The mention of KDP ISBNs not being applicable for bookstore sales was a great reminder to me. Im about to finally publish next week and your videos have been a valuable source of information for me. Keep em comin!
I wish I had the time to produce a lot more consistently, but hopefully will have more coming. Thanks for the compliments and I'm so glad it was useful!
Follow up on my first book. My proof came in but the photos were rendered too dark. I had noticed it when I exported the pdf, but I foolishly thought the KDP rendering would be better than the pdf. I know now that they print the book directly from the pdf. I went back in and tweaked the pdf export parameters toward higher quality settings and the pdf export came out nice, so I submitted it for a second proof.
Thank you Jason. Your simplistic approach to explaining this is surprising among tutorials that try to cover all situations. The key to getting across to us is saying, "you're going to have to figure out those things yourself." I had to adapt somethings as I went along, my photos are not square but I figured out how to give them the dimensions to fit without changing the square frame. For those who encounter this, the photo size after I added it to the frame is 7.13 x 4.753. Make sure click on the picture move button so that the right panel is for the picture and not the frame. Make sure you double check your portrait oriented photos. At first they look like they fit but when you click on the move button you will see that they hang out at the top and bottom. Jason I will receive my proof tomorrow, I'll let you know how it comes out.
That's great to hear! Can't wait to hear how it comes out - and so glad this was of help to you! I wish I could go more indepth, but it's a labor of love and unfortunately sometimes there isn't enough time to be as thorough as I'd like. Thanks for the updates!
Thanks Jason, you video is a great help for me, not the template, we need A4 (Germany) but it is good to go through the whole process and I love the idea to create my own photo books, I certainly will do so.Anyway, for now we will produce a children's book about the beg bad wolf and the 3 little piglets, dolls, paintings and my photography.
Well done! Thank you for putting all of this together. I want to give it a try, and I’m sure I will refer back to your presentation many times when I get started.
Thank you for all of the detailed information! Lightroom Classic has a book module that outputs PDFs. Do you know of any issues going this route to create a book?
I don’t believe it’ll work. Something about the way Lightroom outputs the file. But it’s been a long while since I tried, so you may have success - can’t say for sure but I don’t think it will work with kdp. Let me know if you try it and it does though please
Hi Jason, thank you for this, very informative and appreciated. Given that you prep images in LightRoom, why don’t you use the book module in LR to produce the book and resultant PDF?
I don't think you can output the PDF properly or in the same format as needed for KDP. I've tried it in the past and can't remember why but did not have success. Although it woudl be great if you could!
@@DozierGraphic Hi, thank you for the reply, you are right though, it would be good if the book module got some attention from Adobe and could be the one stop solution for LR users. I appreciate your time in replying.
Awesome info. thank you for helping me decide what I want to do in my future publishing options. looking forward to part 3. Quick question, what's the normal bleed (white border ) on these books? What's your template set at? Can I buy your template and convert the format to 11x8.5 easily?
Glad it was helpful! Yes, you can edit the template, but it'll take a few minutes for sure. But that's also a great way to 'reverse engineer' the template to make it work for you. It's absolutely customizable and not locked in by any means. I'd make a COPY first, to keep the original in tact, then use a copy to customize. Hope it helps!
You've answered a big question that I've had for months. I'm not a photographer, but I put a book out on amazon also, called "Pulled for purpose by Dj Tootskee". I put about 50 pictures in the book in color, and when my hardcover copy came back, they were in black and white. I didn't pay attention to the print options. The bad part about it is when I look at my book on amazon, it shows my pics in color, but not when you buy the book. I never knew what I did wrong until I saw your video. Thanks for sharing, I'll do better next time.
That sounds a little 'off' - not sure how they show a color photo on Amazon, but it's printed black and white. Have you ordered only one copy? It could have been a printing error, in which case you would get a refund because the product is not as listed. If the Amazon listing says 'color' or something like that, and it's all black and white, it's possible the printer either ran out of ink, or possibly didn't check their quality (Amazon uses multiple printers depending on the region you purchase the book, not all are printed at the same place). Also, it's possible that you can CHANGE those print options even after the book has been published. Another option is to republish the same book under a different ISBN, and then 'discontinue' the first edition. Let me know if you figure out the issue, and best of luck.
Hi Jason, I'm hoping you can help as I am looking at using this template for my photography book but it also has text it is possible to add text to your template, please?
absolutely, but not with the template I provided. You have to use 'bleed' - good question and I'll produce another video by next week with the info on how to create what you're asking about. There willbe a template available also. Thanks.
I have one other question. As I am trying to use the GR III for streets, I am noticing that I mostly take photos at 35mm and some time at 50mm using the in camera crop. Hence, I am thinking of replacing the GR III with GR IIIx. My camera store will take it back and will exchange it for a IIIx. I understand that you do prefer GR III or IIIx. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
I like the 28 because it has more room for error, and the high quality image means you're not losing a lot of quality when you crop to 35, especially if you're not printing. With the X, you have to pay more attention to framing your shot, and be more accurate. depends on the shooter, but if you're on the move I like the wider lens.
i want to make my first book. but i dont have enough photos thats book worthy yet. i am interested in the template. ill book mark this video. thanks for sharing.
If you have a minimum of 24 photos, it's worth going ahead and creating a 'test' book. There's literally no cost to do it, other than ordering a proof, which would be less than $10 including shipping. The more you create the better you'll get at it when you are ready to create your 'photo worthy' book! Also, the template is for InDesign, not Lightroom, so the fact you're using ipad pro wouldn't be of concern. You have to have InDesign to use the template though. Hope that helps and best of luck!!
How did u get ur book to have glossy pages? Even when selecting the premium colour option when I ordered my proof the paper was coloured yes but just standard like paper you’d find in normal books. Not glossy or silk like a photo book or like the shine u have in urs
I couldn't speak to that, but I'd send a message to whatever 'help' link they have and my guess is they'd likely send you another one. Have to remember that these are printed by different printers depending on region, so it's very possible you could get a one-off copy that doesn't 'follow the specs' as it should. Sorry for the trouble, but I'd first complain, or possibly order another copy and see what you get.
The watermark is just the proof before you approve it. Then it's still author's price, but the watermark is gone. I kind of like the watermark and always order a proof just for it. Then if it's a book I want to display I'll order an additional 'regular' version after it's approved. But price to you is still the same as author.
You can customize the cover any way you want it. Regarding their templates, I'm not sure, but you can either use their provided cover templates or create your own and upload. Hope that helps.
This may be a silly question, but what if I want to keep my photos in the crop I have them, and do not want to make them square? Many of my photos are custom crops.
Make sure you're not using the MASTER page when adding the photo. If still issues, try deleting the photo guide on page 4, select the one on page 5, copy it, and try moving it over. Then add the photo and should solve the problem. Let me know.
Ok, that worked. I used the paging box at the very bottom of the window. Page 4 had a photo frame (guide) but page 5 did not. I drug the p.4 guide to p.5 and the Cntrl-D function worked. Thanks
Did you open the zip folder before ‘extracting’ it first. It would be impossible to download two files not in the folder - unless your computer kept it from downloading the zip. I can refund your $2 if you can’t get it - but I’m sure it’s a matter of downloading - just let me know
@@DozierGraphic I don't know. it is what it is. Normally if something can screw up it will be with me. I feel sure it was something I did or did not do. I understand. Something will work out for me sooner or later.
That depends on how much income you need, as well as your popularity, marketing, and most importantly, quality. Just putting a book out there will likely not result in any sales without extensive marketing, etc. But people make livings off book publishing all the time. I wouldn't put the effort into it, but I'm sure others have.
The mention of KDP ISBNs not being applicable for bookstore sales was a great reminder to me. Im about to finally publish next week and your videos have been a valuable source of information for me. Keep em comin!
I wish I had the time to produce a lot more consistently, but hopefully will have more coming. Thanks for the compliments and I'm so glad it was useful!
Follow up on my first book. My proof came in but the photos were rendered too dark. I had noticed it when I exported the pdf, but I foolishly thought the KDP rendering would be better than the pdf. I know now that they print the book directly from the pdf. I went back in and tweaked the pdf export parameters toward higher quality settings and the pdf export came out nice, so I submitted it for a second proof.
Did you successfully get your book published?
Thank you Jason. Your simplistic approach to explaining this is surprising among tutorials that try to cover all situations. The key to getting across to us is saying, "you're going to have to figure out those things yourself." I had to adapt somethings as I went along, my photos are not square but I figured out how to give them the dimensions to fit without changing the square frame. For those who encounter this, the photo size after I added it to the frame is 7.13 x 4.753. Make sure click on the picture move button so that the right panel is for the picture and not the frame. Make sure you double check your portrait oriented photos. At first they look like they fit but when you click on the move button you will see that they hang out at the top and bottom.
Jason I will receive my proof tomorrow, I'll let you know how it comes out.
That's great to hear! Can't wait to hear how it comes out - and so glad this was of help to you! I wish I could go more indepth, but it's a labor of love and unfortunately sometimes there isn't enough time to be as thorough as I'd like. Thanks for the updates!
Thanks Jason, you video is a great help for me, not the template, we need A4 (Germany) but it is good to go through the whole process and I love the idea to create my own photo books, I certainly will do so.Anyway, for now we will produce a children's book about the beg bad wolf and the 3 little piglets, dolls, paintings and my photography.
Glad it was helpful! Keep the creativity going!
Well done! Thank you for putting all of this together. I want to give it a try, and I’m sure I will refer back to your presentation many times when I get started.
Have fun!
Well done..concise and to the point, thanks !
Glad it was helpful! A third followup video coming in oct 2023 (ish)
Thanks so much for the breakdown!
My pleasure!
Thank you for all of the detailed information! Lightroom Classic has a book module that outputs PDFs. Do you know of any issues going this route to create a book?
I don’t believe it’ll work. Something about the way Lightroom outputs the file. But it’s been a long while since I tried, so you may have success - can’t say for sure but I don’t think it will work with kdp. Let me know if you try it and it does though please
really appreciate this these videos, I'm curious about publishing my own photo books. thank you!
Go for it! Nothing to lose!
Hi Jason, thank you for this, very informative and appreciated. Given that you prep images in LightRoom, why don’t you use the book module in LR to produce the book and resultant PDF?
I don't think you can output the PDF properly or in the same format as needed for KDP. I've tried it in the past and can't remember why but did not have success. Although it woudl be great if you could!
@@DozierGraphic Hi, thank you for the reply, you are right though, it would be good if the book module got some attention from Adobe and could be the one stop solution for LR users. I appreciate your time in replying.
Awesome info. thank you for helping me decide what I want to do in my future publishing options. looking forward to part 3. Quick question, what's the normal bleed (white border ) on these books? What's your template set at? Can I buy your template and convert the format to 11x8.5 easily?
Glad it was helpful! Yes, you can edit the template, but it'll take a few minutes for sure. But that's also a great way to 'reverse engineer' the template to make it work for you. It's absolutely customizable and not locked in by any means. I'd make a COPY first, to keep the original in tact, then use a copy to customize. Hope it helps!
You've answered a big question that I've had for months. I'm not a photographer, but I put a book out on amazon also, called "Pulled for purpose by Dj Tootskee". I put about 50 pictures in the book in color, and when my hardcover copy came back, they were in black and white. I didn't pay attention to the print options. The bad part about it is when I look at my book on amazon, it shows my pics in color, but not when you buy the book. I never knew what I did wrong until I saw your video. Thanks for sharing, I'll do better next time.
That sounds a little 'off' - not sure how they show a color photo on Amazon, but it's printed black and white. Have you ordered only one copy? It could have been a printing error, in which case you would get a refund because the product is not as listed. If the Amazon listing says 'color' or something like that, and it's all black and white, it's possible the printer either ran out of ink, or possibly didn't check their quality (Amazon uses multiple printers depending on the region you purchase the book, not all are printed at the same place). Also, it's possible that you can CHANGE those print options even after the book has been published. Another option is to republish the same book under a different ISBN, and then 'discontinue' the first edition. Let me know if you figure out the issue, and best of luck.
@@DozierGraphic Ok i'll look into it and let you know,thanks.
Hi Jason, I'm hoping you can help as I am looking at using this template for my photography book but it also has text it is possible to add text to your template, please?
Hi Jason thanks for your videos!!! I have a question for you....is possible with Indesign spread an image over two pages?
absolutely, but not with the template I provided. You have to use 'bleed' - good question and I'll produce another video by next week with the info on how to create what you're asking about. There willbe a template available also. Thanks.
I have one other question. As I am trying to use the GR III for streets, I am noticing that I mostly take photos at 35mm and some time at 50mm using the in camera crop. Hence, I am thinking of replacing the GR III with GR IIIx. My camera store will take it back and will exchange it for a IIIx. I understand that you do prefer GR III or IIIx. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
I like the 28 because it has more room for error, and the high quality image means you're not losing a lot of quality when you crop to 35, especially if you're not printing. With the X, you have to pay more attention to framing your shot, and be more accurate. depends on the shooter, but if you're on the move I like the wider lens.
i want to make my first book. but i dont have enough photos thats book worthy yet. i am interested in the template. ill book mark this video. thanks for sharing.
my lightroom is on an ipad pro. so i dont think the template will work for me.
If you have a minimum of 24 photos, it's worth going ahead and creating a 'test' book. There's literally no cost to do it, other than ordering a proof, which would be less than $10 including shipping. The more you create the better you'll get at it when you are ready to create your 'photo worthy' book! Also, the template is for InDesign, not Lightroom, so the fact you're using ipad pro wouldn't be of concern. You have to have InDesign to use the template though. Hope that helps and best of luck!!
How did u get ur book to have glossy pages? Even when selecting the premium colour option when I ordered my proof the paper was coloured yes but just standard like paper you’d find in normal books. Not glossy or silk like a photo book or like the shine u have in urs
I couldn't speak to that, but I'd send a message to whatever 'help' link they have and my guess is they'd likely send you another one. Have to remember that these are printed by different printers depending on region, so it's very possible you could get a one-off copy that doesn't 'follow the specs' as it should. Sorry for the trouble, but I'd first complain, or possibly order another copy and see what you get.
Dude, thank you so much. Will your program work on mac or are you using DOS?
I use PC and can't speak to the software specifics, but assume since it's Adobe it would work on Mac.
Can you get a copy without proof copy watermark or do you have to pay full price.
The watermark is just the proof before you approve it. Then it's still author's price, but the watermark is gone. I kind of like the watermark and always order a proof just for it. Then if it's a book I want to display I'll order an additional 'regular' version after it's approved. But price to you is still the same as author.
Hi, Im interested in Publishing a photo book 📚 Can I use photos on my phone 📱 ? Thank you for your response.
I don’t believe so - you have to get them to a computer to output a pdf.
@@DozierGraphic I think I heard the photos on your phone 📱 are not good quality for a book. Have to have a special camera. Thanks.
Jason, hey, do you know if we can load two photos for the cover design? tks
Anyone is cool, to answer
You can customize the cover any way you want it. Regarding their templates, I'm not sure, but you can either use their provided cover templates or create your own and upload. Hope that helps.
Thanks a lot ❤
You're welcome!!
This may be a silly question, but what if I want to keep my photos in the crop I have them, and do not want to make them square? Many of my photos are custom crops.
you'd just have to adjust the photo frame to fit. I hope to come out with another video/template for regular crops.
@@DozierGraphic thank you for the reply.
Just watching your videos worth the 2$ ;)
lol Thanks so much. I haven't seen too many vids about it so I'm glad it's helpful!
Does your template work in Affinity Publisher?
Unfortunately no. Just InDesign.
When I Cntrl-D and add a photo to page 4 the photo is automatically added to all left side pages.
Make sure you're not using the MASTER page when adding the photo. If still issues, try deleting the photo guide on page 4, select the one on page 5, copy it, and try moving it over. Then add the photo and should solve the problem. Let me know.
Ok, that worked. I used the paging box at the very bottom of the window. Page 4 had a photo frame (guide) but page 5 did not. I drug the p.4 guide to p.5 and the Cntrl-D function worked. Thanks
Have to know I'm the one that got it and it would not work. It downloaded as two files and not a zip file and I can't get either to work. $2 gone.
Did you open the zip folder before ‘extracting’ it first. It would be impossible to download two files not in the folder - unless your computer kept it from downloading the zip. I can refund your $2 if you can’t get it - but I’m sure it’s a matter of downloading - just let me know
Be sure NOT to open the zip folder before extracting it first - then open the extracted folder for the files.
@@DozierGraphic I don't know. it is what it is. Normally if something can screw up it will be with me. I feel sure it was something I did or did not do. I understand. Something will work out for me sooner or later.
@@DozierGraphic I didn't figure it out but it is worth $2 to see the video even if I don't figure it out.I'm sure it is something I didn't do right.
@@jekjr1957 I sent you an email with the template - you don't have to unzip, just download and they should work. Let me know. thanks.
Can you actually make an income from doing this?
That depends on how much income you need, as well as your popularity, marketing, and most importantly, quality. Just putting a book out there will likely not result in any sales without extensive marketing, etc. But people make livings off book publishing all the time. I wouldn't put the effort into it, but I'm sure others have.