Easy Book
In case you are intimidated by the thought of "doing a
book," know that over the years we have developed several ways to
make this a doable project that is not intimidating. Our goal is to help
you by providing information to make the project easier and more
peaceful. The page Our Site can be a
quick reference about where to find what you are looking for.
There are several ways your material may be prepared for printing and
binding. So let's look at this last step before you go to pages that guide you in the actual
writing. The easiest way to prepare a book is number 1, then number 3,
etc. (And if you don't want to
design the book yourself, we can design it for you.
Read more.)
1.
Create a
ComputerFile
2.
We Design Your Book
3.
Print Your Pages to Send
1.
Create a Computer File to Send
You
can create the entire book in your computer, add photos on various pages (see
examples)
with stories,
post-script the file when finished, and send it to us. We can walk you through the
post-scripting process, and if you can't do it, often we can do it once
the file arrives in our office. You can use Microsoft Word or WordPerfect to create the book with
text and photos.
See
Family
Book Essentials for format and
design guides. See
Formatting Examples and
Design
Examples. See
Preparing
the Disk.
Organizations preserving their history can find more info.
If you are using Microsoft Publisher, please review our tips by clicking
Publisher.
2. We Design Your
Book
We also offer
affordable design services if you wish. We quote a per-finished-page price and a
per-photo price so you can know what the design cost will be before you send us the project.
We show you several types of designs from which to choose.
Read all the details.
You can also hire a local designer, someone you know and trust. Do read the guidelines in
Family
Book Essentials first,
About
Photos and
When
Ready To Send. All these and more are located in
the section
Publish Info.
For
quick links to many pages, see
Our Site.
And at the top of each page are links to related pages.
We
are happy to answer your questions. Feel free to
call us or use our
Question
Form.
See Why
A Book
3.
This is how you can create a book.
• Create the pages (typed or on a computer) for your book and print them (we
call these "camera-ready" pages). See
print tips.
If you know how to scan and include photos in this book you are
creating, do so.
• Or an option for your
photos is to choose the ones you wish included in a
Photo Section in the book.
• To create the photo pages
for you, we scan and enhance the photos, create
photo pages, arrange the photos on the page and add captions.
• Then we scan the text
and/or photos pages you have sent to create a
master file, place the photo section in it, create a proof and send it to you to look over and approve before the printing/binding process begins. The proof
pages are printed front and back, just like the finished book will appear.
•
Create a simple text design for the cover. See
Cover
& Spine Example.
• Consider what type of cover you like. See
Hard
& Soft Covers for details. If
hard cover, we send you swatches
of cover materials in various colors/materials from which to choose.
If soft cover, we design the cover after discussing with you what you'd
like, and send you a proof to approve.
• After
you return the proofs to us, we proceed with the printing and binding and send the books to
you.
• See and read
When
Ready To Send and how the process goes
once you are ready.
•
If you have
Pedigree Charts,
Family Group
Sheets, etc, to include in your book, they can be
scanned and reduced to fit. See
a
Posterity
Photo Chart.
Think you're not a writer? Read
Why
People Don't Write,
Concerns,
FAQ
and see the section
Tell
A Story for simple ways to begin.
See
an
example
of a Photo Section within a book.
If you need want someone to look over your writings, grammar,
punctuation, etc, or other editing help, we offer that service
Proofreading.
You can read many questions and answers under
Frequently Asked Questions.
