redmeg8's Posts

Those look lovely!

Hi, fellow Blurbians –

Just an idea that popped into my head when I was over in the bookstore… it seems that the "art" books: drawing, painting, collage, photos of sculpture, sketchbooks, etc. are drowning in a sea of photography-only books.

What would folks (staff or otherwise) think of pulling the two genres apart into two separate entities? 

I know this isn’t in the spirit of artistic "togetherness" and I’m not AT ALL intimating that photography isn’t "art" – no way! I was simply musing over how the category of "Arts and Photography" has become a mixing pot that contains not only books of paintings, for example, but also books of wedding photos all fit together within one category.  That seems confusing for a book-buyer. Wouldn’t it make browsing easier if they were separated?

I guess this leads to another question – do the staff monitor that the categories are being used properly?

Anyway – not complaining… just throwing out some talking points.

My best,

Megan 

Hey – Those dimensions you list are the exact pixel by pixel dimensions of each file you’ve imported. That’s not exactly the same as dpi (dots per inch). It’s a confusing relationship thing that I don’t entirely understand either. Ideal dpi for your book is 300 and anything less is going to be fuzzy, that I do know.

I don’t use Corel Draw, but, in Photoshop, you can check your dpi under "image size". It will also show your pixel by pixel dimensions.

The one rule I also know for sure is that you cannot increase dpi or pixel size without losing some clarity. The only way to "correct" a resolution issue is to re-scan your image at the proper resolution (or higher).

As for Booksmart and what it does to images when you drag & drop ‘em, I do believe it does size them to an "ideal size" for the container. Mine would often be too big for the page and I’d have to decrease them which ended up having no effect on the resolution, but, the same rule applies here that I mentioned above… if you try to increase the image’s size, you might see the little warning triangle and not get the outcome you want (i.e. fuzziness). 

Did that help at all? I feel like I’m rambling. Anyway, like I said, some of its a mystery to me too, so, I hope others jump in. :)

Megan 

Ah ha! I happened upon how this can be done in another thread.

Apparently, you can keep your book private, but still use the "announce" feature. It will send a special URL to the people you choose only via their email addresses.

The response from Blurb staff about this feature is here:  http://forums.blurb.com/forums/3/topics/268 

Hi Wendy – Didn’t see that requirement anywhere, no… and, since nothing ended up being grey w/ my high res jpgs, I’m ok with continuing to use them. thanks, Though.

PS> Just found this info in the FAQ: "Make sure your images are JPG or PNG format."

I would say do all the edges. I alloted for the 1/8th of an inch (albeit, not super-carefully) and when I got my copies back, I had some close trims and some cuts offs. My solution was just to re-size and re-upload. Anyway, I say err on the side of caution because they’re not kidding on the cropping.

Oh, and I saw more "close calls" on the softcover than hardcover in the 7×7" books. 

Thanks, Roxana – You can see the inside by clicking the "pdf preview" button on <a href="http://www.blurb.com/user/redmeg8">the page where the books are sold on Blurb</a>, there’s a picture of one of the interiors above, and/or, click on the words "drawing-a-day project" in my post above (at the very top) and it’ll take you to a page where all of the artwork is on display.

:) 

Most of my business will be uneffected by high postage since I’m in the US and so are most of my customers, but, I support this initiative nonetheless. It just occurred to me last night that I’ll probably have to buy one/two of my books for a friend in the Canary Islands and ship it to her myself because, well, 1. I doubt you ship there, and 2. even if you did, the shipping rate would be FAR more than she can afford. That will be my solution for now, but, I’m certainly not going to start footing the bill for everyone who orders from me outside the US.

And, as others have stated, some people (incl. me, actually) would rather have more shipping options. 

Really, you need to answer the question of ‘why’ (things are set up this way)... I love you guys and even I am a bit wary as to what’s behind the higher shipping.

Thank you. 

Go for it, Jessica! It is sucha rewarding thing to do… even if I had never published them. It’s been an amazing journey :)

Thank you all for looking!

Megan

Oops! I need to read… I missed the part about it being "private".

Sorry about that! I don’t know in that case. 

I knew it was going to take 5-6 business days to make the book and then 2 business days to get it. I ordered on Monday, the 6th, and received the books on the 16th (today). Nothing unexpected there.

That is strange as I’m using the same version of the program as you are AND on an identical Mac. Sorry I didn’t have any more ideas!

I hope you sort it out!

Meg 

Yeah, I did that… hmm… well, I’m about to order my review copies, so, we’ll see what they look like when I get ‘em. Thanks, though.