National Adoption Month

The blog has been quiet lately. I’d like to say because I’m knee deep in my new dino book but I’ve actually just been laying off the biz side in favor of focusing on my munchkin and the monumental task of turning two and taking on potty training.

I’m not completely bereft of projects though, and in honor of National Adoption Month I helped the good folks at WACAP with this little logo design.

More about WACAP:

The World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP) is celebrating National Adoption Month in November. WACAP assists families in adopting children from nine countries, including U.S. foster care, and believes that every child has the right to a permanent, loving family.

Each November, a Presidential Proclamation launches activities and celebrations to help build awareness of adoption throughout the United States. Thousands of community organizations arrange and host programs, events, and activities to share positive adoption stories, challenge the myths, and draw attention to the thousands of children in U.S. foster care who are waiting for permanent families.

WACAP takes National Adoption Month a step further, by not only advocating for children currently living in U.S. foster care, but also for children who are waiting for families in eight additional countries around the world. WACAP currently has information on children in Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, India, Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and the U.S who are in immediate need of permanent families.

Just a quick update… My new Children’s ebook, I see… Savannah, is available now on Smashwords! I’ll be diving into self marketing next and have many more links as well as a press release soon. The book will also be distributed to Apple’s iBookstore, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble’s Nook in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

About Smashwords

Founded in 2008, Smashwords operates the world’s leading ebook publishing and distribution platform serving authors, publishers, readers and retailers.
Smashwords makes it free and easy for the world’s authors and publishers to instantly publish and distribute their books as multi-format ebooks. Smashwords puts authors and publishers in full control over the pricing, sampling and distribution of their works. Authors and publishers receive up to 85 percent of the net proceeds from sales of their works. Smashwords has distribution relationships with leading online retailers such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony and Diesel eBooks, and leading mobile e-reading apps including Aldiko, Stanza, Kobo, FBReader and Word-Player, spanning all major mobile platforms including Android, Blackberry and iPhone. Privately held Smashwords is based in Los Gatos, California, and can be reached on the web at http://www.smashwords.com/. Visit the official Smashwords blog at http://blog.smashwords.com/

You do not need an ISBN to self publish, however you will be limited on distribution options. Currently, Amazon, Apple, Sony and a few others require an ISBN for you to sell your work in their stores. You can still create your e-book and self distribute or even sell it at some retailers such as Barnes & Noble.

So now you want one, how do you get it? They aren’t cheap. Unless your a publisher buying a chunk of them, a single ISBN with Bowker (The official U.S. register) will run you $125. You can buy larger quantities which saves you a lot. Just bumping up to 10 ISBNs brings the cost down to $25 each. But unless you have money to burn or a pretty solid sales strategy it may be difficult to recuperate later. There are other supposed “authorized” resellers offering publishing services but be leery, if it sounds to good to be true it probably is a vanity press or such some scheme wanting you to sign up for a publishing package of some sort.

The alternative is publishing through a service which offers ISBNs. Smashwords will supply a free number, if you follow their style guide and are accepted into their premium catalog, that is registered by them stating they are the publisher. They also offer an upgrade for around $10 that allows you to be listed as the publisher. Lulu sells ISBNs also, or will include one if you are purchasing a marketing package. Either way you are still the author and retain all copyright. However, you are generally giving up a cut of your profits to these types of publishers so in the long run may pay out a considerable amount if your book is successful.

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that you CAN publish to Kindle through Amazons KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) page without an ISBN. Once I have used this portal I will post additional information.

How are you going to format your e-book? PDF? E-Pub or other flow-able structure? This decision may make or break your book. Some people lean toward PDF because the format is familiar and you can control your layout. Graphic Designers in print have already embraced this technology, so why mess with a good thing right? Not to mention pretty much anyone has the ability to save down in PDF. If you go this route, you probably can make a good looking book, but you may alienate readers by passing up the inherent features of eReaders – flow able, and customizable content.

Designing, if you can even say that, for flow able e-books is rather counter intuitive for the average graphic designer. Control and purpose are key in print layout. Down to the last em space designers want to apply everything they learned about good design, and they want to know the end user will awe at their infinite perfection.

Web designers on the other hand have a bit more relevant experience. As with e-books, web sites can be viewed on many devices and allow user customization. The web guys who lock down their site designs using flashy fancy objects get the look, on the right device with the right software, but often lose out on viewers limited by their tech.

The purpose of publishing an e-book is to have it read. Make that easier on the user and your more likely to get your content delivered. Would you zoom in and out and scroll all over to read a few PDF pages? Yeah, maybe, if the content was compelling. Would you read an entire novel like that? Not likely. So really the only design principle for e-books that really matters; Functionality.

Simplify your text formatting to make it flow smoother. The simpler the better. Optimize your images, much like for web, to be as small as possible while still looking good. If you must flex your design muscles, save it up for the book cover image, that’s what sells your book. There are a few style guides out there depending on where/how you plan to distribute your final product. Here’s a short list to help you out:

Smashwords Style Guide
PubIt!-Barnes & Noble Nook Style Guide
Adobe Indesign to iBookstore
Adobe Indesign to Amazon Kindle
.epub eBook Tutorial (Manual file creation)

I’m going with ePUB, either hand crafted or through a service like Smashwords or Lulu. Let go of control. Let the content flow…

I’m doing it. I’m self publishing. And I’ve decided to share the development of my first ebook from start to finish. There is a wealth of information on the Internet, a glut really, and it’s still been tough to find specifics on HOW to make e-books. Kind of like when the web went social and every TD&H wanted to publish a site, there are services that will do it for you if you can shell out some coin, pricey software that helps but requires a tech touch to finesse the files, and for the truly die hard geek SDKs to build the files from scratch.

As I learn more and weed the good info out I’ll post as much instructional tidbits as I’m able. My main focus now though is squeezing more creative time out of my day so I can bring you this:

Joe”s Nose is bored with channel surfing and longs for real adventure out of doors away from snores! Join the Nose with Toes as he follows his… Well, you know!

Amanda Hocking’s crazy huge success is one of many great things happening in digital publishing right now. The waves of change that rocked the video rental industry with highly available and affordable content are currently crashing on the shores of the publishing industry. E-books are exploding. With more content being self published, on newly improved and emerging devices, there is a whole lot to get excited about.

Self Publishing in the traditional medium was wrought with upfront cost, storage and distribution pitfalls, and numerous vanity printers ready to upgrade over-budget. With ePUB there is a huge advantage for the little guy to break into “print” and snag a chunk of the pie from the big publishers.

Currently, I’m brewing up concepts and working on character sketches for an illustrated children’s book I’m developing for ePUB distribution. Once it’s complete I plan on launching it through iBookstore and Amazon, possibly B&N’s Nook. Unfortunately, Amazon Kindle is still only black, but rumor has it a color Kindle is in the works so I’ll already be out there.

I may be posting some in-progress sketches soon. I’m still debating on whether or not to share that sort of thing before it’s complete. I’m a big fan of Open Source, but some people have no scruples…

MOO - They love to print!

Well this MOO certainly is not MOOT. And if you have ANYTHING worth promoting it definitely matters. For a measly $20 plus shipping you can have your very own designer business cards shipped to you from MOO’s England headquarters. Their products are hip and plentiful. The neatest feature is their print on demand ability to customize each and every card in your 100 card pack. Have a product that is unique and photogenic? You can upload your own images or link to a flikr, facebook or Etsy library and make each card a mini promo piece as unique as your work. Calling cards, business cards, shoot even a mini pocket portfolio… the possibilities are endless!

Not a designer? No problem! They also have a ton of beautiful and whimsical ready made designs that you can easily customize and have in about a week. I have my first box on it’s way so I’ll report on the print quality here shortly!

Every year in May, Portland Community College celebrates the arts by organizing a week long event, dubbed Art Beat, full of performances and guest speakers across all artistic disciplines. It’s been a few years since I graduated, but I still remember all the festival fun.

Amazingly, I have now been asked to participate on the Alumni Design Panel! I’ll get the chance to share my stories and real world experiences with the current students of the Graphic Design program I graduated from (it seems like forever ago).

I’ll keep you posted…