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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
23/01/2010
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16:58
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This forum is for anyone with an interest in publishing on Lulu.com. Post questions and messages here.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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colsack
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Posted - 03/02/2010 : 15:08
Stenley and Pete, i've finished writing but theres only 27 pages. Will there be more pages when it's in print form? I have set the pics in but what size should they be? I have used font size 18 for headings, 12 for text and 10 for pic captions, should i change these? What is the next step? remember i'm not computer minded so simple explanation is best.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 04/02/2010 : 07:50
Difficult to say without seeing it. On a 9x6 format book 12pt will be OK. Pics should be 5" wide and 300dpi, that's what Lulu works best with. Way to see it in final form is to set the page format but an explanation of that and the pitfalls would be too long. Tell you what, email me at the address below, I'll send you a page from one of my books. Open it, delete all the text and than copy your text and pics into it. This will put it in the Lulu format I use and you'll see where you are. Then we can go on from there.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 04/02/2010 : 20:30
Colin, do a word count on your book and let us know the result.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 05/02/2010 : 06:10
I've sent Colin a secion of Volume II so he can delete the content and insert hbis text to see what it comes out like. (That's Lulu format of course). Colin, don't delete the title pages etc just yet, start deletion on the first page of text. That way you get an idea of what's needed in the opening pages. Not perfect but a good guideline. When you've got your text in you can edit the titles etc to suit your book.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
colsack
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Posted - 05/02/2010 : 15:41
Thanks Stanley, I've had a go and one of my pages of text takes up one and a half pages of the lulu format. But I've thought of more things to write about so i will get that done first.
Pete, I've tried to count the words twice and lost count both times, is there a automatic way of doing it?
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 06/02/2010 : 06:24
Colin, do all your writing and editing in the Lulu format from now on, no point doing it on another format and pasting in, it just buggers the formatting up.
Word count. If you're using Microsoft Word look for TOOLS on the top menu, left click and look for word count. Left click on it and as if by magic a box will appear telling you what you want to know.
You aren't afraid to ask simple questions like that. Good, because that's the way we learn and believe me other people are reading this and they will learn as well.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 06/02/2010 : 11:17
Thanks Stanley for answering Colin. As I don't have MS Word or Windows I can't be sure to give the right instructions.
I think the text of Vic's book was 38,000 words, it had about 55 pictures and in Lulu 9"x6" format was 103 pages. Each picture took up about half a page, so 55 pictures account for around 22 9x6 pages. So the text would have been around 80 9x6 pages before adding in the pictures. Compared with Vic's 103 pages, Stanley's books are each around 400 pages so you can see how much writing he does! Keep going Col!
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colsack
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Posted - 06/02/2010 : 14:10
Thanls lads, i've now finished writing, the word count is 6,226 with 44 pages, i don't know if these pages include the ones with the photos on.
Is the next step to transfer everthing to the lulu format?
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 06/02/2010 : 16:59
If that's in the format I sent you it is in Lulu format for a 9x6 inches book. I forget what Lulu minimum page number is, is it 70? That includes the title pages as well of course. Have you used my template and done your titles, contents etc?
You should read the whole thing through and check spelling etc. In the course of that you'll remember other things and the text will grow. Page count includes all pages whether oics or not. Word count is only the approximate number of words. Don't rush too much, the edit and check is a good thing to do.
Have you atrted by telling the reader something about yourself and your early days? It's a good thing to do an index. Indexing in MWord is dead easy and a good thing for your readers. Here's how to do it.
Open the document. Click on tools>options and in the box that says show all formatting marks put a tick. Then go through your text and index all names places and unusual things that you think people will want to find. Highlight a word of phrase and then hit shift, alt, X (Hold down shift and alt and type 'x' ) then hit return twice and this will insert an index entry inside quotes in the text. Do this for all the words you want and when you have finished go to options again and take the tick out of the box showing all formatting marks. The index entries will vanish but don't worry, all the markers are still in the format but hidden.
When you have done all this and you are convinced you have written all you want to, burn the file onto a CD and post it to me and I'll check it for you and insert the index if you like, otherwise ask me about index, page numbering and checking format which has to be done before you publish.
Do that edit and let yourself be triggered off.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 06/02/2010 : 17:03
I've checked Lulu, minimum page count in US Trade which is the 9x6 is 32 so you're OK. Go and index and edit then come back to me. Don't complain! It all needs doing!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
colsack
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Posted - 07/02/2010 : 20:19
Ok, now up to 52 pages, i think it's finished now, i've designed the front and back covers but how do i add background colour? I will index and a final check tomorrow.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 08/02/2010 : 08:19
I use the old cover designer and make a 9x6 jpeg of what I want and just paste it into the space for a cover. These include pics, titles etc.
I've never used their cover designer so you'll have to have a play with it. You can choose colurs, titles etc that way. I don't know about pics 'cause I've never used it but they will have to be jpeg, maximum of 5" wide and 300dpi. Remember that coloured covers are allowed even in a B&W publication.
If you haven't got a graphics programme like Photoshop, find a mate who has because the pre-designed jpeg route is certainly easy.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 08/02/2010 : 08:24
Where do you live Colin? Are you close enough to visit me? If so give me a ring and I'll do anything I can to help you. When you're indexing remember that because the index marks are shown your original formatting doesn't show, it will be all over the place. Make sure every index entry starts with a capital letter, it looks much better. Check everything very carefully when you think you have finished. There will still be mistakes in there somewhere!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
colsack
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Posted - 08/02/2010 : 11:00
Cheers Stanley, done the final editing, then thought of more things to write, i will do that later. Havn't had any luck with the cover designer yet but working on it. Do i need my book copyrighted, how do i do that, or do i just write a few lines saying that it is?
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Tizer
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Posted - 08/02/2010 : 12:19
I used the new Lulu cover designer for Vic's book but it gave me problems and I couldn't change some of the font sizes from the default. I got a cover but it could have been better. The problems might have been something to do with the unusual software I use on my computer though.
Look what Stanley or Vic have in the front of their books for copyright. You don't have to do anything more than write it in. Then you have the copyright by default.
You want:
Copyright [copyright symbol] 2010 [then your name here]
For the copyright symbol you'll probably need to look under Word's Insert menu for Special Characters and select it there. If you look at Vic's book, copy those paragraphs about rights and rights reserved, and "the ISBN number for this book can be found on the rear cover".
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PUBLISHING ON LULU.COM
