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I've started this thread following Harlequin's mention of making a zine as a discussion place for anyone who makes or wants to make books zines of their own. It seems to me that having a publication in the back of my mind, even if it's only for myself, helps keep me focussed on projects. in any case, you can't beat a hard copy of a photo!
I started out making books using Blurb, which is great but expensive for one or two copies. Good for ease of design using their software and the hardback books make nice keepsakes and album type books. I've given a few away of these as thank-yous and the one I did of the tackle dealer/gunsmith's relocation got paid for at cost. My first Blurb books were softbacks, but I prefer the hardbacks as it's easier to get some text on the spine of even low page count editions. If you keep looking Blurb do offer decent discounts every so often which softens the blow.
I can't remember who it was on TP who mentioned using Doxdirect to print PDF camera manuals but it rang a bell in my brain. I could make PDFs and upload them and get A5 booklets printed for less than a book with Blurb. I knocked a simple one up of pictures of shrimping tractors to see what the quality was like and it was on a par with Blurb. Since then I appear to have made another dozen!
I've tried a few ways of doing it now and the way I've settled on for the time being is to make the PDFs from full page jpegs – apart from the cover, which I've put together in OpenOffice or Scribus. I then upload the PDF to Doxdirect and the zines arrive a few days later. I'll be giving Mixam a try next as their prices are more affordable for this kind of vanity publishing and would provide a better mark up for any commercial venture. Their format choices are wider too.
Making the full page jpegs in Lightroom is easy once you've got a basic page design set up. After putting the files together in a collection so they can be sequenced go to the Print module and set the page size and orientation. Then arrange the picture layout.
Picture captions/titles can be added either individually in the Custom Text box if you export each page separately, or added to the metadata as title or caption. I've only done this once and I used the embedded date as the caption. To arrange the text it helps to add a border to the image in the same colour as the page background to provide space between text and image.
When satisfied with the layouts just Print to File and the sequence of pages will be exported in numbered order. I've used this process to output files to use in Blurb's software too – the LR book making module didn't suit me. Probably a case of what you get accustomed to.
Both OpenOffice and Scribus are a bit clunky to use (any suggestions for something easier to use – that's either free or cheap – would be welcome) but once you have a template sorted and work out how to add and size image files they're not too troublesome. This is where making the pages in LR helps – just slot the whole page in without need to arrange image cells. Not as easy to use as Blurb's book making software for fancy layouts unfortunately, but they are free and can be used to make simple cover designs. This is Scribus.
I know a lot of people recommend sequencing pictures using prints. I've tried that but I find I can do it well enough on-screen - first in LR then in the DTP software which shows the spreads as above. A final check through the PDF usually points up any glitches before sending to print.
Those are just a few thoughts of mine. Now, over to the rest of you!
I started out making books using Blurb, which is great but expensive for one or two copies. Good for ease of design using their software and the hardback books make nice keepsakes and album type books. I've given a few away of these as thank-yous and the one I did of the tackle dealer/gunsmith's relocation got paid for at cost. My first Blurb books were softbacks, but I prefer the hardbacks as it's easier to get some text on the spine of even low page count editions. If you keep looking Blurb do offer decent discounts every so often which softens the blow.
I can't remember who it was on TP who mentioned using Doxdirect to print PDF camera manuals but it rang a bell in my brain. I could make PDFs and upload them and get A5 booklets printed for less than a book with Blurb. I knocked a simple one up of pictures of shrimping tractors to see what the quality was like and it was on a par with Blurb. Since then I appear to have made another dozen!
I've tried a few ways of doing it now and the way I've settled on for the time being is to make the PDFs from full page jpegs – apart from the cover, which I've put together in OpenOffice or Scribus. I then upload the PDF to Doxdirect and the zines arrive a few days later. I'll be giving Mixam a try next as their prices are more affordable for this kind of vanity publishing and would provide a better mark up for any commercial venture. Their format choices are wider too.
Making the full page jpegs in Lightroom is easy once you've got a basic page design set up. After putting the files together in a collection so they can be sequenced go to the Print module and set the page size and orientation. Then arrange the picture layout.
Picture captions/titles can be added either individually in the Custom Text box if you export each page separately, or added to the metadata as title or caption. I've only done this once and I used the embedded date as the caption. To arrange the text it helps to add a border to the image in the same colour as the page background to provide space between text and image.
When satisfied with the layouts just Print to File and the sequence of pages will be exported in numbered order. I've used this process to output files to use in Blurb's software too – the LR book making module didn't suit me. Probably a case of what you get accustomed to.
Both OpenOffice and Scribus are a bit clunky to use (any suggestions for something easier to use – that's either free or cheap – would be welcome) but once you have a template sorted and work out how to add and size image files they're not too troublesome. This is where making the pages in LR helps – just slot the whole page in without need to arrange image cells. Not as easy to use as Blurb's book making software for fancy layouts unfortunately, but they are free and can be used to make simple cover designs. This is Scribus.
I know a lot of people recommend sequencing pictures using prints. I've tried that but I find I can do it well enough on-screen - first in LR then in the DTP software which shows the spreads as above. A final check through the PDF usually points up any glitches before sending to print.
Those are just a few thoughts of mine. Now, over to the rest of you!
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