe your bookmaking process from writing to layout to final proof copy. Is there anything you wish you knew at the beginning? 

Although I have used Blurb in the past this was the first time I used Bookwright to put together my book. Once I familiarized myself with the software I was able to bring everything together. I had a good idea of the structure of the book but added a lot more images as I continued to refine the book to help guide the reader through every step of the adapting process. 

Why did you choose Blurb? What were the challenges and benefits of the platform?

I first used Blurb many years ago when I wanted a compact and professional way to display my architectural portfolio of works when I graduated from graduate school and was looking for jobs. I liked the speed and quality of the book and knew that I could get a similar product for Let’s Adapt for Everyone! 

With this project, I did have some challenges getting consistency with print quality, and I would choose a different setting next time to help prevent these issues. Overall, I am happy with the platform and generally how straightforward it is to print a book and the ability to make it available to the world. 

How have you marketed your book? Are there any tactics you’d do again (or not)?

My book has been shared primarily on my Instagram and sold both through the Blurb Bookstore and my AdaptedDesign Etsy. Someday, I would like to work with small independent bookstores to sell my book, but in the meantime, I am happy with what I have achieved by word of mouth. 

However, I would love to work towards reaching a greater audience because I know so many of us have the ability to adapt and increase access to these crucial items for the people who need them most.

What advice would you give to hopeful self-publishers?

Find something you are passionate about that you can speak truthfully about, advocate for others but do not speak for them, and write about something that can help others—bring awareness to an issue and help make things better, especially for those underrepresented or in need. 

Do you have plans for future publications or projects? 

Yes, I am working on another book, but it is in its very early stages and geared towards a wider audience.  

*** 

At Blurb, we’re your creative ally, turning your manuscript into a published reality. With us, you’ll find the tools and guidance to effortlessly bring your books to life — whether you’re printing a photo book, trade book, or magazine. We’re here to empower and support you every step of the way, making sure your story shines professionally. Get started today.

The post Let’s Adapt for Everyone! Behind the Book with Greg Nakata appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Drawing from backgrounds in sociology, English literature, art photography, and a passion for film, Boakes’s diverse foundation shapes her art. In this interview, we discuss her photographs, creative process, and advice for others to find their voice in visual art.

You’re a student, photographer, and creative. Tell us about your creative journey to get to where you are today.

I’ve always been around creative people and motivated to not just be academic. I grew up with my grandma teaching me and my sister to collage and draw with our left hands.  I watched my dad on holiday taking photos with a camera he would soon give to me—as well as admiring my uncle’s photography. 

The passion then bloomed as I started to study photography at school and promote it using social media and any submissions I could get my hands on. I think, especially within art, it’s super important to put yourself out there and submit to as much as you can. 

In July 2022, I submitted three images to a small online zine (the kids are talking) titled “Cowgirl.” It is a small achievement but one that would motivate me to submit to other publications like the Philm Red Addition in 2023. Right now, I’m focusing on exploring photography techniques as I continue to use the darkroom and camera-less styles.

If you had to describe your work using only three words, what would they be?

I think in this book, the photography really varies. At the start, they feel more nostalgic; in the middle, they feel more rebellious; and the book ends with quite surreal and weird images. I guess those are my three: nostalgic, rebellious, weird. In that order.

How have your studies influenced your work?

For my A-levels, I take sociology, English literature, and art photography. They have all influenced my work in some way, whether it was consciously or not. Even though it’s not a set study of mine, I think one of the big areas that influences my work is film. Moving image is definitely something I would love to explore in the future.

What is the most adventurous thing you’ve done in pursuit of the perfect shot?

Something I definitely want to do with my work is be braver and more outlandish, but in this book, you can see quite tame adventures. For example, in images ‘fish, lion’ and ‘woodlouse,’ I convinced my friends to set up a blow-up mattress in a public park whilst wearing pyjamas. In the very same park, I’ve photographed friends suffocating in alien masks and camouflage outfits.

What inspired you to create the book Wisdom Teeth? And where did the title come from?

I was inspired to create this book by my photographer role models whose pages sit on my shelves—as a sense of accomplishment definitely comes from a physical body of work. 

I chose the title Wisdom Teeth mainly because I thought mine may have been coming through as I was constructing the book. The title also nicely sums up ideas about growing up and teenage life, which I tried to present.

Can you share a behind-the-scenes story about a photograph in Wisdom Teeth that would surprise readers?

The main thing that may seem surprising about the book is that a majority of it was used for GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) coursework. In fact, the mixed media pieces ‘fish, lion’ and ‘woodlouse’ were my graded final pieces. As you get to the end of the book, you see my more recent A-level pieces, which I’m continuing to explore.

How did you decide on the final sequence and layout of photographs in your book? Was there a particular narrative or flow you were aiming for?

The last few images in the book are from a shoot I did around the idea of man versus alien. I’ve always been fascinated with space and sci-fi, and especially the fear around it, so I wanted to show a staged, low-budget, DIY, and childish adaptation of quite sinister and violent scenes. 

Specifically, the inspirations here stemmed from short films my dad made when he was my age, with him and his friends frolicking in forests playing war. So, to enhance this naive viewpoint of conflict, I made paper-mache alien and robot helmets and constructed cardboard tubular guns. 

In terms of layout, since it’s my first book, I wanted to experiment with different page designs. I spanned one of the images over two pages, splitting up the aliens from the men. 

Describe your bookmaking process from curation to final design. Can you share an unexpected lesson you learned about yourself during the process?

The first thing I did was choose the images I wanted to include. To bring some order to the chaos of the book, I decided to only include digital images and not limit the curation to a certain theme (something I will most definitely do in the future). 

One of the last additions to the book was the handwritten elements. I hand-wrote, scanned, and inverted my page numbers and titles as I wanted them to feel authentic and scrapbook-y. 

This project has probably been one of my longest, and I’ve definitely learnt about taking my time and trying out many options. If I went with my first layout, we would be looking at a very different book!

What’s the most valuable piece of feedback you’ve received on your work, and how might it help others in their creative journey?

One of the best pieces of advice or feedback I’ve been given is to photograph more. It seems simple, but there have been countless times when I’ve seen something, and my camera hasn’t been in my pocket.

What advice would you give to photography students about developing their unique artistic voice?

Inspiration is so widely available now that it can be hard to develop a unique voice. A lot of it comes from research and finding out what you like when looking at other people’s images—and what you do with those ideas. There’s no use in collating inspiration if you don’t plan on being inspired by it.

I also think it’s just all in experimentation. Recently, I’ve tried out chemigrams but realised that they aren’t something I like because they lack too much control.

Do you have plans for future publications or creative works, and if so, can you give us a sneak peek?

Leading on nicely from the last few pages of the book, I’m trying to explore those narratives more in-depth and create a more vast display of work. In the future, I want to present different photographic techniques. And, because this book didn’t follow a preset theme, I would love to focus on a single narrative next time.

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Blurb is a self-publishing platform for indie creators. If you’re ready to self-publish your photo book—we’re here to help!

The post Wisdom Teeth: Behind the Zine with Rose Boakes appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at how McKenzie uses her creativity to make a positive impact in the world—shedding light on often hidden mental health struggles. Plus, her take on trad- versus self-publishing, her advice on how to break into professional design, and her audience’s response to sharing openly about her journey with OCD. 

Tell us about your journey into the professional world of design and illustration.

I always say my journey to illustration has been a lifelong one. I’ve been drawing since I can remember and always had art on my mind growing up. I was always writing and illustrating little stories. And even in high school, I would sneak a sketchbook into class on my lap and just practice drawing faces and hands during lectures. (Still listening, of course, if any of my teachers are reading this.)

I was planning to major in English when I got to college but had a crisis on the second day of school and swapped over to fine art. My parents, thankfully, were super supportive, but I felt like I was leaping off a cliff. Now, I’m so happy with my choice. And I still get to write, so it’s a win-win. 

Design came a bit later as I started to gain work experience through internships. I found that I loved having an amount of control throughout the creative process—not just the art, but the placement and the vision. I love getting to help guide the work along into a final product. Print design, especially, is really rewarding. I’ve become kind of fanatical about type-setting and finding new and interesting fonts to pair with the art. 

What prompted your transition into freelance work? And what called you to bookmaking?

I had always dreamt of freelancing with a variety of clients and really devoting time to my illustration and design practice. More and more clients began trusting me with projects, and in 2021 it finally became a feasible option to try out. 

I couldn’t be more grateful to my long-term clients for helping me get started at a time when things were really uncertain for a lot of people due to COVID. Since then, I’ve gotten to work with so many people. It’s really a dream come true. Of course, each year brings new goals, so I’m always looking to the horizon for what’s next. 

Bookmaking came about in college. I took a few classes that encouraged creating bodies of work. And my senior gallery show was all centered around a story I had been developing and turning into a graphic novel. I actually printed that whole project with Blurb too. 

It got me thinking about all of the ideas I had and how easy it was to get them out there through self-publishing. I think sometimes it’s easy to get mired down in self-doubt and the impossibility of breaking into the industry. But having the tools launch your ideas yourself is pretty awesome. 

Can you describe your zine Safe and its recent sequel? What inspired these projects?

I grew up with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and was diagnosed very young. But it was always kind of a societal taboo. As a kid, one of the worst things I could imagine was anyone finding out that I had OCD. And I don’t think that was completely unfounded, if I’m being honest. 

At that time, OCD was still extremely misunderstood and even trivialized. My experience with the disorder wasn’t really obvious from the outside. I didn’t have a lot of outward compulsions. But I was dealing with a lot of very scary mental scenarios and very exhausting behaviors. Explaining those to my peers and teachers felt very nearly impossible. 

Art became an outlet for beginning the conversation and dipping my toe into the waters of sharing. That was around college. And my very first comic was posted on Instagram soon after college. 

The response was incredible. I had people messaging me who I had been acquaintances with for a while saying that they had OCD too. It just started this amazing conversation. And it allowed me to find support too. So every time I had a dip in my mental health, I made a comic, and I committed to sharing it. 

Safe took off from there. It became this long-term compilation of comics detailing my journey with OCD—comics I felt like I could finally share because of the OCD community’s response. 

Home is the sequel full of the most recent comics, and I’m further pulling out of my comfort zone by sharing some writing as well. It’s been so rewarding, and I’m really thankful for all of the support I’ve gotten. 

What has been the response to your works focused on OCD and mental health?

It’s so interesting how you can feel so alone in an experience and think it’s so singular, and then you draw it out and post it, and suddenly there are twenty people in the comments saying that they’ve had the same thoughts and the same struggles. It’s really incredible. The embarrassment and shame just melt off. 

I’ve been amazed at the reciprocity of it: I share something, and then there are people opening up in the comments and in my email, and it just feels like a really beautiful exercise in bringing pain into the open. 

Mental health awareness became sort of trendy for a while, and I love that there is now an abundance of t-shirts and memes normalizing our struggles. But what I’ve found in these online communities and through conversations about OCD is that it’s a lot more complicated. And there are inequities in treatment and in conversation. 

I feel a responsibility to those conversations and to make comics that are honest and open and invite dialogue. I’ve found that people are really willing to share and talk as long as others are willing to learn and grow. And that goes for everyone—I’m still learning too. 

Walk us through your book design process from idea to sales.

For something like Safe, I’ll hit about ten comics and think, “Okay, it’s time for a new edition.” So then it’s about finding the best ways to lay out each comic, what other types of content I’d like to have, and what the overall feel of the book will be. 

I take time establishing fonts and paragraph styles and all of the fun nitty gritty things. Then I take about two days just doing the more tedious tasks of laying everything out. I’ll usually get a couple of proofs, inevitably find issues I missed in the text or layouts, revise, and then go to print. After that, it’s just getting the word out on social media and listing the book on my website and Etsy. 

I’m hoping to pitch it to a few shops in my area. I’d love to see it physically on shelves at some point. That would be the dream. 

You have both traditionally published a collaborative children’s book and self-published your zines. What have been your experiences with each?

Yes! A Kids Book About OCD is available now on akidsco.com. That was my first experience being traditionally published, and it was great! Very collaborative, and they were so empowering when it came to letting me follow my process and make work that I was really excited about. 

I think both experiences have their own merits. I love getting to be part of a larger vision like with A Kids Co, and being amongst their other authors and illustrators is an honor. Plus, the author of our book, Hazel, is an amazing kid, and I was so excited to get to bring her story to life. 

My self-published zines are autobiographical and entirely written and produced by me. So they have a different feel and are geared toward older ages. I don’t pull a lot of punches with those. I think it’s fun to have the freedom to do that and to experiment with new designs and new writing in a short format like a zine. There may be fewer eyes on the work than through a traditional publisher, but I’ve found that it’s an equally rewarding experience. 

What marketing tactics have been the most successful for your book? And are there any that you’ve tried that you won’t do again?

Word of mouth and Instagram sharing have really been the best marketers. I’ve found that when I take to social media in a video and talk about the work it humanizes it to people and they become interested in taking a look. At this point, there aren’t necessarily any marketing methods that I would write off. I’m still looking to get it out there in whatever way possible! 

Do you have any advice for aspiring illustrators and designers who are looking to break into a creative career? What about self-publishing their own zines?

My best advice is to just go for it! Really put yourself out there. I know firsthand what it feels like to think your work isn’t good enough yet. And there are definitely merits to taking it slow and learning. But I also think we can get stuck in this cycle of self-doubt that says that none of our ideas are good enough. 

Portland illustrator, Kate Bingaman-Burt spoke about illustration once when I was in university and said, “You cannot create and curate at the same time.” And I’m not joking, it changed my life. 

Just create, create, create. Then look at what you have and find the gems and share them. It doesn’t hurt to try and put yourself out there. The learning can happen as you go. 

The tradition of zine-making dates back to the late 19th century, and it’s meant to be a way to make your voice heard, no matter who you are or where your skill level lies. I think it’s a beautiful thing and it’s easy. You literally just need a printer and some printer paper. So I’d say go for it whenever and however you want and just keep at it. As my therapist would say, “You have a unique voice, and people need to hear it.”

Is there anything exciting you’re working on that we should stay tuned for?

Oh yeah. A Kids Book About OCD just came out, so I’d love it if you checked that out. As for what’s on the horizon, I have a longer format writing project in the works geared toward middle schoolers that I’m very excited about. I can’t share much yet, but I’ll be yelling it from the rooftops once it’s ready. 

And I’m always sharing art on my Instagram and on TikTok. 

What do you wish we asked? (And what’s your answer?)

This has really been a great interview! I think the only thing left to say is that if you need mental health support, there are resources for you! 

• Find mental health help through NAMI.
• And OCD help from great organizations like NOCD and the IOCDF. 
• If you need immediate help, the suicide and crisis hotline is 988 in the United States.

***

Here at Blurb, we offer print-on-demand services for indie creators. If you’re ready to self-publish your own zine—we’re here to help!

The post Safe: Behind the Zine with McKenzie Young appeared first on Blurb Blog.

You’ve gone from real estate finance to co-owner and executive pastry chef at Whisk & Whiskey and now to cookbook creator. Can you tell us about this wild career path? 

Transitioning from the Real Estate Finance industry to the world of Baking and Pastry Arts turned out to be surprisingly smooth for me. Following my culinary school experience, I ran a home bakery right from my kitchen. Juggling my nine-to-five job in real estate finance during the day, I found solace in the evening by baking cookies and cakes. 

The turning point came during the pandemic when my home baking business saw a threefold increase in sales. It dawned on me that this venture had the potential to be more than just a side hustle. Simultaneously, the pandemic served as a stark reminder of life’s preciousness, motivating me to take a leap of faith in myself. I decided to leave my job entirely and, alongside two friends, launch Whisk & Whiskey. 

Your restaurant celebrates your Trinidadian heritage, uplifts underrepresented voices in the industry, and promotes local small businesses and artisans. How do your values shape your decisions? 

When envisioning Whisk & Whiskey, my partners and I embarked on a mission to forge a home away from home. We aimed to curate a space that warmly embraced everyone—a place to dance, and savor cocktails, pastries, and bites that celebrated our diverse cultural backgrounds. It’s a haven for sharing laughter and creating lasting memories. What we sought was a space we could authentically claim as ours—a true source of pride. Remarkably, we discovered that we had organically crafted a space the community had longed for. 

What inspired you to write your cookbook Cookies by Chef Coy? 

Being a devoted Martha Stewart fan since childhood, I’d eagerly flip through the pages of her cook and lifestyle books, marveling at her expertise. It was during those moments of admiration that I knew, as I grew older, I would pen my very own cookbook. Fast forward a couple of decades, the joy people found in my recipes solidified this aspiration, prompting me to take the leap and bring my cookbook dream to fruition. 

Could you describe your creative methodology while working on your book? 

Initiating the creative journey for Cookies by Chef Coy began with a deliberate choice to carve out a specific niche for my book. While the world of patisseries and recipes offered a vast array of possibilities, I recognized the importance of narrowing my focus for a more cohesive and enjoyable experience for both the reader and myself. 

Setting my sights on cookies, I was driven by the desire to create an accessible delight for novice bakers. To achieve this, I meticulously curated a list of cookie recipes, emphasizing simplicity in both ingredients and instructions. Each chosen recipe was not only a treat for the taste buds but also a feast for the eyes, ensuring a visually stunning and delicious outcome. The goal was to provide a delightful and seamless baking experience, making the art of crafting delectable cookies accessible to all.

How did you decide which recipes made the cut? And why did you stick with cookies? 

In the pages of my book, you’ll discover a collection of recipes that’s more than just a compilation—it’s a thoughtfully curated selection that captures the very essence of my brand. These recipes aren’t merely crowd-pleasers; they’re the ones that consistently elicit the most enthusiastic feedback from our patrons. Each holds a special place in my heart, serving as a testament to the time and care invested in perfecting them over the years. 

Furthermore, I’ve artfully woven in recipes that carry a profound sense of nostalgia, acting as culinary conduits that transport both myself and readers back to cherished moments from my past. Every cookie featured is a reflection of the intricate tapestry woven from flavors, memories, and joy, defining not only my bakery but also the colorful journey of my culinary endeavors. As you delve into these recipes, you’re not just tasting cookies; you’re savoring a narrative—a delicious story that weaves together the history of my craft and the delightful moments that have shaped it. 

Walk us through your book design process. Does your creativity in the kitchen translate easily to bookmaking? 

When envisioning the design for my book, Cookies by Chef Coy, my primary goal was to ensure that my aesthetic not only shone through but resonated with the readers on a visceral level. I aimed for an atmosphere that was not just seen but felt—a visual and sensory journey that complemented the deliciousness within the pages. 

I embraced a design ethos that echoed cleanliness and simplicity. Imagine flipping through the book and being greeted by a flood of natural light, illuminating each carefully crafted cookie in all its glory. I wanted the visuals to be a seamless extension of the delectable treats within—a symphony of clean lines, uncluttered layouts, and a celebration of the artistry behind each cookie creation. 

Beyond merely showcasing recipes, I saw the design as a crucial part of the storytelling. It wasn’t just about presenting a list of instructions but rather creating an immersive experience where the readers could almost smell the tantalizing aromas wafting from the pages. 

In essence, my creativity played a pivotal role in shaping not only the culinary content but also the visual and tactile aspects of the book. It was about crafting an environment where every page beckoned the reader to step into the world of delightful cookies and experience the artistry that went into their creation. 

What marketing tactics have been the most successful for your book? And are there any that you’ve tried that you won’t do again?

I’ve strategically leveraged Whisk & Whiskey, Instagram, and TikTok for cross-promoting Cookies by Chef Coy. I also held a book signing party which I think added a personal touch for my community and cookie enthusiasts alike. When it comes to marketing tactics, I’m open to trying anything. I firmly believe in experimenting and discovering what resonates. 

What led you to self-publish? And why did you choose Blurb? 

Embracing self-publishing was a conscious choice driven by my longing for absolute creative freedom. With a vivid vision for Cookies by Chef Coy, I was steadfast in keeping the project under my own guidance. Opting for the Blurb platform was a natural fit, as its user-friendly interface proved unrivaled in the realm of self-publishing. The inclusion of Illustrator and InDesign plugins not only streamlined the process but also saved me substantial time. It was a game-changer, allowing me to bring my vision to life efficiently. 

Do you have advice to offer other chefs embarking on a self-publishing journey? 

For fellow chefs venturing into the self-publishing journey, my advice is to give yourself grace. Place less emphasis on the timeline and redirect your focus toward crafting the highest quality book achievable. 

Is there anything exciting you’re working on that we should stay tuned for? 

Presently, I’m in the process of curating a bakeware line, with the goal launch date for Q3/Q4 of 2024. The prospect of expanding the Chef Coy brand with additional products fills me with immense excitement. Looking ahead, anticipate the sequel, Cookies by Chef Coy Part 2, alongside ventures like Cakes by Chef Coy and Breads by Chef Coy in the pipeline. The journey is only getting started, and I can’t wait to share more delectable creations with you. 

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Blurb is a print-on-demand company built for indie creators. Inspired to create your own book of art and words? Blurb makes it easy to self-publish your own book—whether you want to print it for yourself or sell it to your fans.

The post Cookies by Chef Coy: Behind the Book with Secoyah Browne appeared first on Blurb Blog.

We’re so excited to share this interview because Benjamin’s journey exemplifies the possibilities for creatives who want to turn their art into profit. From leveraging her website and newsletter to reach her dedicated audience to battling against social media algorithms, her experiences provide valuable insights for every creator working in today’s digital era.

In addition to her digital presence, she has found a passionate audience through self-publishing unique and beautiful books with Blurb. As you read on, you’ll gain a deeper insight into Benjamin’s creativity, bookmaking process, and vision for the future of self-publishing. Stay tuned for a dose of inspiration and practical advice that could be the catalyst for your own creative journey.

You are the amazing creator behind The Handwriting Club and Shutterbean, your photography and food blog. Tell us about your creative journey to this point.

After a stint in my early 20s managing a recording studio, followed by working in a cubicle under harsh and soul-sucking fluorescent lighting, I felt terrible letting my creativity go to waste. I was trained in graphic design and photography and wanted to continue the momentum I had built in my schooling, which is why I started my blog, Shutterbean, in 2007. I was looking for accountability in my photography and was curious about building a community online. 

My blog became a regular practice of sharing my creative pursuits with photography, food, and art in blog format. It took me about 7 years of working as a bookkeeper while consistently maintaining the blog to turn my creativity into a full-time gig. Here I am at it, 16 years later, with thousands of photos and recipes under my belt. It has been a lot of hard work, but I have found it to be extremely rewarding to look back at what I’ve done and how much I’ve grown in the process.

Why do you believe print and writing by hand is crucial in the Digital Age? 

I will always and forever be a pen-and-paper person (thanks to my mom!). While there is ease and convenience of doing things online, you cannot beat the magic of being able to write something down on paper. Digital devices can be a huge distraction and require things like charging and batteries. As much as I can play around with fonts and graphic design, nothing beats a handwritten note.

Handwriting is full of feeling and personality. All the information about a person is right there, from the pen that was chosen to the paper preference! If you have a pen and an index card, which I stash in every part of my house and car, you have a place to put your thoughts and feelings. 

The best thing is that no alerts pop up when you’re writing things down. It’s an incredible way to be present.

How did the idea for your Currently Workbook annual series come about? 

I’ve shared a monthly recap called Currently beginning in 2016. This monthly column has showcased some of my journal pages, pictures, and writing of what went on each month. It’s been a way for me to self-reflect and make notes of what I was doing every month. 

After my mom died in 2017, I was left with over 30 years of her calendars. She left a trail of magic behind, but there were so many things that I wished I knew about how she spent her time—like what she thought, what she was reading, eating, listening to, reading, and more. 

I spent the first year of my grief planning and designing my Currently Workbook because I wanted to build an offline tool that would help me catalog my months in analog mode. If someone wanted to join in on the self-reflection process, all they needed was a workbook, not a blog. 

I knew that if I made something that was easy and fun, it wouldn’t be that intimidating to do. By sharing my workbook pages with my audience online, it’s held me accountable to do the work. I haven’t missed a month yet! 

What is your creative process like when working on this project each year? Has anything changed since your first edition?

I have shared my pages in my workbooks since 2019. The best part about it is that I can see how much my art and handwriting have improved over the years. I’ve had fun playing around with the layouts over the years and have added fun sections like seasonal bucket lists and pages to add self-portraits so you can see how you looked over time.

The very cool byproduct of creating this project is that my art practice has grown, and my handwriting is finally where I’ve always wanted it to be. 

Every month tells a story. The more years go by, the more others have joined in on the process, and it has been an absolute delight to see how everyone uses their Currently Workbooks! It’s so wild to see how our handwriting plays together. 

I know my mom would be very proud that I’ve been able to help others spend less time on their devices and more time on self-reflection.

You have an impressive collection of workbooks, journals, and zines up for sale on Etsy—plus prints, stickers, and more. How do you decide what to create for your shop?

I’ve always just made things that I would want to use, and it’s worked out for me so far. I am a one-woman machine, so as much as I would like to add a bigger selection to my shop, I keep a pace that is maintainable. 

My goal is to get help with my growth, and I am on my way to that!

You also run a blog, a newsletter, and multiple social media accounts. What is your secret to keeping your creative energy flowing?

I have learned that it’s important to build a creative practice. The key to being consistently creative is to build a structure where it’s safe to play and experiment. 

That’s why I decided to create a time management system with my Intentions for the Week planner and my Currently Workbook. They both have given me the structure I needed while giving me the room to be creative because I can ultimately be creative with time! 

What marketing tactics have been the most successful for your work? And are there any that you’ve tried that you won’t do again?

I’ve marketed through my website, newsletter, and social media channels. I share my art primarily on my Instagram account and now my YouTube channel. 

The biggest challenge I face as a working artist is fighting against algorithms and getting my work in front of a decent percentage of my audience. When you’re a small business, it’s hard to keep shelling out money for ads that might not work.

My newsletter and website have been my most successful routes, as I have a very thoughtful and dedicated audience. I feel very lucky that my consistency and hard work have paid off. 

What led you to self-publishing? And why did you choose Blurb?

I met Daniel Milnor (Blurb’s Creative Evangelist!) at a blogger conference, and his enthusiasm for creating books inspired me to get started making my own. He reminded me of the value of being able to hold something you’ve made in your hands. He encouraged me to make a photo book, and I’ve been obsessed ever since!

Share about your bookmaking process with Blurb. What do you love? What’s a challenge?

I have made quite a few books with Blurb. My first book was a photo book of my summer of 2016. After that, I created my Food Journal followed by my first Currently Workbook.  

From there, I made a book celebrating my mom after her death called Things Mom Used to Say followed by my Intentions for the Week Planner and my photographic coloring book, Flowers.

I’ve really enjoyed the process of designing a book, having it printed, and seeing how it works for me in my everyday life! It’s pure magic! 

Self-publishing has also been a great additional income stream for me. Blurb has made it easy for me to get products into the hands of others. While I ship books to customers through my Etsy shop (I personalize each package with extra magic), Blurb has helped me reach other countries through their international shipping. 

The biggest challenge I’ve run into is paper quality and printing consistency. I have lost a lot of time and money trying to get the paper dialed in. I am currently getting my Intentions for the Week Planner re-printed to be at the same quality level as the previous print batch. 

How do you see the future of self-publishing, particularly for niche genres like journals and notebooks?

Self-publishing is very exciting. If you have an audience built-in, you’re more than halfway there! As much as we are moving forward with technology, there will always be paper lovers and people who love writing things down. At least, I hope so! 

What advice would you give to others seeking to turn their creativity into their business?

My advice is to work hard at building your audience and customer base. Stay on top of new technology and avenues of income. Experiment, accept feedback, and keep up the good work. Sharing your process and journey along the way is very inspiring and will help people stay tuned to what you have to offer next! Making videos of your products in use is very helpful.

Is there anything exciting you’re working on that we should stay tuned for?

This past year I started a substack for The Handwriting Club, where I shared my passion for handwriting, paper, and pens. I will also be creating an accountability group where we will work on our Intentions for Week and Currently Workbooks together! More info to come in my newsletter.

The post Currently Workbook: Behind the Book with Tracy Benjamin appeared first on Blurb Blog.

We chat with Batchelar about their two decades of experience running a marketing agency, how it translated into their self-published book, and what advice they have for indie bookmakers aiming to promote their own books. You’ll definitely want to take notes on this interview and pick up the book, Reframing Marketing: A 3-Step Plan for Effective and Ethical Marketing.

You have an impressive multi-decade career in marketing! Can you tell us about your background and how it influenced your decision to write Reframing Marketing?

After running a digital marketing agency for 15 years, we worked with a business coach who suggested we try teaching what we knew in order to diversify our business. I had been working on a way to share our knowledge for a number of years and, after working with many different types of businesses, had distilled it into a repeatable methodology. Out of curiosity, I thought I would look for a book that would help me market my personal brand to see if I could learn more to get my message out to more people. I wanted to do it in an ethical way, and I couldn’t really find a book that did that, so I thought, well, if I can’t find it, maybe I should write it.

Reframing Marketing is an alternative to the win-at-all-costs approach. It’s not about slick tactics, get-rich-quick schemes, or high-pressure sales pitches. This book is about ethical marketing that is manageable and connects you with customers who are ready to say yes.

How has your experience as a marketing mentor shaped the insights that ended up in your book?

I’ve worked with a lot of different companies over the years. Some businesses have tried and tested methods of marketing that are well documented. I have found that for people who market themselves and the work they do. Often coaches, mentors, and entrepreneurs, there really wasn’t anything that felt right. It was all very manipulative and focused on making a quick sale, often at the expense of the client. It just didn’t feel right for a lot of people I had worked with. So the idea for the book grew out of that.

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope readers will discover that marketing doesn’t have to be complicated and that the fundamentals are simple. The three-step plan outlined in the book is designed to make it easier to get started or to start again. The book is designed to help make marketing part of running your business rather than something you feel you should do or want to put off.

Is there a part of the book that you’re particularly proud of or excited for readers to discover?

It took a lot of work to distill what I wanted to share down to the three steps. However, I’ve had a lot of feedback from people saying that the simplicity of it helps them to be clearer and more confident about themselves.

Why do you believe ethical marketing is so crucial in today’s business landscape?

In a world where we are surrounded by marketing, and it is being done to us all the time, it is easier than ever to manipulate people’s decisions and feelings. This only works when the sale matters, not the client. I believe it can be done differently; there is a way to do marketing that doesn’t rely on this industrial-era thinking that works for both you and the client. I’m not saying this will solve all the world’s problems, but if we can move beyond the relentless drive to sell people more stuff they don’t need and instead towards helping people do better things, the world will be a better place for all of us.

Could you share an instance where ethical marketing made a significant difference in a campaign?

I often hear from people who have gone back to marketing after reading the book; they tell me that the conversations they have now are with people who aren’t focused on price or details; their only question is, when shall we start? This kind of marketing makes all the difference when people feel ready to invest and can’t wait to say yes. It’s transformative for them and for the business.

Is marketing a book different than marketing other services or products? If so, why and how?

In some ways, marketing a book is different from other products and services. You are, in essence, selling a promise to someone, not just the physical book. One thing I have found in marketing a book is that real marketing is the change you are saying will come from investing time and effort into reading and, in my case, working through the book. So marketing is much more than it appears on the surface, which is what makes it really interesting. You’re trying to get people thinking and inspired to want to make the change your book is offering. It allows for a lot of creativity.

Can you share any specific, successful tactics you’ve used for marketing your book? 

Everything I have done marketing this book has been based on the work in the book, so I can lead by example. I make weekly videos based on topics I have written about in the book, which I share on LinkedIn. At the end of the videos, I point people towards the book and invite them to learn more. 

With the book being all about ethical marketing, a curator for an event saw one of the videos and asked if I would speak at their next event as the head speaker. They said they wanted someone with authority to present and lead a discussion, and who better than the person who had written a book on the topic? So it’s not all about selling copies. It’s about building a reputation as the go-to person on your topic.

What led you to choose self-publishing for Reframing Marketing? And why did you choose Blurb as your platform?

I wanted to self-publish because this book has a narrow audience. I don’t want to be the next bestseller, I want to have something accessible to my audience at a price point that means anyone can get started with ethical marketing. Self-publishing means I control the book, the IP, and the distribution. I can partner with other people and even give the book away if I want to. I put a lot of time and effort into writing the book, so I wanted to be able to use it in any way I wanted in the future. Blurb was very easy to use with Reedsy, which I used to typeset the book.

Tell us about your process of designing your book with Blurb.

I used Reedsy to typeset the book, so once it was looking good in there, it was really simple to import it into Blurb. I used Canva to make the cover file and took a few goes to tweak it to fit the margins. The tool made it super simple to go from typeset manuscript to printed book.

Did you encounter any challenges during the self-publishing process, and if so, how did you overcome them?

If you have never done this before, there are a lot of new words to learn in order to set everything up correctly. You also have to think of your book in terms of pages rather than a long document, which is what you write the book as. Once you understand the process, it all makes sense.

Do you have any advice for creators looking to market their self-published works?

Keep writing, and don’t sweat the details too soon. I didn’t know if I could write enough words to make a whole book, but once I started it just flowed out. I actually ended up with too many and had to edit it down. I also found that working with an editor was a rewarding experience, as their outside eyes spot things you have read many times and missed.

What’s next for you following the publication of Reframing Marketing?

I am working on another version for small businesses and teams. It’s based on the same three-step plan and has exercises and new sections for this audience.

Finally, how do you hope Reframing Marketing will influence the marketing industry moving forward?

My vision is to change the way people think about and do marketing. Even if people change one thing about the way they get new clients to be more ethical, it will all add up, and together, we can show others that it can be done and there is a more ethical and effective way to do marketing.

***

Blurb is a self-publishing platform that allows you to create, self-publish, promote, share, and sell your own books. We provide bookmaking tools and the knowledge to create, print, and sell professional-quality photo books, magazines, and more. 

The post Reframing Marketing: Behind the Book with Simon Batchelar appeared first on Blurb Blog.

In this interview, he shares insights on how his filmmaking and writing inform each other, recounts his successful and not-so-successful marketing efforts, and offers valuable advice to fellow creators on launching and marketing their own works. Lerma also opens up about his journey with self-publishing, his transition from a Spanish to an English audience, and the unique considerations he makes when deciding what genre of writing to create and publish. Buckle up for a journey through the creative process of one of today’s most exciting young creators!

You’re a director, producer, and writer—making videos since you were 13 and publishing books since you were 16. You also adapt your short stories into films. How do your filmmaking and writing inform one another?

Every project always starts with a concept or idea. Whenever I have an idea or a concept, I always try and stop whatever I’m doing to write it down, mostly because I’m a really forgetful person. Then I decide the best avenue to tell this story, whether it’s a book, live-action film, or animated film. 

I also have rules for myself. For example, I will only do an animated film if there is absolutely no way I can tell it with live-action. My writing and filmmaking will always go together because I love to tell really personal stories.

Marketing a book can be a challenge for even the most talented creators. Tell us about your most successful marketing efforts.

I had a book go viral back in 2020. With my debut as an author, I took videos of the reaction of my friends as I revealed to them that I made a book. I uploaded that video to the internet, and it gave the book really good exposure.

With 102,000 readers on Apple Books and Google Play, you have quite the following! To what do you attribute your literary success?

I got really, really lucky to have that many people read my words. However, it’s not in the way you think. Back in 2021, I released some of my old work for free on certain platforms, and it somehow went viral and has risen me to the top spots of Free Books in Mexico.

Unfortunately, not all that audience has translated into new followers, but I’m grateful that many people took the time. However, a few thousand have reached out and expressed their love for my books specifically.

On the other hand, what marketing efforts haven’t been as successful? And what did you learn from them?

I learned very early on that indie books are hard to sell—especially if you are 15 and just starting out. I tried a myriad of ways to promote my book, and one method I would not try again is making a smaller book out of a bigger one. 

I was working on the follow-up book to my first in the middle of the pandemic, but I knew a release in the chaos would be hard. I decided to take 60 out of the 230 pages and make them into a separate project. I learned that a book launch should be a very big deal, not just a small video you post on a random Saturday afternoon without warning.

Do you have any advice for creators launching and marketing their own books?

Absolutely. One, please, please, please, get a professional book editor. I made the mistake of just using the free online spell checker, and it was one of the dumbest mistakes ever. 

Two, analyze other books’ fonts and font sizes. See what’s popular and the standard, then use it. You need to give your book a pro look. My font recommendations would be Adobe Hebrew, Baskerville, and Bembo Book! 

Three, don’t be scared of coming off as too much of a self-promoter. If you are not excited about your book, no one else will be either. 

Four, try and see what else you can do with your books. Perhaps, if you make a poetry book with illustrations, you can make a coloring book or an animated short film. You decide!

What is your personal experience with self-publishing? Why did you go the self-publishing route with Blurb?

When I was 15, I looked up “how to publish a book (easy),” and that’s when I discovered self-publishing. I clicked a video, and it was a video from a girl just saying how good Blurb was. I looked up Blurb and was amazed and excited because now I would have the power to hold a book of mine in my hands.

What draws you to print in the Digital Age? What do you feel is print’s role in the world today?

Tech might be cool and all, but there will always be a need for that good ol’ classical feeling of a physical book with the page-turning and new-book smell. I think the same way music artists are still releasing their music on vinyl, there are enough people on the planet that love holding art. I’m one of those people.

You’ve moved from Monterrey, Mexico, to Chicago. You’ve also recently released an English translation of one of your bestselling Spanish books. What led you to pursue an English audience?

Because here’s where the big leagues are! I knew in high school I wanted to come to the US. The film industry, in general, is much much bigger here than in Mexico. And it’s the same with the literature industry. 

I’ve always wanted to be in the big leagues, and little by little, I’ll eventually get there. While I was putting new projects out in Spanish, I always had at the back of my mind that, eventually, I would have to rebuild my audience from the ground up. 

Before moving out to Chicago, I translated my most popular literary works to have something to show when I arrived. After arrival, I’ve made all new stuff, like my new book, “Adultish,” coming in early 2024.

You’re a multidisciplinary artist and writer—publishing illustrated poetry, essays, and short stories. How do you decide what genre of writing to create and publish?

I love all writing, but when I was 14, I asked myself, What on earth am I going to make a book about? I knew I wanted to make something my classmates would want to read. Because I knew most of them did not read long novels or stories, I saw an opportunity to create relatable, short (but not that short), digestible poems. 

My end goal is to write a novel, so at 18, I took the challenge of writing a little longer form fiction novelettes and short stories—a big change from writing poetry for the past few years. Going down that path is my first baby step before I write my debut novel, which I think I’ll be ready to write in 2025. I need to learn how to structure a story and arcs still. Baby steps.

Releasing shorts monthly and self-publishing projects yearly is impressive! What do you get out of creating at such a fast pace? How do you feed your creative well to avoid burnout?

Planning! I could talk about my planning all day. I try to plan at least six months in advance of whatever I’m doing. 

I see my fans as someone I have this huge crush on. With crushes, you might want to give them a Valentine’s Day gift, Christmas gift, or birthday gift, and with each little gift, you make sure it’s the best possible thing you can give of yourself. Now, there’s a chance they hate it, or it’s not the best thing you can give them. That fear, of having my “crush” turn me down, is what motivates me to make my films and books the best for them. 

And yes, my films and books would be the metaphorical gift I would give my crush. The truth is, I love the people that have supported me. They are some of the most interesting and cool people, and the fact that they care at all for what I do is amazing. It’s precious and something I’ll never take for granted. Ever.

What’s next for you? Any other books or films in the works?

Yes! In the short term, I just finished a new animated film called ’Treasure Haunt,’ coming out September 8 on my YouTube Channel. I’m back making short films, so many more to come! For the long term, I’m planning the release of my sophomore poetry collection, “Adultish,” in early 2024!

Anything we didn’t ask that you’d like to mention?

Of course! Dear people of the internet, I invite you to join me on my journey of making cool new films and books! If you want to watch my short films, they are all on YouTube. Just search “Carlos Lerma,” and they should be the first thing to come up! 

I also want to thank all the incredible people who have supported me because, without them, I wouldn’t have kept going, eventually making me the person and artist I am today!

***

Find Carlos Lerma’s book, Underdog Days, and follow his work on his website.

The post Underdog Days: Behind the Book with Carlos Lerma appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Find his book, Heuer Carrera Chronographs 1963-85, in the Blurb Bookstore.

Your book Heuer Carrera Chronographs 1963-85 is one of Blurb’s bestselling photo books! To what do you attribute its success? 

There are lots of watch books available, but the majority are for brands like Rolex and Omega. There are far fewer available for the brands I cover, so that is one advantage. Also, as well as featuring beautiful photography, my books contain very specific information, which makes them invaluable as references for people who are interested in watch collecting. Having access to this information can save collectors substantial amounts of money by avoiding making mistakes when they’re buying vintage watches.  

Can you share any interesting facts or stories you discovered while researching this book?  

Part of my research has involved collecting watch serial numbers. Through this, I’ve been able to identify the number of watches in particular production runs, and this made it clear that certain watches are incredibly rare—some with a production run of fewer than 50—which is really interesting for collectors. 

Where did your passion for watches come from?

My passion for watches came after my wife bought me a watch for our engagement 15 years ago. Due to my research-minded nature, I got hooked on the design and story of vintage watches. Previously, I didn’t wear a watch that cost more than £100.

You are a collector and researcher of vintage watches, and you also offer authentication and consultation services. How are you leveraging your books in your overall business strategy?  

To be honest, my approach has always been to create books that I would be interested in reading. I research and write about the watches that I enjoy collecting, and I like sharing that knowledge with fellow enthusiasts. The books seem to be popular with both experienced collectors and those who are just starting out, and through them, people then contact me when they want to learn more. 

Who is your book’s target audience? What strategies have you found most effective in reaching out to them? 

Watch collectors are the main audience, as well as websites or other media outlets that cover watches and luxury collecting. Sharing content via social media channels, especially at times of bookstore-wide promotions, has been effective. 

You have 24K followers on Instagram! How do you use your impressive social media following to promote your books and your business?  

I share images of the books and photography that’s featured in the books via social media.  I’m not overly strategic about this. I take the approach of sharing what I would be interested in seeing, and people who share a passion for vintage watches tend to find it. 

Social media accounts prosper from having a combination of great images and being informative and engaging with your followers. I prefer not to post too much, especially when it may be repetitive.

Why did you go the route of self-publishing versus traditional publishing? And why did you choose Blurb?  

In the beginning—over a decade ago—I ordered a batch of books and was making daily trips to the post office to ship them. One of the best things about Blurb and the print-on-demand service is the convenience of having Blurb take care of everything, including dispatch. It’s a system that has always worked like clockwork. In essence, all I need to focus on is producing the book, and then Blurb handles everything else and sends me the profits each month!

It goes without saying that the quality has always been high, which is extremely important for this sort of book, and any problems have been addressed quickly and efficiently. Also, because I’m always continuing to research watches, I often discover new things. Using Blurb, I can update the books when that happens or create new covers or limited editions, none of which would work as well with a traditional publisher. 

What have been the biggest lessons you’ve learned from self-publishing? What about the challenges you’ve faced?  

It’s always best to get a test copy, but after a decade of producing books via Blurb, I am now able to confidently look at the online tool and know that what I can see is exactly what will be produced.  

Pricing can be tricky to get right! How did you determine the pricing strategy for your book?  

The book pricing is pitched at a level competitive and comparable with similar watch books. 

Looking back, is there anything you would change about your process of creating or marketing this book?  

I have learned many lessons over time with regard to what works, how to fully utilize the tools available, and what layouts work best. The books that I sell now are definitely more professional and polished than at the start of the process, which I guess is part of the journey. 

What advice would you give to someone who is looking to self-publish and self-promote their own book?  

Take your time and remember that the longer you take to familiarize yourself with the tools and work on the layout and content, the better the end product will be. 

***

Blurb is a print-on-demand company built for self-publishers. Inspired to create your own niche book to boost your business? Blurb makes it easy to self-publish your own book—whether you want to print it for yourself or sell it to your fans.

The post Heuer Carrera Chronographs 1963-85: Behind the Book with Richard Crosthwaite appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Where did the idea for A Preview of 100 Days of Feelings, Emotions, and Moments come from?

A few days before the 2021 100-day project started, my cat got sick again. I was so stressed out that when I got home from the vet, I had a brief moment to paint. By painting how I felt, it relieved a lot of stress and pressure within me, and that’s when I made the decision to paint a feeling, emotion, or moment each day for 100 days.

As I kept painting, people started asking me if I would turn it into a book. Interestingly, that’s exactly what I had in mind, too. And I wanted to create something more than just a portfolio of my personal expressions—something that could be helpful or useful as well. When I saw Blurb’s newsletter about the 24-hour Zine Challenge, it was a perfect nudge for me to keep working on this project, sharing a preview of these 100 paintings in the form of a zine.

Why did you choose “Day 60: Thank God for Art” as the cover of your zine?

I tried many pieces for the cover design, and that one looked the most cover-like to me. I also remember the day I painted it was a hard day. I was really relieved and thankful to have a quiet moment to paint at the end of the day.

Which came first: the one-line poem or the painting?

It depended on the day. During the 100-day project, I would often paint at night before bed. I would take a moment to sit and recall my day to see if any feelings, emotions, or moments showed up strongly. Sometimes it came as a word, like on “Day 7: Sleepy.” Sometimes it was a sentence, like on “Day 2: Gratitude for the Hot Shower Before Bed.” Others came as a way I wanted to paint, like a brush movement, or a predominant color, then I would go from there. Often words came to mind soon after I would start to paint, but sometimes there weren’t any words, so I would leave it wordless.

Talk to us about where and how you showcase your work and how the zine challenge helped you persevere. 

I was attracted to the nature of Instagram stories that only last for 24 hours—letting the previous day go and welcoming the new one. I think it was my attempt to practice letting go in the digital world.

Blurb’s 24-hour Zine Challenge was a perfect push for me to continue transforming this personal painting challenge into a book. I had no mature design ideas yet at that point, so I thought making a lightweight zine would be a great warmup and practice for what was yet to come. Additionally, I find that having a set deadline, a specific page count, and a predetermined book size helps me take the first step in starting a bigger project. The constraints provided by the challenge eliminated any room for decision paralysis, making starting it easier.

What did you learn about yourself or your art in doing this project for 100 straight days?

I learned that I have the ability to be persistent and consistent and how to be patient with myself when I miss and skip a day. I learned I really enjoy working with words and paintings. While this was something I already knew as a manga lover, this project allowed me to explore it in a broader context. I also learned that making art is very healing for both myself and others who view it. It became evident to me that we humans have a lot in common with how we feel. Additionally, I received interest from people who wanted to learn how to express themselves through painting. As a result, I am currently preparing an art class about it. Mostly, I learned that life is a little easier when I paint.

Do you distribute this zine? How do you market your work?

I have distributed this zine through various channels. I shared this zine on Instagram and my website as well as through email and text, and I’ve also shared the zine in person.

What other types of books have you made?

I usually make handmade books in limited editions. They are either hand painted, screen printed, or printed on inkjet printers, then I hand bind each copy. They’re usually poetic short story books.

You mention how creativity is a powerful tool for self-discovery and healing. Can you talk more about how it has helped you?

I started painting before my earliest memories. It has been a natural language for me; however, in the pursuit of becoming a professional artist, I was influenced and got sidetracked from that natural inclination, and my relationship with making art became less fulfilling and more stressful. I couldn’t paint anything serious for many years. I couldn’t paint what I had been painting, and there was nothing new I wanted to paint. I thought maybe it was time for me to let it go completely. With a hole in my heart about my art, my personal life had also become quite challenging. It was from the strong desire of feeling better that I started to write and paint again. 

This time I allowed myself to paint whatever: the good and the bad feelings, the pretty and the ugly, in both real and imagined objects. That’s when I rediscovered how much I love to paint and make stuff with my hands, and how by doing so, I become more whole. One of the reasons I think painting is a powerful tool for healing is that it helps me to see myself more clearly, the things I like about myself, and those I want to improve. It has helped me to be in touch with what really is and accept what I see.

What is your personal experience with self-publishing or publishing in general? Why did you go the self-publishing route with Blurb?

I have experience in designing books for a living, including art magazines, cookbooks, and non-picture books. I also illustrated and designed fiction books. I enjoy working with teams for each stage of making a book. 

When it comes to my own books, I desire a greater degree of creative control. It allows me to shape every aspect of the final outcome and have the freedom and responsibility from the design to the distribution. I especially like the freedom of printing one or many copies of my book using Blurb. I’m not very experienced in marketing and distribution, so gratefully Blurb’s bookstore makes it easy to publish my books and provides tips about marketing and distribution.

What’s next for you? Any other book ideas in the works?

I would like to keep working on and finish the big 100-day book as well as put together the art class and share the power of painting with more people. There is also a storybook I want to finish. It’s about a young woman who learns what freedom means to her from a journey she embarks on.

Anything we didn’t ask that you’d like to mention?

I would like to mention on a personal note that my 18-year-old cat passed away Monday, June 26, 2023. He was a very loving, friendly, and compassionate cat who loved everyone and enjoyed life to the last minute even though he was very ill. I want to honor him and the inspirations for the paintings he gave me. Lastly, I am immensely grateful for the love and support I have received on my artistic journey. It may have felt lonely at times, but actually, I was never alone.
 

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Blurb is a self-publishing company made by and for indie creators. Ready to create your own zine? Blurb makes it easy to self-publish your own zine—whether you want to print it for yourself or sell it globally.

The post A Preview of 100 Days of Feelings, Emotions, and Moments: Behind the Zine with Nia Wang appeared first on Blurb Blog.

We sat down to discuss Smigiel’s online education efforts, how they amassed a huge social media following, the power of self-publishing, and why transforming hate into queer-affirming art has been an invaluable part of her journey. Read the interview and poetry collection to have your heart warmed—and then join their community on Instagram or Facebook.

You’ve turned hate comments into stunning, reclaimed poetry for the LGBTQ+ community. Tell us about how Erasure Poetry started—and then became a book!

It started out as a therapeutic tool for me to work through the hatred I faced online. I felt a sense of reclamation as I erased the hateful words and made beautiful messages out of them instead. Once I started to share them with my online community, I realized how impactful the practice was from all of the amazing feedback I was getting. I decided to collect all the erasure poems I had created up until that moment in one place for people to hold in their hands and absorb back to back—thus, the book was born. 

After many sales and amazing reviews, I began offering my hate comments to my followers so that they, too, could take part in this self and community care. Since I decided to do that, I have gotten thousands of weekly submissions and an endless amount of the same sentiment—this poem-making provides a moving experience!

These hateful comments have come from your successful, educational social media account. What was your process for selecting the comments and transforming them into poetry?

A big part of what sets my page apart from other LGBTQ+ education pages is my prioritizing the deletion of hate comments and moderating them out of my comment sections. I have followers of all ages, on all different parts of their journeys—and I don’t want them to come to my page for a safe place to explore their identity and be bombarded with hateful messages. Therefore, I spend much of my time keeping this online space safe. During the process of deleting and moderating hateful comments, I’ll screenshot and save the longer, more complex ones that I feel could be useful as poetry material later on. Then weekly, I will select one from the folder of screenshots on my phone and transform it myself or share it with my audience to transform. 

How did you make the choice to be so open about your journey to your non-binary identity and gender-affirming surgeries? Why do you think your experience resonated with so many others?

When I first heard the word non-binary at age 23, it was like a world opened up inside me. I finally had the language to describe how I exist in this world. Despite this realization, during my deep dive into the non-binary community online, I couldn’t find any representation of non-binary people who looked like me. Softer, non-thin, feminine, bright, and bold people who simply didn’t want the chest they were born with. Everyone I saw was androgynous or masculine and utilizing testosterone to affirm their gender. This felt so far off from the truth of who I am authentically, and I came to the conclusion to pursue top surgery, I had to be this masculine, male-passing human. 

This lack of representation delayed my identity development significantly. One day I realized my fear of staying in a body I was uncomfortable in was larger than my fear of leaping into the unknown, so I pursued top surgery with no reference point or guiding light in front of me of how a soft/feminine person like me could achieve this journey or what it would look like on the other side. 

That’s when I also decided (through fear and uncertainty) that I would share my pre-op and post-op journey on YouTube and Instagram in hopes that just one other person searching for this representation would see me and feel less alone. I wanted to be the representation for someone else (that I had needed) to make their journey easier. 

Over the last three years, almost 50,000 people have started following my gender journey. It was extremely unexpected but so beautifully received—and has become incredibly healing work for me to be leading an education account that uplifts this community that, three years ago, I was so desperate for. 

I am so glad I took that leap of faith. It turns out I was so far from alone. 

Regularly asking questions, requesting stories, and doing check-ins is a huge part of your platform. What role does community play in your work as an educator and creator?

Community is my work as an educator and creator in this field. I see my page as a platform for everyone to come together and share equally—all voices holding the same weight as mine. I am not their teacher; I’m just guiding and facilitating connections and conversations that need to take place online. 

My page started this way—with thousands of feminine non-binary folks gathering to share their experiences and desires to get top surgery under my posts because they, too, couldn’t find another place to have these important conversations. It feels in alignment to allow that same energy to remain even as the page grows.

You’ve recently mentioned that, unlike some, you welcome ignorance on your social media accounts. What practices do you have that allow you to hold space for hurtful comments about your own identities while continuing to show up as an educator?

I think it’s an important distinction that ignorance is not the same as hate—and after a lot of practice, it is now clearly distinguishable for me as I encounter both daily. Intention is everything. 

Most queer education accounts are not actually accessible for those who are still learning—which fully defeats the purpose. There is often a barrier between those who are in the LGBTQ+ community and those outside of it caused by those who are knowledgeable on queer topics expecting everyone to be on the same page as them already. 

We are all born in ignorance, and only through our experiences and conversations do we learn more in order to do better. My approach to education is meeting people where they’re at. 

If someone doesn’t know the right way to word a question or they fear that they’ll be attacked by their teacher for not yet understanding the subject matter, they’ll never learn properly. I prioritize facilitating a safe environment for people to show up ignorant and leave with a better understanding. 

I have a series of posts specifically for people to ask the questions they’re otherwise afraid to ask in a safe and secure environment and get the answers that’ll make them better allies. I’m incredibly proud that my community has taken on my approach and spread that same energy, always being willing to jump in and answer questions for me when the volume is too large for me to do it alone. These small changes in our connection culture have huge, moving ripple effects that I’m just thankful to be a part of.

This isn’t your first book. How did the self-publishing experience from this book differ from your children’s book, They Love, We Love?

My children’s book was written and illustrated when I was 17, and my dad surprised me a few years ago by publishing it for me as a Christmas present through a publisher. The experience was much different this time around as I created and published it on my own from start to finish! 

I very much enjoyed being a part of the process and doing it in my own timing and having control of all the visual and design decisions, as I’m a detail-oriented creator! I was also super surprised by how easy the process was through Blurb, and I’ll definitely be doing it again in the future. (Stay tuned!)

How did you design the book?

I kept the book in the same graphic design style as my Instagram account, just using the editing apps on my phone that I use for all my graphic design work and text posts. So mostly, iPhone editor and an app called PhotoGrid. This choice was intentional, as I wanted to keep the online comment section feel the same as the original posts, so the book feels like an extension of my page.

What have been the reactions to it?

I’ve had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to this collection of poetry. Most folks have commented about how healing both reading and participating in this kind of community and self-care have been for their personal journeys. 

Many have been inspired to use the same technique with their own hateful comments, which I love! I’ve also been interviewed by quite a few publications and asked to lead discussions about the book and this practice at a few LGBTQ+ organizations nationwide. I included some of my follower’s comment reviews in the book—to keep the feel of the online account—and so others can see what people are saying about it!

What do you hope will come from this collection of poetry?

I want anyone who has ever faced oppression or hate for just being authentically who they are to feel like this book is a collection of little love letters to them. I also hope it continues to spread tolerance, love, and peace to the corners of the world that need it most. 

Do you have any tips or suggestions for LGBTQ+ poets and creators hoping to self-publish?

Use Blurb! You can take it into your own hands to design and publish the content you want without being censored or edited. Plus, you can easily promote it in online spaces where it’ll reach your target audience. 

What else would you like to share?

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share this book on a larger scale and similar to how my Instagram page surprisingly grew and brought me the community that I now can’t imagine my life without—I hope this book can do the same. Above all else, I desire that copies of my poetry fall into the hands of those who most need messages of love and light to affirm the parts of them they fear celebrating. Everyone deserves to feel seen, understood, and uplifted. 

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Find Erasure Poetry for the Queer Community in the Blurb Bookstore. Find Sarah Kate Smigiel on Instagram. 
Blurb is an indie-publishing platform built for creators by creators. Join our community today by self-publishing a book of your own.

The post Erasure Poetry: Behind the Book with Sarah Kate Smigiel appeared first on Blurb Blog.

What first got you interested in art and graphic design?

It happened in 2018. I got a juried student exhibition and sold my work when I was in undergraduate school. The work I submitted was a class exercise, not a class project. Before that, I had been eager to learn and practice in the field, but this exhibition made me feel “achievement” for the first time. After that, I began to be interested in art design.

You describe your portfolio as a first-person narrative that expresses your feelings about having a Chinese background. Who is this portfolio for, and what do you hope they learn?

The feelings are represented in a first-person narrative that depicts my background and experience. It illustrates the person (myself) who lived outside their homeland for several years and shared feelings about being distanced and lost in the conjunct place. My audience, who has shared similar experiences, will hopefully feel less alone. No matter what happens, we are all together. You are not just standing by yourself, and you are not alone.

Your work has taken many shapes: drawing, photography, poetry, installation, and performance. How does a book on graphic design fit into this landscape?

I make work by following my emotions and instincts. It is a journey that is always in motion, which is the process I use to find myself. So, in this case, it can be in any medium that depends on my feelings and specific situations.

When it turns into graphic designs, it is still the same logic. I love design books because they are multiple pages. Eyes can move through the pages. Hands can feel the touches. Comparing other graphic designs, the books make me feel more. Some books feel soft; some are hard. Some have a natural feeling; some are more standardized. Each book, like each person, has a different personality. They are so unique to me. The way I love books is the same as how I follow my feelings to make other mediums of work. I can feel, think, and create.

What role do you think print plays in a digital world?

The digital world can affect print from different perspectives. With the rapid evolution of emerging technologies, digital can spread more easily across the internet. We only need simple clicks, and then the web system can drive us to a person’s work on the other side of the earth. In terms of physical creation, print can still have a significant influence. More recently, there has been a slight trend in screen printing and film photography. People love its unique texture and feeling about time in it. I think it’s probably because each piece has little imperfections. That imperfection adds a unique texture on top of the imagery.

Photoshop has built functions that can make digital imagery look like screen printing by using the function halftone. But no matter how good the designer is at photoshopping, the feeling of a real screenprint is still hard to capture. Nowadays, designers have started to use realistic digital mock-ups to show their designs in front of people. This is not a criticism of Photoshop or emerging media. Mockups bring life to an idea and allow a designer to test how various visual elements work together before they have the final product. I would say the main idea is that no matter how technology is involved, there are always significant roles for physical print, digital technology, or future media, at least in our current world. Understanding the characteristics of the different media can help our creation process. Print and digital are both critical and cannot be replaced by each other.

You’ve been in several exhibitions and group projects nationally and internationally. What has been one of your greatest honors?

I appreciate all the exhibitions and projects I have had. The greatest honor I received was the first Student Juried Art Exhibition in 2018. Although I started to get more shows, I wouldn’t have had the rest without my first one. It is the one that gives me the most aspiration to move forward.

You’re also a graphic design teacher at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois. How do you help your students create portfolios as they graduate?

I direct students by equipping them with enough skills in using software like Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign. But I also invite students to uncover their particular interests and practice identifying problems from peers’ work, which is important from my perspective. This helps students work together, and it sustains them as they learn and practice. I give them directions, not answers. 

There are always several workdays in my classes. I use the time to let students receive feedback from their peers and find time to talk with each student, knowing their needs and concerns through an intimate conversation. Sometimes I built instructions for students to give comments. Giving critical responses to peers is also a process of thinking clearly about themselves. They will gradually discover their interests and find ways to solve problems. Then creating portfolios even after graduating is no longer a big thing for them.

Who should have a portfolio—especially a print portfolio? And what advice would you give to them?

I think everybody should have a printed portfolio. It’s great to arrange all the work you did in one place. Even if you’re not a designer and don’t know anything about software, you can still have it as a collection of ideas. It could be visual art or any number of forms, like a diary, photographs, or whatever. By arranging everything together, you’ll get new ideas to move forward. 

I recommend art and design professionals have a print portfolio every few years. It’s not only for us to collect ideas; we can also share with people and let people know more about our work.

Tell us about the process of designing and printing My Design Narrative. How did you decide on the format, layout, and typography? Which tools did you use?

I downloaded the Blurb InDesign Plugin and chose the format I wanted for my book. The plugin is excellent. After I put information about my book, it generated InDesign files for me. I didn’t even have to calculate the thickness of the spine. After that, I set up the grid system, found fonts, and created a template.  

Some related books that help me design are as follows: 

• Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Müller-Brockmann
• Making and Breaking the Grid by Timothy Samara
• Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton

What is your personal experience with self-publishing or publishing in general? Why did you go the self-publishing route with Blurb?

Self-publishing is an excellent way to share my work and personal experience with my audience. I am a big fan of the paper types Blurb offers, too. The printing quality is incredible and always has been with previous books. It’s convenient to print and work with Blurb for self-publishing, and you can get your work published on the platform!

Have you had any additional success as a result of this portfolio?

I always look forward but forget to think back. I made this portfolio book in 2020. I haven’t seen it for several years. Now I have a chance to look at it again. I see more connections between my previous and current work. Although they look different visually, they all connect. Some things have changed, but some perspectives remain the same.

What’s next for you? Any other book ideas in the works?

I am making another portfolio book, 2020-2022, which collects two years of work I created. It is a book with 700 pages, combined with English (reading from the front) and Chinese (reading from the back). I was inspired by old Chinese books in which the reading order is reversed. It starts to read from the back cover. In this way, the reader can read from either side. I already got my book designed and printed, but I’m still doing things to it. I am also thinking about launching my studio and running some book projects.

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Blurb makes it easy to print professional books on demand—so you can keep updating your portfolio as your career progresses or build portfolios for specific clients or jobs. Learn how to make a graphic design portfolio or create your own portfolio today!

The post My Design Narrative: Behind the Book With Chen Gao appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Sit down with the winner of the digital billboard in Times Square, Paul Lanner, a passionate bookmaker dedicated to giving voice to those sometimes overlooked. 

We discuss Lanner’s motivations for entering the Up in Lights contest, advice for aspiring bookmakers, and how he plans on celebrating his success. Most importantly, Lanner shares why his nonprofit, Haunters Against Hate, is more critical than ever. 

Your Book of Haunters won the Up in Lights contest! How does it feel to be selected? 

I am truly overwhelmed and elated. Never in my wildest dreams did I think a book I put together would end up on a billboard in Times Square. 

What motivated you to enter the contest? 

I am really proud of the Book of Haunters series and how much it has affected and helped the lives of so many haunters, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community. I figured it would be a wonderful way to expose Haunters Against Hate to more people outside the haunt community, especially during what is happening currently in the country and the attacks against us. 

Your nonprofit, Haunters Against Hate, has an important mission. What should readers who aren’t familiar with your organization know about it? 

Haunters Against Hate was formed after the Orlando Pulse tragedy when some very vitriolic statements were made against the LGBTQ+ community in the haunt industry. A group of haunts decided to come together and show solidarity for the community, and Haunters Against Hate was formed. I took the idea and ran with it, eventually creating what is now an official nonprofit organization. Since that time, I have traveled to haunts around the world, promoting inclusivity and acceptance and helping LGBTQ+ youth organizations across the U.S. 

Why haunting? Share your experience with this vast community. 

Haunters are probably the least scary people you’ll ever meet. We are one big extended spooky family that sticks together and looks out for each other. The one thing we are very passionate about is our craft and artistry. I was a haunt actor in my spare time for many years, until the formation of Haunters Against Hate, and the fun and excitement are unparalleled. “We are the weirdos, mister,” as Fairuza Balk says in the film “The Craft.” And I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Can you describe the process of creating this book from start to finish? 

Volume 9 is the second volume dedicated to female haunters in the industry. I announce on my social media pages that I am accepting submissions for the book, and then pore over the vast amount of pictures I receive and select the best. After that, I have the actors submit a questionnaire and tell me what haunts they work, their character, and, for this particular volume, what it is like to be a female in the haunt industry. The answers are enlightening, surprising, and sometimes aggravating. But Volume 9 gives a voice to all the powerful females in the haunt community, in front of—and behind—the scenes. 

Many bookmakers struggle with self-promotion. Not you! Your book got an incredible number of votes in the public vote. How did you get that engagement? 

I am always promoting Haunters Against Hate, and keep all the followers up-to-date on what is going on with the organization: what events, conventions, or haunts I will be attending. So when this opportunity arose, I asked the haunt community to show their support, and they more than delivered. 

Tell us about your experience using Blurb to publish. 

I have used Blurb for every volume of the Book of Haunters that I have created. Blurb has been helpful in answering any questions I have ever had about the composition of the book. I work in packaging design, so I understand, for the most part, what is needed. 

The most important thing to me is the quality of the book, and Blurb has consistently delivered above and beyond. In fact, that is always a comment I receive about these books, how gorgeous they look. 

This is volume 9 of your series! How has your bookmaking changed from volume to volume? 

Most of the volumes are open to any haunters, but I like to vary the volumes with special groups within the haunt community, like LGBTQ+ haunters or POC haunters. I want everyone to have a voice and to be able to tell their stories. 

In fact, the next one will be haunters and their pets! I keep the basic concept the same, but the questions will vary. For example, in the LGBTQ+ volume, the actors tell their coming out stories, what it was like, and how the haunt community has helped them. 

What advice do you have for aspiring bookmakers looking to publish their own work? What about promoting it? 

Passion is the key. Without passion or love for what you do, it is fruitless. When you see an end product that you can be proud of, it makes all the hard work, endless hours, and doubts worth it. When you have that passion, nothing can stop you. And it makes you excited to promote it because it’s something you are proud of and want to share. 

How do you plan on celebrating your success in this contest? 

A Broadway show. I am originally from NYC and have not been home in ages. So a show is a must, a bagel with lox and cream cheese, a corned beef sandwich, and a slice of Sicilian pizza. And to see friends and family I’ve not seen in many years. 

Is there anything we missed that you’d like to share? 

With all these anti-trans, -drag, and -LGBTQ+ bills happening across the country, Haunters Against Hate is needed more than ever. Especially to show youth that they are always welcome and accepted and will always have an extended family there to protect and encourage them to be who they are. I did not have that growing up, and if I can help one young person to feel like they belong, my job is complete. 

And I can happily say that I have been able to help many young people feel empowered. It makes all the hard work worth it to hear, “Haunters Against Hate has made me feel like I’m not alone in this world.” 

The post Behind the Book: Up in Lights Winner appeared first on Blurb Blog.

femLENS’s work lives at the intersection of photography and feminist activism. Why is it important to link the two?

Photography should be the eyes and the voice of the people not known and not seen. Photos are powerful in that they inspire people to adopt different perspectives. By sharing their life experiences, women and girls become visual storytellers. Our work is to help them build a story by giving them tools to express their own vision, with which we hope to raise global awareness on social issues as well as diversify visual culture.

Your organization’s mission is powerful—can you share more about it for readers that don’t know about your work?

femLENS’s mission is to visually [and technologically] educate the most vulnerable and resourceless women of our society through documentary photography made accessible by mobile phone cameras and cheaper point-and-shoot cameras.

Furthermore, visual storytelling is a therapeutic form, which provides tools for self-expression, healing, and further interpersonal growth as well as development through self-reflection. femLENS focuses on empowering women and their communities but also challenging stereotypes and discrimination in the media through education, support, exhibitions, and local partnerships.

femLENS has trained more than 100 women and girls from 13 different countries in documentary photography since 2015! What impact have they had on the world thus far? 

Since 2015, femLENS has run, hosted, and launched a significant number of workshops (online and face-to-face), photo exhibits, social issue campaigns, articles, and published six issues of their annual magazine We See, four zines, and a photo book. All of these initiatives have showcased a diverse set of visual stories of women from local communities, including women from rural Ireland, women living in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, [disabled] women from Poland (which broke stereotypes of street photography artists), women working in the media in Cameroon, and many more.

Halima al-Haj Ali, Syrian refugee photographer

Halima al-Haj Ali, a housewife from Syria, left the country when shelling hit her house to flee for safety to Lebanon in 2012. Refugee life brought about challenges. As she shared, it was difficult to live in the Shatila Refugee camp in Beirut due to security concerns, distribution of weapons among the youth, and insufficient supply of basic utilities like power.

Halima participated in femLENS workshops in Shatila refugee camp in October 2017. She entered a photograph to the Lebanon Changemaker Photo Contest that focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and she won the top prize of five thousand dollars in 2018. The entry, from her “Wires and Alleys” series, depicted the view from her balcony, where a woman walks in an alley filled with wires. The photo was made during the workshop with femLENS. For Hamila, the workshop opened up a broader interest and a potential career path for her, as she wishes to be a professional photographer focusing on social issues.

Halima continues to use the photography skills she learned from femLENS as a means to report about events, like the explosion in Beirut, and express herself on social issues. Although today Halima’s socio-economic circumstances do not permit her to practice photography professionally, femLENS continues to fundraise and provide support to Halima when possible, so that she can continue to pursue her interest in photography. 

Bella Antonyan-Shevchuk, Ukrainian photographer

Bella Antonyan-Shevchuk, a workshop participant from Zhytomyr, Ukraine, developed a project called “Hinterland” about migration from an unusual angle, looking at those that were left behind. Such stories are not necessarily popular or profitable, but they provide an understanding and insights not typically expressed in traditional media. Bella went on to develop another project called “A woman’s burden” about all the expectations and responsibilities, and also bags, that women carry throughout their lives. This project was later developed further by the women’s education nonprofit that she works with and made into a media campaign by a local NGO. 

Maud McClean, Irish photographer

Maud McClean was introduced to femLENS in April 2021 and joined a group of women from Donegal and Dublin taking an online documentary photography course with me. In the course, Maud and other participants learned how to use a smartphone for their projects, general information about photography, and documentary photography. The course was organized by the Women’s Collective Ireland (WCI) of Donegal. The participants from Donegal, including Maud, later had their work exhibited in the County Museum.

The course resulted in a continuing interaction of the participants not only among themselves but also with the femLENS team and resulted in a few collaborations among the participants. Maud has started to see herself as a photographer and has regularly entered contests, taken a further photography course, and has been asked to do commercial photography as well as maternity and newborn photoshoots. Maud’s recent photos of a switch-on of Christmas Lights for charity were picked up by Donegal Daily, an online news source. In addition, the WCI of Donegal put out a call out for women photographers to shoot sea swim scenes from “The 12 Dips of Christmas,” which is also raising money for charity.

McClean shared: “femLENS has broadened my view of photography and helped me see the importance of regular women documenting things as they’re experiencing them. To do our best, let go of perfection, and to get over ourselves and get out there.”

What are some of the barriers that prevent women from becoming visual storytellers or being recognized for their storytelling? What needs to happen for those barriers to be dismantled?

Today’s cultural and media representation of women is not inclusive and diverse. Men and women are often portrayed in stereotypical ways, and traditional roles in society are emphasized. This misrepresentation and the message behind it need to change so that political, economic, and social equality of the sexes is possible.

One of the reasons for the above is the lack of education and the digital illiteracy of women. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women. Also, [the] gender gap in using mobile phones remains substantial. Women are 8 percent less likely (165 million women) than men to own a mobile phone, and they represent less than 15 percent of working photographers. 

Given the above circumstances, we know that there is a need for women from diverse backgrounds and communities with limited resources to get in contact with documentary photography as a tool to document their lives and create positive change in their communities.

What’s more, femLENS ran a study on the needs, challenges, and ambitions of women image makers working with documentary photography. The one-year study (2021-2022) solicited insights from 176 women across 25 countries. These women shared their experiences in their work, finance, access to education, the community they are in, their activism, and gender inequality. The study revealed that most women faced discrimination as photographers in the form of payment, assignments, and access to resources due to their gender (74 percent) and age (56 percent).

Print is a large part of the femLENS mission as well, with We See magazine showcasing the work of workshop participants. Why is print important to this project?

Although digital images dominate today’s visual culture, zines or magazines remain a meaningful and thriving form because they withhold an intimate presentation from the photographer to the viewer.

One supporter of the magazine quoted, “The photographs featured…are made by women who are raw, but who are from the communities they photograph. No interpreting, no stereotyping, [just] telling their thoughts and feelings in the way they experience them.” Another one articulated that the publication shares stories that people might have never imagined or known, no matter how informed or educated they might be.

Additionally, to us, the value is in the printed form’s longevity—a printed magazine or book may be passed on to people who might not have heard of us in the digital realm, and they might also persist through time through personal and institutional library collections.

We See magazine combines editorials with documentary photography. What is the role of the written word in visual storytelling?

In order for the viewer to understand the photographer’s aspect, there should be a written narrative of real experiences or events.

Our magazine also has guest writers and editorial content to cover a topic that an issue might be focusing on, to talk about something that we are trying to make sense of or to develop an idea that could relate to photography, activism, or women’s rights.

Tell us about the process of turning the work of workshop participants into a magazine. What tools do you use? Who is involved? How long does it take to produce?

We build up materials throughout the year, running workshops and campaigns, knowing that later in the year, when we start working on the magazine, the material will go into the magazine. The magazine is designed using Adobe InDesign, but we love the Blurb plugin, which helps with keeping the right format and making a spine for an exceptionally large mag.

As already mentioned, we have guest writers, as well as femLENS volunteer writers who write some of the pieces. Finally, we also feature one woman photographer in each issue who is not involved in our workshops or campaigns, which adds another new name!

The magazine is done during the month of December and is usually designed by me.

Do you have advice for readers seeking to self-publish to advance a mission?

Do it! We started printing materials with free services that would give you 100 free prints a month with no purchase. We then did cheap photocopy-type printer works. Finally, we expanded into the Blurb print-on-demand because it makes it easy to make high-quality publications available without needing to invest in large quantities or store anything. The formats available allow for a variety of needs and budgets which is so encouraging, and the printing is always really high-quality! 

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Inspired to create your own documentary magazine? Get started!

The post We See VI: Behind the Book with Jekaterina Saveljeva of femLENS appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. Can you explain how your research reading self-help books informed this book?

There are, I think, people who trust that they’re inherently solid and lovable. By contrast, I really internalized the idea that I’d have to improve myself to get to that point—that I’d have to earn that sense of worth. So I delved deeply into the world of self-help literature. There are lots of books that give sound advice, but I usually got to a point with most of them where the author would share some personal backstory that made me distrust how applicable their wisdom was to me—some inherited advantage or stroke of good luck that isn’t replicable. 

Between that frustration and having started talk therapy, I wondered if I could write a self-improvement book without that moment of, “Well, sure that worked for you, but my circumstances are totally different!” Doing it through a series of questions was that approach for me.

2.  You mentioned that 344 Questions has its roots in your first book, All Access. Can you explain?

My first book, All Access—The Making of Thirty Extraordinary Designers, was a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of thirty contemporary graphic designers I admire. I was at a point in my career as a graphic designer where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue in the field. Interviewing people who were farther ahead on the same road was my way of finding that answer. 

Aesthetically, the book was a tour de force. I crammed ideas into every possible part of that thing! There are Easter eggs everywhere! For one thing, I graphed out all the work samples in the book on a person-by-person timeline that was hidden on the inside of the dust jacket. 

When it came time to release a paperback, the publisher suggested we turn that timeline into a foldout. Crucially, they asked if I wanted to put something on the back of that foldout. I thought, “What a great opportunity to let readers be a part of the book!” I made a flowchart of questions I was asking myself based on the interviews in the book, and I invited readers to answer them for themselves, too.

A few years later, Nikki McDonald at Peachpit/Pearson asked if I wanted to write a book for her and if I had any ideas. I suggested turning that graph into a book of its own, and that became 344 Questions.

(By the way, it’s 344 Questions because 344 Design is the name of my studio. There are 2,702 questions in the expanded edition. So…2,358 bonus questions, free of charge!)

3. Why do you feel questions lend themselves best in one’s process of self-discovery?

344 Questions is a therapy session in a book, and questions are at the heart of therapy. A good therapist will never give you concrete advice, they’ll ask you questions that guide you to your own answers. Once you find an answer that is truly your own, it’s much easier to move forward in your chosen direction. 

And let’s face it—I don’t know your life. I can’t even guess at your particular circumstances. But looking at my own journey and drawing on the lives of friends and colleagues, I can ask questions that I think will be helpful. At the very basic level, it’s “Where are you? Where do you want to be? And how do you get there from here?” 

Throughout the book, I look at different areas of life and creative practice and refract them through the prism of that fundamental idea—breaking things down into more and more specific questions, creating wild webs of questions to challenge and inspire people to find clarity.

4. The tortured creator is a common trope in today’s culture. Can you expand on why you chose creators as your target audience?

Of course, my immediate answer is that we are all creators. For some of us, it takes the form of drawings or paintings or music. For others, it’s about creating machines or processes in the world. I think all of it is about greater human connection. But I’m personally known as a visual creator, so giving it that title gave me a bit of earned credibility. 

I’m glad you asked about the trope of the tortured creator, though, because I absolutely hate it. I’ve worked as a creator all my life, and I used to buy into the idea of the tortured artist. I grew up depressed, stuck in a scholastic environment I’d charitably describe as adversarial. So the idea that suffering somehow ennobled my work was attractive. It felt like a free upgrade. I leaned into the self-presentation that my work was better because I suffered so much to make it—by working harder and by being more neurotic. 

Telling people about the endless nights and the crazy process also helped me with my impostor syndrome. “You might not like my work, but you can’t deny how hard I worked on this, how much it cost me physically and mentally!” Not that anyone ever openly challenged me like that. I think it was mostly a defense against my inner critic.

Through therapy, and perhaps just as a function of age, I came to recognize the Suffering Artist as a hugely damaging idea. Whenever I’ve done good work, it’s not because of my depression or my neurosis—it’s good work in spite of that. Looking back, I’ve always done my best work when I was loose and excited about the subject matter and the people I was helping. 

But the myth is stubborn. It’s much easier to be taken seriously if you frown. There’s no smiling in fine art; comedies don’t win Oscars. And I think it’s a terrible loss for all of us. One set of questions in the book asks, 

“Do you take pride in your suffering?” 

“Why?” 

“Is joy as honorable as suffering?” 

I think it is, but in the Western world, we’ve been inculcated with the belief that any happiness has to be earned. You get what you pay for, so if it comes easy, it’s not worth that much. I think that ethos has cost all of us dearly at every level.   

As to the original question of why I chose creators as my target audience, I am a creator myself, and after 30 years of putting out work for a fairly ridiculous range of clients, I feel I have something of worth to give back. My main mission is to help people avoid as many of the boring old potholes as possible. Hopefully, that will free them up to make new and interesting mistakes that expand the world for all of us!

5. What is one question in your book that you find yourself returning to? Why?

“How would you live your life if somebody told you you’re on the right track?” As I get older, I still find myself looking for some secret rules that govern life—a code I can crack, so I can know that I’m “doing life right.” Intellectually, I know that that’s now how it works, but faith in a positive outcome isn’t easy for me. So that’s the question I keep coming back to. How would I live my life if someone told me that I’m doing great? The destination might be the same, but I suspect I’d be a lot happier along the way.

6. You’ve been both a self-published author and a traditionally published one. What have been the benefits and drawbacks of each?

The biggest benefit of traditional publishing is reach—being in bookstores all over the world, letting people discover my books as they’re browsing. As a professional designer of high-end books, I also enjoy the different production options I can use if I’m in full control of the process—cloth covers, embossing, foils, silks, ribbons, special bindings, and pop-ups. 

But the cost of traditional publishing is substantial. Printing even a short run of a simple book puts you into five figures, and that’s printing abroad with a long lead time.

Of course, you also have to find a publisher, and you have to come to an agreement on the content of the book. That can be a great, collaborative process that makes the book better, but it can also be a process rife with conflict. Most times, it’s a mix of both. Over the years, I’ve become much better about setting up my projects very clearly and found publishers that agreed with that setup. 

Self-publishing is a lot more nimble and makes a lot of books possible that wouldn’t be viable with traditional publishers—the subject matter is too niche, the author doesn’t have a large enough following, the book is too topical to go through the traditional production pipeline. 

At the same time, self-publishing requires much greater discipline from authors. There are fewer cooks in the kitchen, yes, but there are also fewer people who will spot mistakes or raise concerns. And honestly, the option of fixing mistakes along the way and simply uploading a revised file is seductive. You really need to be committed to quality control in a way that traditional authors don’t have to be. You’re the architect and the carpenter, the structural engineer and the bricklayer.

One huge advantage I’ve found with making this expanded edition of 344 Questions available exclusively through Blurb is pricing. I was able to add 34 extra pages, make the book 54% larger, and put it on uncoated paper so it’s easier to fill out. With all that, I could still keep the price under $20 and get a little royalty on each copy. I don’t think a traditional publisher could’ve matched that. I also made the choice not to sell the book on Amazon. Had I checked that box and opted for zero royalties, the book would cost $31.89. Do I think the book is worth $31.89? Absolutely, but that would have put it out of reach for too many people. As it is, I’m using the URL 344questions.com to redirect readers to the page in the Blurb bookstore.

7. What draws you to the format of print in the Digital Age? What do you feel is print’s role in the world today?

I grew up with parents who loved books, and that love transferred to me. I won’t bore you with the common serenade of the tactile pleasures of print books. I simply find that I interact differently with information in a printed piece than I do with information on a screen. I absorb the information better, it’s less strain on my eyes, and it’s easier to skip between sections, to scribble notes, to dog-ear pages, or add bookmarks. Physical books allow me to segment and annotate the information in a much easier, faster way than digital documents do. 

I do think we have a responsibility to use resources responsibly. Let’s not make trash. If you’re going to chop down trees and use lots of water and electricity to make paper, use that paper for something that has purpose—that brings wisdom or joy. 

On a more poetic note, books are something I’ll leave behind. Anything I do in the digital space depends on the continued existence of the software I used or the websites I used to distribute the work. I have hundreds of drawing videos on YouTube. If YouTube ever decides that they’ll no longer show 240p videos, there go the first hundred. If the company ever folds, that work is essentially gone from the world unless I’m still around to upload it elsewhere. And how long will that last?

Through books in wide release, I’ve now achieved flea market immortality. Barring some global catastrophe, there’s a decent chance that a copy of one of my books will pop up at a flea market a hundred years from now. And I love that idea—that someone might find it and say, “Wow! Look at this crazy thing! That’s from a hundred years ago! What a world that must’ve been where somebody got to make something so odd!”

8. I recently learned that 344 Questions is your bestselling book so far. Why do you think that is?

I think 344 Questions found such a great audience because it’s my most immediately helpful book. It directly addresses pains and worries we all share, and it helps you find a way forward. It’s pain relief for the brain and vitamins for the soul. 

9. You also made a holiday edition. What was the thinking behind re-versioning? Do you plan to have other editions?

You know, that’s one of the joys of on-demand printing. As a designer, I have the tools to create versions, and all it costs me is a few minutes to upload that alternate cover. It’s a great way to keep the book fresh in people’s minds, and some people really loved that green and red look. I suspect that a pink version will appear in time for Valentine’s Day.

10. What words of wisdom would you give to creators looking to self-publish?

Be disciplined. You get to do whatever you want, whenever you want. That’s a recipe for putting out something half-baked or never going to print. Be very clear and precise about why you want to publish this book. Who is it for? What do they care about? What will make this project a success in your eyes? That last one is very important, and it’s a question I ask all my clients early on. Is the very existence of the book about its success? Is it only a success if you sell 10,000 copies? Or if you get reviewed in major magazines? Is the book meant as a calling card to give you credibility? How do you measure that? I could write a new chapter of 344 Questions just about this. Just be clear about your intentions with the book.

11. Self-promotion can be hard for many creators. What’s your advice to them?

This is absolutely my weakest area, and it’s usually why I work with traditional publishers. I’d go back to my general advice: Be clear about your intentions for the book. And then work backward. The path to acclaim is very different from the path to big sales. Unless you’re already famous, I’d avoid the temptation of hiring PR firms. Any halfway serious PR team will charge you a minimum of $10,000 for a three-month engagement, and the odds of making that money back are slim.

For myself, I will send copies to contributors and a few colleagues who I hope will mention the book favorably to their audience. I used to chase magazine reviews. Those were very gratifying to see when they happened but rarely led to increased sales. If you get lucky to be reviewed by an influential writer online, that can make a huge difference. Maria Popova reviewed the first edition of 344 Questions on The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) when it came out, and I can confidently attribute at least 10,000 copies just to that one post. But that was a lottery win.

12. In the spirit of question-asking, what question do you wish we asked? (And, of course, what’s your answer?)

I wish you’d asked, “What is your hope for this book?” and I’d tell you: I hope this book will find someone who needs to feel a little less alone and a little more understood. I hope it will be a flashlight in the dark for some and a sail on the ocean for others. I hope it’ll help people breathe deeper and maybe fall (back) in love with their lives a little.

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Feeling inspired to enter the world of writing and bookmaking? Create and self-publish your book today.

The post 344 Questions: Behind the Book with Stefan G. Bucher appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Your mission is a large one: to create books that will increase children’s awareness of global environmental issues and foster multilingual literacy. Four years into your project, how are you doing with this mission? What has changed since you last talked to Blurb?

It all began with a dream. Inspired by my daughter Pili (Pilar), I started to think about the concept of legacy. What will be my contribution to this world, beyond my own family? That first bilingual book, The Adventures of Pili in New York, represented the beginning of an obsession. The project grew, and there are now many books, including versions in non-commercial languages such as Swahili and Afrikaan, on top of the more conventional ones, such as Arabic, French, German, and Chinese. 

These topics can be hard even for adults to talk about—how have the conversations with children gone? What part do the books play in encouraging these discussions?

All our books are always bilingual. Even the coloring books. And we always choose topics that we believe are important and relevant in a kid’s education process. Topics that we believe should be addressed at an early age, by parents, grandparents, or teachers, to plant the seeds of positivity and action beyond oneself. 

Partnerships are such a huge part of your work. How have you found and worked with your collaborators?

In this project, I have partnered with a myriad of organizations, NGOs, and volunteers. I have given keynote presentations in different venues around the world, sharing insights into the project and how it all came to be. I’m driven by passion and creativity, always with a vision in mind. The most recent presentation was at Los Altos in California. 

What I can say is that The Adventures of Pili has become part of my family life and a regular companion on my trips around the world. It would be fair to say that the global professional network I created over the years as a professional photographer and creator has been pulled from this project. But as time has passed, the project itself has nurtured my own career, opening many new doors. 

Serialized content is often a great way to get a larger readership—for all books in a series. Did you always know The Adventures of Pili would be such a large project with so many books? Was expansion into video and music always part of the plan?

Since the very beginning, it was all conceived as a brand. There was lots of thinking put into the main character and into all the elements that defined the series: a female character, able to do what any boy will do and more. [Pili is] a girl of Spanish origin, fully aware of cultures and environmental issues at a young age; Curious and always willing to help; a healthy eater; [able to] befriend indigenous people and locals from around the world; passionate about art, books, and exploration; regularly traveling the world with her dad, a photographer; an explorer of deep values, with immense respect for all creatures, ecosystems, and traditions. 

So to answer your initial question, yes, since the conceptualizing of the first book, we did extensive work defining what the character would be and what the series could become. 

Both the video and the music portions of the equation came as a result of the pandemic. I was working overseas on a ship when all borders started shutting down. We were living in Colombia back then. It resulted in the family being transplanted to the U.S. again in a place that we never thought of as a possibility. 

Not being able to travel as I used to, my neurons produced an overflow of ideas that materialized in many projects, including multiple books. Around the same time, I started a YouTube channel with the intention of finding a space to share inspiring stories around the world and to motivate people to learn and care about the planet we live in. It is still small, but we have surpassed 1,350K views and will soon have 14,000 subscribers. It is a visual lab where I am able to share ideas. For some time now, my favorite content is the live interviews I conducted both in English and Spanish. The idea brings highly accomplished professionals in fields such as exploration, archeology, anthropology, science, or music, to mention a few, to talk about creativity and life lessons. I invite the readers to check my live programs Reflections with an Accent and Por Los Caminos del Viento.  

When we were able to return and explore the world, I thought how beautiful it would be to create mini-video episodes showcasing the real-life Pili, exploring locations such as the New York Aquarium or the Bronx Zoo.

As for the music portion of the equation, I have to admit it was a random discovery. We bought a piano for Pili, and we both started taking online lessons. I was so much into the discovery of a new craft, that I started hearing a song in my head every day. It became so recurrent that I decided to record the melody while attempting to play it with one finger. Lacking the necessary skills, I embarked on the process of learning basic music theory to be able to transcribe the melody into a simple one. I created a simple video to explain this process. It all turned out to be my one and only song that was meant to bring awareness to the project. Working with Italian Musician Enzo de Rosa, we adapted the original melody into an elaborated seven-minute piece for piano, cello, and violin.  

How have you marketed your books? What have been the most successful moments and the biggest challenges?

There have been many special moments. When a renowned Arabic museum chose one of our books for their storytime, and also when people that I admired agreed to write the forewords of some of our books, including Emeritus Curator Brian Boom of the New York Botanical Garden, New York Times bestselling author Carl Safina, and the late National Geographic Explorer at Large and Professor Thomas E. Lovejoy.  

For us, the biggest challenge is the production cost. The convenience of the Blurb system is the best, but the pricing scheme of on-demand books creates an additional hurdle to jump if one pretends to compete with big publishing houses. The answer will probably rest in offering a clearly defined product with an easily identifiable brand that readers are willing to buy if it falls in what they believe is important to them. 

You are a photographer and National Geographic explorer. How does your work in photojournalism influence your work as a children’s book author?

My job as a National Geographic photographer on expeditions around the world has fully shaped who I am now, from the inside out. Being exposed to the wonders of this planet on a regular basis, but most importantly, witnessing the struggles of humanity with maintaining biodiversity and cultural diversity, is a permanent learning process. All my books, in one way or another, incorporate the National Geographic Learning Framework, and I purposely became a National Geographic Certified Educator to enhance my knowledge in the educational arena. 

Tell us about Pilar now. Does she love seeing her adventures inspire children around the globe?

Pili, as we called her, has grown up surrounded by books. She has been fully immersed in the process of all the books, from the conception to the potential new ideas. Her fascination with reading surpasses what I had envisioned, and at the age of 7, she read each of the first Harry Potter books in less than a day. As a parent, The Adventures of Pili brought to our household, not only a project to dream about, but a connection with books and storytelling that will forever permeate my family. From a very early age, we took the multidisciplinary and multilingual approach in her education, and at such a young age, she is comfortable in English, Spanish, French, and Chinese. The real Pili has come to be as interesting as the one we see in the pages of our books. 

Anything else you’d like us to know that we didn’t ask?

Yes, I would like to add that Pili will soon publish her first bilingual children’s book. And her topic of choice: deforestation. Books in progress include Wildlife of Madagascar, a joint project with the ValBio Centre and foreword by Dr. Patricia Wright; and two books with Haiti National Trust and Audubon Society of Haiti. 

I would also like to remind any non-published authors out there to never stop dreaming! There are many times in life when our biggest challenge is our own fear of failure. True artists don’t create to succeed, they create because that is who they are. It is common to discover that what we seek tends to be found on the other side of fear. Believe in your abilities, play smart, and every time you fall, stand up again and continue with your mission. And above all, don’t let anyone dictate what is possible. That is not for them to decide. There are many books that still need to be written, and maybe yours is one of them. 

***

Feeling inspired to write your own book? Make yours today.

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Related resources:

• How to publish a children’s book
• How to start writing a children’s book
• Reasons to self-publish a book

The post Behind the Book with Kike Calvo: The Adventures of Pili appeared first on Blurb Blog.

We caught up with Zlatar to speak about her latest book, monsters are alive, the role of print media in a digital world, the importance of diverse storytelling, and her experiences as an artist-activist. We are incredibly grateful for her interview for Giving Tuesday, as she shares how self-published art and giving back can be two sides of the same coin.

Thanks for joining us for Giving Tuesday! Your artistic expression is tied closely with your activism. Why is it important to link the two?

For such a long time, art has been seen as an accessory to change-making, and for that reason, it has been highly underutilized. What I aim to do with my work is show how powerful artistic voices are. I strive to highlight the role art can have in challenging our current perspectives and broadening our understanding of current issues both more deeply and authentically.

Your art tackles heavy yet critically important topics—from mental illness to eating disorders. What conversations do you hope your books begin?

My book and art come from a place of profound pain and suffering from my illnesses. For years people saw my eating disorder as an issue of vanity and not as someone trying to cope with trauma. Mental illnesses such as eating disorders are highly stereotyped as a “thin white teen girl” disease. My art and poetry are sharing my lived-in experiences, which include the grim reality that is often not spoken about. The hope is to edify and create inclusive spaces to share the diversity of lived-in experiences of these illnesses to counteract these highly problematic mainstream narratives. 

Sales from your books and gallery exhibitions fund The Starving Artist Scholarship. Tell us about the scholarship and the process of funding it. How has it changed the lives of the recipients?

Sales proceeds from The Starving Artist publications, exhibitions, and donations all are collected into a scholarship fund, and each year there is a themed grant for a specific marginalized group to access eating disorder treatment (i.e., LGBTQA+, Disabled, intersectionality of illnesses) and people can apply directly to the fund through The Starving Artist. 

This grant is extremely rare. Very few funded inpatient programs have spaces (and often, for eating disorders, they only take people in when their BMI is 15% or less due to high demand). It gives people a chance to be proactive rather than reactive and fight their eating disorders with aid to access resources that they would not be able to normally.

Also, I believe that it is important to make recovery individual tailored because we all suffer differently. Both art and creative mental health exploration alongside patient-oriented treatment models are together best to help an individual recover.

What is the most joyful part of your artistic process? And what’s the most difficult?

The most joyful is when I hear my work resonates with people. Building a connection to someone through my art is so powerful to me.

The most difficult is getting my voice heard. There tend to be the same “token” stories and experiences that keep getting repeated, so being able to find spaces to share my voice can be a struggle.

Tell us about the process of designing and printing the monsters are alive. How did you decide on the format, layout, and typography? Which tools did you use?

As someone who is neuro-diverse, I love a clean, simple aesthetic. I live by Century Gothic and soft pastel colours. Throughout all my books, I kept this homogenous style as it is not only easy for me to process, but it makes me happy. Poetry and art books tend to be grandiose, and sometimes to me, that comes off as pretentious. I try to make the design as airy and contemporary as possible to build a connection with the audience. 

Also, such a simple tool, but it makes all the difference to me, is a colour matcher tool. Getting the colour codes of images helps to coordinate backgrounds and font colours with ease and continuity.

What is your personal experience with self-publishing or publishing in general? Why did you go the self-publishing route with Blurb?

I found barriers in traditional publishing routes for publishing work on eating disorders and mental illnesses. If I wasn’t a celebrity or had 100,000 followers, they didn’t care what I had to say. Self-publishing with Blurb was so easy and globally accessible that it gave me hope to produce my own work and create my own platform to share.

Do you have any advice to offer others looking to self-publish for a cause?

Don’t give up! Writing and creating work for a cause takes time. When you are publishing for a cause, always focus on delivering it with the utmost care and compassion to create meaningful work and build a connection to your cause.

What role do you think print plays in a digital world?

Digital media makes us disconnect. We can lose that intimacy that a book can physically bring us. Print media reminds me that there is a genuine story being told, and being able to hold and explore the pages builds such a strong connection to the narratives.

Can you tell us a bit about your background? How did you get started as an artist-activist?

I come from a displaced immigrant family and grew up in Canada. My family never talked about mental health, and when I started to get sick with my eating disorder of over ten years, they didn’t know how to have these conversations. I saw medical practitioners who labeled my diagnoses but didn’t see me suffering from a disease. I didn’t know how to communicate to others the pain I was going through. 

When I started The Starving Artist, it was a way for me to share my art and voice in a way to tackle these difficult conversations and help others to understand what it means to live in an unwell body.

Where can readers go to find and support your work?

Lots of places:

• Instagram
• My art website
• The Starving Artist
• Blurb, of course! 

The post Behind the Book with Ally Zlatar: the monsters are alive appeared first on Blurb Blog.

But what’s the story behind the book? Cameron Mouton, a Los Angeles-based Afro-Latina writer and editor, speaks with us about how her stunning debut came to be.

Your poem “Introduction” talks about reaching for pen and paper as soon as you learned about words. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

I learned to read bits and pieces of things at about the age of four and would try to mimic what I thought written words were on my own using crayons and paper. Unfortunately, said words were really waxy scribbles that no one else was able to make out, but what mattered is that I knew what those scribbles were supposed to represent. 

As I got older and experienced verbal harassment, from microaggressions to straight-up racism and bullying in response to my appearance and identity, it didn’t take long for me to realize that certain words held a significant amount of weight. Words have the power to empower you or belittle you.

Your very sweet dedication is to your parents and brother, who have supported your writing. How do they support your career as a writer?

Throughout the entirety of my life, my parents have always been super supportive and caring of anything I’ve wanted to do. It was instilled in me from a young age that I was destined for greatness and that I could do anything, regardless of what others thought.

In my father’s own words, I was the seed, and they provided the water. My brother is five years younger than I am, but regardless of our age difference, he has always been by my side. I’d say he’s the bee pollinating the flowers that are my life, if we want to stick to the plant metaphor. He does, however, hate when I nitpick at his essays (“you’re welcome” to his teachers). 

Your book tackles many heavy, important topics. What do you hope your poetry instills in readers? And how do you balance making demands on your readers while at the same time taking care of them?

I hope that my poetry makes readers feel as though they’re not alone with whatever issues they may have faced or may face. The topics Mixed covers are often viewed as taboo, and that needs to change. These are very real, very sensitive topics that many are made to believe they should hide away and never speak about.

The reality is, sharing experiences with others helps normalize them and, in a perfect world, eradicate them. Healing is no easy journey, and my hope for the book was to make readers see that: It’s okay to break down. It’s okay to not be okay (cliché, but true).

Healing is supposed to be messy and scary, but the important part is accepting things for what they are and moving forward. 

What do you feel is the most compelling question or prompt in your book?

In 2022, I feel as though the most compelling prompt within Mixed is any of the pieces dealing with body autonomy. More specifically, “Shame” is one of the poems I’m the most proud of writing, as it showcases the power society has over some to not speak up against abuse. What’s more important: shaming people for what’s happened to them or shaming the person who put them in that situation in the first place?

How do your poems develop? Please guide us through the stages of your writing process.

I’m a very impulsive writer. In school, we were taught to use outlines as a guide to writing anything from essays to short stories. Honestly, I hate feeling constricted when it comes to my creative process. Most of the poems came to me as I was falling asleep, and I’d roll over in bed and start typing away on the Notes app on my phone. Others I would write down in my journal and edit them for clarity later. Every poem is based on a personal experience, so the concepts were all there. It was just a matter of condensing them into a format that’s easy for anyone to read. 

What is the most joyful part of your artistic process? And what’s the most difficult?

The most joyful part of my artistic process would have to be knowing that one day, it’ll be released into the world as a social media post, a text, or even a picture, and that it will be able to relate to someone. My goal as a writer and as a person has always been to make others feel as if they aren’t alone, and that’s the beauty of any artistic medium.

The most difficult part, however, would be the latter, as it’s impossible to relate to every single person all of the time. Of course, not everyone has gone through the things that I have, so it can be difficult wanting to be that voice and advocate when specific audiences don’t have a need for it. 

What is your personal experience with self-publishing or publishing in general?

As of now, Mixed is my only published book and I don’t regret taking the self-publishing route at all. It gave me the creative freedom I needed as well as showed me bits and pieces of what it takes to publish a book. I was a junior in college when I published Mixed, and since then, I’ve graduated with my Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and am currently a writer and editor for three literary magazines in the area. It’s no easy feat, but it’s a wonderful and ever-changing industry. 

How did you design the book?

The book cover was inspired by tarot, specifically the ‘three of swords’ card. In tarot, the three of swords represents pain and turmoil. While a lot of people don’t believe in “reversing” tarot cards, I do since the three of swords reversed represents the opposite―healing and forgiveness. I wanted to take all of the pain and turmoil I had experienced and turn it into healing and forgiveness. Thus, you see a hand pulling one of the swords out of the heart, taking control of the situation rather than allowing it to continue.

In regards to formatting, I took note of modern-day poets’ works and made everything my own. Not a lot of people include trigger warnings in their works, and I think that should be more normalized.

What does literary success look like to you? How have you sought it?

Literary success to me is having at least one person tell me my words touched them in some way, shape, or form. After publishing Mixed, I received so many messages from people confiding in me with their stories of trauma and pain and thanking me for being so open. Thanking me for letting them know that these things have not just happened to them. It’s a bittersweet feeling, but in turn, it’s made me feel not as alone, either. 

Can you give any advice to poets—especially other women of color—seeking to publish their work?

My advice to other poets, especially women of color, would be to just go for it. I know this was turned into a meme a few years ago, but as Lady Gaga said (repeatedly), “There can be 100 people in the room, and 99 don’t believe in you, but you just need one to believe in you.” As long as you believe that your work has meaning and that it’s going to make an impact, who cares what anyone else thinks? This industry was built off the backs of white men. Now is our time to make it ours.

Anything else you’d like us to know that we didn’t ask?

Highlighting marginalized voices is so important, and I’m honored to be a part of the Blurb family where that is not an issue. 

Buy your copy of Mixed now, or create your own poetry book today.

The post Mixed: Behind the Book with Cameron Mouton appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Your book Knit Stitch: 50 Knit + Purl Patterns has been wildly popular, selling more than 12,820 copies in its first 18 months! What prompted you to create this book?

I created the hard copy version of my Knit Stitch book because my knitting students requested it. As an instructor, I lean into the ease of distributing digital instruction and video to a worldwide audience. I love seeing my knitters succeed, acting as their cheerleader to keep trying new techniques and celebrating their small victories. I listen to their questions and am always striving to solve their problems.

I began receiving comments from students who also wanted a printed version of the knit stitch patterns that were already published in videos and on my website. Over time, their requests for a printed version increased. It was time to consider my options! Spoiler alert: My students steered me in the right direction.

There are large, heavy volumes about knit stitch patterns by reputable publishers filling the shelves in bookstore craft sections. So why would my students want this type of book from me? In a word: TRUST. They were familiar with my proven style of teaching. I design my lessons to be bite-sized, easy to follow, and fun. I break down techniques with a step-by-step process and close-up imagery. Because my instructions are easy-to-follow and paced perfectly for beginning knitters, they are confident they’ll succeed.

Who is your book’s main audience? Did you know this initially, or was it something you learned along the way?

Initially, I assumed my book’s main audience would only be my current knitting students. They are inquisitive, artistic, and ambitious people of all ages and genders. I also falsely believed only my beginning students would want a copy. However, with the book’s success, I soon realized that knitters of all ability levels who had never watched my videos wanted a copy, too!

What have been your main marketing efforts in promoting your book?

My book includes 50 different patterns that are organized by their row repeats. The book begins with the simplest two-row repeats and advances to more intricate 28-row repeats. By teaching each individual pattern online, I am continually marketing my book. Videos on YouTube and posts on social media all mention the availability of my pattern book.

I always want my craft education to be available to students around the globe at no cost. For those who are interested in purchasing an ad-free physical book, these free lessons also serve as a bit of advertising. It’s a win-win!

How have you used social media to promote yourself as a self-published author?

As an avid knitter, I became enamored with the process of teaching online. I posted my first YouTube video in January 2014. I’ve since published more than 400 knitting tutorial videos which have received over 30 million views to date.

After my initial YouTube success, I built my website studioknitsf.com. From here, students easily search and print out individual pattern instructions. My popular online resource currently receives an average of 5 million viewers annually.

In addition to YouTube, I share on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok. I also enjoy a more personal online connection with my audience through my weekly email newsletters. Combined, my social following is surpassing 730,000 subscribers. By building this large online audience worldwide, I have created an independent platform to directly and continually promote my book.

Why did you go the route of self-publishing versus traditional publishing?

During my journey as an independent instructor and designer, I’ve enjoyed the control and opportunities today’s online platforms provide. Time and again, I hear that in today’s publishing environment the main benefit of traditional publication is clout. A professionally published book offers immediate proof of one’s expertise and authority. A calling card of sorts. However, proving myself outside of my knitting audience was not my goal for creating a physical book. I wanted to help knitters. Period.

Fellow knitting authors have shared with me that their book advances and profits weren’t necessarily lucrative. I also understand that creators are largely responsible for the marketing efforts of their book. As such, I felt it was likely my personal collection of vintage patterns would get passed over by publishers. Yet, I was confident that my proven methods of teaching with clear written instructions, photographs, charts, and layout all in a slender, easy-to-carry volume would be of value to my followers.

Self-publishing felt like the risk-free option and fun way to dip my toe into creating a physical book. I already knew my information was proven to be of value to knitters. So in June 2019, I set the goal of knitting, photography, and layout design for a printed book during the summer and the book was completely finished, published, and available for sale by September of that year.

What have been the biggest lessons you’ve learned and/or challenges you’ve faced from self-publishing? How did you learn them?

In the beginning of 2020, I enjoyed spending the day at a large knitting convention in promotion of my book. It was so much fun to meet knitters in person, sign their books, and freely share hugs. My parents participated, beaming proudly from the sidelines to watch as I enjoyed a taste of in-person celebrity treatment.

Sadly, that same convention hall became an emergency COVID-19 triage location just two weeks later. All of the subsequent in-person events I had scheduled were abruptly canceled. With no person-to-person events, I retreated back to online promotions.

On the plus side, the book is both marketable and purchasable online. For that, I’m very grateful. I look forward to a future time when it’s safe and profitable to plan my real-life book tour.

Why did you choose Blurb? Are there specific reasons you prefer Blurb over other brands?

Personally, I have been using Blurb for years! With it, I have published book gifts for my friends and family, including my own wedding photo book. Not only could I create a stunning book for my husband and me, but it was easy to create and send copies to our entire wedding party as thank-you gifts. 

Publishing through Blurb has always been intuitive, reliable, and inspirational. It was the first place I looked when deciding to publish my book and has proven to be the successful choice.

What do you wish you knew before starting this self-publishing journey?

It was so easy to make my book available for purchase on large online platforms like Amazon and Book Depository. I was happily surprised to see that knitters who had never learned from me were purchasing the book, finding value in its contents, and posting glowing online reviews.

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. I’m typically focused on attracting an online audience, but readers who have purchased a physical copy are now lifelong learners as well. 

Do you have any other books in the works or projects worth mentioning?

Yes, my students are clamoring for follow-up books. They would like a volume two with even more easy knit and purl textures. My videos and patterns of cable, colorwork, and lace patterns are also perfectly suited for individual books of inspiration. I’m still in the planning stages and look forward to surprising them with my next release. Until then, check out more of my work at studioknitsf.com. 

Check out our blog to learn how to self-publish your book for free.

Have an idea that could make you a bestseller? Make a trade book today!

The post Behind the Book: Knit Stitch: 50 Knit + Purl Patterns by Kristen McDonnell appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Sahat Zia Hero is the founder, editor, and photographer of Rohingyatographer Magazine, a new publication that showcases the work of photographers from the Rohingya community in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh—the world’s largest refugee camp.

In this behind-the-scenes interview, he discusses the motivations for starting the magazine, the challenges of curating its content, and the importance of displaced Rohingyan photographers portraying their own stories to an international audience.

1. The story behind Rohingyatographer Magazine

Tell us the story of Rohingyatographer Magazine. How did it come to be? What is the goal of the publication?

Rohingyatographer is a photography project produced by a team of talented young Rohingya refugee photographers. We are based in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. We are a displaced community of around 1 million people living here. 

In 2020, I met a Spanish professional photographer and humanitarian named David, who was working in the refugee camp. We kept in touch, and in 2021 I asked him to help me publish my first photo book. We teamed up remotely, and he helped me through the process. He suggested I self-publish it through Blurb so I could get some income. I enjoyed working with him very much, so the idea for Rohingyatographer grew out of that first experience.

I love photography, and I have a few friends who share this passion because we use photography to advocate for our rights and try to make a difference for the Rohingya refugee community. Photography is our superpower! 

Life in the refugee camp is not easy. Over 50% of our population are children under the age of 18. There is limited access to formal education, so the Rohingya youth have a serious gap in their education. They are at risk of becoming a lost generation.

Nevertheless, we Rohingya have a strong commitment to educating ourselves—as well as teaching others. So photography has grown to be a very popular subject for us. We also have helped many international journalists navigate the camps, finding and fixing stories.

As a result of the COVID-19 lockdown and travel restrictions, international journalists could no longer come to the camps. This fostered a collective of Rohingya photographers to start using social media to tell their own stories. They became journalists and photographers in their own right, and now they work remotely for international media outlets. 

The goal of this self-published zine is to provide Rohingya youth with a creative platform using photography to document all aspects of our life here. Sometimes the international media does not portray us with the dignity we deserve, so this project is about allowing our community to portray ourselves and be known for our creativity, talent, and aspirations for our future. Although it is very uncertain, we have a future!

2. The first issue

This first issue is dedicated to identity among the Rohingya refugee community. Why was this theme chosen to begin the publication? Why now?

Because we are in a complicated situation, we cannot return home to Myanmar, and we cannot move forward towards a dignified future—a future with access to education and opportunities like anywhere else in the world. Our identity is ultimately threatened.

We chose the subject of identity because we wanted the first issue to be a collective portrait of the Rohingya refugee community. We set the team to the challenge of finding individuals of every age in the community, and that is how the idea for the layout of the magazine was born.

The photographs featured are displayed chronologically, from the youngest Rohingya baby of two months to the oldest man, aged 102 years. As a collective portrait, born to grow and honor our strength, endurance, and resilience.

3. The team

Who makes up the team behind the magazine and cameras? And how did you choose whom to show in the portraiture?

The team for the first issue is made up of 11 people. I’m the founder, editor, and one of the photographers. The rest of the photographers are Ro Yassin Abdumonaf, Azimul Hasson, Abdullah Khin Maung Thein, Hujjat Ullah, Md Jamal, Shahida Win, Enayat Khan, Md Iddris, and Omal Kahir. David is our mentor and graphic designer. You can check their profiles on our website.

The photographers had total freedom to find characters, sometimes they knew someone with an interesting background or a story to tell, and sometimes it was just the moment that caught their attention. Overall it was an organic process that slowly came together.

4. The purpose of the project

Your project aims to promote self-expression and photography skills for Rohingya youth. How does your project help accomplish this?

Each photographer has their own individual visual language. Some focus more on a journalistic approach, trying to capture the essence of the story and person they are interviewing; others are more experimental in their approach to using the camera, playing with curious angles and situations that result in very interesting images. There are no rules really, photography is a vehicle for self-expression, and as long as we keep practicing, we will obtain results. 

I myself am still learning every day. I use photography to learn about observation, but also it helps me deal with and embrace the problems we face every day living here. For example, in March 2021, there was a big fire in the camps. Over 50,000 Rohingya lost their homes, and many lives were lost to the fire. My shelter burnt to the ground. My family was safe, but I lost everything (again), including my laptop and pen drives, where I kept my images and documents. It was a tough time, but I don’t give up easily, so I used my camera phone to document the aftermath of the fire.

5. Audience takeaways

What do you hope your audience takes away from this magazine?

We hope our zine audience will be interested in seeing the life of the Rohingya refugee community through our own eyes. We want to share our experiences with them and, hopefully, help people see us in a new light—our life with all its color. We know we are much more than our surroundings and the labels we are given. We want people to see us as human beings, just like everyone else, and share our hopes and dreams, our sadness and grief with others—to make connections.

6. Getting to know Cox’s Bazar

More broadly speaking, what should the world know about Cox’s Bazar?

Cox’s Bazar is in the southeast of Bangladesh and shares a land border with Myanmar. Since 1978, the Rohingya people have fled Myanmar five times following different outbreaks of violence and discrimination. The Rohingya people came to Cox’s Bazar and received support until it was safe for them to return to Myanmar.

But in 2017, this was the largest exodus of people that ever took place. Right now, we feel like we are stuck because we don’t know when it will be safe to return. The political situation is very complicated.

Cox’s Bazar is a beautiful district with one of the longest beaches in the world, but unfortunately, we cannot travel outside the camps. The people in Cox’s Bazar also face many challenges, including poverty, lack of opportunities, and climate change.

7. On self-publishing

Why do you think self-publishing is important?

Here in the refugee camps, we have very limited opportunities to engage with the outside world. Working on the development of this magazine has been an incredible opportunity for us and something we are really proud of. This would not have been possible without the platform of a self-publishing magazine. This was my second time making a full publication from scratch. I loved it!

How did you design this magazine?

We sent the photographs to David, a graphic designer, and he put it all together. He used InDesign to make the layout. He designed the layout—placing the images in chronological order so the narrative reads from the youngest to the oldest portrait. The idea was for the magazine to feel like a collective portrait. He did a pretty good job! We are very lucky to have him.

Do you have any tips or suggestions for others hoping to create a magazine?

I’ve learned many things during this project. The first tip I would give is to have motivation—to wake up every day and focus on your goal. Some days are better than others, but if you keep the goal in mind, you will always get there. Don’t focus on the limitations, but rather on your goal, and each day, take steps towards achieving that goal.

For this project, creating and managing the content was crucial for me, especially because I had to manage a team producing the content. It was not always straightforward to complete the puzzle we set ourselves, but in the end, we got there, and it feels like an incredible achievement.

7. Final few

Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

If people are interested to know more about this project, visit our website and of course—please buy the magazine! Any money we earn will go into the production of the second edition of the magazine. We haven’t decided on the theme for the next issue yet, but we have lots of ideas in mind!

***

Inspired to create a zine about your community? Start one today!

The post Rohingyatographer Magazine: Behind the Zine with Sahat Zia Hero appeared first on Blurb Blog.

We’re speaking with LGBTQ+ author and editor Avery Brooks about what it was like putting together this essential collection of work from LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and AAPI poets.

Tell us about the annual Slamming Bricks Slam Poetry Competition—and how you got involved.

Slamming Bricks: A Riot on 1^st Street is an annual slam poetry competition that was started in 2019 by LGBTQ+ slam poet Caleb Ferganchick to explore resistance and liberation in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Poets from all over the American West compete in four rounds of poetry in a battle for the brick. The event is organized by Caleb, produced by the Western Colorado Writers’ Forum, and hosted at Charlie Dwellington’s during Colorado West Pride’s Pride Week in Grand Junction. The event has featured Colorado Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre and the star of HBO’s Emmy-nominated show We’re Here, Eureka O’Hara. Slamming Bricks is the largest LGBTQ+ slam event in the state of Colorado. 

As the 2021 event was being planned, board members for the Western Colorado Writers’ Forum came up with the idea of creating an anthology to go along with the intersectional competition to further feature diverse voices and expand their reach and representation. I was asked to put the anthology together, and I was honored to step up to that task. 

It was a fairly monumental undertaking because the competition took place on September 11, 2021, and physical books would need to be in hand to sell at the competition and during Pride events that weekend. We had about a month to market and receive submissions before I needed to curate and edit the pieces into a cohesive anthology, as well as get it printed and shipped by the deadline. What resulted was Slamming Bricks: An Anthology, a powerful and heartfelt anthology featuring poetry from 19 LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and AAPI poets across the U.S., and even a few international ones, ranging from debut artists to award-winning slam poets. It includes over 80 pages of beautiful prose and meaningful expressions of liberation and resistance. 

Why are the themes of resistance and liberation so important to include in Pride celebrations?

It is only through the acts of resistance of those who came before us that we are where we are today. We still have a long way to go. When you cannot count on your basic human rights or equal treatment, then resistance is required. Some people march, some people fight, some people use their words to change a consciousness. One action is not greater than another. They are all pieces of representation and reach others in different ways. I am very proud of the powerful, vulnerable, and true poems in this anthology expressing our experiences and hopefully furthering change. 

What was it like translating a live poetry slam into a book?

Well, the anthology was never meant to be a mere translation of the competition. It was meant to expand the reach of the poets in the competition, as well as create a platform for more poets with diverse voices to express their experiences and words and to hopefully add in some small part to real change for our communities. Eight of the poets in the anthology performed in the competition along with Caleb, who was emceeing the event (though not all of them performed the same poems that were in the anthology). The competition was streamed live on Facebook (and anyone interested in viewing it can find it here). Being in the room and hearing the poems performed live was incredibly powerful, touching, funny—so many emotions. When a slam poet performed a poem that was in the anthology, it was like seeing the poem alive. Words that I had spent a lot of time with in written form took on different meanings as the poets added emphasis, inflection, and rhythm. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. 

Can you give us a taste of the breadth of poets and themes explored in the anthology? 

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, questioning—the whole spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community was represented, in addition to those identifying as BIPOC and AAPI as well, which is even more incredible given the short turnaround to create this anthology. One of the poems that was the most touching to me was by Solstice, a 12-year-old whose mom is a published LGBTQ+ author, and it was the first time Solstice ever had her work published. Her poem is a beautiful message about the vulnerability, innocence, and confidence in discovering one’s sexuality and, more importantly, identity.  

What was your process for selecting and editing the poetry and artwork? How did intersectionality play a role in the process?

Given the truncated timeline, I really had no idea what to expect in terms of how many submissions would come in. I wasn’t sure if there would only be a few submissions or a deluge. My hope was that there would be enough submissions that the anthology would be at least 50 pages. I was careful to mention that one poem would be accepted from each poet and possibly more if space allowed because I wanted to make sure that as many diverse voices as possible were included and represented. The slam poets performing in the competition could submit up to three poems. Since the majority of the slam poets are award-winning poets, it ensured a high quality for many of the poems that were included, and it was a solid foundation for the rest of the anthology. 

In terms of selecting and editing the poetry and the role of intersectionality, the slam poetry competition has always been an intersectional competition. With George Floyd’s murder and the BLM movement and then all of the abuse that the AAPI community was receiving due to the pandemic, we wanted to make the anthology a platform that was open to all of these minority communities. So it extended beyond those identifying as LGBTQ+, though the majority of poets included in the anthology did identify as LGBTQ+. My aim in selecting the poetry was to strive for the most diversity in poetry themes, perspectives, and representation. And I think I achieved that. As far as artwork, Caleb designed the artwork for the competition, and we decided to use that as the cover. So, I added the text to the image to become the official cover. And in terms of editing, I edited where necessary based on grammatical rules and in areas that needed more clarity to be understood. I communicated with the poets about any changes that needed to be made, but for the most part, I tried to leave the poems as the author submitted them and in the format they wanted them to be in. So, in that respect, the authenticity of the submitted poems was upheld. 

What is your personal experience with self-publishing or publishing in general?

My debut novel was published by an LGBTQ+ publisher, Bywater Books. I went through the traditional route of pitching my novel, working with a team to revise and edit it, design the cover, and publish it. I also had a short story published by another small LGBTQ+ publisher, Brisk Press. The anthology was my first experience going through the self-publishing process myself though I freelance as a copy editor for authors who self-publish and/or need additional editing for their novels, so I am aware of the general process. And I do think it’s important, even if you self-publish, to make sure you get an editor to put your best work forward. 

How did you design the book?

I used Canva to create the cover design using the artwork Caleb had designed. Then, I used the BookWright software from Blurb’s website to make all of the front matter, insert and format the poems and bios, and ensure that all of the elements were aligned.

What have been the reactions to this book?

Very positive reactions. Between selling the anthology at the Pride Fest booth and at the slam poetry competition, all of the copies went pretty quickly. Most comments I have heard are that it’s powerful, beautiful and then mentions of specific poems that were touching to that person. I know when I finished creating the anthology and submitted the order for printing, a few of the poems stayed with me. I found myself reading some of them to people I knew, and it meant a lot to me personally to meet the slam poets who competed after knowing them only via email communication and getting to not only add a face to their names and words, but to watch and hear them perform those words. It’s a special competition, and it’s a special anthology, and I’m really proud to be involved.  

What do you hope this book to instill?

Dialogue, hope, community. Whether it’s someone who doesn’t personally relate to the LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and AAPI communities and finds common ground in these poems, someone who is part of our community and feels isolated or alone and feels seen through these poems, or someone who enjoys good poetry and its ability to bring meaning to others’ lived experiences, I think the anthology does all of that and more. That’s my hope, at least. 

How have you marketed your book since publishing it?

Caleb and I have both used our social media platforms to market the anthology. I’m co-hosting a new podcast for the Western Colorado Writers’ Forum called the Western Colorado Writers Podcast, which launches on May 10. We’re doing a Pride episode in June that includes Caleb and will talk about the competition and anthology. And we may do a special episode down the line with some of the slam poets. The Western Colorado Writers’ Forum also promotes it via its newsletter and website. 

We definitely appreciate Blurb’s help in getting the word out because all sales go to the Western Colorado Writers’ Forum to help support future Slamming Bricks slam poetry competitions and anthologies, which brings me to some exciting news. 

We just opened submissions for the 2^nd Edition of the Slamming Bricks Anthology and hope to make it an annual endeavor along with the slam poetry competition. Anyone interested in submitting their poetry, can find the submission guidelines here. The deadline is July 31, 2022. And the anthology will be on sale at the Slamming Bricks slam poetry competition in Grand Junction, Colorado, on September 10, 2022, and online afterward. 

Do you have any tips or suggestions for LGBTQ+ poets and artists hoping to self-publish?

If you can afford to hire an editor, I definitely recommend that so you publish your best work. If money is tight, having family or friends read your work for grammar and content or finding a critique group through a writing organization to help with that is a good idea. And also to believe in yourself and that your story matters. Get your work out there for people to see. 

Is there anything I’ve missed or that you’d like to share?

Thank you for your help in shining a light on this anthology and the important voices and perspectives it represents. I’m truly honored to be associated with this anthology and am very excited for the future. 

Add Slamming Bricks to your collection. Or submit your work to be part of the next edition.

The post Slamming Bricks: Behind the Book with Avery Brooks appeared first on Blurb Blog.

What was your inspiration for writing this book?

It’s just a wild but true story, and to me, those make the best books. I’ve always been a little “unique” (as my mother puts it), so naming my dog Yes, to right the wrongs of mean pet owners, was met with a lot of wide eyes and shaking heads (in the east to west direction of head shaking, that is). 

How did you incorporate using your daughter to help see this book through?

I had been looking for illustrators for at least three years and getting nowhere. My daughter and her two friends were doing art in our house one day, and it just hit me that they could be the illustrators. Of course, I had to bribe them with a few dollars for producing every page, but it made for an amazing collaboration. Each one was responsible for a certain character and setting. At first, I asked them each to draw Yes and the main character (me), and they voted on who did the best job. Then they made that person the artist for that character. After that, they divided the story stanzas into pages and each took certain scenes to illustrate.

Did your daughter enjoy working on this with you?

It helped that her two best friends from school were doing it with her. She got tired after a while (see page 20!), so I think asking her to do the entire book herself would have been a bust. They were all eight years old at the time, so doing this together was a fun activity.

Why did you choose rhyme to tell this story?

I have always loved rhyme, especially in children’s books. My favorite books growing up were Pierre by Maurice Sendack and “I Can’t,” Said the Ant by Polly Cameron. I can recite them by heart still to this day. I did get told by two publishing companies to not write this book in rhyme, but I just couldn’t do it because it felt like such an important part of the voice of the book. 

Is this really a true story?

It’s 98% true. The only part I had to fudge was the ending. Yes did meet Buddy and they did become forever brothers and housemates, just not in my house. I was a 20-something wandering spirit, so I found a better home for the both of them. 

Have you written other books with kids before?

I did volunteer at a Dave Eggers organization which is now The Bureau of Fearless Ideas. Area schools would bus classes in to work with writers like me to concept, write, illustrate and print their books in a miraculous two hours. 

Did you design this book using BookWright or another software?

My husband actually helped me lay it out in Adobe InDesign, but we chose Blurb because of the high quality of paper and printing they’re known for. We chose a softcover with standard paper, and it turned out fabulous!

How else have you marketed this book?

We printed 10 copies at first, and the girls all decided to take them to local libraries to shelve in their collections. The staff took us up on it, so now they are floating around various Seattle public libraries. Other than that, the only marketing I’ve done is sending free copies to friends with small kids! 

How has this book been received by others?

I thought my audience would be 7- to 10-year-olds, but a fair amount of 2- to 5-year-olds have liked it, probably for the colorful illustrations! Friends and family think it’s funny, and in true form, my mom said it was very “unique.”

Inspired to create your own children’s book—maybe even with your kid? Get started!

The post The Dog Named Yes: Behind the Book with Susan Tanabe appeared first on Blurb Blog.

The first (and most obvious) question, why the title Bunny?
It was initially going to be called Stage Right. Stage right is where I am positioned on stage with touring bands, however, everyone on tour calls me Bunny, so I went with that name instead. Once I dressed up as the Easter Bunny for a musician’s daughter and the name sort of stuck. So Bunny is my story of that part of my life.

What led you to want to photograph punk bands in particular?
I began photographing punk bands because of what I do as a job. Since 2010, I have been a stage technician and tour manager, working almost entirely with Australian punk bands. Given the access and my life on the road with these bands, it was a natural fit for me to photograph them in an intimate and friendly setting.

What do you hope the images in your book convey?
In 2018, the day before my 26th birthday, I was sitting in Sunny’s Pizza in Adelaide taking photos of dance-punk trio DZ Deathrays eating pizza and drinking beer when I had the thought to make a book. Just before this, I had been sending a guest list to the music venue, along with media and photo passes for the show. I realized photographers who came to the show would get their photos, typically the first three songs shot from the photo pit in front of the stage.

To me, this doesn’t convey the whole story of what the life of a touring musician is. The part where they’re actually on the stage is one of the smallest parts of the day. It doesn’t take into account the lining up at an airport, the sitting in a tour van, the endless sitting and waiting that happens in the lead-up to the show. That is left out of the narrative.

In this book, you won’t see any photographs from the pit. You’ll see some photographs from the stage, but for the most part, you will see the unseen moments.

How did you get interested in photography and bookmaking?
I’ve always been interested in photography and made photographs on tour as well as in my private life but I’ve never had any training, never learned a single thing about photography from a class or anything like that.

In 2016, after six years of touring, my house was broken into and lots of things, including all of my external hard drives, my laptop, and my digital camera were stolen. Shortly after that, my mobile phone broke without being backed up, and essentially, I lost every photographic memory I’d made on tour. I didn’t (and truth be told still don’t) know the first thing about digital asset management, but still had every single piece of film I’d shot of my friends and me skateboarding in high school, so in May 2016, I bought an old 35mm camera and started a physical archive of mostly black and white film and thought to myself, “I want to make this into a book that won’t get stolen.” I really dove in the deep end with film. I’d shoot all week on tour and then develop that week’s films in the hotel room bathrooms on my day off—then shoot again all week. I knew nothing about bookmaking and I knew nothing about book design. I owned photo books but photo bookmaking was so far removed from anything I had ever done before, however, I knew it was something I really wanted to try—your very own creative evangelist, Dan Milnor, has been a really important teacher to me in both of those things.

Who were your bookmaking inspirations?
I found Dan’s blog, his YouTube videos, and his general online presence and encouragement and just started doing it. I used Dan’s knowledge and the information he passed through your Blurb content to help learn what I needed to do and what I needed to look out for. At first, I completely sucked. I had no idea of typography, knew nothing about spreads, I didn’t know anything to do with anything, except I knew I liked my photographs. Through Dan’s videos and your tutorials, both Dan and Blurb were able to explain bookmaking to a complete idiot, like me, and make it seem achievable in a way that I can’t really explain. You made me feel like I could achieve something and inspired me so much to just go and get it.

What have you published?
I’ve put three zines on sale now through a website I made. I’ve sold out all of them, 300 in total—made through MagCloud and Blurb. I used the small amount of money I made through selling those and the work I’ve been doing on farms around my house while I can’t tour to front cash to make Bunny, which is a 132-page, 8×10 Imagewrap photo book on Mohawk Superfine Eggshell paper. I ended up selling all 100 copies on pre-order in under a month.

What software did you use to make your zines and book?
To make my book and zines I have used Adobe InDesign. Before making these, I had never opened the software before. The templates provided by Blurb really helped set up my design, and I found the software intuitive and easy to use.

What’s next for you in photography and bookmaking?
At this point, I really have no idea! I’m just trying my best within touring music photography, which is difficult due to current travel circumstances. I would like to have an ongoing magazine and produce an edition for each tour that I complete, even if only for my own personal memories.

What would you tell newbie photographers and bookmakers wanting to make their first book?
My only advice would be to just do it. Put aside any nervousness about doing something wrong and just do it anyway. Make mistakes, try your best, and learn from what you do wrong as well as what you do right. Try not to focus too much on what other people are doing and create your own voice and unique perspective on the world.

Anything else you’d like us to know that we didn’t ask about?
Before I made my zines and my book, I really didn’t realize how much I enjoyed making books. I knew I enjoyed looking at them, but it wasn’t until I made my own that I realized how fulfilling the process and results were. I would really encourage anyone and everyone to give it a go. It really is a lot of fun.

Love what you just read? Buy the book Bunny or start your own creative book idea today!

The post Bunny: Behind the Book with Dave Herington appeared first on Blurb Blog.

You say that quilts have a story to tell. What is one such story from this book that has stuck with you?

Asake Denise Jones’ story of family land in Alabama. The land was purchased with funds made from selling quilts her great grandmother made, which brings the story depicted on the quilt full circle.

What story does the entirety of this book tell?

The book does a good job of showing a broad variety of stories—some more personal, some more universal, but all relatable. Each story was important enough to the quiltmaker that she spent hours crafting a beautiful object that will share the story with others.

How closely did you work with Ellen Blalock who juried the exhibition?

The gallery staff worked to do all the logistical work—communicating with the artists, collecting the images of the quilts, information, and statements. We then organized everything to make it easy for Mrs. Blalock to choose which quilts would be exhibited. We gave her a little bit of guidance in terms of the number of quilts we were looking for but left it up to her to make the selections.

Were all of the artists in this year’s exhibition women? Are there any particular women you’d like to thank or acknowledge who have had an impact on your life or creative process?

Yes, all of the artists this year were women. The overwhelming majority of quilters in our exhibitions have been women, but there has also been the occasional man.

There are many women who have made an impact on my life: My two closest colleagues are Caroline and Jillian, and we would not be able to provide the quality arts programming that we do without their input and hard work. My boss Michelle and her boss Kim are very supportive of our efforts. My mom influenced me in many ways, including forcing me to visit art museums until it became something I looked forward to. My sister is a great sounding board and continues to teach me a lot of important lessons. And of course, the list wouldn’t be complete without my wife Melissa, who helped guide me through all of the scary parts of getting an MFA and has continued to support me personally and professionally.

What have you learned about this medium of art since doing this book?

This is the fifth art quilts exhibition I have helped coordinate. Each year, I am impressed with the variety of themes and techniques, and I love filling our art galleries with large swathes of color.

What type of camera did you use?

Nikon D750

What is your personal experience with self-publishing or publishing in general?

Since 2009, I have published 35 books personally through Blurb. Most of them were single-issue creations of family photos, but more recently, I have also created a few books for public consumption. When I was an educator through 2015, I also worked with many students and student groups to design and create books through Blurb. I love the quality and the ability to publish as few or as many books as I want.

How did you do the design for this book? Did you use BookWright or a different software?

After editing my photos, I always do all of the layout and design directly in BookWright.

Is there anything else you’d like to share or like us to know about your work?

This book was created as a catalog for an exhibition at the Vision Gallery and Chandler Center for the Arts Gallery.

Ready to inspire someone with your own book? Create your photo book now!

The post Art Quilts XXVI: Behind the Book with Vision Gallery appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. How did you come up with the idea for this book?

The idea actually came from my previous book, Dear Black Men. The first year and half of my marriage were pretty challenging for me. I was the quiet observer while my husband was a great communicator. We often bumped heads with our communication styles (or the lack thereof) and with our behaviors, so we began having tough conversations. Conversations that many people in my community do not have or just don’t know where to begin. Though the conversations were hard, my husband Desmond Guy created safe space for me by listening to my concerns and acknowledging my triggers. And because he did that for me, I would often ask myself, “Am I doing the same thing for him? Am I reciprocating the same amount of grace, patience, and kindness?” I was trying, but I knew I could do better.

I made a cognitive decision to ask him open-ended questions out of curiosity so that I could learn more about him and show him empathy. This approach was so impactful that I began asking other Black men in community similar questions. I wanted to know that some of the things my husband had experienced and was experiencing with me wasn’t just an “us” thing. I found so much synergy in their collective experiences that I made another decision. I decided to have public conversations through Facebook with Black men from all around the world. I decided to affirm, to ask questions (without giving any advice), and to apologize almost every day for about 8 months. In June 2019, I published the most popular posts, so that Black men around the world could have access to it.

While introducing Dear Black Men to the world, I got a lot of requests from Black women for their own book. Some wanted to use it as a companion book and others simply wanted their own acknowledgement and atonement. I’ll admit in the beginning, I wasn’t focused on writing another book. It was a serious feat for me to get Dear Black Men out. It took a lot of personal, self-reflective work, and I wasn’t exactly ready to add another layer of self-reflection. But the call for it kept getting louder. There were so many instances on the news that showed Black women being the targets of violence and disrespect that something inside of me knew that it was time to honor Black women. My husband agreed to write the apologies to Black women. I crafted the question prompts, affirmations, and supporting open-ended questions, and the rest is history.

2. Why was this book important for you to make?

This book was important for me to make because a book like it didn’t exist. Black women are divine. We are the innovators of many things. We are cultivators and nurturers of life AND we receive the least acknowledgment, respect, and appreciation. We are tired of being strong for all those around us and not being supported. We need carefully curated spaces that allow us to just BE; whatever that looks like for each of us individually. Dear Black Women is my offering to Black women and to myself. A tool that can help us to cultivate safe space for ourselves and to hear our unfiltered voices loud and clear. Maybe even for the first time.

3. What do you feel is the most compelling question or prompt in this book?

“Dear Black Women, when was the last time you accepted yourself for who you are?” I didn’t realize how compelling it was until I answered this question in my own copy of the book. It brings up so many questions such as, “Who am I anyway? What defines who I am? What does acceptance look like? What am I holding against myself? What have I come to believe about myself?” You’ll definitely need an additional notebook as you’re working through this book.

4. The name of this book is Dear Black Women. Is it only meant for that audience or do you think those who are not Black and/or women can and should read it?

This book is first and foremost a love letter to Black women. It is important to me that Black women know and feel that they are seen, heard, and understood without judgment. Where can Black women actually find safe space within society to just BE? I’ll wait. Each part of this book was intentionally crafted to resonate with Black women and their experiences.

With that said, anyone who is open to listening to understand, to learn empathy, to have impactful conversations filled with acknowledgement, accountability, self-awareness, and self-reflection is welcome to dive into this book. This isn’t a book that you just read through; you work through it.

5. What is your personal experience with self-publishing or publishing in general?

Blurb has been my go-to source for self-publishing. I was introduced to Blurb when I was photographing weddings. Once I was ready to publish my last two books, 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!

6. Which tools or software did you use to create your book and why?

I formatted my book using Canva. I use Canva for all of my design needs. It was really easy for me to format my book. I also used BookWright to upload my formatted pages and cover design directly to Blurb. It is such a seamless process.

7. What have been the reactions to this book?

I think the first reaction to this book is “Whoa.” I don’t think people expect to get so deep in such a small book. It challenges them to do their work as well as uncover things in themselves that they didn’t realize were there. People are grateful for this book. Many people tell us how necessary this book is and how they would like to see it in various programming throughout our community. Therapists are using this book in group sessions and for themselves with the questions as a guide for open conversations.

8. What do you hope this book to instill?

Self-awareness, self-reflection, and unapologetic self-love.

9. How have you marketed your book since publishing it?

We do a lot of “guerrilla marketing.” We always wear branded apparel which sparks lots of conversations. We have advertisements on our vehicle that we use daily. We do a lot of in-person vending at events throughout Maryland and DC and will be expanding to more cities in 2022. We have partnered with Black-owned bookstores to carry Dear Black Women and utilized social media ads.

10. What’s next for you? Any other book ideas in the works?

There are always new book ideas on the horizon! There are at least two more that I am actively working on. My goal right now is to continue to spread the word about Dear Black Women and Dear Black Men. I would like it to be a premiere resource for therapists, mental health counselors, churches, HBCUs, prison programs, and more. We’re looking to be an integral part of the healing of Black families.

Ready to inspire someone with your own book creation? Start today

The post Dear Black Women: Behind the Book with Jewel Guy appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. Tell us about the story behind Cyanimals. What inspired you to create this book?

My journey with the cyanotype process began in 2015, when I joined a group of photographic artists (Shootapalooza) and learned how to make sun prints on the beach. After a little experimenting, I started making cyanimals: cyanotypes collages of botanicals that suggest the whimsical outlines of various animals. Around the same time, my daughter was studying poetry at school (in fourth grade), and learned about a poetic form called a cinquain. I’ve been a poetry enthusiast for most of my life, but this was the first time I had heard of that form, and I was excited about her interest in it. Hoping to encourage her writing, I suggested a collaborative project for us, and I promised her I would turn it into a book.

2. Which came first: the cyanotypes or the poetry? 

The idea for cyanimals came first; I didn’t think about pairing them with poems until my daughter mentioned the cinquain. Together, we made a list of animals that could realistically be turned into cyanotypes, including ones I had already made, then she wrote the poems. I have that original list and her poetry in a little journal; she wrote many of them while we were in the car after school. I knew I needed to seize the moment and get her writing immediately while her interest was at its peak. Once the list and poems were ready, I worked on the rest of the cyanotypes. I still go back to that list.

3. What did you enjoy most about the process of collaboration? 

Having my daughter involved added deeper meaning to the work as a whole for me, and it added motivation. It was easier for me to complete and promote the project because it was no longer just about me: I wanted to do it for her. I’ve always considered it very important to show her what you can do if you put your mind to it; I try to show her as often as I can that creativity can go beyond just something that lives in your head. Also, I wanted to put our project “out there” with the hope of inspiring other children. Having a young person involved changed everything about what I was doing, in the best possible way.

4. How did you decide on the format, size, cover, and typography for your book?

I chose the “zine” format because I wanted the final product to be affordable, so that determined the size of the book. Since this is a project that I want to be accessible for all ages, I chose a larger font; I thought about my own child at an earlier age looking at it and examining the words. It was important to me to fill the page with the artwork, without having to crop the original print, and have the poetry lay on top. Sometimes this meant using a landscape orientation that required turning the book on its side, but I would hope that increases the reader’s engagement. The cover piece I chose because it seemed the best print to wrap around the book. 

5. Which tools or software did you use to create your book and why? 

I used BookWright software to create the book, importing digital photographs that I made of each individual print. This project was my first time making a book with Blurb. I explored other options, but they were all honestly too complicated for me, and I didn’t want to have to invest in expensive software. It was a steep learning curve for me at first, but I learned a lot! 

6. Where do you look for creative inspiration day to day? 

I find inspiration in everything, every day. Life in general inspires me; I never know what little moment might light a fire and send me running to create. One of the things I love about the cyanotype process is that it’s something I can do at home, in my kitchen, while life goes on around me. I don’t have to interrupt the flow of my family in order to make a print. When it comes to creating cyanimals, my favorite thing to do is go for a walk, mindfully selecting little samples here and there of what I see around me in nature, then spread it all out on the table at home and see what leaps out from the raw materials.

My daughter and I did a larger cyanimal project a few years ago as an exhibition at a local cafe: I pillaged the cafe garden for botanical samples and made all site-specific pieces, then Louise wrote cinquains to accompany them and the work was hung together. Having this project displayed for the public was a wonderful experience, especially since my daughter was able to stand up at the opening reception and speak about her poetry. I am hoping to turn this into a Cyanimals 2 book!

7. What advice would you give another parent and child collaborating on a book? 

Involve your child in the process, and give your child free reign over his / her part of the project. Let the CHILD shine through. Be excited about it, be present, and be SURE to see it through to the end. Having a finished product is super important. It doesn’t have to be perfect! 

8. Do you have any new creative projects in the works?

Always! I have ideas for a number of books using my own work, mostly poetry, but I do keep trying to get myself motivated to make a photo book. With October approaching, I am firing up my now-teenage daughter to join me in a collaborative Inktober project, with her ink drawings and my poetry for each prompt. We tried it last year but didn’t end up with 31 pieces. Fingers crossed we can do it this year; she knows that if she makes all the artwork I WILL turn it into a book!

Ready to create your own art book, poetry collection, or zine? Get started today!

The post Cyanimals: Behind the Book with Amy Jasek appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. Tell us the story behind Amara’s Yoga Dreams. Why did you choose to make your book and where did the idea come from?

I have practiced yoga and meditation for many years, over which many of my students have asked me to write a book or make videos of my sessions. I often tell stories about the poses or use guided imagery when I teach but I never repeat the same vision or story twice, because I say what I feel as it happens. To preserve some of my stories, I began to journal concepts and ideas which eventually became Amara’s Yoga Dreams. The storyline evolved from my desire to revive the concept of a female creator or Goddess. Amara represents the empowerment of all girls and unlimited potential.

2. Which came first: the flow of the yoga poses or the story of Amara and Vira building the universe together?

The story and the poses are intertwined. I started with a seated yoga pose, symbolizing life before creation, and coupled that with the yoga concept of saluting the sun, which is a series of poses to bring your body and mind into enlightenment. Amara and I really had no choice but to create from darkness to light. Also, the world was long overdue for a new mythical creation story.

3. How did the characters of Amara and Vira come to life?

First, I studied some of the oldest creation stories known to man such as Aten, Brahma, Celtic and Nordic origins, and cross referenced them with different disciplines of yoga. After that I looked up different yoga terms, definitions of the poses, and the meaning of many girls’ names. I found a definition for Amara that meant “one who creates” and I took Vira from Virabhadrasana which is the Sanskrit name for all the warrior poses in yoga. Playing with light and dark, peace and war, and calm vs. chaos . . .  it was clear that the girls simply could not exist, one without the other.

4. How did you come to work with Wenny Stephanie on the illustrations? Was collaboration an important part of this project?

I found Wenny on Fiverr (an online platform for freelance artists to get work from all over the world.) She was contracted based on her illustrative style and excellent rating on the site. I provided her with the script, my own terrible stick figure drawings, and real photographs of myself executing all the yoga poses. We collaborated through text and a Dropbox system which allowed me to direct her through many revisions with commentary, suggestions, and notes. The process took over a year to complete. It may surprise you to know that we have never met or spoken in person, as it is not allowed per the rules of Fiverr.

5. How did you decide on the size, cover, and paper type for your book?

The first thing I did was a lot of research on the most popular book sizes, fonts, and layouts of the top selling children’s books. I then enlisted my best friend Michael Bernardo and my husband Breck Wilson who are both graphic designers to help me make all the technical decisions. Mike did the layout and much of the editing revisions to get us to a print ready version of the book.

6. Which tools or software did you use to create your book and why? 

Adobe InDesign, Acrobat PDF, Photoshop, Illustrator and of course, Microsoft Word. My editing team needed to be able to collaborate using the same programs. Much of the work was done via email, especially during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

7. Where do you look for creative inspiration day to day? 

I believe that we create our realities through our thoughts. I do not depend on exterior input or validation and have learned to trust what comes from within. Most of my inspiration comes from visions or dreams.

8. Is yoga an important part of your own daily routine?

Yes, I teach seven to ten classes a week, and walk barefoot in the grass two to three times a week to stay grounded. I live a highly active physical and metaphysical lifestyle.

9. Why did you decide to make a printed book rather than, for example, a video?

I have done YouTube videos for yoga, meditation, and Pilates for adults. When I wanted to address children, I felt that it needed to be something more permanent and tactile for them to interact with. Everybody remembers their favorite childhood books!

10. What advice would you give another author looking to design a children’s book? What do you wish you had known when you started?

Start with an outline, a working title and one sentence or a few words per chapter. Do that first and then write each thing on an index card. Write one paragraph for each card. See if the story is interesting and makes sense, then move the cards around to make the story more interesting or flow better.

I wish I knew a good literary agent before I started this quest!

11. How do you plan to incorporate your book into your teachings or share it with your community?

My plan is to self-publish on Blurb and use Facebook to promote and sell initial copies of Amara’s Yoga Dreams. I am then going to take some of the proceeds and use them to print and distribute copies to preschool and elementary schools for free. I will probably do a few fundraisers and book signings to promote my “give this book to a teacher” campaign.

12. Do you have any new creative projects in the works?

It was my original intention to make Yoga Dreams a series of three to five books. I have the second story written and the third is in outline form at this point. All three books will be narrated for Audible as well.

Where will your creative vision lead you? Start your next project today.

The post Amara’s Yoga Dreams: Behind the Book with Denise Lyn Wilson appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. What does your day-to-day creative practice look like on the road? Are there essential books, materials, tools, or resources you like to bring with you? 

I’m grateful to have writing as my tool for communication, it fits so cozily into the pocket of traveling. Wherever I go, I bring my unlined Moleskine notebook and a black pen, and there we are; poems, stories, notes. When I was studying at a university in Graz, Austria, I had an iPad and keyboard that would fit in my shoulder bag. I could take that on the train or up the banks of the Mur River and tack away on longer (more furious) essays and observations. Living place to place teaches that it’s always better to take less. Less of a physical burden, but even more so, less of a mental burden.

When I was living in New Zealand, I carried a copy of Leaves of Grass around with me. In Indonesia, I had Letters to a Young Poet, by Rilke. If I start reading work that has soul, that little poet within me will start speaking. I lost both of those books somewhere along the way. It didn’t matter. I always had libraries or the wisps of conversation around me to study.

I suppose I always bring my website with me, The Hydrogen Jukebox. This has become my writing world and has taught me to subdivide the work to avoid getting caught in perfectionism. Isn’t that the death of so much brilliance? Being afraid it’s not good enough to share. How to solve that? Editing once or twice, allowing myself to be proud of what I have, and occasionally valuing quantity over quality. I don’t let myself say “writer’s block” until I’ve produced a chapbook of horrible writing. And by the time I’m plugging away at proving to myself I’m a horrible writer, something shines in the dust. Writer’s block is simply insecurity.

Some of my best pieces have been written in one go (my favorite being “Sonnets of Indigo”). Others have been handpicked from rickety longer poems. I trust the little poet that gives me her words, and although I do plenty of “killing my darlings,” I don’t let insecurity override potential.

2. How does traveling through different cities, landscapes, and languages affect your writing style or the creative modes you work in?

When I was a girl, my father took us on a year-long sabbatical to Scotland, so he could study sheep and my brother and I could attend an old insane-asylum-turned-primary-school in the heart of Glasgow. I became as Glaswegian as a little American girl could get, saying “th-ah-rt-y” instead of thirty and reciting William Soutar’s “Aince upon a Day” by heart. My parents have nurtured the empathetic gene in me, and Scotland had nurtured the impressionability.

Now when I spend a length of time in a country with a dialect, I quickly slip into it. The Kiwi accent or the Hawaiian slang affects my work significantly. The way I talk influences the way I think, which influences the little poet within me. It’s my hope that the outcome of this is writing that connects more to the uniqueness of the place than to my own individuality.

When it comes to different languages, the effect is perspective. There’s no way to authentically, fully understand a place and a people unless I can speak the language. I learned this in Austria, studying German and getting lost in the Austrian dialect and feeling disappointed when I forced Austrians to speak English with me. I can never claim to “get” Austria until I learn the language, and I still haven’t. Happily, as life goes, I’m engaged to a German man now and am faring better in my German language.

All is not lost by not knowing the language. In Jakarta, I found seeking to learn Bahasa a good way to connect, as a puppy coming home for the first time and investigating every nook and cranny. My Indonesian poems are more analytical.

3. Tell us about curating and designing Articulated Soul. How did you choose the font, layout, and sequence for your poems? Why did you create different book covers for the paperback, hardcover, and ebook versions? 

Self-publishing is tricky, eh! It’s both all in your hands and all in your hands. If editing a poem is like sculpting it away, whittling it down until the picture arrives, then stuff like fonts and layout are the material from which the sculpture is made. Everything needs to gesture to the poem, gracefully lay a hand on the piece, nothing can distract. I wanted capitalized titles that weren’t SCREAMING (and Futura gave that to me). I wanted type that was flowing and readable (Garamond).

When it came to choosing my poems and poem order:

I’ve got a master list of poems I’ve written, well over 500. This is going back to sometimes valuing quantity over quality. I’m not proud of this massive list, because most aren’t worth anything, but I am grateful that it exists. I combed through the list, remembering where I was when I wrote this and this, what I was attempting to convey. I found at least 10 poems that I thought represented each of the five places I have lived. I dealt with one category at a time, completely absorbing myself in Kansas, in Austria, in Indonesia. Feeling, again, what it felt like to be there. After editing thoroughly, I broke each poem into its summary, context, and form. I wanted to tell a story in each category, a narrative arch. Once I was aware of the essence of each poem, they sorted themselves.

When it came time to make a cover, I told myself I would make three or four and choose the best. The first one I made I liked so much, I slapped it on the softcover book and set it up for publishing. Gut feeling is as much my style as impressionability. When I was working on the e-book and getting that up, I remembered my promise to myself and had a go at a different cover. I liked that one so much, I slapped it on the e-book and set it up.

A mostly-white cover conveys a sort of openness, an innocent wandering. That if you read this book (the tactile book), you will feel big. I want the reader to be sitting cozy with a book of maps on the shelf behind her. The black underpainting, lots of points, and bright colors communicate articulation. Excitement, enunciation. If you read this book (the e-book), you will feel like you’ve just got to get up and go. I want the e-reader to have taken out a kindle on a mountaintop for a break.

4. How does the process of writing poems compare to that of making collage? Does each medium let you articulate your world or express yourself in ways that the other does not? 

Both start from a similar place. I start my collages by looking through books of paintings, landscapes in Italy, Dali’s greatest hits, and a book from the 60s about what each color signals to the brain. These I find at secondhand bookstores. Something always strikes the artist within me, and I make something new based on whatever feeling I was getting.

Collage art is the tumultuous side of me, the side of me that wants to stir up trouble and make faces. It is the medium that shocks me the most, and perhaps that is because I have less control over it than poetry. My poetry tends to be relaxing and searching, taking my hand and guiding me through foreign streets. When paired together, the collage shakes up the poem, and the poem brings focus to the collage.

5. What advice would you give another poet looking to self-publish a book?

Before you self-publish, submit your poems to online magazines. Familiarize yourself with Poets & Writers (pw.org) and get rejected a lot. More than you can bear, if possible. Submit your completed manuscript for publishing contests, and try to get feedback from editors. If an editor sends you a rejection letter and it seems at all a personal rejection letter, lean into that. Reply. Start a conversation. Be annoying, because you’re not being annoying, you’re just in your head. And who cares? You’re not doing it for the money, for the personal prestige. Otherwise, you would have chosen a more profitable medium.

Be careful to show your poems to those you respect. If a literary magazine doesn’t have your style of art, move on. To be rejected because the editor prefers haikus instead of stylized lyric poetry isn’t useful to you.  There are so many other literary opportunities out there. What we’re all going for is to set our identity to “artist”. What do artists do? Create. If you hone your identity to that, your goal of getting a book of your art out there is easier. If you have a handful of poems already published before you self-publish your collection, it’s going to feel more real.

Because a tricky part of self-publishing is the nibbling that it’s my only option. That for some reason, my poems aren’t good enough to be published by a publisher. It’s a lie—artists are published based on relationships and experience, and years of putting in the work, not solely on the quality of art. The best thing I could have done is self-publish my first book of poetry, because what do writers do? Write books. There, more identity reinforcement, more confidence. It’s hard to put personal work out there, it’s hard to feel rejection. The more confident I become that I am a writer, I am an artist, the better work I create. The more I take my work seriously. 

Many of my favorite books, the ones that have really influenced me, were books from the community free bin at a café. Or the bottom shelf of a dusty bookstore, behind a stack of Somerset Maugham novels. Naomi James’ At One with the Sea, Ffyona Campbell’s A Walk Around the World, and Barbara Savage’s Miles from Nowhere. That’s where I want my books to end up, a treasure to someone.

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The post Articulated Soul: Behind the Book with Josie Rozell appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. What inspired this cookbook? 

I’ve always been obsessed with food and travel, and a couple of years ago, when my husband and I sold our house and all our possessions to travel, I started writing down everything I ate. It was a way for me to remember a place through its food. Thinking about how I would recreate these dishes at home led me to the idea of making a cookbook.

2. How did you collect and store content for your book while traveling? 

It started by just making notes on my phone and taking pictures of all my food. Once I had a decent collection of dishes, I started organizing them in Excel. The work of actually recreating the recipes and photographing them didn’t start until we moved back to the States.

3. Tell us about your creative process for designing this book. How did you decide on the trim size, format, and color scheme? 

I am a cookbook fanatic! I love reading other people’s cookbooks. My favorite ones are the ones with large format pictures and a lot of free space around the text. I tried out a few different layouts before picking one. Once the book was finished, I ordered one copy just to see how it would look in print and realized the font was huge compared to other books, so I went back and changed it before ordering more, and I’m super happy with how it looks.

4. How did you choose the imagery for the cover of your book? 

This part was tricky for me. It was actually the last thing I did on the project. I played around with different food pictures and markets but ultimately ended up with the picture of a restaurant booth from a place in Scotland. For one thing, I loved the colors, but more than that, this book is really a tribute to all the amazing restaurants we ate at while traveling. What better way to honor them than by putting one on the cover?

5. How did you decide on the organization and sequence of your recipes?

There are so many different ways to organize a cookbook, and originally I wanted to organize by country of origin, but it made the book too choppy, with too many sections. I chose to break it up by meal category instead because it felt like it had the best flow.

6. How did you approach the photography for your cookbook? What sort of gear or equipment did you use?

I used a combination of my Nikon and my phone. I used very minimal gear and worked with natural lighting as much as possible. I’m a big fan of cookbooks that showcase the food without too many props, so I tried to do that as much as possible in my book.

7. Which tools or software did you use to create your book and why? 

For photo editing, I used GIMP. It has great functionality, and it’s free! For the creation of the book, 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.

8. What advice would you give someone who wants to turn a collection of recipes into a cookbook? 

If time is what’s holding you back, just work on it in small chunks. Pick a deadline for yourself and work backward from there. You could give yourself the task of writing, cooking, and photographing one or two recipes per week, and that way, it’s still fun and enjoyable. Or incorporate your recipes into your weekly meal plan, so it doesn’t feel like extra work since you need to eat anyway. My other piece of advice would be to study other cookbooks and decide what you like about their pictures and formats and adapt those to your book.

9. Where do you look for creative inspiration when you’re not on the road? 

My garden. I love having an abundance of vegetables because it makes me think creatively about how to use them.

10. What’s the next big thing on your project list? Is there a country or cuisine you’d like to explore? A book you’d like to make next?

My next book will be based on my garden and seasonal vegetables but with inspiration from all over. I love taking flavors from places I’ve visited and coming up with new ways to use them. The hard part will be deciding where to visit next!

Have an idea for a book of your own? Start exploring Blurb formats and find the perfect fit for your project.

The post Will Travel for Food: Behind the Book with McKenna Ganz appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. What inspired this book project? 

I’ve been interested in mixology for a few years now, and I’m really drawn to cocktails aesthetically, so I felt I could make a cool book myself. I also own quite a few cookbooks now, and will only purchase well-designed ones. So I wanted to create a book that I would want to own. I also feel as though “fruity drinks” get kind of a bad rap, so I wanted my book to open that selection up to a wider audience. I think they’re delicious, and more people should have the opportunity to try them. 

2. Tell us about your creative process for designing this book. How did you decide on the trim size, format and cover design? 

I started by creating moodboards so I could have a focused direction. Then the internal design of the book started with me creating as many fun, rounded grids as I could. I digitally created as many of those as possible, and let the actual recipes dictate which ones worked. It was a lot of fun to just play around with colors, add my illustrations, and just be loose with my design. 

I really let the content inform my choices for the physical dimensions of the book. Cocktail recipes are short, and I knew I didn’t want to pack my book with multiple recipes per page. A 7×7-inch book gave the recipes room to breathe, and the hardcover gave it the professional quality I wanted. 

The cover looks pretty much how I pictured it; in a way it was the first thing I designed. Once I had the title “Fruitful,” those huge letters just popped into my head fully formed. I played with some details to customize the type, but I knew from the start what I wanted the cover to be. 

3. How did you achieve the typography treatment of the cocktail names? 

Probably my favorite choice of the whole book is the western typeface, because I think it comes out of left field but really works.The recipe titles were a result of probably hours of fine-tuning. They were always going to be mostly on rounded paths, because I thought they looked way more eye-catching, especially with such short recipes. Eventually, I doubled the titles, filled in some individual letters, and just moved around the kerning. My favorite detail I added was the two little seeds in the Watermelon Sugar title; that’s the sort of thing I wanted to put in so you could find new details each time you looked. 

4. Is there a story behind your choice of colors for this project? 

I just wanted my colors to look warm and summery, and evoke that fruity impression. I tried to pick a palette that would work for my full range of drinks. 

5. Why did you choose to include illustrations instead of photographs? 

I felt illustrations were a much better use of my skill set. I had an original plan for what the illustrations would look like, and they completely evolved once I started playing with the patterns and layouts. It also made sense for my budget and the vibe I was going for. 

6. Which tools or software did you use to create your PDF files and why?

I used Blurb’s Adobe InDesign plugin for the creation of the book and cover, and the illustrations were executed in Adobe Illustrator. InDesign has tons of grid, layout, and typography capabilities, so the book would come out clean, no matter how many organic elements I added. When it came to my illustrations, Illustrator was really the only program where I could adequately experiment with my pattern designs. 

7. What are the most common mistakes people make in book design (cover, font, page layout, colors, etc.)? 

This is actually my first book design, so I’m no authority, but I’m an advocate for accessibility in all areas of design. I’ve seen a lot of people struggle when copy isn’t legible or readable, so I think it’s important to pay attention to the scale and color of your typographic content. I believe a book should balance form with function. The cover is also one of the biggest factors in book design, and it’s so unique to books; sometimes the cover isn’t given enough attention, or there isn’t enough of a risk. 

8. What advice would you give someone who wants to turn a collection of recipes into a cookbook? 

The main thing to think of is your “gap in the market”, so to speak. In my initial stages of research I, of course, found tons of cocktail recipe books. However, there weren’t too many dedicated to “fruity drinks”, at least not any I would want to own. So I curated a list of some sophisticated takes on “fruity drinks”. It was important to me that a consumer looking at my table of contents would find a good mix of recipes, but a cohesive list. I think if you frame your content in a way that’s new and exciting, and then execute the design really well, you’ll have a great finished product. 

9. Where do you look for creative inspiration? 

I’m so thrilled to be living in the age of the Internet, because we have literally endless inspiration at our fingertips. I find the most online inspiration from Pinterest and Instagram, where I get to look at other artists. I also am always reading about typography and art, so books end up playing a huge role in my creative landscape. I’m also always taking pictures of things that interest me in my everyday life, or at least writing them down in my notes. 

10. Any design projects you’re currently working on or excited about? 

This summer I’m really going to be focusing on painting, and I’m freelancing for a few clients. In the fall, I’ll be headed to school to get my Master’s degree in Media & Information Design, so my thesis will be my next big project! I’m excited to see where all of that takes me. 

11. How did the process of designing a book compare to your other creative work, such as your paintings and graphic design projects? 

I’ve classically been a bit of a perfectionist, so this project provided me with the opportunity to play around a lot. I was designing with a consumer in mind, but it’s not imperative that anyone buy it, so I took that opportunity to do exactly what I wanted to do, which I believe paid off. There aren’t many times in design where you just get to have fun and make all the executive decisions, so I feel like I have a product that totally reflects my point of view. A book is also one of the most intensive projects I’ve ever done, so I definitely needed to stay on top of my follow-through, but it was really rewarding.

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Blurb is a self-publishing company that can help you design and print your books on demand. Want to create a cookbook or photo book project of your own? Start designing your pages today. 

The post Behind the Book with Jane Powers appeared first on Blurb Blog.

How did you come up with the idea for this project? 

Since my dream is to one day work with Disney, it’s only fitting to say that it all started with a Disney character; but let me take a couple of steps backward first. As an architecture student, I was lost as far as what type of thesis would be meaningful and important to me. Everyone was all about having a stance on how buildings should perform—in the past, present, and future. For me, I knew it wasn’t just about the building. I was most interested in user experiences and how we, as designers, curated the stories these buildings held. 

With that in mind, I remember specifically sitting next to my professor and going back and forth with him on what types of architectural theories could define social interactions and experiences. We were searching the interwebs for inspiration when suddenly he referenced the Walt Disney’s Baymax vinyl sticker on my computer (my favorite character). “Well, look at Baymax—what about him makes him cute?” 

From there, we came up with the idea of essentially building an entire thesis around the idea of cuteness and how the constructs of this endearing quality can bring out innate senses of vulnerability. We can then use this sense of vulnerability to spark more meaningful experiences with the environment and people around us. 

Tell us about the process of curating and designing your book. How did you decide on the layout, typography, color palette, and images you wanted to include? 

This is a little different for me, because of the fact that this book was the end product of a year’s worth of research and design work. It was meant to be the last hurrah before I graduated, but it turned into so much more. So that in mind, throughout the year, I wrote up an essay explaining my thesis concepts, ending with a final project that tested and applied these ideas to a real-world building (spoiler alert, it’s Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation—or as I called it, the Cutité). 

From there, I considered how long I wanted my book to be, and how I was going to break up my essay into a more eye-catching format. I listed out the chapters I wanted to have, and then read through each section, asking myself what imagery would help support my story. 

As far as the color scheme goes, throughout this project I actually went through many different phases. Color is one of my favorite parts of design, so it’s no secret that I spent a lot of time thinking about what would work best. And whenever I was stuck, I would internet search for palette ideas—finding interesting combinations and then altering them to make them my own. With each design experiment I did, I tried a new palette. Eventually, I got to a point where I gave my eyes a break, and when I came back later, I thought, “yep, that’s it.” 

In a digital age, why is it still important to have a printed version of your work? 

For many reasons! It’s the same idea as why someone might prefer to go purchase a physical copy of a book over downloading the online version—it opens a whole new world of design. With the physical copy, you get to think about the density of the book, the texture, and finish of the cover, the lightness of the pages, all the way down to the appearance of the edges of the book when closed. And, of course, there’s the general sense of analog security in the event technology fails you.

All that aside, the biggest appeal of having a printed version is being able to bring it with you to any interview, career fair, and so on. Yes, you can provide a link to your online portfolio and hope your prospective employers remember to take a look at it when they get home, but there is nothing like being able to actually hold a physical item you designed, literally telling the story of your work as you flip through. It will draw your audience in, and bonus points if they get to keep the copy to refer to later. 

How did your approach to the visual layout or storytelling for UNUSUALLY cute. differ from your approach to a digital compilation? 

This is very similar to the difference between designing my website and Instagram profile vs my physical portfolio. Different platforms mean different ways in which you present your designs. They also mean different audiences, and how long they might be willing to look at your work. The color scheme and typeface stay the same, but how I am actually telling my story is what changed. With a physical portfolio, I considered how many chapters I wanted, and what content would go into each chapter—literally thinking about how my story would unfold as you flip each page. Inversely, with a digital poster, I’m much more focused on how I can clearly tell my story on one page—giving you a general idea of my work in under 5 seconds. 

What role do concept projects like this play in your career development?

They serve as the best conversation starters for any job interview or conversation that I have been a part of! Post graduation, I’ve learned very quickly that prospective employers want to see designs based off of plausible research. They want to know how you obtained information from the real world and brought it into your design projects. How you used it to inform how you might be able to make an impact as a designer. Naturally, a year-long architectural thesis is the perfect opportunity for this. Even though I’m no longer pursuing architecture, this project still renders itself useful. It will forever be an example of my ability to research and apply informed and innovative decisions to my designs. 

What would you like prospective clients or employers to know about you after seeing your book? How did that inform your design choices during the bookmaking process?

I would like prospective clients and employers to know that I care about every aspect of design. From the feeling of my book when you hold it in your hands, down to the flood of colors that you see when you quickly flip through it. I choose to make the most out of any and every design opportunity I can find, even if it’s as simple as the page numbers on the corner of each page. They’re all crucial pieces to the puzzle, in my book (no pun intended). 

That said, this informed my design choices during the bookmaking process in that I decided right off the bat how I wanted my final book to look and feel. I decided the goal page count, size of pages used, and finish of paper I wanted—all before actually compiling my book. I found this important because these are all choices that will guide how I move forward—how many chapters I’ll need to have, what selection of quotes I’ll want to highlight on a single page, what level of vibrancy I’ll need in my color scheme, and what size font and graphics I can use that will make sense with the proportions of my selected paper size. Considering all of these factors, and many more, allowed me to design with more intention, creating a more impactful piece in the process.

What advice would you give another artist or designer who is thinking about creating a book? 

The biggest thing I can recommend is to start by finding a book you love, which format-wise captures the look and feel you want in your own book. This should now serve as your go-to reference. I don’t mean to copy the book and everything about it but rather understand exactly what it is you like about the book. What about it feels successful to you, and inspires you most? That’s what you want to put into your own work. Stay consistent, and whenever you find yourself stuck, go back to that same reference book. 

At the end of the day, there are no right or wrong answers, just have fun with it! My book was meant to be a creative outlet for me to compile all the research and design experiments I conducted over the course of a year. I genuinely believe I put the time and love into the book that I did because I saw it as an opportunity to make something I was proud of—something I could look back onto and truly appreciate. And believe me when I say this, but I’m no expert. This was the second book I ever made, the first being a mandatory portfolio compiling my first year at college (I still cringe at the thought of it…). So that said, if you have the passion for it, you absolutely can do the same! 

Where do you look for creative or design inspiration? 

Everywhere? Honestly, as frustrating as it is to say, inspiration never comes easy. In fact, it usually comes when I didn’t ask for it (when I finally decide it’s time to take a break and go to bed). That said, my go-to, whenever I’m really stuck, is to stop and think about the what. What message am I trying to create? From there I focus on developing a concrete concept/story that I can consistently go back to for design decisions. With this concept, I research as much as I can and search for ways I can use my findings towards my design. As a result, I find this contributes to a much more thoughtful and full-of-life design. 

Do you experiment with other artistic mediums, and how do these feed your creative practice? 

100%! In addition to majoring in architecture, I took on a minor in fine art to do exactly that. I played with oil and acrylic paints, soft pastels, graphite, charcoal, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, various 3D modeling software, and the list continues to grow. For me, it’s not about specializing in one medium but rather learning as much as possible about the various art forms out there. I see it as growing my personal “toolkit”. The more I understand the different ways a single art piece/form can be done, the better I can inform myself on how I would want to do it in a way that feels unique to me. That all said, I’m also the type of person who gets bored very quickly. So switching between artistic mediums is a fantastic way of reinvigorating my passion for the art industry, and furthering my growth as a designer.

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Note from the author: UNUSUALLY cute. is a book that documents research and design experiments I conducted throughout my final year of architecture school, testing the constructs of cuteness and how they could apply to real-world environments. I graduated with a BArch in June 2019, and today I’m working in Orange County as a junior designer at a design and fabrication agency that specializes in brand experience and installation design. 

The post UNUSUALLY cute. Behind the Book with Zoe Sidhom appeared first on Blurb Blog.

For every breathtaking landscape or wildlife photo, there’s often a personal story or tale of adventure that set the scene. The visionary minds behind the book Chasing Magic have captured exactly that—the talent and insight that goes into photographing moments in nature. This stunning collaborative book celebrates the beauty of the great outdoors as seen through the eyes of 136 female photographers from around the world. 

We caught up with Amy Miller, Kristen Ryan, and Megan Arndt to talk about life behind the lens and how this book project came together. 

What inspired this book project, Chasing Magic? And how did your team of female nature photographers find each other?

Chasing Magic began as a simple idea: a desire to bring to life a beautiful book that would celebrate the female nature photographer. Our team of three women—friends and passionate nature photographers ourselves—had connected for many years with each other and a growing number of women across the globe via social media, in-person photography conferences, and Kristen’s landscape photography course, “The World Around You.”

Amy, an experienced graphic designer, was interested in designing a coffee table book and had discussed the idea off and on with Kristen for months. When a strong vision for the book came together, Megan joined the team, and a pretty amazing adventure began! While the pandemic unfolded, the world felt heavy. Exploration was no longer possible, and there was a yearning for social connection. It was a perfect time to bring together female artists in a collaborative project that celebrated the way we see our beautiful world.

We saw an opportunity to launch the project from a new online community for female nature photographers called Women Capture Magic, founded by Kristen in early 2020. Women Capture Magic is a place to share, learn, inspire and connect, and is quickly growing. The community is filled with talented and inspiring female artists who kindly support and encourage one another. The response to the project was enthusiastic, and we were blown away by the amazing images submitted for consideration! Ultimately, the work of 136 artists was featured in Chasing Magic.

What elements do you look for in a nature photo that effectively captures “magic”?

We feel that “magic” is a personal experience captured by the photographer. The eye of each artist is unique, and what captures the eye in nature is different for every person. When we selected images for the book, we did not have a rubric or a set of standards we were looking for. Instead, we looked for a sense of “magic” that was produced by artists who were truly present in that moment in nature. When artists are connected emotionally to the memory they create, that emotion shines through in the image, allowing us to feel as if we, too, were present in that moment. As though we could step right into the scene and be a part of that magic.

Tell us about your creative process for designing this book. How did you decide on the cover image, paper type, sequence of photos and stories, and page layouts?

We envisioned a thick book that felt good in hand and would look great on a coffee table. Blurb’s 10×8 inch Standard Landscape size was a great fit. We chose the ImageWrap cover for its clean, matte finish and 100# Premium Lustre paper that rendered the images beautifully and accurately. Early in our brainstorming, we came up with the idea of breaking the book into chapters, each based on a unique word or phrase. Structuring the book this way provided themes to which artists could submit their work for consideration during our image call. This also gave the book content from a wide variety of genres within nature photography, from macro to wildlife, long exposures, and astrophotography. The final collection of images is both diverse and cohesive.

Selecting the cover image was challenging! We considered numerous images that fit the book size and orientation, offered negative space for type, and had mid-tones and colors that would print well. The final cover image by Maricel Quesada Jara checked all of these boxes and also captured the essence of magic we were seeking. Once we completed the design, we decided to offer the book in two additional versions: a Softcover with the same Premium Lustre paper as our standard ImageWrap version, and what we call our luxury version—a hardcover ImageWrap with 140# Mohawk proPhoto Pearl paper that feels like a true photographic print. All three books are Blurb’s 10×8 inch Standard Landscape size.

What motivated you to include longer narratives from contributors in addition to photo captions?

As photographers ourselves, we know that images are often captured from a unique set of circumstances. The behind-the-scenes story of an image and the emotion that is infused in its creation can be powerful, and help the viewer to gain a deeper understanding of the artist’s work. For this reason, we invited each photographer to share the story that accompanied their image, and then selected a number of those to include in the book. Additionally, for each themed chapter, we invited one photographer to write a lengthier introduction. Their words lead readers into each section of the book. We feel strongly that including words throughout the book enhances the reader experience of Chasing Magic!

What are the most common mistakes people make when photographing natural landscapes? 

We believe there are no mistakes when it comes to art! However, there are some ways a photographer can elevate their natural landscape photographs.

• Slow down and take in the experience of nature with all your senses. Allow yourself to wander and observe before clicking the shutter. Explore different perspectives, focal lengths and vantage points. Include the important elements, and try exclude the ones that distract from the story you want to share.

• Learn how to use your camera comprehensively so you have a broad set of tools at your disposal to convey what you’re experiencing more fully.

• Find your connection with the nature around you before capturing an image. Rather than quickly shooting ‘at’ the scene, take time to connect with how you feel and consider what details of the scene are calling to you. Part of the magic of an impactful nature photograph is the way each artist can interpret a beautiful scene in a unique way. Taking the time to make a personal connection will allow you to better express emotion in your photographs.

What advice would you give someone who wants to curate and publish a collaborative photography or art book? 

We knew what we wanted to create at the outset: a collaborative book celebrating female nature photographers. Our timeline and other small details shifted as we went along, but having a strong vision of the final outcome helped us to be successful.

We also knew that having a small, hardworking team that collaborated well together was essential. This project would have been impossible to do alone! Knowing that each member of our team had unique strengths and a passion for the book meant that we could rely on each other to complete tasks and fulfill our vision.

We also credit having a strong organizational system for managing the large amount of information and files that came with the project. From artist submissions and information to layouts and email replies, etc., we had a slew of spreadsheets and folders that helped us keep track of everything. Each team member could access and edit these items remotely, so we could all keep up with the material together from start to finish.

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Chasing Magic was made with Blurb’s Large Order Services team. If you’re printing more than 100 copies of your book, our team can help you find the printing solution to fit your budget.

The post Behind the Book: Chasing Magic appeared first on Blurb Blog.

How did you first get interested in illustration and design?

I’ve been obsessed with art for as long as I can remember. I constantly drew as a kid and was always crafting with my friends. Art supplies were my requested gift on every birthday and Christmas, and my favorite thing to do was go to the art store. I signed up for a graphic design class when I was a sophomore in high school and fell in love with graphic design and digital art. From that point, I knew I wanted to study design in college and go into a creative career.

What was your inspiration for The Not-So-Italian Italian Cookbook?

The inspiration for this cookbook is my Italian grandmother, Felice. Since she died in 2017, my family has been wanting to put together a cookbook of all her iconic recipes. These are the recipes of my childhood and the food we would have for every holiday and special occasion. As a lover of food illustrations and cookbooks in general, I decided to illustrate a cookbook dedicated to her life and these iconic dishes. Since food was such an important part of her life, my goal was to honor the memory of my grandma and create a cookbook that is both useful and beautiful.

Tell us about the process of designing your book. How did you decide on the layout, color scheme, typography, illustrations, and photography? Which design tools did you use?

As this was my Senior Capstone project, the process for this book was a long one! I created a giant digital mood board filled with my visual inspiration for the book. I was inspired by many colorful design-focused cookbooks and lots of different food journal illustrations. I wanted the illustration style to feel intimate and loose to express how personal and special these recipes are. I used old photographs and handwritten annotations so that the cookbook feels more personal and evokes nostalgia in the reader. I chose a tricolor palette to convey the idea of a flag but altered the colors to fit the three different locations that inspired the sections of the cookbook. The blue is reminiscent of the vibrant blue water in Sicily, the red reflects the color that is most prominent in New York Italian culture, and yellow represents the desert landscape of Ridgecrest.

Did you encounter any unexpected challenges when creating your book? If so, how did you overcome them?

I had an unexpectedly difficult time figuring out the illustration style to use for the book. This was definitely the longest process of the whole project. I experimented with illustration for weeks before I finally decided on a style. I tried ink pens, colored pencils, paintbrush drawings, and digital drawings. In the end, I decided to use black gouache paint for all of my illustrations. I then scanned these drawings and changed the color digitally to fit the colors of my book.

What advice would you give to someone making their first family cookbook or recipe collection? Any tips for a book-maker with little or no design experience?

I would tell a first-time cookbook maker to keep the design simple and let the food be the main component. I spent most of my time perfecting the food illustrations rather than worrying about the fonts and layout. The most important part of a cookbook is the food, so make sure that there are beautiful photographs or drawings of the recipes you are sharing. Keep the rest simple.

You’ve created work in various print formats (from books to posters) as well as multimedia projects. Do you have a favorite project or method of working so far?

It is so hard to choose a favorite project as they all brought their own challenges and rewards. My favorite projects, however, tend to be the ones that have subject matter that is close to my heart. For example, the project “Più Di Te,” an immersive animation video, was inspired by my deep love of Italian culture and music. It still brings me joy to watch that video to this day. My cookbook is also one of my favorite projects because it brings my grandma’s story to life, and it reminds me of the hours we spent cooking together when I was a kid.

What are some things you consider when combining different artistic mediums in one project (e.g. photography, illustration, design, video, print, 3D objects, and sound)?

At the beginning of a multi-media project, I try to strongly establish the aesthetics in a mood board so that I can reference this throughout the entire process. It is important that every different medium reflects this vision so that the whole project remains cohesive. Often, I do this with photographs by editing the colors so that they contain the same colors as the rest of the project. Originally with the cookbook, my photographs were in black and white, but I decided to overlay them with the colors from my color scheme so that they did not seem out of place.

For one of your media classes, you designed a Divination Machine that includes a deck of printed cards and an interactive lightbox. Tell us about the inspiration, design process, and materials for this piece. How did you choose a color palette, font style, paper type, and imagery for the cards to fit the overall look and feel of the project?

The assignment in this class was to make a machine that can tell the user’s future. I did some research on divination techniques and discovered a form of ancient Celtic divination called Ogham Staves that uses a tree-inspired alphabet to tell someone’s future. The basic idea is that the user picks a stick from a set of 25 sticks, each carved with a different symbol from the Ogham alphabet. These symbols have their own meanings and can be used to inform people of their fates. The machine I made has the same basic idea, but I laser cut the symbols into a wooden box and placed LED lights underneath each symbol. The user can press a button and generate a randomly chosen symbol. I designed a set of cards to accompany the box so that the user can discover what each symbol means. I illustrated each tree on the different cards and kept the color palette and the design of the cards pretty simple to let the illustrations shine.

What role does print play in our digital world?

The role of print has changed in the digital world, but it hasn’t disappeared. Printed materials have transformed from a necessity to a luxury. Books and other printed materials have become more of an art object than an everyday item. It isn’t necessary to use printed materials to communicate ideas anymore, so now print is only used for our most valued projects. I also think people have begun to value these items more as the world around us becomes more digital. Printing something brings it into our physical world and makes it more special.

What is the value of self-publishing for aspiring artists and designers?

Today, everyone has the ability to share their work and be seen by the world. The internet allows anyone to post online and gives them the chance to be recognized. Publishing a book should be no different. Self-publishing allows people from all different backgrounds and demographics to see the fruition of their creative efforts and gives them the chance to share their work on a large scale.

Is there a design or book project you’re excited about working on next?

I’m not working on anything too big right now, but I have been asked to design a logo for my cousin’s quilting shop that I’m really excited to work on! I’m done with school for now, so I’m looking forward to making whatever I want, whenever I want!

Have an idea for a new photo book, family keepsake, or creative project of your own? Explore your options at Blurb and start creating today.

The post Behind the Book with Bridget Callahan appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. How did you first get interested in photography?

My journey as a photographer began shortly after my first daughter was born in 2013. Every day she was growing and changing, and I wanted to remember all the things I loved about each stage. I bought my first crop sensor camera when she was just a few months old and started teaching myself everything I could about photography, running a business, and working with clients.

2. What inspired you to focus on portraits of women and motherhood?

Pregnancy and early motherhood are absolutely beautiful parts of life—but these are seasons that can be challenging, too. It’s not easy for everyone to feel gorgeous at eight months pregnant or right after you have a baby—I know I didn’t!

That’s why I believe every woman should have maternity and newborn portraits taken. I encourage my mamas to have their hair and makeup done and buy a beautiful dress (or use one from my client closet). We meet at beautiful, peaceful locations for maternity sessions, and the entire experience is all about helping them celebrate the beauty of pregnancy. Through the session and photos, she has a chance to embrace her new identity as a mother, and that is very powerful.

My goal for newborn sessions is to showcase the amazing love of a mother. I provide gentle posing guidance during my lifestyle sessions to help moms and dads slow down and bond with their new babies. Every mom has the softest, most beautiful smile as she gazes down at her baby. Capturing moments like that hardly feels like work—photography brings my heart so much joy. I’m honored that clients invite me into their homes to celebrate the beginning of their parenting journeys.

3. Do you have any tips for people who want to take better portraits? (Do’s and don’ts on lighting, backgrounds, angles, composition, etc.) Any tips on how to photograph someone you’ve just met?

My best advice for taking better portraits is to get closer! I prefer prime lenses that make you “zoom with your feet” by physically getting closer to whatever you’re photographing.

I like to spend a few moments chatting with clients and getting to know them before I ever pull out my camera. Everyone is usually a little nervous before a photo session. Taking just a couple minutes to help them relax and get to know them is a wonderful way to kick off your session.

It also helps if you explain why you’re asking clients to do something. When I am working with a pregnant woman, I briefly explain why poses are flattering as I help position her. Keeping the conversation going helps manage those feelings of nervousness clients might feel at the beginning, and it helps foster trust between you and your client if they understand why you’re posing them in a particular way.

4. Why did you choose to self-publish?

I’ve sent my clients a digital style magazine for years, and it has always helped them feel more prepared for photo sessions. It also saves me a lot of time answering texts and emails, because everything they need to know is inside.

This year, I decided to elevate the client experience and send mamas a physical copy. The Celebrate Motherhood magazine goes in the mail as soon as a client books her session, along with a card. I don’t tell them it’s coming, so it’s a fun surprise they get in the mail!

The magazine shows clients that I care deeply about making this a wonderful photography experience; mamas tell me they love how pretty the magazine looks on their coffee tables! I also love that a client can pass the magazine along to a family member or friend who is pregnant when we’ve wrapped our sessions together and it acts as a perfect marketing piece!

5. What appealed to you most about Magazine format? Had you published other Photo Books or Magazines prior to this one?

What woman doesn’t love to grab a magazine and curl up on the couch for a bit to relax?! That’s definitely one thing I like to do! The majority of my clients tell me they’ve never received a style magazine from a photographer before. It’s a fun way to learn more about their upcoming photo sessions, and I think this format keeps all that info from feeling overwhelming. Plus, my mamas get excited about possibly being included in a future version!

6. Tell us about the process of writing and designing Celebrate Motherhood. How did you decide on the layout, typography, and page length? Which book-making tools did you use?

Fortunately, all I had to do was adapt my digital version for print! My background is in public relations, and I also have experience in journalism and layout/design. That was definitely a big help in putting together the print version. I used the Blurb plug-in for InDesign and it made the layout a piece of cake.

My favorite magazine is Real Simple, so I grabbed a few recent copies as I was working on the print version of Celebrate Motherhood. That’s where I took most of my layout and design inspiration. I knew I wanted lots of white space and a clean, modern, professional look.

I also knew I wanted to include bonus info that I would share with any new mama friend; I include my favorite registry items, tips for motherhood-centric books and podcasts, and even my favorite brands of swaddles and clothing for newborns.

7. How has the print publication impacted your business and your relationship with clients?

The print version has absolutely elevated my client experience! I wanted my mamas to immediately see what they have invested in, and it’s so much fun to send something that’s beautiful and educational!

My maternity, Fresh 48 and newborn sessions flow better, and I kick off every session having already earned the trust of my clients because of the magazine. They feel informed and confident about the session before it ever begins, and this makes an incredible difference in the photos. My clients also understand why I make certain suggestions for wardrobe, location choice, etc.

The magazine also gives me plenty of space to educate my clients and help them get to know me and my heart for motherhood photography. I really think this is why clients treat me like a friend when we meet for their photos; they feel like they already know me after reading Celebrate Motherhood.

8. What advice would you give to aspiring photographers that want to turn their hobby into a business or career?

I would encourage any hobbyist to invest in education before you purchase expensive gear or lots of props. There are so many incredibly talented photographers who can teach you everything you need to know about shooting, editing, posing, running a business, marketing, blogging, small biz accounting—and more!

I think a lot of people considering the move to professional photography don’t realize that actually taking photos is a very small part of what you do as a biz owner. You spend far more time on the business aspect! That means running a successful business is about much more than your gear and props.

9. When you’re not taking portraits, what are your favorite subjects to photograph?

My kids! I have three daughters (6, 4, and 3) and they are my heartbeats. My girls grow and change so fast! It seems like there is something a little different about them each day. Sometimes I take formal photos of the girls to mark a particular stage, and other times I just capture our crazy daily life.

All of my favorite images are compiled in a family yearbook at the end of the year. These family yearbooks make great gifts for family and someday I’ll pass them down to my daughters. I love that they’ll always be able to look back at childhood memories.

10. Where do you look for inspiration? Are there certain places, books, or creative resources that you seek out to feel energized?

My favorite photographers who have inspired me from the beginning include Katelyn James, Emily Lucarz, and Sue Bryce. All of these ladies are incredibly talented—and I love how generously they give away their photography and business knowledge.

11. Any new projects in the works?

I have plans to create an updated version of the magazine for the fall/winter of 2020! It will include recently photographed sessions and new content that will help mamas feel even more excited and prepared for their photo sessions.

Do you have an idea for a magazine project to promote your photography, creative work, or business? Start creating today!

The post Behind the Book with Kristal Bean appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. What was the inspiration behind your book? 

The initial inspiration came from my daughter Pilar (Pili), now almost five years old. As I immersed myself in the world of being a father, the notion of inspiring children to aspire, and create educational materials with the essence of key ideas, became almost an obsession. I started to think about the challenges she will be confronting in life, especially as a girl. And that’s how The Adventures of Pili was initially triggered. My wish is to create an impact on children and their upbringing, becoming a catalyst for conversations on important topics at home and school.

2. Who helped you with this project? Can you tell us a bit about how you collaborated with other artists, writers, translators, etc.? 

It is fair to say that this project has only been made possible by people who, one way or another, believed in the idea. Initially, I shared the concept with a friend, Walter Carzon; an Argentinian artist who jumped into the idea right away. We partnered in creating a project that would inspire kids to aspire. But there has also been the unconditional help from translators, writers, editors, artists, designers, and friends who have supported in all kinds of ways. And for that, I will always be grateful. There are also those who I don’t have the pleasure of knowing personally but have decided to buy our books on Amazon and through other stores to give them to their loved ones.

Our partners and supporters include Gaia Amazonas, Etnollano, Tropenbos Colombia, CafiOccidente, Cortolima, Vía40Express, and Lindblad Expeditions. The Colombian Government office Pro-Colombia gave The Adventures of Pili the Marca País label to our books as country ambassadors, allowing us to include their exclusive branding logo on all our materials.

3. Your book tackles some big ideas including environmental conservation and sustainability, cultural diversity and empowerment, entrepreneurship, and climate change. How did you distill the core elements of these concepts into a message and format that children could access and understand? 

Our mission at The Adventures of Pili is to create books and other educational products that increase children’s awareness of global environmental issues and foster multi-lingual literacy. We believe conservation is not only about knowledge and awareness but about art, inspiration . . . and heart! So in order to inspire, we need to connect with our audiences. First, with the parents and teachers who buy the books. But in the end, with the kids who read our books no matter where they live. So we aim for universal acceptance of our educational adventures crossing borders.

4. How has your work as a professional photographer for National Geographic impacted or informed this project? 

My work is currently represented by National Geographic Image Collection, and for almost eight years now, I have been going on National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions around the world in my role as Nat Geo photographer. These constant interactions, with both highly educated travelers, combined with the experience of traveling the world in a very different manner, has transformed not only this project, but myself, both as a professional and as a human.

5. Why did you choose to self-publish? 

Flexibility. The ability to be anywhere and have books delivered to our clients remotely is priceless for me. It may not be the best option regarding cost, but certainly, the flexibility overcomes that problem. It all depends on what your goal is. As we do have a strong social mission connected with the project, our modus operandi may differ from other projects. For the books we give away for free to kids in remote communities around the world, we sometimes print overseas. Last year, our publications reached communities along the tributaries of the Amazon, in the Gobi Desert, and the highlands of Rwanda, to mention just a few locations.

6. How did you choose the languages to publish in, other than English? Why was it important to publish the book in multiple languages? 

My mother tongue is Spanish. Thanks to my parents having the vision to provide me with a bilingual education, I have been able to build my career upon it. So when it came to creating educational materials for kids, multilingual projects were the only choice. All our books have been created bilingual. We currently have English-Spanish, English-Mandarin, but as we speak, English-Japanese, English-Russian, English-French, English-German, and English-Arabic are being developed.

7. Tell us about the process of designing The Adventures of Pili in New York. How did you decide on the format, layout, color scheme, and typography? Which tools did you use?

It was an evolution that came from feedback from all the parts involved. As there is no bureaucracy involved in what we do, that mainly consisted of WhatsApp messages at weird times of the day or night, always mixed with humor, and the desire to make things well. To achieve what we came up with, took multiple rounds of reviews between us. Each one of us has a different background. We are not even located in the same country. Some of us have not even met in person. Different ways of seeing things, but each with a special unique talent, that when combined, creates the magic. I believe it is the magic of synergy.

8. Did you encounter any unexpected challenges when creating your book? If so, how did you overcome them? 

This project began as a dream. It turned into a vision. Became a partnership. And transformed itself into a project of love for many. The road has been filled with challenges on each step of the way, e.g. How do you distribute 5,000 books in remote communities around the world? Where do you find the resources to print those books? How do you make sure there is an inventory of deliveries, and beyond the act of getting a book, kids get inspiration through additional workshops? It would take a long time to describe how we overcame these challenges. But in a simple way, I would say, I never stop dreaming. Seeing the faces of those happy kids with their new unexpected books, or how Univision New York TV showcased the project’s achievements, made any challenges we faced worth tackling.

9. What do you think makes the best kind of children’s book? What can writers and illustrators do to make excellent children’s books? 

This is a complex question to answer but, I do have some insight. Only when this project transformed itself into one of love and friendship, that’s when the magic started happening at all levels, including our author and illustrator relationship. We speak daily about what we can do as a team to make things happen, and we all dream about how to make an impact.

10. What role does print play in a digital world? What do you think the future is for books for creatives, child readers, etc.? 

As we all know, the digital world has changed how we consume information and how we educate ourselves. In our case, as our social project is reaching low-income areas, in places hard to reach, digital is not really an option. Also when it comes to parents who buy our books, many times they prefer to give a traditional book, so their children can focus on reading, away from screen-time, which is what we all seem to end up doing most of the time now-a-days.

11. Can you tell us a bit about your professional background? How did you get started in photography?

My case may be a little unusual. I started by experimenting with different career paths. I was studying economics to become a Wall Street broker, or so I dreamt, but my father died when I was 20. My world collapsed. I lost all interest in material things and I focused on pursuing my dreams. I started wandering the planet in search of a purpose and a mission. And I did find it. But as I promised my dad, I graduated with a degree in economics before heading to the United States.

I never truly had a mentor while pursuing my photographic dreams, but I must admit, that as time has passed, especially lately, life has brought some amazing human beings that have nurtured my creativity and redirected my efforts into positive outcomes.

12. What’s next for Pili? 

As I type these answers, I have been awarded a Safina Center Fellowship. As this is an invitation-only fellowship, I requested to work on further inspiring the international community to support long-term educational strategies for this project, helping our efforts to address the need for knowledge and inspiration in remote places. I expect the communities that participate in this project to gain an increased sense of ownership of their natural resources.

We will continue our visits to schools and small rural communities, presenting our materials to students, complemented with presentations and workshops with the invaluable support of our partners and NGOs.

We also hope to develop and distribute a new book in the series: The Adventures of Pili in Colombia. New activity and coloring books are also being planned.

But above all, we hope to increase the number of free bilingual books given to children. If after reading this interview, you feel you would like to help, we are open to ideas. Anytime you share our story and project with the world, you are helping us.

Do you have an idea for a children’s book or another print project? Check out the Blurb Bookstore for inspiration, or get started on designing your pages today.

The post Behind the Book with Kike Calvo appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. When did your love of fashion begin? 

I really started to love fashion in college where I majored in costume design. I took a class on the history of fashion and I couldn’t get over the role that fashion plays throughout time. Also, more than a love of fashion, I found a love for the way someone lights up when they are wearing clothes they feel amazing in. I became obsessed with figuring out what would make each individual person feel confident, stylish, put together, and more like THEMSELVES.

2. What led you to a career as a personal stylist? 

I started my career in New York as a costume designer and assisted on several plays and musicals before deciding to work in the bridal world. After having the experience of working with women to find their wedding dresses and on the stage, I started to get asked to go into people’s closets. That was where I really found my sweet spot and it continued to grow from there.

3. Who are the style icons that have inspired you along the way? 

I’m always inspired by women who are unapologetic in their style. Women like Iris Apfel and Kate Spade have always been a strong influence. More recently, I’ve found Blaire Eadie and Busy Philipps really inspirational. I’m always drawn to style that exudes bold colors, prints, and an ability to be sophisticated and playful at the same time.

4. Can you tell us about the #showupforyourselfie social media challenge? 

Yes! My favorite thing to talk about! The #showupforyourselfie challenge is a free seasonal event. It’s a really beautiful mix of something that seems so simple but has such a big impact. It’s a way to hold yourself accountable by getting dressed every day for a week in a way that makes you feel your best. Then you post it in the private FB group and you get lifted up by the most supportive community! That’s really it!

That simple act of taking a little extra time to get dressed (especially if you work from home, are a mom with young children, or have just gotten into a style rut) can truly boost confidence levels and change the way you show up in the world. I’ve seen such a huge change in the women who have participated and it’s been a joy to host it every season. I also give practical tips, style advice, and give away prizes. It’s such a blast.

5. Where do you look for creative inspiration? Are there certain people, places, books, or resources you turn to when you are feeling stuck or unmotivated? 

I am a firm believer that inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere. Nature, a movie, a different decade, the women you saw rocking that jumpsuit at the park . . . Inspiration can strike anywhere if you are open to it! I enjoy places like Pinterest not only to get inspiration but to organize and keep track of those great ideas. Then if I’m in a rut, I can go and take a look at things that have inspired me in the past and see how I can step out of my box a bit. I also think that there is something really powerful about just spending 20 minutes at night (when you have nowhere to be) to just play around with your clothes. If you are in a rut, you have to allow yourself some time to try new things and explore without a time constraint.

6. Why did you choose to self-publish? 

I chose to self-publish because I wanted a quicker turnaround time, and the ability to put the book out into the world when I was ready for the world to see it!

7. Tell us about the process of writing and designing The Confident Closet. How did you decide on the layout, color scheme, and typography? Which tools did you use? 

I loved the idea of people having a book that they could write in, and take with them into their closets as they went through the process. So I started writing with the idea of it needing to be interactive as a priority. I took my signature process that I use with all my clients in The Confident Closet Course (my online course) and broke it down to create the book.

I worked with the brilliant Jillian Sandrey on all the graphics and layout. We went back and forth on a lot of ideas. I would send her doodles with some copy and she would create a killer chart or graphic that always exceeded my expectations.

We use my branding colors and color scheme throughout the book. We also created a pattern based on a section of the book called “The Five Shapes of The Confident Women” and that pattern is used throughout the book. It’s a nod to all the different shapes we come in as women and it’s something I think makes the book design extra special.

The world we live in is so visual and I wanted the book to reflect that. Jill really understood that. The amazing Rosa Delgado’s photography also took the book to the next level. It really was a wonderful collaboration.

8. What was the biggest challenge you faced when creating your book? How did you overcome it? 

Since I had never done anything like this in the past, there were a lot of steps we had to learn in real time. When you self-publish you are figuring it out on your own, which means there are some learning curves, especially with the timeline of how long things take.

9. Do you have any advice for someone writing a how-to guide? 

Think about the process you want the person reading to have. How you lay out your content is crucial for them to have results and shouldn’t be brushed over. The more digestible the information can be for them, the better.

10. What is the first step to discovering your personal style? 

I think we get stuck in an idea of how our style “used to be”. The first thing I always ask people to do is allow themselves to just think about who they are now and what their style is NOW. Not what their style was before kids, or in college, but now. We go through so many transitions in life. To have a truly aligned personal style you need to be ok with releasing the old and embracing the right now.

11. How has book publication affected your business? What kind of reactions or stories have readers shared with you since the book came out? 

The word that comes to mind is momentum. Publishing The Confident Closet has given my business just SO much momentum. It’s also been a joy to have something so tangible and affordable that represents my work. It’s been a great way to start a conversation with brands, podcasts, and companies as well. For example, I had a fantastic event at J Crew last year as well as several other book events all over California. I’ve also been interviewed on several podcasts. I love sending the host a copy of my book for them as a way of getting myself out there.

The ripple effect has been so fantastic as well. I have had a lot of clients mention how once they implemented what they learned in The Confident Closet their partner or friends decided to do it as well. Once people see your change, it’s impossible to not want to read it and do the work for yourself! A lot of readers have bought the book for their niece or their teenage daughter which has been really rewarding. While I didn’t write the book with the teenage girl in mind, the easy-to-read nature, and fun and playful vibe makes it a no-brainer for that generation. What I would have done for a book like this that talks about positive body image when it comes to style when I was a teenager! That has been an unexpected win for sure.

12. Any new projects in the works? 

I’ll be hosting another live round of my online course The Confident Closet Course this Spring which I’m thrilled about! No better time to join than in the throes of spring cleaning! It’s such a fun time to go through your closet and really hone in on your style. We’ll also be doing another round of the #showupforyourselfie challenge in Spring too! I’ve also been working on some really fantastic IGTV series and weekly content on my blog and newsletter. Come say hi and connect on social media (@melaniekluger) and check out all the content there as well!

Do you have an idea for a guide book or other inspirational content you’d like to self-publish?

Download BookWright and get started on your project today.

The post Behind the Book with Melanie Kluger appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Over the past six years, Lucas has raised more than $150,000 for Best Buddies. With the money he’s raised, his school has been able to start a club, which has spread awareness about the organization and its important mission.

His next fundraising goal is to complete the 2020 Best Buddies Walk for South Florida taking place on Saturday, March 14. To help raise money for this, Lucas designed and self-published his very own book, 365 Quotes of Kindness, and set it up for sale. The book costs $30, with 100% of the proceeds going to Best Buddies.

You can buy your own copy of Lucas’ book or make a donation here.

1. Where did the idea for 365 Quotes of Kindness come from?

The idea came from a day when I was home from school with a migraine and I finished reading a book called Wonder. Later that day, I went to Target with my mom, where I came across a version of the book called 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Precepts. It has lots of quotes in it and it inspired me to make my own quote book.

2. Tell us a bit about Best Buddies and your upcoming fundraising walk.

Best Buddies is a non-profit organization that helps people with intellectual developmental disabilities find jobs and friends. The walk on March 14, is a way to raise money for the cause.

3. Why did you choose to self-publish your book with Blurb?

I chose Blurb because my mom has always made her books with them.

4. How did you find all the quotes for your book?

I asked my family, friends, and classmates for quotes. At first, it was hard, but I kept asking friends and family every time I saw them. Soon I had enough to make into a book.

5. How will you be promoting your book?

I will promote this book by selling it to family, friends, and anyone else who wants to support Best Buddies. People can buy a copy of the book on my fundraising page.

6. How did you decide on the design of your book? How did you choose the colors and page layouts?

I looked at other books I was reading for inspiration and ideas on layout and design. My mom also helped me. Designing the layout was my favorite part of making the book.

Lucas used our free desktop tool, BookWright to make his book. 

7. What’s your favorite quote from your book?

My favorite quote is one from Mark Twain: “Kindness is the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

Inspired to start your own project? Get started today with our free desktop tool, BookWright. 

The post Behind the Book: Fundraising for Best Buddies appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. How did you get interested in documentary photography? 

First off, I should clarify that I don’t consider myself a documentary photographer, per se. For me, documentary photography is rooted in a very concrete time and place, while I’m trying to talk more about a larger social condition and a larger identity. I guess I would describe myself simply as a photographer. Of course, when I’m photographing people, ideas, and places I definitely stick to the ethics of documentary photography. I follow the guidelines of what it means to be a documentarian, but I would want to put some distance between what I do and what a photojournalist does. They are very different approaches. Documentary photography is more reactionary whereas my approach is more of a construction.

But as to how I got interested in photography, really it goes back to when I was 4. My grandmother gave me a camera. I had just moved to the US from Taipei, Taiwan. My family in the US were farmers and ranchers so I went from the bustle of Tai Pei to living on a very rural ranch in Eastern Colorado, where the grocery store is an hour away. It was a very isolating experience and as a result, I was incredibly shy as a child, a characteristic that lasted all the way into high school.

A camera was a way for me to process the world around me, to be present, but also to have something physical to hide behind. From an early start, the camera was always a useful tool for me and it really grew out of that. I never really considered photography as a career until high school though, when I had a couple of teachers and a mentor tell me that it could be a future for me. They saw something in what I had to offer and gave me the confidence to pursue that. And they shared their tools with me whether that be sharing the photo history they knew, technique, or even cameras to borrow. That was instrumental, without them I wouldn’t be working as a photographer in the capacity I am today.

2. What other genres of visual art or writing have influenced your image-making? 

Definitely painting. In painting, there’s a lot of the same constructive sensibilities that I approach my photography with. Even non-abstract painters, who depict the direct world around them are still constructing. They’re constructing a scene that is rooted in reality and trying to reveal some sort of truth. That’s the same approach I try to take with photography, although it does vary from project to project. A piece like American Backyard, for example, needs no element of fabrication. It should reflect the whole, unaltered truth. A project like The Mirror Pond, on the other hand, is much more pictorial. It doesn’t necessarily need to be grounded in a time or place. I can take more liberties in terms of the elements that I add or remove. Not in post-production, but during the creation of the photographs, as well as how I direct the people in each image in order to construct a narrative that conveys a truth that can’t necessarily be perceived in one moment. There are certain situations and peripheral ideas that need to be built. So again, that’s how I’m different from a documentarian, it would be unethical for a documentarian to build their own narrative like that, and call it fact.

3. How do you decide which photo projects to turn into books? 

I think it’s just a feeling really. For me, there’s an evolution of the work that needs to take place. I always expect for the early work in a project to never be used because that phase is more of a tool for me to figure out what the idea is in the first place. I’m always making work and then pulling on the threads that reveal themselves. I’m always photographing, but then some things kind of distill out of that – the vast majority though never sees the light of day.

It also varies with each project. In the case of American Backyard, we always suspected it would lend itself well to being a book and there are a couple of reasons why. One, the structure was very linear, literally following a line through the sand, and that inherently lent itself to turning pages in a book – just as the landscape unfolds. Secondly, there is so much nuance to the politics and identities around border issues, and the book explores some of these narratives which are overlooked by national media. In order to cover the detail that we wanted to go into and to provide a platform for those voices to speak through, it needed to be in written form. The book was the cornerstone component of that mission because it’s easy to share and distribute and lots of people can access it.

The process of making a book is one of distillation because you really have to consider the idea of the work from every angle. Whether or not a piece of work becomes a book, I almost always lay out the project in that sort of traditional format, because it forces me to carefully consider what the essential elements really are. You have to work within a very reductive process where you’re stripping everything but the essentials. What’s really cool about a platform like Blurb is that it offers a way for me to play with different concepts in a physical, tangible realm at a cost that I can afford and within a realistic timeline. I have printed layouts out in xerox before, but it’s different when you’re locked into a bound material that will determine what the final output is. It’s particularly useful in terms of sequencing and editing. I can show a work in progress to my peers, collaborators, and critics in a format that they understand because books are such a universal way of disseminating information and ideas. They create a common entry point to a piece of work. I can also watch people; how they interact with the page and the image. It’s so useful to see which images are glanced over, which ones are missed, how the page layouts and sequencing can really pull people in or miss the point entirely. It helps me to be more reactive and produce multiple iterations with new learnings applied each time.

So, whether something will definitely be a book or not, I like going through the process of assuming it will live in a printed, sequenced narrative

4. In your photo book, The Mirror Pond, the opening text reads “For a mirror pond to be a mirror pond, it has to be nearly still.” How did you arrive at this image, and when did you know you wanted to use it as the title concept? 

The title concept came before any images were made. The metaphor was actually penned in one night when the idea came to me. Then I set out to create images that visually articulated that idea and that metaphor. I always start with an idea before making images, although sometimes an image can spark a new direction that can turn into a new series or at least an investigation.

5. Have you always been drawn to photograph “the quiet moments that reveal” rather than bustling street scenes? Or does your approach vary depending on the subject matter? 

Yes, I’ve always been drawn to those quiet spaces. I think it goes back to my relationship with photography and it being a quiet place of introspection. I’m a quiet person in general and so that’s inherently how I approach picture-making as well. I do think that the world is so loud today and that maybe there’s more space for a conversation to be had in a quiet space. I guess I equate loud with a fixed narrative, whereas I would like my photography to be more ambiguous and the viewer to arrive at their own conclusion. Quiet things in quiet places and a quiet approach seem to do well at allowing that. As long as it’s loud enough to bring them into the page in the first place!

6. You say the work in The Mirror Pond is autobiographical on some level. What is your relationship to natural spaces and rural communities like these? 

I identify with quiet spaces and natural places the most just because of how intrinsically tied the outdoors is to my origins, When you grow up on a farm you’re constantly outside, whether that’s for work or for play, so it’s an integral part of my personality and shapes what I’m attracted to today. It’s also how I recentre. Whether I’m making work or on a bike ride, being outdoors in those spaces is how I think. I’ve never been able to make work in a city, and I think it’s because I just can’t think in such frenetic places. Maybe one day I’ll find the knack of creating quiet pictures in a noisy place – that’s the ultimate challenge.

7. American Backyard is a photo book you created in collaboration with Genevieve Allison. What did you learn about creative collaboration, and how did it affect your process as a photographer? 

It’s really nice having someone to share ideas with and ultimately be empowered to change your ideas. Photography is inherently such a solo pursuit that it can be refreshing to have a dialogue and thought process that exists outside of your own head. I’m definitely drawn to subtlety and nuance so it’s refreshing to be able to see the other side of the same coin and how the same experiences can be interpreted so differently. It’s great working with a writer because they have a way of distilling experience in an inherently different way to a photographer. That can help me to visualize photos that I hadn’t thought of because they’re coming at it from a different paradigm.

8. Telling a story through images takes practice. What are the most common mistakes you see new photographers make in curating images or designing their books?

In my experience, photographers often make photos that they think other people want to see rather than making photos based on their own vision and what they have to say. I think that’s the biggest pitfall that any creative faces, in any medium; wanting to be relevant, have social currency and to make work that matches that which they’re seeing is successful. And there is commercial value to that. But it can be hindering in terms of having something new to say and making original work.

Secondly, I would always want to be sure I’m the right person to tell a story and be aware of the issues of othering and sensationalizing. I’m always careful to ensure that I’m not becoming a ‘visual colonizer’ or constructing a narrative in a place I don’t belong in or have any history with. I try to keep that at the front of every creative decision I’m making.

9. What advice do you have for a photographer embarking on a photography project?

Firstly, I keep a journal and every day I write down what’s working and not working. That’s helpful because if I’m stuck and feeling uninspired it’s something I can go back to and see if there are lessons I’ve missed. That’s something that carries over beyond specific projects, and can help you get out of the dead ends that any artist can find themselves in. Having a place for reflection is important and it’s also a way to slow yourself down and appreciate what it is you’re doing.

I also really like making contact prints as the work is developing. I share them with others or push them around a table, just to see them all at once and to see if there are any narrative holes. That tactile experience can really help keep a project focused and on track.

10. When you’re not behind the camera or editing images, what other activities or routines are essential to your creative life? 

Exercise and getting outside, whether I’m hiking, cycling, or just breathing fresh air and enjoying time in a quiet place.  Being with friends and loved ones, cooking, reading, movies, and listening to music all help too, but moving my body outside is the most crucial escape for me.

Inspired to start your own Photo Book project? From our Adobe InDesign plug-in to our free desktop software BookWright we have the perfect tool to bring your project to life. Get started today.

Elliot Ross
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The post Behind the Book with Elliot Ross appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. When did you first start drawing and painting?

I can’t really remember a time that I wasn’t drawing. It became a habit early on. I doodled on almost anything in front of me, from the phone book to my desk at school. In fifth grade, instead of being punished, my teacher actually encouraged me.

2. Where did you look for inspiration in the beginning? How have your sources of inspiration changed?

As a kid, I loved drawing people, especially my mom’s friends, either in scenes or as paper dolls. I made so many paper dolls! In college, I initially focused on design. Once I started painting, I predominantly created scenes of disenchanted women in domestic environments. Later, my work became abstract before coming back around to figures, mostly animals. I just wanted to make fun, playful art. I find animals endlessly endearing and entertaining.

3. Many of your paintings feature whimsical flora and fauna. What role do animals and nature play in your daily life?

I feel like they save me from taking anything too seriously. When I was young, I adored my stuffed animals, but I wanted a real pet so badly. We lived in an apartment complex that didn’t allow them. When I was eight, I found a big orange cat. We had to hide him from our landlord for months. That year, we moved into a house and we always said it was so that Cubby the cat could have a home. The next year, we got a puppy. Eventually, we had two and then three dogs. As an adult in the city, I’ve had two bunnies and now have two sweet cats.

I’m drawn to the sense of wonder animals express and I love the connection I’ve always felt with my own pets. I’d love to have a garden. For now, I enjoy the urban/suburban neighborhood of Brooklyn where I live. I think a lot of people would be surprised by how green areas of Brooklyn are. Also, once I learned that flowers are endlessly popular to license, I started painting more of them. Flowers are so beautiful and they’re just fun to paint.

4. How do you choose the subjects for your portraits?

I chose the latest people for an Instagram portrait challenge last winter. I painted designers, artists, scientists, writers, etc., that I admire. I tried to paint each of them in a style that referenced their own work and aesthetics. I’ve also painted several custom portraits.

5. Why did you decide to self-publish your latest collection as a Layflat Photo Book? Which features of Layout format appealed to you the most?

I was excited to try the Layflat option because it’s great to open up a book that holds your place. It’s such an appealing format, and the paper is silky and thick. I chose the 7×7 in. Square and it’s a beautiful little book. I’m basically creating small catalogs of my favorite paintings.

6. Tell us about the process of designing your book (cover, size, page layouts, and sequence of images). Which design tools did you use?

I like the way the small square book feels in my hand. I had recently redesigned my logo, the white bunny, so that made sense to use on the cover. I used the Bookwright tool again because it was so simple to use the first time and I like that I could easily go in and move things around before finalizing the book. I chose images for facing pages that I think relate well to one another. There are hints of stories and connections between certain images and characters, even though there are no words in my book.

7. Did your process for curating and designing this book differ from that of your first collection?

The main difference is that I added more images. I knew I wanted to make a small, but chunky coffee table book.

8. Why did you decide to include photos of your home and workspace in your latest book?

I enjoy seeing where people live and work. I just assume most of us do. Is it tidy or messy? What is the light like? What materials do they use? That kind of thing. I moved two years ago and it was a turning point for me, personally and professionally. I think my space has a real impact on my work.

9. What are the essentials that keep your creative life going strong (tools, schedule, work environment, collaboration, personal outlook, etc.)?

I don’t have any tricks for staying creative. Sometimes I work from home and sometimes I work on-site. I work fairly often in the film/TV business. It can be a tiring job, but you also learn from the other scenic artists, most of whom are fine artists, muralists, ceramicists, writers, you name it. I’m definitely inspired by many of the people with whom I work. I value time to work on my own pieces, so even if I make one ugly thing after the other, I try to stay positive. There’s no rhyme or reason to it for me. Some of my favorite paintings I made quickly after a long day on a TV job and others took weeks, going back and forth, making little adjustments.

10. How do you balance your creative goals with your professional/business goals?

I’m working on that balance. I’m much better at creating work than reaching out to potential clients and licensees.

11. What advice do you have for artists that want to pursue a career in painting or illustration?

My advice is to create a lot! If you’re pursuing commercial projects, as I am, find inspiration that’s not what everyone else is looking at. Know what is out there and develop your taste. There are so many talented illustrators working. Try to find a way to put a different spin on a popular subject matter. It’s easier than ever to be seen, but it’s harder to stand out.

12. Are there any new projects you are excited about starting this year?

I’m excited about my box card sets that just came out with teNeues Stationery. And I recently licensed some other art for their products, available next Fall. I’m also excited to be in a group show, up in New York, through the New Year. My Layflat book is actually included in the exhibit, along with original art and sketchbooks in a showcase vitrine. It’s perfect, since it stays open to the two pages I wanted to show! I have some other cool projects in the works for 2020, but I don’t want to jinx anything.

Do you have a collection of paintings, illustrations, or designs you’d like to share with friends or fans? Download BookWright today, and start creating a portfolio or coffee table book to showcase your creative work.

The post Behind the Book with Allyn Howard appeared first on Blurb Blog.

The girls received one-on-one mentorship from a best-selling children’s author, professional editor, and acclaimed writers and illustrators to help prepare their books for publication. After printing 10 copies of each book, the class held a launch event at a local bookstore to celebrate the students’ work.

We caught up with Christian to get his thoughts on the program debut and to hear about the girls’ experience in their own words.

1. Were you writing, drawing, or doing creative work as a young student? Did you have any mentors that inspired you?

As a kid, I absolutely loved reading and writing, but I never had the self-belief or confidence to take it further. I was not good at writing in class and did not have the marks I needed to study creative writing, so I gave up on that dream very early in life.

2. How did you decide to pursue a teaching career?

I was very lucky to be able to follow my dream of becoming an athlete as a kid and it was an amazing experience. I wanted to give as many kids as possible the opportunity to live their own dreams, so I became a teacher.

3. What is your personal experience with self-publishing or publishing in general?

I never had any real experience with self-publishing but it didn’t look that hard. As a teacher, sometimes you do not need to be an expert, just willing to learn new skills yourself.

4. What inspired you to create this pilot program specifically for girls?

We knew that a few of our girls had dreams to become authors so we created this program to see if there were others that felt the same. The most important work we do in the Enterprise Academy is to give girls the opportunity to be bold and live their dreams. We were overwhelmed with the amount of interest in the program and will definitely have to run it again because there are so many amazing authors in our classrooms just waiting for the opportunity to be discovered. This is just the beginning!

5. How did you select the professional team you collaborated with?

All the experts in our program were hand-picked not only because they are the best at what they do, but because of their passion for supporting and empowering students through literacy. The most important members of the team were our Enterprise Academy associates, current students who are passionate about supporting the learning of others. They made the magic happen.

6. What does the curriculum look like during each day of the program?

The 4-day program was structured to give the girls as much one-on-one support and feedback from experts and their peers as possible. In the Enterprise Academy, we focus greatly on creating a learning environment where the girls can learn from each other and find the gold and potential that they already have inside themselves.

7. What do you hope your students learn from the process?

I think these reflections from the girls sum it up best:

“I have improved my writing and drawing skills and I am proud of the work I did because I achieved everything to the best of my ability.”
– Amritha, author of Wish Upon a Fox

 “I have learnt a lot about the ‘real world’ side of becoming a published author and the importance of leverage and negotiation. I am feeling much more confident in myself and my work.” – Genevieve, author of The Balance

 “Every part of the Authors’ Accelerator program was fun, educational, and funny. I am confident in my ability to succeed and feel proud of what I did in the Enterprise Academy.” – Annabella, author of The Sacred Jewel

 “I’m extremely proud of my work and a lot more confident now because of all the support. I have grown in confidence and creativity and I believe in myself more.” –Paige, author of It’s Not Punny

8. You planned a special launch event at a local bookstore with the girls’ books on display for purchase. How else will you be promoting the students’ books?

The book launch was a huge success and all the girls’ books sold out! We are still working on organizing a book tour for our amazing authors.

9. Why was marketing the books an important part of the process?

This program was not just about publishing books, it was about giving the girls the tools and resources to succeed and continue to thrive as professional authors, and marketing was a part of that. Each girl received all the profits from all of their book sales and now have everything they need to continue printing and selling their books today and into the future.

10. What does the future of this program look like to you? Will you make it a regular part of your curriculum or evolve it in any way?

Watch this space!

Feeling inspired to launch a self-publishing project of your own? Check out the Blurb Bookstore for great ideas. If you’re ready to start designing your own book or magazine, download BookWright, our free desktop publishing tool and bring your idea to life.

The post Behind the Book: A Self-Publishing Program for Girls appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. What was the inspiration behind A is for Anteater?

The inspiration behind the book was my daughter’s interest in animals from a very early age—we decided to spring for a family membership to the San Francisco Zoo, and it has already more than paid for itself. Also, one of her favorite things to do is ‘draw on paper,’ and she often requests that I draw a particular animal—combining it with the ABCs seemed like a natural next step!

2. Why did you choose to self-publish?

I wanted to give her a real book for her second birthday—something that felt professional and held up next to her other animal books. I had used Blurb in the past for work, to do layouts and premium print projects in a marketing role, so I was comfortable with the system and confident that it would print up very nicely.

3. Tell us about the process of designing A is for Anteater. How did you decide on the layout, color scheme, and typography? Which tools did you use?

All of the drawings came together very quickly—I sat down one morning at the kitchen table and did nearly all of them at once in a small notebook. But then, there was the matter of getting them into a digital format, and deciding on colors, fonts, etc.

The first step was to scan and carefully pull each drawing into a new file using Photoshop—it was there that I added the colors to each letter as well. Initially, I thought I would use my own handwriting or script font, but then, laying it out in BookWright, I felt that the contrast between the fluid, organic drawings and a modern, sans-serif font had a nice rhythm to it. After that, I’ve always loved warm yellow and gold, so I added the endpapers in that color.

4. Did you encounter any unexpected challenges when creating your book? If so, how did you overcome them?

I would say the most challenging part of it was figuring out how to remove the drawings from their original context in the notebook and preserve their natural feel in a new context. I think something that helped achieve that was leaving the color of the paper inside the animal drawings (a nice cream-white), which gives them a certain added softness which they may have lost with only outlines.

5. What do you think makes the best kind of children’s book? What can writers and illustrators do to make excellent children’s books?

It’s hard to say exactly what qualities add up to this, but I think the best children’s books are the ones that parents and kids come back to again and again. Usually, it means there’s some combination of beautiful illustrations, an interesting twist, or a good sense of humor.

6. What role does print play in a digital world? What do you think the future is for books for creatives, child readers, etc?

Print plays an increasingly important role in a digital world, in my view. Given the abundance of digital content, print elevates the material by its very nature—you can’t replace the feel of a beautifully produced book or magazine. Also, I think from a child’s perspective, it’s more important than ever to have books around—we are so inundated with screens nowadays, and books allow much more room for imagination and our creative mind to invent new pathways. In my view, I think it’s important to make time for that before engaging too heavily with technology—digital media is great, and it’s certainly not going anywhere, but it’s not a replacement for the printed word or image.

7. Between photography, illustration, and design, what’s your favorite medium to work in? Do you ever mix mediums?

I love all of them, but for me, my work in photography usually serves the needs of my artwork—I take pictures to remember certain scenes or compositions that I’d like to draw or paint. I love design as well because it’s very freeing to have total control over how your work will be displayed and viewed by an audience.

8. How did you get started as a writer and illustrator?

My grandfather, Donald Teague, was an illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post for many years in the first half of the 20th century. I grew up going to his house for nearly every holiday, visiting his studio, and even getting to ‘collaborate’ on some sketches with markers on the living room floor. Ever since then I’ve loved the idea of figuring out how to follow in his footsteps somehow—hopefully this is the first step!

9. Where do you look for creative inspiration?

It might sound trite, but the world around me. I have always felt more like myself when I’m drawing from life. Watching my daughter grow and learn, and soak up her surroundings is a constant reminder to not take anything for granted, and to always try to learn as much as possible—seeing the world through her eyes is a constant inspiration. My grandfather’s work, as well as my dad’s writing,  have both inspired and motivated me as well. I also think that digital media can be great in this regard—Instagram, in particular, is actually a good place to look for artistic inspiration. There are so many talented painters, illustrators, graphic designers, and even writers on that platform.

10. What books or other resources have been essential to you? Do you have any tips for other people seeking creative guidance or motivation?

One book stands out for me as far as being a creative in today’s world, and that is The War of Art, by Stephen Pressfield. It’s sort of an artist’s manifesto—short chapters that hone in on challenges that many artists face, as well as solutions or suggestions for how to overcome those challenges. Also, a close friend recently gave me a copy of Find Your Artistic Voice, by Lisa Congdon, which I’m getting into now.

11. Any new projects in the pipeline? What would you love to work on next?

I’m currently working on another animal-based book, which is also tied to San Francisco. My family and I enjoy visiting the Presidio here in San Francisco, and my daughter is always the first to pick out all the animals there. This one will have a narrative, and I’m sketching out the storyboards now. I’m hoping to be able to complete a draft before the holidays—so, wish me luck! You can check out Bryan’s latest projects on Instagram.

 Do you have an idea in mind for a children’s book? Download BookWright and get started on your project today.

The post Behind the Book with Bryan Kitch appeared first on Blurb Blog.

01 What inspired you to make a journal focused on mental health and wellbeing? 

I was inspired by the thought of feeling trapped in your own mind. As humans, we don’t often take into account just how intelligent our brains are. If left in our own head for too long, we can easily conceive many scenarios that make things seem a lot worse than they are. Writing is therapeutic. It releases capable mental real estate and allows us to see what’s holding us back and what’s taking up too much space.

02 What do you hope your readers will gain from using your journal? 

The courage to identify and interpret their emotions, and to be more proactive with addressing their mental health.

03 Tell us about the process of designing Safe Space. Why did you choose the Notebook format? How did you decide on the layout, color scheme, and typography? 

The design aspect was simple, so simple that it could have become very complicated. I didn’t want the design to take away from the overall purpose of the journal, thus the lack of color and lack of playful typography. The layout had to be elementary enough for a child to use and visually appealing enough for an adult to connect with. The decision to use a notebook format was always the goal, I was extremely focused on structuring it for daily use.

04 Did your background in architecture influence your design choices at all? 

My background in psychology directly influenced this project, while the influence of architecture and design was more indirect. A quote from a design seminar I attended, “young architects, you don’t have to build buildings . . .” really impacted me. So much that I took it quite literally.

05 Why did you choose to self-publish? 

Self-publishing became an option because initially, I had only planned on making this journal for myself. During the design process, I started to realize its potential and how it could benefit others going through many of the same things.

06 The spine of the book reads “Building Materials for Idle Hours.” How did you come up with that phrase? In your experience, what is the relationship between constructing physical spaces and emotional spaces? 

This phrase came as a way to connect my love for architecture and design, but also from my literal take on the aforementioned statement from the design seminar. So instead of “building buildings” I am building better bridges to others through the tools I have created and will continue to create moving forward. The relationship between physical and emotional spaces is congruent. In my personal experience, both spaces are equally important to the other’s wellbeing.

07 The word “idle” may have different connotations for different people. What is your concept of idle time? Is it positive or negative? 

Time is always an interesting subject for me. Although we all acknowledge and abide by the ideals surrounding it, I feel as though we have more control over how we utilize it than we think. Using “idle time” to the fullest is directly connected with what we chose to make a priority in our lives. I always want to express the idea that time is ultimately ours, so be extraordinary.

08 You’ve made printed handouts and a “Timepeace” clock with motivational text to bring awareness to your book project. Why was it important to create these materials? Do you have plans to make other objects or tools like these? 

I am a huge advocate of daily affirmations, as well as physical objects that are aesthetically pleasing—connecting emotional and physical spaces in order to create an environment conducive to my overall mental health. More tools labeled as ‘Building Materials’ are in the foreseeable future, starting with a piece that will work hand in hand with Safe Space, as well as events and visual projects.

09 One page of the book reads “DO NOT BEND OR FOLD.” Can you say more about that instruction? 

“DO NOT BEND OR FOLD” came from a mailing envelope I came across at a local shipping center. Again, I tend to take everyday things way too literally, and in turn I used this instruction as a way to send another obvious message to others: Remember that every heartache, every challenge, every rejection, and every loss that seems to have such an exorbitant cost is actually here to carry us across to the next opening, the next expansion.

 10 Do you have a regular creative practice at home? If so, what mediums do you work in? 

My creative practices at home bounce around. However, it almost always begins with arranging rooms of the house; I am extremely passionate about floor plans and utilizing space.

11 Where do you look for creative inspiration? 

I draw inspiration from everything around me: people, signage, nature, etc. This world is truly extraordinary, and life is a blessing. I’m very much inspired by inspiring.

12 How has making this book and sharing it with other people changed you? 

It has done wonders for the way I communicate with others and has given me a chance to design something that is continuing to have such an amazing impact on many different people. It’s most definitely my most honest work thus far, and I hope I am able to reach as many people as possible moving forward.

13 What books or other resources have been essential to you? Do you have any tips for other people seeking creative guidance or motivation?

Essentials lately have been some of my old psychology textbooks, which I never thought I would open up again, but I’m learning that passions always come full circle. Any two things in the world are connected by a third, the secret is figuring out what that third thing is and that’s why you have to spend a tremendous amount of time understanding and accepting yourself so you can have the courage to make just the right wrong decision.

Custom notebooks and journals can provide space for all kinds of creative and personal exploration. Do you have a book project you’ve been thinking about making? Learn how to get started today!

The post Behind the Book with Amir Sali Berry appeared first on Blurb Blog.

01 What inspired your book?

Like many Airbnb hosts, I started out overnight, just renting out my extra bedroom to travelers or business people. I had no hospitality experience—Airbnb was not very mainstream then. It was only after I started working at Urban Bellhop, an Airbnb management startup, that I started taking hosting and hospitality more seriously.

I started looking for hotel-quality products to use in the rentals I was managing and looking around in what I’d call, the more traditional, vacation rental industry. This led me to businesses that offer hotel-quality products, like The Distinguished Guests, and I started using them in my rentals. Using the website 1chicretreat, I started educating myself about vacation rental interior design and met Mercedes Brennan, a vacation rental interior designer. I started implementing all these great tips in my Airbnb rentals. It was clear that there were many people like me who were becoming Airbnb hosts overnight—almost by accident, hence the title of my book—and I wanted to share all my best tips with them.

02 How did you decide on the format for your book? How did you choose the size, paper type, and cover type?

I wanted to write a practical guide. For me, this meant a book that isn’t too large or heavy. A book you can take with you and put in your bag easily. A 5×8 in. Trade Book with a softcover was the ideal option. Since it’s a text-heavy information book, Economy Black and White paper worked great, allowing me to add a nice profit margin while still offering the book at a competitive price ($14.99 USD.) The book has a vintage look that comes to life beautifully in color. For the color edition I chose Economy Color paper, which is a great option if you have mainly text and just a few illustrations.

03 What book creation tool did you use? What was the design process like?

My book designer used Adobe InDesign to make the book. In the very beginning I tried creating the book interior myself, but I just wasn’t able to make it the way that I had in mind. I knew that a professional interior book designer would be able to do it, and efficiently. I shared the concept of my book with her, sent a few examples and colors I wanted to use and she came back to me with a few design options.

04 What was the most exciting part of the book creation process? What was it like to receive your finished product for the first time?

I absolutely LOVED the beginning phase of it, which was writing the book. Thinking of all the things that I wanted to pass on that would help other Airbnb hosts. After I finished writing, I started looking for a professional copywriter/editor who could review my text. I found one who specialized in travel copywriting, so she knew how to speak to vacation rental owners, and was able to make the text even better.

I also have a few illustrations which were provided by a friend. That eventually became the front cover. And here is the magical part—when I handed it over to my interior book designer, she came up with the idea to add the word “accidental” in orange, and a little bit outside of the title. She tweaked a few things on the book cover and made it even more enticing! So, in short, having a remote team of individuals that helped me make the book better in every way was my favorite part.

05 What were some challenges your particular project had, and how did you work through them?

The first major challenge was figuring out how to put my chapters into a professional-looking book. That’s why I reached out to an interior book designer, which was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made during this process. The other challenge was marketing my book after it was finished, because marketing is actually a full time or at least a part-time job.  And if you already have a full-time job, working on a strategic marketing plan can be time-consuming. You also have to educate yourself about it, because with digital and social marketing, there are a ton of new ways to market your book online.

06 Is your project part of your “main” work, or is it a side project? How does it relate to what you do?

The project is not my main work, it was a side project. I’ve always wanted to write a book but had not found the right topic yet. In that sense writing the book was my passion project. The other reason I wrote the book and self-published it myself was that I wanted to learn more about the self-publishing industry. I work in the Customer Support team at Blurb, and having a good understanding of the entire self-publishing process was incredibly helpful in my daily job and allows me to better support self-published authors.

07 Did you have any professional help in creating your book?

Absolutely! And that was one of the best decisions I made. I tried to find people I wanted to work with by looking at their portfolio and previous projects. My interior book designer lives in Australia and I hadn’t even seen or talked to her before! She was recommended to me by another designer that I knew online. We worked on the book together via email and it worked out perfectly. I’m also extremely happy and grateful that I found Jessica Vozel, a travel copywriter, because she really made a difference to the content. You can either look around in your own network or sign up for services like Reedsy to find book-making professionals.

08 What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone creating a book to sell?

One of the most crucial pieces of advice I could give is to not underestimate the importance of marketing. If you don’t know how to market your book yourself, find yourself a book agent or a marketer that can really help you find the right audience and develop marketing strategies to sell your book.

09 What was the writing process like? How did you organize your content? How long did the different stages take?

That was heaven for me because I got to do what I love to do most which is going to a coffee shop and sit in the sun reading, thinking, writing, and drinking coffee! That’s pretty much what the writing process looked like. If you have blank page anxiety and don’t know what to write about, one of the things that really helped me was writing in an online book template. It will give you an idea of what the text will look like on the page and this can motivate and inspire you to continue writing. Another thing I enjoyed doing was thinking of ways to organize the content and making an outline. My book has two sections. The first goes into the basics of setting up your Airbnb rental, such as creating your user profile, creating a listing on Airbnb, vetting potential guests, etc. The second part goes into how to organize each room in your house to create a five star guest experience. It took me about two years from beginning to end. The first year was writing the book, and the second was figuring out how to create a book that I could actually sell. I also had a full-time job, so that did slow down the process a bit.

10 How did you decide on the look of your book? 

I love daydreaming and visualizing things so this was a lot of fun too. To begin, I created a concept for my book, inspired by Emily Post’s etiquette books from the 1920s. I wanted to write an Airbnb etiquette guide in Emily Post’s style. That’s why I wanted the book to have a vintage look and started looking for vintage design ideas and colors. If you look inside my book, you’ll find a lot of vintage elements. The blue and orange accent colors are very retro too!

11 What are your sales and distribution goals for the book? How did you decide where to sell it?

I sell my book online and created a landing page for it. It’s available through the Global Retail Network on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other online retailers worldwide. This was the best option for worldwide distribution. I have a color edition of the book and that one is available through Blurb. Because color paper costs a bit more, it made sense to sell the color edition through the Blurb Bookstore, as Blurb doesn’t charge a retail fee. Selling my color edition through the Global Retail Network would have made the retail price much higher because of the additional wholesale discount for retailers. One of the things I’m working on right now is a marketing plan for my book. Understanding and leveraging the power of digital marketing is essential nowadays.

Another thing I’m planning on doing is to visit local bookstores and explore selling there too.

I also turned a few checklists in my book to actual printed flyers with Magcloud, which I can either sell or use for promotional material.

Here are some examples:

Kitchen Essentials

8 Tips for a Cozy Living Room

12 Who is your audience, and how do you reach them?

My audience is new Airbnb hosts who have a second home or a room in their house they want to rent out and are looking for ways to get started and optimize their rental. They can find tips on how to improve their Airbnb listing and how to organize their place to provide a hotel-quality stay for their guests. Digital marketing is an important part of how I reach my audience but I also visit vacation rental Trade shows and team up with people in the vacation rental industry who want to list my book on their website or mention it in their blog articles.

13 Do you have any more projects on the horizon? What’s a dream project you’d like to do one day?

Yes, I do! I recently started my interior design blog at veronicatercan.com where I write about interior design and DIY projects. My dream project is to write a book about interior design and how beautiful spaces can affect people’s happiness.

Ready to get started on your book? Try our free book-making tool, BookWright. Start with a pre-designed template or build our own from scratch using it’s easy drag-and-drop feature.

The post Behind the Book with Veronica Tercan appeared first on Blurb Blog.

01
Tell us a bit about the inspiration for your project. Where did the idea come from?

Last August, I went on a last-minute, month-long, bucket-list trip to South Africa with a man I was in a relationship with. In many ways, it was a dream trip. So of course, when I came home, I made a book right away — the kind of book that my mom would like. Pretty pictures with everyone smiling.

But I also knew that something shifted significantly on that trip. And in my mind, there was this lingering question that I couldn’t quite shut away. I kept wondering: If I was ever going to tell this story, with my own voice, how would I do it? I didn’t quite know what to do with that question since I was already 4 years deep into a whole other book project — but I could feel something was there.

Meanwhile, I was getting ready for a workshop that I was going to be teaching at the Brooklyn Art Library about a month or so later. When we were working out the details, they suggested I bring something to sell, like prints or a zine.

Working on a book for so long had made me ripe pickings for a project with a quick deadline and a low bar. In my mind, zines could be anything, even stapled photocopies! So I thought: sure I can make a zine! The timing was perfect.

02
What made you choose to publish a book? How did you decide that a book was the best format for this project?

I’ve always loved books. And ever since it’s become incredibly easy to make books online, for the last several years, I’ve been experimenting with making books. As an artist who is also a photographer and a writer, I was especially interested in how words and pictures could work together in the telling of a single narrative.

As I thought about this story and how I would tell it, the question was never about the format. I always knew it was going to be a printed-on-paper thing — something physical that could tell a story through text and imagery.

As for why I chose the book format for this project in particular, the answer really comes down to ease of accessibility: making a quality book online is now easier for me to do than it would be for me to access a photocopier so that’s why I decided to make a book. It was the easiest and most accessible option.

03
What was it like to make your original book with Blurb? Which tools did you use?

It was SO EASY. BookWright was a dream to use.

I’ve tried once or twice to use InDesign before but, as I was one of those stubborn types who thinks I should be able to muscle my way through and intuitively learn how to use something without ever reading or watching anything about it at all, I never managed to learn how to use it. (Surprise!)

Meanwhile, I kept meeting other photographers who’d made books through Blurb and they all insisted it was easy. Eventually I gave it a shot. I went to Blurb’s site, downloaded BookWright and, as promised, it really was easy. As that person who, as aforementioned, likes to jump headfirst into things and bang around as if I already know everything, I was able to jump right into BookWright and make my book (thus reinforcing the idea that I can continue on in life without reading any instructions, for better or worse).

In fact, the book was practically written in BookWright. I had only a loose plan going in. I had a draft written in a word processing document but I hadn’t yet figured out how the photos would weave into the narrative so the sequencing and ordering of words with photos happened very organically and all in BookWright.

04
Your Kickstarter campaign is running from 4/30-5/30 how will the funds raised through this support your project?

I wanted to see my story printed in a book that was designed to be a reflection of that particular story. If my book was ever going to be on a table with a hundred other books made by independent authors like myself, I wanted my book to be different. I wanted to make a book that would stand out. I wanted to create art in the form of a book.

Making small batches of books of this calibre and with this level of detail, is an artisanal craft that requires skill and expertise.

That said, most of the funds raised will go directly towards the production of the books, which will be printed in Canada. I also worked with graphic designer Alexia Lim on the design and typesetting of the book and I commissioned motion designer Alex Kurina to edit the book’s trailer. Kickstarter takes 5% and then there’s processing fees of another 3-5%. Plus there’s less-exciting costs that quickly add up, like shipping and freight, licensing, and bubble wrap.

If all goes swimmingly well, I’d also love to be able to buy donuts to give to the USPS office workers who will be working on the days I roll up with several hundred books to ship.

05
How did you approach the design and layout of your book? Were you led by your images, text, or a combination of both?

From my experience, people tend to quick-flip through photo books. If they unexpectedly encounter a page fully covered with text after flipping through so many photos, the experience could be a bit jarring. So finding the right balance between words and visuals was something I had been thinking about.

My overall goal was to craft a good story so I let that be my starting point and then just allowed for the process itself to be very organic. I let myself do whatever that I felt needed to be done. Though I guess because I did write a draft of the narrative as the very first step, perhaps it’s fair to say then that I was lead by the written part of the story.

06
What do you hope people take away from your book? How or what do you want them to think or feel?

I hope that my story connects with people and that it leaves an impact. I’m a divorcee who never thought I would ever become a divorcee. So much of how I live now would be virtually unrecognizable to a past version of myself. Sometimes I still feel like I’m catching up with myself. For me, divorce was a shattering experience with many aftershocks.

I would love for this book to reach people who have had or are going through a similar experience and for those people to find comfort or hope in the story I’ve shared.

07
How do you plan to market and promote your book?

I am going to use a multi-prong approach, also known as the “use everything I’ve got” method. Alas, I am new to the whole world of publishing books so while I am painfully aware that I don’t even know what I don’t know, I figure it can’t hurt to make my goal to put this book in front of as many eyes as possible. So, that means:

1. Design an amazing Kickstarter campaign page that tells the compelling story about me, my book, the story, the journey, this project, the plan — the whole 9 — and doing it with my “copywriter” hat on.
2. Reach out to absolutely everyone I know and let them know about it. Ask that they help spread the word and encourage them to pass it along if they happy to have a friend who might want to experience a story like this.
3. Go out. Coincidentally I’m planning on attending lots of events during the campaign, so hopefully I’ll have plenty of opportunities to meet new people. If my book seems like something they might be interested in, I’ll make sure to mention it. Ask if they’d like to exchange contact info and I’ll give them my card. I’ll make sure to follow-up with an email the next day with a link to the Kickstarter page.
4. I’m going to post updates and write blog posts for the duration of the campaign, for the people who really want to know and follow along on this journey.
5. Announce my launch and post intermittent updates on social media. Get all my profile pages dialed in with links to Kickstarter.
6. Post-Kickstarter, I’m going to assemble a press kit for myself (with long and short bios, plus a 1-page synopsis of the book) and reach out to booksellers, bookstores, publishers, gallerists, conference organizers, podcasters, etc. Attend photo fairs and art book fairs. Carry at least two copies with me at all times. And bring my Square card reader with me everywhere. I want to be prepared — book sales can happen anywhere!
7. Also Post-Kickstarter: I’m going to reach out to people of influence whom I respect and admire. Ask if I could send them a copy. And then I’ll send it off with gratitude and crossed fingers.

08
How do you decide what to photograph? What ideas or emotions guide your approach to photography?

I am a very intuitive photographer. More emotional than technical. And I let myself take photos of everything. If the impulse is there, I indulge it. Of course, not every photo is worth keeping after the fact but in general, I embrace and try to act upon my instincts as much as I can. I leave the editing for later.

It’s always a challenge for me to create images that express something deeper. They really have to mean something. I want for my images to be something more than just pretty for pretty’s sake.

Things that I once thought were so simple have become so much more complex and layered. As an artist who seeks to somehow communicate life’s complexity through photography, I’ve become more interested in layers and how to create or add them to a photograph. In a way, I’m looking to use photography as a way to communicate the things that I can’t find the words for.

09
What role do you think printed books have to play in a world geared for digital media?

In this increasingly instantaneous digital world, I feel that the need for each of us to connect with the physical — with nature, with each other — is more prescient than ever. We crave experiences. We want to reach out and touch things. We want things to be special and meaningful. We want what feels real. But also, we want what’s beautiful and we want to be uplifted. We want things that can make us feel better about the world, even if for just a little while.

Luckily, printed books are just the thing! Books have the power to connect with us on multiple planes: physical, intellectual and spiritual. We touch them with our hands and they transport us to other worlds. Just being in the physical presence of books is a source of pleasure for many.

I think physical books are seeing a resurgence is because we’re remembering our enduring connection with them. I feel there’s also been a shift in our cultural values. Perhaps because of how digital and commodified so many things in our everyday lives have become, in reaction to this, we’ve begun to seek out more of the analog, the handmade, the physical, the things that perhaps can connect us to simpler times.

So until there’s an app that can believably simulate the physical experience of holding a book, thumbing through its pages and reading it, I think there will continue to be a great interest in, and perhaps even a growing reverence, for printed books for some time to come.

10
What advice would you give to someone hoping to turn a creative passion into a professional creative career?

In rapid-fire point form: Do your research. Decide on what you want. Be clear on your goal. Make a plan. Know your numbers and your money. Take consistent action and do something that gets you closer to your goal everyday. Think on your feet. Think long-game. Adapt as necessary and persist. Keep going.

There is a reason why many people do not have creative careers. And the reason for that is because it’s not easy. Being a creative professional means being a creative problem solver. On this path, there is no one who will tell you what to do. You are only accountable to yourself. You are wholly responsible for yourself. (And if you’re married and have children, then you are likely responsible for others as well.)

Indeed, it is wonderful to be able to make your living doing work that you thoroughly enjoy doing. But there are real differences between being an amateur and a professional. Being a creative professional means that you must take your creativity seriously because now your life literally depends on it. It’s not just for fun anymore — you can still have fun but you have to also recognize that this is now how your bills get paid too!

There were times when I had to work on my birthday and times when I missed out on celebrations with friends and family because I was booked for job that I couldn’t afford to turn down. Sometimes entire months would pass in-between jobs and sometimes I had clients who were grossly late in paying. I even had a couple clients who even didn’t pay me at all.

Yes, these were some of the lowest points of my career and luckily, there weren’t many low points and I’ve been a creative professional for over 15 years. However, I share this because there’s a reality as a freelancer that the Instagram stories don’t often focus on. It’s for you to decide what you’re willing to give up in order to get what you want. How willing and able are you to trade the security and stability of a steady job with a pay check for a lifestyle in which you have both ultimate freedom and responsibility? There are no wrong answers. But only you can make the decision for yourself. It can be a fulfilling way to live but it also requires commitment, discipline, determination, and persistence. It’s a competitive game so you’ve got to be ready to compete!

You can check out Michelle’s Kickstarter campaign here.

Ready to make your own book? Get started quickly and easily with our free desktop tool, BookWright.

The post Behind the Book with Michelle Yee appeared first on Blurb Blog.

How did you get started as an illustrator and designer?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an artist, but as I got older that evolved into an interest in filmmaking. I went to Emerson College and studied film and television production, then moved to Los Angeles to pursue that after graduating.

After I spent a few years working in that industry, I decided it wasn’t the right fit for me. I had to re-evaluate a little, which was definitely a challenge. I thought I wanted to try something more traditional, so I enrolled in a teaching credential program at a local college and got a job as a receptionist at a middle school. However, one semester into the program I found myself looking around at the other students, who were so clearly passionate about education, and realizing that I wasn’t one of them either.

It was a tough time. I felt very lost for a while, but I think because of that confusion I turned to something that felt familiar and soothing—drawing. Film production is a different art form, but I really believe that the fundamental ideas (light, color and composition, for example) are very similar. So, in my mind, it wasn’t a huge leap from what I had studied and been interested in my entire life.

I started to build a portfolio and take commissions from friends and family without even realizing what I was doing. I opened an Etsy shop on a whim, posted some of my work on social media, and got some really good feedback. Friends started sending me job postings and opportunities for illustrators, and I applied thinking I would never hear back. But I got nearly every job I applied for. It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying. I was, but things just kind of fell into place after that. It felt easy, natural, and right. I haven’t looked back since!

Tell us about a piece of work or a professional breakthrough that you’re particularly proud of.

Honestly, the books I’ve published through Blurb! Becoming an author and illustrator was always on my bucket list, and my first book, The Modern Alphabet, was a big deal because it accomplished that goal.

I’ve just released my second book, Can You Do This?, and it’s truly one of my favorite things I’ve ever made. I was excited about that one from the moment I came up with the idea and worked really hard on it in between other jobs. I’m super proud of the final product and I really believe in it as a tool for kids to learn to be confident in their bodies and just have fun moving around and getting some energy out!

What do you think makes a good children’s book?

My favorite children’s books are the ones that are kind of out of the box. I love finding books that are just a little left of center, or unexpected in some way. Most good children’s books are entertaining for adults as well as kids and there’s a lot of value to creating something interactive.

I also think it’s very important for a book to look beautiful. Sometimes people get caught up in the story and the aesthetic takes a backseat, but ultimately, everyone really is judging a book by its cover.

What are your creative practices? How do you stay inspired?

I’m lucky enough to have a pretty steady stream of work at the moment, so I’m literally drawing for hours, every single day. Just putting in time like that will keep the creativity flowing. If you spend enough time doing anything, you’ll find that it gets easier to control, manipulate, and turn on and off. I do try to make time to work on things that don’t have briefs or deadlines. Those “just because” projects are important because they allow me to let my mind wander a little and see where it lands.

Where do you find inspiration for your illustration and design work?

I always struggle to answer this question because I think the nature of inspiration is that you can’t really define it. It just happens, without warning, and often comes in forms you weren’t expecting at all. For example, Can You Do This? was inspired by a weekend spent with a good friend and his two young children. Just being around a couple of goofy boys for a few days was enough to spark something that evolved into an entire book. I wasn’t looking to write another book at that point, it just happened.

As far as inspiration goes, I think the best thing I can do is just follow my gut and see where it leads!

Which illustrators and designers do you admire and why?

Eric Carle was my absolute favorite as a kid. To me his illustrations were so cool, and so different from everything else I had seen. I tend to be drawn to people who use lots of color, and whose style is a little imperfect. I love an honest, handmade feel. Dallas Clayton, Rifle Paper Co., and Emily McDowell are a few others who I really admire.

What was it like to make your own book? How did the process work and what tools did you use?

I made my first book, The Modern Alphabet, without knowing how or if it would be published at all. It was my first try at anything book related, and I didn’t have much of a plan. I just knew that it was something I wanted to do, and the first step was to make it!

I didn’t feel super confident in my ability to write something story based, so I decided on an alphabet book instead. From there, the concept evolved into making something really modern, cool, and beautiful that would appeal to adults but also be fun for kids to flip through and read.

I made the first draft with Adobe Illustrator, using some digital elements and others that were hand drawn and then digitized. Then, once I had done a little research and decided on Blurb, I moved everything over to InDesign so I could use Blurb’s plug-in for InDesign (which was super easy and convenient, by the way). The whole process was simultaneously very scary and very exciting!

I’m really grateful that I found Blurb, because it gave me the opportunity to make a long-time dream of mine come true. I’m not sure it would have been possible without them.

What was it like to receive and unwrap your Blurb Book? How does it compare to other books you’ve seen?

Opening that first book was absolutely incredible. It’s such a surreal feeling to hold a physical manifestation of something that’s lived in your head for so long. I was worried that the quality wouldn’t be what I thought it was, or that there would be some issue that I didn’t anticipate, but it was perfect from start to finish. It was better than I ever thought it could be.

What role does print play in a digital creative world for you as a professional?

Generally, I do think the trend is leaning more toward digital and less toward print, but children’s books might be the exception to the rule. It’s important for kids to hold books in their hands. Feel the weight of it, have that tactile experience, and have the opportunity to absorb the illustrations and nuances of print. I don’t have any hard statistics about this, but I have to imagine that it’s also good for growing eyes to take a break from screens and look at something else.

Personally, I’m not afraid of the digital world. I think it has a lot to offer and ultimately will be a great tool for professional designers. That being said, I do think printed children’s books are here to stay, even if their counterparts are slowly fading.

How does what you’re doing now compare to what you wanted to do growing up?

The first thing I ever wanted to be was an artist, but I didn’t fully understand what that meant at the time. I just knew that art class was the most fun for me.

As I got older, I didn’t really have any examples in my life of adults working in non-traditional creative jobs, so it never occurred to me that I could build my own business around things that I love doing. I thought you just went off and got hired at a supermarket, or a school, or a hospital. My life right now looks very different to what I thought it would be, but in the best way possible. I’m my own boss and I make my own schedule. I get to dream up pretty things all day and spend my free time hanging out with my rescue beagle. I was able to design the life that suits me best, and I didn’t know that was possible when I was younger.

If you had a piece of advice for yourself 5 years ago, what would it be? What would you tell people just starting out?

When I was transitioning into full-time freelance design work, I was very timid about telling people what I wanted to do. I would say things like “I think I want to be an illustrator one day,” or “I like to draw,” instead of just confidently proclaiming, “I’m an illustrator.” My advice to my former self, or to anyone starting out, is to just own it! Even if it feels false, just start saying that you are the thing you want to be. If you say it enough times, it will become true for you. And, maybe more importantly, the people around you will start to think of you as that thing too. Then the next time someone says “I need an illustrator for a project,” they’re going to think of you, and pass your info along. That’s how it starts!

What’s one project you’re dying to work on next?

I definitely want to make more books, but I don’t currently have plans for a third. I really like the idea of just waiting for inspiration to strike—and I know it will eventually!

Designing products is something I really love, so I’d like to do more of that. It feels great to see your work living on an actual, functional item that people can use and see every day. I try to fill my life with things I like looking at, so I’d love to do that on a larger scale for a broader audience, in whatever capacity that might be.

Thanks Megan for taking the time to chat to us and for making your beautiful children’s books with us!

Ready to make your own children’s book? Bring your story and illustrations to life with our free, easy-to-use book-making software. Get started today!

The post Behind the Book with Megan Roy appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. With so many dimensions to your professional work, what would you say is your main passion?

I’ve traveled through a few different creative arenas over the past five years. Originally, I was invested in becoming a graphic designer, which then led me to the world of photography. In all honesty though, my main passion is storytelling, and that comes in many different forms.

Most recently, I’ve stepped a bit away from photography as my main focus and have been redirecting my focus towards creative production. I’m really interested in the larger picture behind the scenes, and it’s allowing me to touch a lot of different creative arenas.

2. What’s your background in photography? When did you start making images and why? 

The first time I purchased a camera was after winning an art scholarship at school. I had been really diving into art history, and photographers like Sally Mann and Annie Leibovitz were blowing my mind. The way a camera lends itself to storytelling was everything to me.

Little by little, opportunities came my way to learn and grow as a photographer—starting with flying to Liberia with a non-profit to capture their story, to stock photography projects, and even planning my own styled shoots. A huge boost to my career was becoming an Instagram Suggested User, which really helped expose me to new clients and opportunities to grow my network.

From then on, it was just practice, practice, practice. I never wanted to stop testing out new techniques, or forcing myself to face new challenges.

3. What is your go-to photography gear?  

I’m really not a technical photographer at all. I think it’s about who’s behind the camera that matters, not what they’re holding.

I will say I’ve loved Sigma Art Lenses over the years.

4. Where have you learned the most about photography?  

Honestly, just from practicing and learning by trial and error.

5. What images inspire you? What sorts of images do you enjoy making the most? 

I love portraits. I love seeing someone’s life story come through in an image. It’s breathtaking when done well.

Personally, I wish I was more of a spontaneous photographer. But lately, I’ve loved being able to plan shoots that have a concept and a team to execute them. I guess it’s my production bug coming out in me.

Some of my favorite shoots have been for brands that allow me to capture their product in a lookbook format.

However, I think the images that I will always love making on my own are ones that capture a process. I love being invited to shadow someone as they create or construct something. That’s where my artists at work series, highlighted in my zine Motive, really came from.

6. What made you choose the magazine format? What is the relationship between your content and a magazine, and why does it work?

I’ve always been drawn to magazines. I’m a big fan of flipping through the pages of Cereal, Kinfolk, and others. The format just lends itself really well to photographic stories. So, it was a natural choice when I made my own printed zine.

7. What elements make a good magazine?  

I think it’s all about images that make the reader want to know more.

8. What was your reaction when you first opened and leafed through your finished product?  

I was really stoked! It’s not often that you get to tangibly hold something you’ve created from start to finish.

9. What ideas and preferences informed the look and feel of your magazine’s design?  

Designing the cover for me was almost a gut reaction. My personal brand has always seemed to include the color red. It’s bold and says a lot, which is why I went with a simple red cover. I wanted the images inside to be a surprise, while the cover helped it stand out.

10. You create digital images of artists at work in the material world, which is an interesting tension. What is your relationship to print? What role do you think print has in a digital world?  

I wish print wasn’t losing its role in a lot of areas. It’s sad to see magazines shut down, and more go to digital only. If anything, that’s why I wanted to be able to make my own printed content; to be able to hold on to something I love.

11. What advice would you give someone creating his or her magazine? What did you learn? 

Just try it. I think it’s a bit daunting to think about creating something that will live in the physical realm. We’re all so used to being able to delete or archive what we put out into the world.

I learned that nothing beats the pride you’ll feel when you hold something you know is your creativity realized.

12. What project are you dying to do next? 

Now that I’ve put Motive out in the world, I want to keep the momentum going. I would love to continue to interview and photograph creatives at work. I’ve been thinking of expanding beyond artists too. In my next volume, I would love to include other types of work that are done by hand. The possibilities are endless but I would love to connect with farmers, carpenters, chefs, and others in that vein.

Also, I would love to create something printed on newsprint.

Thanks, Danny, for taking the time to talk with us. We’re really enjoying Motive and we can’t wait to see what you do next!

***

Want to create your very own magazine? Design everything from scratch or start with one of our fully-customizable templates with layouts for editorial features, mastheads, and more. Get started today!

The post Behind the Book with Danny Owens appeared first on Blurb Blog.

1. Where did the idea for your fashion book come from?

It was my thesis project for my Master of Fine Arts in Fashion Illustration. Part of the thesis was a visual component. This book was it.

2. How does your book relate to what you do for a living?

I am an independent Fashion Designer and a freelance Fashion Illustrator. The images in the book are similar to the ones I create in my professional life.

3. How do you think having a print piece like this helps professional creatives?

Making a book like this gives you a fantastic feeling of accomplishment. It was so gratifying for me to see the illustrations married to the typography in physical form and the rhythm the images had when placed in order.

4. What was the book-creation process like? Which tools did you use? 

Once I knew I wanted to use the structure of a simple ABC book, it all started with a little mock-up made with bond paper. I numbered the pages and made a rough sketch, marking the placement of everything. Then, I worked individually on each designer’s illustration, and his or her corresponding letter and name. I created every illustration, letter, and name by hand with watercolor, ink, and graphite. Once all the images were made, I scanned them in high resolution, retouched them, and color balanced them in Photoshop.  Finally, I designed the layout of the book and the cover in Adobe InDesign.

5. What were some challenges or needs your particular project had, and how did you work through them? 

One of the challenges was selecting the designers to feature. I wanted to limit each letter to one designer, but most of the letters had more than one perfect candidate.

The typography was also challenging. I created every type, making sure it reflected the unique characteristics of each designer, attributes that went beyond their sense of style or originality. The letters had to communicate a certain mood or a fantasy. In some cases irreverence, wildness, or beauty—all the while being very careful not to disjoint them from the particular characteristics that made them letters. Almost like a deconstruction, only to be constructed once again.

The cover was also a very hard decision. To this day, I’m not sure I’m totally in love with it.

6. What would you say are the elements of good book design? 

First and foremost, DO judge a book by its cover.

Communication is also key. A book is meant to communicate something. Whether it’s illustrations, photos, infographics, or a large body of text, you should have comfortable margins, readable typography with comfortable interspacing, and a layout that is aesthetically pleasing and very clear.

Being extremely careful with the resolution of your images plays a main role too. Having pixelated images in your book is a capital sin.

7. As someone who works creatively every day, how do you stay inspired? 

I follow a famous Picasso quote that says, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

As you feed the work, the work will feed you back. And of course, whenever you’re not working, your everyday life will become your source of inspiration; you just need to keep your eyes and ears open. A conversation with a dear friend or a loved one, a walk on the beach, a perfume, a movie, something you read—these can all be sources of inspiration.

I love looking at vintage fashion magazines, and I am obsessed with classic Hollywood movies. I have a very eclectic musical taste and can pinpoint what I don’t like much easier than what I do. If you live in a city that allows you to walk around, do so. People-watching is also fascinating, especially for fashion and style.

8. Do you have any tips for aspiring creatives looking to turn their talent into a business? 

Work harder than that one person you know works the hardest. And don’t think about money at all at the beginning. Do something that feeds your soul and the money will eventually come too.

Avoid mediocrity at all costs. If you’re going to be bad, be the worst at it, but don’t waste anyone’s time being middle-of-the-road, because the ones that are trying to be number one will kick you out of the way.

Study, study, study (or practice, practice, practice). Learn your craft, and try to become the best at it. The best version of yourself. That means do it better every day, little by little, remembering the battle is with yourself, not with anyone else.

And finally, understand that everything takes time, sweat, and tears, so there’s no need to be discouraged if it gets tough.

9. What’s one project you’re dying to do? 

I really want to design costumes for a ballet or a play. I would love to design costumes for theatre. Being able to understand a character’s motivations and traits and express that through clothing sounds like an amazing job.

Thank you, Daniel, for choosing to make your beautiful book with us.

Take a look at Fashion ABC in the Blurb Bookstore, and get inspired to start making your own book.

The post Behind the Book with Daniel Velasco appeared first on Blurb Blog.

01
How did you get into photography? When did you know you wanted to make pictures?

It was kind of a happy accident for me. I would always play with cameras at relatives houses or beg for disposable cameras when I was going on class trips as a kid. In high school, I took an introduction to journalism class with a photo unit and really enjoyed it. A little after that my theatre teacher, Mr. Tempest, saw something in me and gave me my first film camera—a Minolta SRT-101—as a gift for my fifteenth birthday.

I never had a moment when I was like, “this is what I am going to do”. It was more a case of this was a way to express myself, capture the people around me and hold them close. No matter how far away we were from each other.

02
What’s your training background? What was the hardest part? What came easily?

I was a journalism and economics major at the University of Florida, but I took lots of photos because I enjoyed it. Eventually, I started shooting for the student newspaper, The Alligator. I got a lot of practice covering big sports games or crime scenes or producing off the cuff portraits. It was difficult at first but once I got the swing of it, I enjoyed chasing the opportunity to take a dynamic photo, with little time to think or set up.

This eventually stressed me and challenged me. When I moved to NYC and started to wonder if I was an artist or a photojournalist, I wasn’t sure. I thought that because I was primarily being reactionary in my shooting, I was somehow a lesser photographer. It took me a while to get out of that mindset, and embrace what got me into photography in the first place.

Portraiture always came easier to me because I enjoyed being able to learn about someone, study them, and show them an honest version of themselves.

03
What would you say are the key elements of a great photo?

Light, expression, and the decisive moment. My favorite photography quote is “the lens is designed to be like the eye, but unlike the eye a camera cannot differentiate what is important”. That’s the job of the photographer. So, mastering light and using it to isolate your subject is key.

04
How do you decide what to photograph? What ideas or emotions guide your approach to photography?

The focus in my work has always been the human condition, particularly how to find truth in portraiture. I photograph trends that I see, or folks that have great, lived experience that I want to share with the world.

In my opinion, shooting only smiling photos or brooding ones is a disservice. I try to capture the full spectrum of human emotion. That’s why I enjoy shooting sports sometimes.

05
Are photography books a valuable tool for photographers? What role have they played in your career?  

The physical, touching of pages, holding something in front of you, being able to hold it with another person, and discuss it without screens, is something we all need more of. It allows us to embrace, understand, and value the process of image making more than a ‘like’ can.

In my career, I’ve always used books to study the work of artists I admire. By comparing their printed work with that on Instagram, for example, I can study how they curate their work across different mediums and platforms when putting a book together.

06
What role does photography play in wider society? Why is it important?

It’s our opportunity to tell the truth. A photograph can’t lie. And in an age where we document so many things, our ability to observe, capture, and then learn from the past will be so valuable.

Photos are touchstones for moments in history, loved ones, and for ourselves. They are vital.

07
How did you find the process of making your book? What were some of the challenges? Which bit did you enjoy the most?

The self-editing process has always been difficult for me. Cutting our certain things always felt really unfair to the entire story, but I recognize the power of a full edit. I found it challenging to let some things go so that the viewer could have a cohesive book of images, and not just my favorite photos.

I really enjoyed putting all the stories together. In Stories From Here, the goal was always to see matches in lived experience through a sense of place, location, and values. So, to finally see the web of underlying stories converge in the book is incredible.

08
What advice do you have for people just getting started in photography?

Study the work of those you admire. And in doing so, always ask yourself, where is the light coming from? The question should never be can I recreate this person’s work? Can I vocalize their process after studying it? By understanding the light in a situation, you develop as an artist and become better prepared to photograph more scenarios.

09
What’s one project you’re dying to do?

I need to do some work telling the stories of people in my family in Jamaica. As an immigrant, there are many parts of my identity I haven’t fully actualized. Stories, demeanours, beliefs that were taught to me, but which I don’t yet understand the full significance of.

Thank you Aundre, for taking time to talk to us in such an inspiring way about your project.

Find out more about Aundre’s work as an Adobe Creative Resident or get started on your own project today.

The post Behind the Book with Photographer Aundre Larrow appeared first on Blurb Blog.

How I self-published my first book with Blurb

The thought of making my own book has always been a distant dream. Books are a ton of work and the opportunities with publishing companies are few and far between. So, when Blurb reached out to me about their new self-publishing format I was super stoked to try it out.

I was already a fan of Blurb’s photo books, which are great for printing family photos and memories. But they also offer Magazine and Trade Book formats that still have the great picture quality Blurb is known for. Plus, they’re produced at a price that you can mark up and sell.

Creating My Book

I decided to center my book around simple crochet projects I’ve shared on my blog and some of my paid patterns. After I gathered high-resolution photos for all my projects, I plugged them into BookWright, Blurb’s free self-publishing software. I chose to use BookWright because I had used it before and it’s very user-friendly. It was really easy to create my own layouts, but I used some of the preset layouts, too. It was simple to drag and drop pictures into the book, add pages, and then copy and paste text from the tutorials and patterns I had already written.  An orange box would show up when my formatting wasn’t ideal. Sometimes I took the suggestions, sometimes I didn’t, and it turned out great.

Once I was done with my book, I was able to preview it and then upload it to Blurb to publish. It really couldn’t have been easier. That’s not to say it didn’t take time, but after working on it for a few nights, and a week to print and ship, I had a physical book in hand. Pretty cool! I also got an embed code, which showcases a preview of the book so I can easily share it on social. Swanky, right?

Pricing

My book is 48 pages in the 8×10 size, mostly of full color images, printed on economy paper. I listed my soft cover copy at $19.99, which gives me a $7.40 mark up. Considering I included $13 worth of paid patterns in the book, I feel like it’s good value.

The hardcover copy costs $26.59 to print to begin with, so it’s quite a bit more expensive at $31.99. The hardcover copy is of course inherently nicer, but honestly the softcover copy is almost as beautiful. You get to print on the spine of the book and it’s sturdier, but the print and paper quality is otherwise the same, regardless of the cover.

You can track your sales from the author dashboard and get paid once a month by PayPal (yay!) or check. Let customers order online and Blurb will print on demand, or print large volumes of 100 so you can add extras like embossed covers and ribbons at a reduced price. It’s up to you!

Publishing my own book has been so fun and so rewarding. I liked being able to have control over every little detail, even if I agonized over the format of the book for way too long, and now already know what I would change. Sigh … It’s the curse of all creatives I suppose.

But it makes me really excited about the possibilities of what I could try next. A magazine collaboration, a chapter book, another craft book, a children’s book…why not?!

A version of this post originally appeared on Delia Creates. 

You can turn your passion project in to a successful self-publishing project, too! Get started today.

The post Yarn Over | Behind the Book with Delia Randall appeared first on Blurb Blog.

How did you get into photography? When did you know you wanted to make pictures?

Very early. I got my first camera as a gift when I was 12. Since then, I’ve loved photography and knew very early on I wanted to be a photographer.

What’s your training background? What was the hardest part? What came easily?

I did an apprenticeship as a photographer, and continued to study with a Masters in photography. There wasn’t anything really hard. I just loved every single aspect of photography and was curious to know as much as possible.

What would you say are the elements of a great photo?

A good photo is one that makes you stop and stare, making you pause from the busyness of our lives, letting thoughts flow and feelings grow. It’s as simple as that. I don’t like over-analyzing photographs. It’s mainly the emotion it communicates that matters.

You seem to have a profound relationship with the landscape around you. Can you talk about what you choose to shoot, and why?

I look for less photographed spots in the world. I don’t like chasing this one scenic view that has been photographed a thousand times and shared on Instagram. And I try to filter the landscape to capture its essence, the aspect that touches me as a person the most, whether it’s remoteness, vastness, or just something like a stark contrast due to the weather.

What ideas or emotions guide your aesthetic?

Some say they see the longing in my photographs. I always long for silence, for nature—it seems the most natural for me to spend as much time as possible outdoors. Also, I feel small when I am in an impressive landscape. I love solitude, and this might show up in my photographs as well.

There seems to be two big schools of thought in photography. One says the authentic shot and creativity happens with the camera, one says authenticity and creativity often come out in post-processing. What’s your relationship with in-camera work vs. post-processing?

I definitely belong to the first group. I grew up working with analog photography, and I guess that’s one of the main reasons why I believe the shot itself matters, not the post-processing. A good photographer, in my opinion, is not recognized for their post-processing, but for their way of capturing a subject.

What is some advice for people just getting started with photography?

Just start, and don’t look at too many photographs. It’s good to study photos and ask yourself why this photo works well or touches you, but go out and shoot. There’s this saying by Henri Cartier-Bresson that your first 10,000 photographs are basically your worst—and that is so true. Be patient with yourself and train your eye.

What do you love about your job? What are some of the biggest challenges?

I love that I don’t see what I do as a “job”. I just couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Because of that, I am just so very grateful that I found what I love doing.

What are the characteristics of a good photography “collection”, as in an exhibit or a photo book? Is there a difference between putting together an exhibit and putting together a book?

For me, it’s telling a story with photographs and trying to show as many aspects of the subject as possible. I just recently did an exhibit and published a photo book, and during both productions, I had the question in my mind: How can the reader best get a sense of the place and feel the atmosphere? In the exhibit, I tried to reduce the images to a minimum and at the same time tell the maximum possible. I think with books you often have text in addition to the photographs, and with that, you can tell even more.

What’s one project you’re dying to do?   

I would love to travel to Kamchatka and do landscape photography there.

Take a look at Folk Tales, and get inspired to tell your own story by creating a book.
Did you know that as a Blurb customer you can save 15% off your Adobe Creative Cloud Membership? Find out more.

The post Behind the Book with Julia Nimke appeared first on Blurb Blog.

Where did the idea for your coloring book come from?

I’m a freelance writer and illustrator by trade. Having noticed the trend of grown-up coloring books a few years ago, I pitched the idea of creating a few free coloring book page downloads for Craftsy.com, one of the websites I write and provide content for. They proved very popular, with thousands of downloads. This gave me the idea to create a full coloring book with my artwork. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m basically part unicorn, so creating a unicorn-themed coloring book was a no-brainer.

Did you know you wanted to sell it for profit?

Yes. I’m a commercial artist, and creating art is my livelihood. As such, I typically always have an eye on profit when I create artwork.

Why did you choose Blurb?

I had heard of Blurb years ago from an acquaintance who used it for printing photo books as gifts. When I began to look at my options for self-publishing a coloring book, I looked at a variety of services. I was most impressed with Blurb because it seemed to have the full package—good pricing, a great and easy-to-use layout program, and beautiful, professional-looking finished products.

Who did you plan to sell your book to?

Originally, just to followers of my website. My thought was that I’d sell my books online myself. My original goal was to sell 100 books—I really felt that anything over that would exceed my expectations.

Was listing your book on Amazon important to you?

At first, honestly, no, because I didn’t know it was an option! But as I explored Blurb, I was intrigued by the idea of selling on Amazon. I figured it would be a cool feather in my cap and maybe it would expose my book to a greater audience, so why not give it a try? Now that I have made a few more coloring books with Blurb, I see it as an important part of self-publishing success.

Did you make a marketing plan for your book?

My goal was to sell 100 books. But I didn’t really have a detailed marketing plan beyond that. I just saw that there was a potential market for a coloring book, and thought I’d give it a try.

Do you consider your book a self-publishing success? If so, what made it successful for you?

To say that The Unicorn Coloring Book is a self-publishing success would be an understatement. I’ll get real with you about why: My original plan was to pitch the book idea to traditional publishers. At the time, I had already published two via the traditional route, and I thought that was the way to go for a project to be ‘legitimate’. However, I had little luck pitching this idea to publishers. Some didn’t even reply, others thought that the subject matter was too specific. Basically, I was hitting a lot of resistance. I realized that I was unwilling to compromise on my vision for this book—it had to be all unicorns, all the time, and I couldn’t water down my brilliant idea!

So, after hitting wall after wall, I decided to say “see ya later” to traditional publishers and go it alone. I took the time to lay it out in BookWright, and was happy with the outcome. When I ordered my first print run, I sold out within days. Then, when it hit Amazon, sales began to snowball. It was a slow build, but then it really began to gain traction. I’m not sure how many units have sold at this point, but I think it could be close to 15,000! Yep—this totally blew away my original goal of selling 100 books. I never could have done that without the backing of Amazon sales!

The Unicorn Coloring Book has sold more copies than both of my first two books (through traditional publishers) COMBINED. The idea that I did it myself makes me feel incredibly proud! It prompted me to create two more coloring books via Blurb. Another Unicorn Coloring Book, and The Cupcake Coloring Book. I’m not saying that I would eschew the traditional route. I’ve continued to write and illustrate books which have been published through incredible publishing houses. However, I think that for certain projects, self-publishing offers an incredible way of bringing your vision to life.

What would your advice be for would-be self-publishers?

First and foremost, self-publishing rules. You can really stick with your vision for a project and see it through. I don’t know if anyone out there feels that having a traditional publisher is necessary for a book to be “real”,  but it’s not the case at all. Self-publishing allows you a ton of freedom! That being said, you really need to take the time to do things right. Even though you’re not working with a traditional publisher, I think it’s important to treat the project with the same amount of professionalism. That means carefully planning out your book, making an outline, and taking the time to edit and format things correctly. BookWright makes it easy to lay out a project professionally—I highly suggest making use of that great tool. And have fun with it!

Thanks so much Jessie for sharing your story. We’re off to sharpen our coloring pencils!

The post Behind the Book with Jessie Oleson Moore appeared first on Blurb Blog.