Tell The World - Electronic Format
Here is the finished electronic book for the 2008 SoFoBoMo Project… Things didn’t work out the way I had really hoped, but this is just a beginning. I’m going to start on another book project in the next few days that will hopefully be much better based on what I have learned from this one.
Problems I encountered during this process:
1. When I discovered ISSUU via Gordon McGregor, I quickly learned that I wanted to use it. THAT little thought really caused me to ruin the design of my book for the most part. I had used drop shadows and some other effects that were not compatible with the format required to post on the ISSUU website.
HERE are my original photo designs before I stripped them down to become compatible with ISSUU.
2. Microsoft Word is not a bad tool, but I need to do my design work in something more robust for this type of project. I can’t afford to purchase expensive software. I have the latest version of Microsoft Office (Ultimate 2007) that I got through a student program for $60, and it includes Microsoft Publisher, so I might explore that avenue for the next project. Programs like Adobe Indesign or Quark Express are just out of my reach, as nice as it would be to have them in my posession.
3. It would be really nice to own Adobe Acrobat also for the purpose of making the PDF files. The freeware PDF tools are not quite up to par for making exactly what you want, but they can be poked and prodded to get something close in most cases.
In reality, I need to spend about $1200 on software if self-publishing books is going to become a preferred method of leaving my footprint on the third stone from the sun…
Some seem to do quite well with Scribus. It is free and available for Windows. I had a quick look and it seemed okay
A belated, but hearty congratulations on finishing your book. I admire the tightness and coherence of your book and the interesting theme. To an outsider, it certainly looks as if you were not seriouly hampered by your lack of software. I hope you will take on another one right away.
@Anita Jesse: Thanks for the comments. This particular project did not give me what I had hoped it would, and I’m looking at some new ideas now that I’ll hopefully get to start on soon :)