My online friend has done a wonderful job with creating the PDF format for my book and making all the corrections I requested. It looks great, but there are some items I would like to ask about here. I appreciate your opinions.
1.) After converting to PDF, most of the pics look blurred, out of focus. I feel certain they will look that way in the book too. I wonder if there is some way of making them look more sharp. Do you have any knowledge of whether this can be done?
2.) A book with color interior will cost more because the paper needed for color pics is more expensive. I think all pics should be shown in black and white so the paper and book will cost buyers less. Do you agree?
3.) If you had a choice, and you were thinking about reading this, would you prefer it be a book or would you rather read it online in Kindle? Kindle would be cheaper but then there would be no actual book. (I want to do only one of these at the start. I have my reasons.)
4.) I asked the owners of all 10 websites where I belong for permission to advertise. All of them have given me permission, some with enthusiasm. Amazon has every right to turn me down if they think the book will not be profitable for them. (I am not expecting a response to #4. I just needed to let that out. It has been worrying me. )
Just a thought: Jenny Ruhl had some issues with Kindle (see her posting here for more details – note that the issues weren’t with Amazon.com per se, but still a challenge for any author to have to deal with, and always a challenge when it is published electronically only), and the other issue with electronic format only is that it does not get a Library of Congress number, and therefore may not be as permanent as a book that gets printed – maybe that’s not an issue for you, but worth considering!
Personally, color is not really a huge concern for me, so I would vote for the lower-cost B&W version. Looking forward to hearing what’s next on this exciting project for you!!
Congratulations:) Wonderful to hear you are publishing a book. Tell us a little about it…topics, length, cost to download. In response to some of your questions…think B and W, lower cost would be best choice…so your info gets out to more people. Would prefer PDF download…don’t use Kindle.
Hi Patricia. The title of my book is “Beating The Odds”, subtitle “64 Years of Diabetes Health”. amazon will publish it if they approve when I submit the PDF. fter reading Scott’s post I am definitely going to make it a book and NIT Kindle.
My book is a history of my 64 years of diabetes, a good amount of autibiography showing what I accomplished whild being a diabetec 1945-2010, and several other topics. It is not something that can be downloaded. But, if it is published, you can buy it on amazon.com.
Scott, thanks for the post. You have helped a bunch!
Sounds like the pics were compressed too much either before they made the PDF file with them or as the PDF was created. I’ve done a fair amount of graphics work and know how that goes. What did you start with, scanned pictures or were some of them taken with a digital camera at first, for instance.
Scanning can affect existing pictures quite a bit, and careful handling can minimize that quite a bit. How they are integrated into the PDF file can affect them even more, since the pictures are often shrunk to fit on the page, and they get somewhat pixelized if you aren’t using the right software.
Just some thoughts, maybe I should consider writing such a book in 11 years when I have an equal span as a diabetic (Type 1 in my case).
Theodore Quick, thanks for your reply. All the pictures were scanned and my scanner is a cheaper one. I am not very good at using it yet but I will greatly appreciate your suggestions. How can my scanner make them sharper? How can I instruct the lady doing my PDF’s to improve the pictures? She works with publication of books and does all kinds of computer work. That is her profession so she should be able to do whatever you suggest. Thanks!
Hi Richard157. Congratulations on your book being published! I, too, have a type 1 book published through Amazon (though mine is a fiction love story) and it is very rewarding to find your book being discussed on other forums and through reviews.
Anyway, scanners can sometimes get better results, regardless of their real actual resolution or abilities, by careful placement of the item being scanned into the machine. This tends to take multiple attempts, but should be easy enough to check by looking at the resulting multiple image files and choosing the best looking 1.
Her software is probably much better than anything I use, but I have found that a vector based program, such as CorelDraw (expensive) or Inkscape (free but more limited) gets better results beause the images are handled differently, and making them larger or smaller is much cleaner and less likely to blur. I’m sure she knows that, but you can ask. Incidentally, CorelDraw can also output files to the PDF format as long as they are properly sized first.
The real problem is how large was the image in the first place, and how can it be done with the least possible change in size. It may actually work best if the image is processed with a low resolution webcam or cell phone camera that takes it in low resolution from the start.
Ask her what she thinks, based on her software and experience.
