I have completed my book and am now at the publishing stage. I am finding this the most difficult part of the whole process and am learning a lot of valuable business skills along the way. As I have stated in my blog description my aim is to create and publish a book myself without a publisher. There are two main reasons for this.
Reason 1: I believe I can make more money doing it myself. Publishers take a large percent of your profits and the arrangement is to benefit them more than the creator. I aim to create a range of books and a growing cash flow through creating my own business.
Reason 2: I want to pave the way for other aspiring authors and illustrators so they too can earn a reasonable living from their work.
So I’m now figuring out how to publish my book. I have decided I want the book to be available on iTunes for people to download to their apple devices and maybe Android devices. I also would like it in print so I can travel around New Zealand selling them at different events etc as well as through my own online store. I want to have access to large print runs to sell wholesale if I am given the opportunity. So this means I need the book in a few different formats.
I am not worrying about book shops at this stage as they are not necessarily the best place for selling books. They demand a return policy which means they can return the books to me if they don't sell it and I have to return their money. They also hold thousands of other books meaning my book will be in direct competition with all these books.
As a self publisher I am cutting out a lot of the middle men. I am choosing to target the end buyer of the book. The Mums, Dads, family and friends of my books target market 4-6 year olds. This means a lot of my sales will be face to face or through the internet. Not via distributors and book buyers.
I will publish a separate article about the different formats I am creating and my findings on the best deals.
Showing posts with label publishing digital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publishing digital. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
How to Brief an Illustrator
So you have decided to hire an illustrator to create the artwork for your children's book. It is important you supply the illustrator with the right information so they can create the artwork to best suit your needs.
Style
If the artist/illustrator has more than one style make sure you specify the one you would like them to use. This may seem obvious but it is quite often forgotten and can leave you with a surprise when you receive the final artwork in the completely wrong style. If you have a specific colour pallet in mind this is also important to mention.
Format
It is important to know the format you require your illustrations in before approaching an illustrator. They cannot create artwork without a size specification. If you are thinking about distributing your book through multiple distribution channels like print, eBook, iPad etc make sure you state all of these sizes when briefing the illustrator. The artwork will need to be formatted to suit the size and display of all of these channels. Stating this before the creation of the artwork can save you a lot of work and money in the long run rather than having to try and reformat them afterward. Print specifications vary from printer to printer so make sure you speak with your printer and find out how they like their files supplied. Most printers require 3-5mm bleed however it is very time consuming to add more on later so make sure you know the exact bleed your printer requires.
State the file format you would like the final illustrations supplied to you in. Most of the time .jpeg is the most suitable. You can also ask for the original files the illustrator builds the images in. This could be helpful later down the track if you need to alter or use images for marketing purposes.
Illustrator notes
You can supply the illustrator with notes of what you want happening in each image/page. This is not necessary as illustrators are very creative and can come up with amazing ideas. Most of the time it depends on how descriptive the story is and how much control you are willing to give the illustrator. If you write notes keep it simple e.g. two kids playing with a ball on the beach. Don’t go into descriptions of composition and clothing, this is the illustrators job and they know more about these aspects than you so trust them. By writing too many notes you can cut off all their creativity and end up with very boring images.
Timeline
Together with the illustrator work out a timeline for the entire project. Make sure you both understand the requirements for each deadline and who is in charge of actioning it. As well as setting a deadline for the final artwork to be complete set dates for the drafts and changes to be supplied. Always allow more time than you think something will take. You are better to overestimate and receive the work early than underestimate and miss other production deadlines.
Budget
Make sure both you and the illustrator have a clear understanding of the budget. Most illustrators will supply you with a quote before they start any work on the project. It is unusual for an illustrator to work for an hourly rate with no estimated hours or quote supplied. The only time this is necessary is when the size or length of a project is unknown. Most illustrators will quote you per illustration. This is the clearest and easiest way for both you and the illustrator to work. The price per illustration can range from $30-$1000 depending on the expertise, style and experience of the illustrator. Most of the time you get what you pay for the cheaper they are the less the quality of the artwork.
I am an illustrator and am always looking for exciting new stories to work on. Check out my website and feel free to contact me http://www.amyburrell.com/
Style
If the artist/illustrator has more than one style make sure you specify the one you would like them to use. This may seem obvious but it is quite often forgotten and can leave you with a surprise when you receive the final artwork in the completely wrong style. If you have a specific colour pallet in mind this is also important to mention.
Format
It is important to know the format you require your illustrations in before approaching an illustrator. They cannot create artwork without a size specification. If you are thinking about distributing your book through multiple distribution channels like print, eBook, iPad etc make sure you state all of these sizes when briefing the illustrator. The artwork will need to be formatted to suit the size and display of all of these channels. Stating this before the creation of the artwork can save you a lot of work and money in the long run rather than having to try and reformat them afterward. Print specifications vary from printer to printer so make sure you speak with your printer and find out how they like their files supplied. Most printers require 3-5mm bleed however it is very time consuming to add more on later so make sure you know the exact bleed your printer requires.
State the file format you would like the final illustrations supplied to you in. Most of the time .jpeg is the most suitable. You can also ask for the original files the illustrator builds the images in. This could be helpful later down the track if you need to alter or use images for marketing purposes.
Illustrator notes
You can supply the illustrator with notes of what you want happening in each image/page. This is not necessary as illustrators are very creative and can come up with amazing ideas. Most of the time it depends on how descriptive the story is and how much control you are willing to give the illustrator. If you write notes keep it simple e.g. two kids playing with a ball on the beach. Don’t go into descriptions of composition and clothing, this is the illustrators job and they know more about these aspects than you so trust them. By writing too many notes you can cut off all their creativity and end up with very boring images.
Timeline
Together with the illustrator work out a timeline for the entire project. Make sure you both understand the requirements for each deadline and who is in charge of actioning it. As well as setting a deadline for the final artwork to be complete set dates for the drafts and changes to be supplied. Always allow more time than you think something will take. You are better to overestimate and receive the work early than underestimate and miss other production deadlines.
Budget
Make sure both you and the illustrator have a clear understanding of the budget. Most illustrators will supply you with a quote before they start any work on the project. It is unusual for an illustrator to work for an hourly rate with no estimated hours or quote supplied. The only time this is necessary is when the size or length of a project is unknown. Most illustrators will quote you per illustration. This is the clearest and easiest way for both you and the illustrator to work. The price per illustration can range from $30-$1000 depending on the expertise, style and experience of the illustrator. Most of the time you get what you pay for the cheaper they are the less the quality of the artwork.
I am an illustrator and am always looking for exciting new stories to work on. Check out my website and feel free to contact me http://www.amyburrell.com/
Thursday, April 14, 2011
What is EPUB format?
In this post I will clear up any confusion between ePUB format and a pdf. The two are often mistaken for being the same thing however they are very different in many ways.
An eBook can be a book in any given format that is able to be read online or on a computer. EBook is often used to describe a simple .pdf file that you can download and read. It has limited interactivity and although it can be read on both iPod and iPad it is not ideal. This type of file will not resize itself to fit a screen so you have to zoom, scroll and shift around it in order to read it. An eBook is easy to create in this format however technology is fast changing and this format is not very user friendly. A .pdf can be created very easily from a lot of different programs including MSword. This means anyone can create a book and publish it online as an eBook and start making money. It will however have limitations on the usability on certain devices.
An ePUB format book is a completely different file type than a .pdf. It has special coding which allows it to be read with ease on any device in the form of a digital book. The text will reflow and resize itself to fit the device it is being viewed on. This is ideal for books being sold online. With this format you are able to sell your book for any device and not have to completely redesign it each time it also eliminates a lot of formatting issues. You also have many interactive options as ePUB format can have embedded metadata and CSS styling. This is now the industry standard digital book format and is accepted by most book distributors. Amazon Kindle store requires a different format however they have a free converter on their site CreateSpace, an Amazon group.
There are hundreds of ePUB conversion tools and software online however you still need to have a bit of an understanding on layout. The cool thing about this format is that it’s being used everywhere and there is an abundance of information out there to help you. This could seem complicated at first however it is worth learning this stuff yourself as it will save you a lot of money in the long run as graphic designers are not cheap. A site I use and found extremely useful is Lynda.com. They have thousands of video tutorials that are very easy to understand and go into great detail about very specific topics. There are a lot of free videos and a reasonable subscription price to get access to them all. This site changed the way I do things. I no longer worry about my technical abilities when coming up with creative ideas as whatever I want to achieve I can find out how.
An eBook can be a book in any given format that is able to be read online or on a computer. EBook is often used to describe a simple .pdf file that you can download and read. It has limited interactivity and although it can be read on both iPod and iPad it is not ideal. This type of file will not resize itself to fit a screen so you have to zoom, scroll and shift around it in order to read it. An eBook is easy to create in this format however technology is fast changing and this format is not very user friendly. A .pdf can be created very easily from a lot of different programs including MSword. This means anyone can create a book and publish it online as an eBook and start making money. It will however have limitations on the usability on certain devices.
An ePUB format book is a completely different file type than a .pdf. It has special coding which allows it to be read with ease on any device in the form of a digital book. The text will reflow and resize itself to fit the device it is being viewed on. This is ideal for books being sold online. With this format you are able to sell your book for any device and not have to completely redesign it each time it also eliminates a lot of formatting issues. You also have many interactive options as ePUB format can have embedded metadata and CSS styling. This is now the industry standard digital book format and is accepted by most book distributors. Amazon Kindle store requires a different format however they have a free converter on their site CreateSpace, an Amazon group.
There are hundreds of ePUB conversion tools and software online however you still need to have a bit of an understanding on layout. The cool thing about this format is that it’s being used everywhere and there is an abundance of information out there to help you. This could seem complicated at first however it is worth learning this stuff yourself as it will save you a lot of money in the long run as graphic designers are not cheap. A site I use and found extremely useful is Lynda.com. They have thousands of video tutorials that are very easy to understand and go into great detail about very specific topics. There are a lot of free videos and a reasonable subscription price to get access to them all. This site changed the way I do things. I no longer worry about my technical abilities when coming up with creative ideas as whatever I want to achieve I can find out how.
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