Preparing Content for self-publishing

Preparing Content for self-publishing

T ^EXT

Check spelling, grammar and punctuation. Fact check!

Tip: print out all your text, and ask someone else to proof-read it.

Ensure consistency of style: capitalization, abbreviation, spelling, numerals, dates etc.

For example: dates

• Dec. 12

2009

• 12th December 2009

• 12/12/09

Another common example: consistency in the order of elements in a caption:

• Fishing hut, Alturlie Point, Scotland, 2008

• Alturlie Point, Scotland. Fishing hut. 2008

• Fishing hut, 2008. Scotland.

P ^HOTOS

Image preparation workflow:

1. CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR!!

2. Do all your color and tonal adjustments first in RGB.

3. Flatten all your images. (Keep master copies).

4. Apply sharpening.

5. Resize for print size and resolution.

6. Assign color profile.

But – in reality you will want to determine this about your images before you start laying out your book:

• What is the largest size you can print your images? (after cropping) Use the Image Size dialog box in Photoshop:

In Photoshop: Image > Image Size.

Uncheck Resample Image.

Then input the resolution desired and it will tell you the largest

dimensions possible.

Image preparation workflow for photos

1. Monitor Calibration

"As a general calibration guideline, use gamma 2.2 and 6500K for both Windows and Mac. A white point of 5000-5500K is a common recommendation for offset printing. Set brightness levels in relation to the room’s ambient lighting." - Universal Photographic Digital Guidelines v. 4

2. Color and Tonal Adjustments

• Color balance.

• Highlight and shadow detail.

• Contrast.

In addition to the basic adjustments, this is the point to do such things as converting images to black and white, toning images, retouching or stitching photos etc.

In Photoshop, use Image adjustments.

Tip: You can also use Camera Raw for non-destructive image editing for non-camera raw images too. From Bridge use Command-R to open a Jpeg, Tiff or actual camera raw file.

3. Saving your adjustments: use multiple versions

• If you’ve made a lot of adjustments, save these either as layers in a PSD file, or as camera raw adjustments on the original files. This is to ensure that if you change your mind about an image (for example: you didn’t want it in black and white, something needs retouched etc.) you can go back to the full, original information to make the changes. Best practice: save PSD master files.

• Then, make sure that the files being targeted for your book are flattened, in RGB and 8-bit per channel.

In Photoshop: go to Image > Image Mode.

4. Sharpening

All digital images output sharpening. How much depends on the printer you will use.

In Photoshop, go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask

OR (as used throughout most of the images in the books):

High pass sharpening:

In Photoshop: In the Layers palette: Duplicate layer.

Apply Filter > Other > High Pass (usually 1 or 2 – we used 2 for high resolution images).

Set Blend Mode to Overlay or Soft Light.

Flatten again.

5. Resize for print size and resolution

Usually between 240-300 dpi for photos at actual print size. Check the printer’s specs.

If you know and are sure exactly how large the image will be used in your layout then resize.

In Photoshop: Image > Image Size and check Resample Image.

If you’re not sure, then resize to a larger size and use Indesign (or the page layout program) only to reduce images’ sizes in your layout.

6. Assign color profile

Check again that your image is flattened, RGB and 8-bits per channel.

In Photoshop: go to Image Mode > 8-bits/channel Edit > Assign Profile

Click Profile. This is where you will use the color profile given by the printer (if supplied) from the pull down menu.

Otherwise use the recommended color profile - usually sRGB or Adobe RGB

Then save your file that is now targeted for the printer.

When you save, make sure that the Embed Color Profile box is checked and listing the correct profile.

Where to put a custom color profile if you download it:

Mac OS X

/Library/ColorSync/Profiles allows all users to use them.

OR

For users without Admin privileges, is

/Users//Library/ColorSync/Profiles — any profiles stored here are available only to the current user.

Windows XP and Vista

\Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color

Microsoft has a Control Panel Applet that emulates some of the functionality of Apple's ColorSync utility.

Windows XP to right click on the profile in Windows Explorer and select "install profile".

Windows copies the profile to the correct directory automatically.

Important note: If you are replacing a profile in Windows XP, the above shortcut does not work. The profiles must be manually copied to the correct directory for the original profile to be replaced.

Windows NT/2000

\Winnt\system32\spool\drivers\color

See above note on installing profiles in Windows XP. The same technique works in Windows 2000.

• Which file format?

TIFF Tag Image File Format .tif or .tiff Lossless file format, large file size.

RGB - 24 or 48 bits (8 or 16-bits per channel)

For TIFF files, most programs allow either no compression or LZW compression (lossless, but is less effective for 24 bit color images). Adobe Photoshop also provides JPG or ZIP compression too (but which greatly reduces third party compatibility of TIFF files).

JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group .jpg or .jpeg Lossy file format

RGB - 24 bits, (8-bits per channel)

JPEG always uses lossy JPG compression - looses quality through repeated savings, Degree of compression is selectable, for higher quality and larger files, or lower quality and smaller files. Good format for photos, best quality with compression is 10. Watch out for Jpeg artifacts.

PNG Portable Network Graphics .png

RGB - 24 or 48 bits (8 or 16-bits per channel)

uses ZIP compression which is lossless, and slightly more effective than LZW (slightly smaller files).

PNG is endorsed as a replacement for gif, doesn't loose quality through repeated savings.

Useful Links:

Blurb: http://www.blurb.com

http://www.blurb.com/guides/pdf_to_book/intro http://www.blurb.com/guides/pdf_to_book/steps

http://www.blurb.com/create/book/pricing - standard-landscape Adorama: http://www.adoramapix.com/PhotoBooks.aspx

http://www.adoramapix.com/Support.aspx?SupportID=Editi http://www.adoramapix.com/Support.aspx?SupportID=Quali MagCloud: http://magcloud.com/

http://magcloud.com/help/indesign http://magcloud.com/help/others Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/

http://www.lulu.com/en/help/how_do_I_make_pdf - indesign_pdf

http://www.lulu.com/en/help/make_sure_pdf_prints_right(the PDF settings Lulu uses) A and I (located here in Los Angeles)

http://www.aandibooks.com/

http://www.aandibooks.com/faq Other Print on Demand providers:

https://www.createspace.com/ http://www.sharedink.com/

http://www.comixpress.com/ http://www.whcc.com/

http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/print-products.html http://www.mpix.com/

http://www.mypublisher.com/ http://www.bayphoto.com/catalog/pp_books.htm http://www.pikto.ca/books/ http://www.embassyprobooks.com/

http://fastbackbooks.com/ http://asukabook.com/

http://www.paperchase.net/