Writing August 17, 2009
Posted by doctorhowie in art book, autobiography, biography, children's book, drawings/illustrations, e-book, general, history, images, paintings, photos, publishing.Tags: biography, children's books, e-book, history, publishing
add a comment
You’ve got ideas for a project you want to create. These may be for a children’s story, a biography or autobiography, a history of a town or an organisation, a book of mainly pictures or art… whatever. Where do you go from there?
First of all, organise your ideas. Get them into some kind of order and write them down… make something like a map or a plan. Then expand that plan and begin getting your ideas and thoughts “on paper”. When I say “on paper”, it can be literally on paper, or on a computer. Microsoft Word or Apple’s Pages would be a good start.
You might also think about images that will enhance your project. These might be photos, maps, drawings or illustrations. Make sure they will improve your project, don’t include them just for the sake of having images.
So… get started. Begin putting your ideas down into some structured form. Once you begin, hopefully the project will flow nicely. Don’t worry if you feel the need to modify or re-write something you’ve already done. That’s natural. Don’t overdo it, though. If you’re not happy with what you’ve done, I suggest putting it aside for a while and coming back to it… looking at it in a new light. Go on, do it!
e-book (electronic book) August 9, 2009
Posted by doctorhowie in drawings/illustrations, e-book, images, internet/web, PDF, photos, publishing.Tags: e-book, publishing, writing
4 comments
An e-book is the electronic equivalent of a printed book, except it is usually intended to be read on screen in PDF format.
If anything, that means it needs to be even clearer and easier to read than a printed book. Keep pages quite small and make your font size (text size) large. Make the space between lines of text (known as leading) quite large too, so that there seems to be a lot of “air” or “white space”.
Try to avoid using too many images (graphics, photos or drawings) in order to keep your pages less cluttered. Have the resolution of your images quite low (say 72 to 100 dots per inch) in order to keep your file size small.
The KISS principle is a good one to follow: Keep It Sweet and Simple
(or, more rudely, Keep It Simple, Stupid!)
What is publishing? July 31, 2009
Posted by doctorhowie in e-book, e-journal, e-zine, internet/web, PDF, printing, publishing.Tags: e-book, e-journal, publishing, writing
2 comments
Seems a ridiculous question perhaps?
Well in days gone by, publishing referred to getting a book or magazine printed so that it would reach a wide audience. In some cases this was done for educational purposes, in some cases it was done to make money.
The concept of getting your ideas to reach a wide audience is as valid today as it has ever been. The purposes of publishing for education and for income remain.
However, the audience can now be wider than ever and is more easily accessed, thanks to computers and the internet.
These days, publishing is not restricted to physically printing something and making it available to others. Publishing includes material posted on the internet (like e-journals*, e-zines*, e-books*) and material available in digital or electronic form (PDFs** and CDs).
So let your creativity roam free, and get publishing!
* e-journal = electronic journal; e-zine = electronic magazine;
e-book = electronic book
** PDF = portable document format (does not care what operating system you computer uses)
Welcome July 15, 2009
Posted by doctorhowie in art book, design, editing, general, manuscript, printing, project management, publishing, scanning, Scott Howard, typesetting.Tags: editing, publishing, writing
2 comments
Many people have no idea where to start when they want to get something published. Usually, they know what they want to achieve but don’t know how to get it.
This blog attempts to answer typical (and non-typical) questions, and helps you get started or complete a project you have already begun.
Scott Howard
