Tag Archives: self publishing

Carol Joy Jenson

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This is a book about my aunt who died when she was 13 years old. There was a limited number of photos and information about her short life so I used every picture I had and almost everything written about her. Because it was so focused it came together very quickly.

I had a lot of fun putting this together, so much fun, that it inspired several more books in similar format and size about her parents and another aunt with more to come. These books that are not so much focused on the chronology of someones life but more about telling the story of who they where and what was important to them.

A smaller focused project like this is very doable and very satisfying to too. Keep the possibilities in mind as you think about upcoming story projects.

 

Pupdate – Zodiac

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Jumping is probably my least favorite thing about Zodiac. Sometimes it comes so unexpectedly when I’m sitting at my desk working on my computer and “zap” his paws land abruptly on my arm and shoulder. I sure hope that his future handler loves this trait because I think it is just part of who he is. We have been able to moderate it but not stop it all together.

Zodiac was still in phase 0 this week. Of the 40+ pups that were recalled the middle of May, nine of them moved to phase 1 on the report. It looks like they started two new strings, one in San Rafael and one in Boring, Oregon. I don’t understand why nine dogs, eight would make more sense. A trainer usually starts with four dogs. Zodiac’s brother Zenith was one of the dogs that moved on to phase 1. Hopefully next week Zodiac will start the actual harness training.

Understand Book Publishing Paths

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Understand the Key Book Publishing Paths by Jane Friedman

Today I’ve been doing some research on publishing “My Grandma Mary” book. I still have so much to learn. This story project has a broader potential audience than my other projects. So I need to learn new things and try new things to share this book with those who might have an interest in it. I’ve loved Blurb for my other projects but I’m coming to realize that they aren’t the best option for “My Grandma Mary”. Just when I think I’m almost done I realize I’m not done. Silly me. If I just look at my DOABLE approach I would know that I still have a couple of steps to go; link (sharing the project) and evaluating. Now I’m getting sidetracked from the purpose of this post. In my research I came across this well-organized infographic on book publishing paths by Jane Friedman. You can find Jane’s full article here. I’ll be keeping this handy for referring to now and in the future. This is information to keep in mind from the beginning of a story project to the wrapping up stages.

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The Many Faces of E-books and Self-Publishing

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DOABLE Sidebar DYesterday I talked about printed books. Today lets jump into e-books. There are so many e-book formats and it is rather overwhelming. But I came across this article, “3 General types of eBooks”, that brings some order to the confusion. If you divide e-books into groups by function you have:

  • basic: this is an e-book in its simplest form, basically just an electronic version of a print book
  • embedded: this type of e-book can have sound, video and animation as part of the content
  • interactive: this is the ultimate type of e-book, more of an app than a book in many ways.

So how does all this effect your decisions in creating your own story project? I would think that many book story projects could easily been converted into basic e-books. There are many cost and sharing advantages to this. In its simplest form exporting your finished book to a pdf document takes just a few seconds in most software that you have created your book in. This works great for view the book on a computer but not so great for tablets or e-readers. This is where things get more complicated. You will need to pick an e-book format depending on what platform your book will be read on.

Doing an embedded e-book means developing more content than a printed book. You will want to add sound and or video etc. While an interactive e-book takes a whole new set of skills to complete. Not suitable for a first story project or even a second unless you already have the knowledge or the resources to tackle that project.

For “My Grandma Mary” book, I plan to publish it as a basic pdf e-book shortly after the print version is available. Then I want to figure out how to format it for the iPad, Kindle and Nook. I know that Blurb has an option to publish your book to iPad for a fee. I’ll have to look into that too. Part of that project may be adding some interactive elements such as sound and links on the hidden images. I’m excited to learn about how to do this and I’ll be sure to share it here.

What are your feelings on the shift from print to e-books? Do you have an e-book story project in mind?

 

Printing Options for Publishing Your Story Project Book

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DOABLE Sidebar DSo you have decided that your story project will be a book and you’re really excited about it and ready to take the next step. Pause for just a moment and think about how you are going to publish your finished book. There are more options for publishing a book than ever before. Here are the main ones that I can think of:

  • traditional – usually one place for printing another for binding
  • print on demand – on-line
  • local copy center
  • self printing from your computer with your printer

Each option has advantages and disadvantages and each one has requirements that you will want to keep in mind as you begin your story project. One of the most important reasons to decide which route you are taking is so that you will know what size and file format requirements your choice will have so you don’t end up with some unexpected glitch near the end of your story project. I won’t go into great detail here on each one but just give some of the pros and cons of each option.

Traditional Printing:

I don’t have direct personal experience with using a traditional printer but I’ve some indirect knowledge and what I learned in college. If you are wanting to print a large number of books upfront it is an option that should be considered. My books so far have a very limited audience so this hasn’t been a consideration. It might be an option for “My Grandma Mary” in the near future.

Pros:

  • low-cost per book
  • fully customizable

Cons:

Print On Demand

This is a great option for most story project books. There are lots of print on demand companies. My favorite is Blurb, but I haven’t tried all of them. The quality varies and the options vary from company to company so check around and find one that fits your needs and understand the size and format requirements. Print on demand sites are not flexible on how your files are uploaded to their servers.

Pros:

  • small number of books
  • quick turn around

Cons:

  • higher cost per book
  • limited number of options

Local Copy Center

Depending on your story project the local copy center might be a good alternative if you are doing a project in a standard letter-size format and are happy with the binding options they have. Don’t assume that this will be you.

Pros:

  • quick turn around
  • local business

Cons:

  • lower quality binding options
  • variability in knowledge, quality and cost

Self-Printing:

This is how I did the first few books I published for my family. It was a good way for me to get started but between the cost of the ink and the number of hours I spent baby sitting my printer I wouldn’t do it again unless it is for a project which is small in the number of pages and the number of books. A neighbor has told me about retrofitting his printer with a continuous ink supply system that I’m anxious to hear more about. It cuts the cost of printing from home dramatically. I’ll let you know when I learn more about it.

Pros:

  • total control

Cons:

  • binding options
  • not usually cost-effective
  • time intensive

There is no single printing option that is right for all story project books. So look at each project and pick the option that makes the best sense for that story project. Just make sure that you look at the options at the earliest stages of the story project.

What printing options have you used in the past? Do you have any words of advice for others?

 

Pupdate – Zodiac

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Zodiac was on the phase 0 report this week! Yeah! I know it may seem silly to be so excited to see his name but it seems like a little text message from our boy saying, “I’m here and doing fine.” The harness training at Guide Dogs for the Blind is broken into 8 phases plus they have what they call phase zero for when they dogs first get to campus, get physicals, adjust etc.

Here is the second spread in Zodiac’s puppyhood book.

“One day when he was young the back door wasn’t latched and Zodiac had a digging adventure out in the back yard. It took me a while to figure out how he got such a dirty nose in his “just earned my puppy coat” pictures.One of the zaniest things that Zodiac loves to do is dig in his empty dog dish. I usually take it to mean that he would like some ice cubes. Zodiac loves ice cubes! He will grab an ice-cube or two and dash into the living room to munch down on them or chase them around the kitchen.”

Adjectives for Focus

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DOABLE Sidebar DMaking a list of adjectives that describe  what you want your finished story project to be can help you stay focused on the desired outcome. Think of the words not only as guides but also as inspiration as you move forward with your project. It would be a great to post your list of adjectives where you can see them and remember why you are doing your story project. You could add sketches or pictures or anything that helps to communicate the feelings you want your project to generate in those you will share it with.

Using “My Grandma Mary” again as an example, here are a list of adjectives for what I hoped to do:

  • appealing (I wanted it to draw the child into the story)
  • accurate (I wanted it be true to the known facts)
  • ageless (I hoped to appeal to many age groups for many years to come)
  • appropriate (I wanted the information shared to take into account the age of the target audience)
  • courageous (I wanted the courage of Mary and the other pioneer to be felt)
  • determined (I wanted the reader to understand that it took determination to reach Utah)
  • grandmotherly (I wanted the reader to relate to Mary Taylor as if she were their own grandma)
  • happy (I wanted the happy times of Mary’s life and journey to be present too)
  • hopeful (I wanted the kids to know that they can have hope even when things are at their worst)
  • hungry (I wanted them to understand how very hungry she was)
  • inspirational (I wanted Mary’s story to inspire them)
  • short (I wanted to keep the story short and easily read in a few minutes)
  • spiritual (I wanted the reader to feel Mary’s testimony)
  • thankful (I wanted the reader to feel Mary’s gratitude despite the trials of her life)

Another thing to keep in mind as you start on a new story project is who the intended audience is. With “My Grandma Mary” I kept in mind that I wanted it to most appealing for kids between 5 and 10 years old. Remembering this helped with many important decisions along the way.

Try making an adjective list about a new story project or one that you are already working on and see if the process is helpful for you.

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The Many Mediums of a Story Project

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DOABLE Sidebar DLet’s say that you’ve narrowed down your story project and have a good idea of what you want to do and why you want to do this story project, the next big question is what medium to do want to use to tell this story?

I’ll use my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor again as an example. I knew I wanted to do a story project about her and I had decided that I wanted to focus on her journey from England to Utah with the Martin Handcart company. I also knew that I wanted to do something that would be appealing to kids. I figured that if it was approachable for kids, adults would take time to learn about Mary Taylor too.

So looking at the 100 story projects post, and narrow it down. My first run through I deleted things that weren’t about her journey. That got me down to about 40 Then I deleted those that would not be very appealing to children. That took off about 20 more. Next I looked again at which ones would really tell the story of her journey and not just aspects of her experience and would appeal to kids ages 5 to 10. That got me down to the following list:

  1. make a story book with illustration of Mary’s childhood and journey to Zion (did that – it is so close to being ready to publish)
  2. make that story book into an ebook
  3. make that story book into an enhanced ebook with sound etc.
  4. make that story book into a video with narration and background music
  5. make a coloring book about Mary’s life (I could probably adapt the illustrations from “My Grandma Mary” for this)
  6. design surprise balls that tell a story about Mary Taylor
  7. make puppets to act out stories from Mary Taylor’s life
  8. make a video of the puppet show
  9. put together a story box about Mary Taylor

Looking at this more focused short list you could do some more brainstorming and ask yourself are there some different media that I could use to expand this list. Here are some extra ideas that come to mind:

  • make an animated video using claymation or other media
  • make paper dolls for the characters in Mary’s story
  • instead of having an adult illustrate the book have a child or children draw the images after learning about Mary’s story

The first five could be grouped together, because in completing the first one (make a story book), much of the work is already done for the next three. It is sharing it and enhancing it in different ways. Using different media. In some ways the story box could be the final end of several story projects about Mary Taylor all with the goal in mind of creating a story box about her life and/or her journey to Utah in 1856. The box could contain the story book and/or ebook, video etc, a coloring book, puppets and a script or scripts to perform or a video, and a surprise ball as a kind of summary of Mary’s story and trinkets to remind the kids what they learned about their ancestor. That would be really cool.

I didn’t make this list when I started the story book about Mary’s journey, but if I had I would then need to choose which story project to do first. The story box would be out because it is more appropriate as a long-term goal. Someone with more experience with puppets and script writing might pick that as a first project. But since my experience is mainly with books I would probably still pick that as my first project. Even the color book idea is a natural extension of the story book. If I was more comfortable with video that could be the starter project and then the book would be taken from still of the video. There are lots of options and mediums. Which one or ones you choose depends on you, your talents, your interests and your resources. The story book project turned out to be perfect for me because my niece was on board to illustrate it.

Does this example help you to see how to take a long list that you have brainstormed and narrow it down. There is not one right answer for a story project. Follow your intuition and move forward. This can be a fun process so let it inspire you. Then keep that vision alive as you take the many steps to complete your story project.

I’ve been inspired by this brainstorming exercise, I hope you have too. Now it is time for you to do something similar for your next story project!

 

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100 Story Project Ideas

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DOABLE Sidebar DThere are so many types of story projects. Let’s use one of my projects as an example. Many months ago I decided I wanted to learn more about my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor and share some of that with my family. This has lead to several story projects about her that I’ve already done and many more that I would like to do. I’m sure there are even more that I haven’t even thought of yet. Let’s see how many different story projects I can come up with about Mary Taylor:

  1. go to Martin’s Cove for a hands on experience (did that)
  2. make a video from our experience in Martin’s Cove
  3. make a simple book to share with family about her life and her journey with the Martin handcart company (did that)
  4. build a handcart replica
  5. live for one day or even one meal on the rations that the Martin Handcart company had
  6. reenact the journey of the Martin Handcart company from its start in Liverpool England to its arrival in the Salt Lake Valley
  7. build a diorama of Coton-on-the-Elms
  8. build a model of the ship Horizon
  9. follow the journey of the Martin Handcart company day by day in 1856 (did that)
  10. make a serial graphic novel based on the experiences of the hardcart pioneers
  11. share it to coincide with Mary’s journey to Zion
  12. travel to England the area that Mary grew up
  13. write about my experiences and share it with my family
  14. use google earth to take a virtual journey to Mary’s birthplace
  15. use google earth to follow Mary’s journey with the Martin Handcart company
  16. make it into a video to share with others
  17. using google earth create a virtual scavenger hunt about Mary’s life and the places she has been
  18. make a story book with illustration of Mary’s childhood and journey to Zion (did that – it is so close to being ready to publish)
  19. make that story book into an ebook
  20. make that story book into an enhanced ebook with sound etc.
  21. make that story book into a video with narration and background music
  22. using family members make a video about Mary Taylor
  23. make a music video with Mary favorite song “The Handcart Song”
  24. learn the Mary’s childhood song “In the Merry Green Fields of Oland” similar to “Old McDonald“
  25. make an illustrated video of “In the Merry Green Fields of Oland”
  26. make an illustrated children’s book inspired by “In the Merry Green Fields of Oland”
  27. create a board game inspired by the handcart pioneers
  28. learn and then teach how to play the game “Going to Zion”
  29. learn to make simple toys from Mary’s time and share them with my family
  30. make a video game inspired by the experiences of the handcart pioneers
  31. Gather photos of all the known possessions of Mary Taylor and put them into a book form to share with family, including stories about each item
  32. also share that book as an ebook
  33. learn about cooking in the late 19th century in England and Utah
  34. make how to videos to share what I learn
  35. make a cookbook with recipes that Mary probably cooked
  36. learn homemaking skills for the late 19th century
  37. learn about dressmaking in the 1850s
  38. learn about the French surge dress we have that Mary made
  39. create a modern-day pattern for her dress
  40. create craft and/or home decor ideas using Mary’s dress making skills
  41. make a quilt about Mary’s Life
  42. make a quilt about the Martin Handcart Company
  43. make patterns for those quilts to share with others including the stories behind the blocks chosen
  44. learn about the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when that Mary joined the church in England
  45. watch “Seventeen Miracles” and/or other pioneer movies as a family
  46. organize a Mary Taylor descendants reunion
  47. compile all the descendants of Mary Taylor into a book
  48. make a Facebook page for the descendants of Mary Taylor
  49. design a charm necklace/key chain in honor of Mary Taylor
  50. visit Mary’s grave site
  51. visit all know locations that she lived
  52. do a “decades” book about Mary’s life
  53. do something everyday for one year to honor Mary
  54. compile those experiences into a book
  55. compile those experiences into a video
  56. write a book about what Mary has taught me
  57. design surprise balls that tell a story about Mary Taylor
  58. create a memory jar in honor of Mary and/or my experiences learning about her
  59. put together a story box about Mary Taylor
  60. make a music cd inspire by Mary Taylor including “The Handcart Song”, “In the Merry Green Fields of Oland” and other songs from the late 19th century
  61. make a shadow box about Mary Taylor (I’ve sort of done this with a tea-cup that was hers but there is much more that I could do)
  62. make a coloring book about Mary’s life (I could probably adapt the illustration from “My Grandma Mary” for this)
  63. give a gift basket inspired by Mary Taylor – include other story project like “My Grandma Mary” in the basket
  64. make a memory wreath about Mary Taylor
  65. make an old-fashioned Christmas wreath inspired by Mary Taylor with decoration from the late 19th century
  66. make a doll house inspired by one of Mary Taylor’s homes
  67. research the history of each of Mary’s last names: Taylor, Upton, Simmons and Robinson
  68. put together a book about Mary’s names
  69. find any coat of arms from Mary’s history or design a coat of arms inspired by her life
  70. make t-shirts inspired by Mary Taylor
  71. find and/or create maps about Mary Taylor’s life
  72. make a calendar for the coming year with all the important dates in Mary Taylor’s life
  73. celebrate Mary Taylor’s birthday
  74. make a trivia game with facts about Mary Taylor and life in the late 19th century
  75. make an audio record of stories about Mary Taylor – recruit family members to help with this project
  76. make puppets to act out stories from Mary Taylor’s life
  77. make a video of the puppet show
  78. pick one of Mary’s home and research the history of that spot
  79. make duplicates of the photo we have of Mary Taylor and make sure everyone in the family has a copy
  80. create a collage about Mary Taylor
  81. make a Christmas ornament with Mary Taylor’s photo
  82. make or find Christmas ornaments like those common in Mary’s Life time
  83. plan a Christmas meal similar to what Mary Taylor would have enjoyed
  84. decorate your house and/or Christmas tree in the way in would have been done in the late 19th century
  85. make flash cards about Mary Taylor’s life
  86. make flash cards about the Willie and Martin Handcart companies
  87. make a memory game inspired by Mary Taylor
  88. gather family traditions from the late 19th century and choose a few to make a part of your traditions in honor of Mary Taylor
  89. keep a record of your new family traditions so that future generations will know where they came from
  90. set up a photo shoot inspired by the late 19th century and invite family members to get their photos taken
  91. compile these photos into a book to share with everyone
  92. make an advent calendar inspired by Mary Taylor and/or the late 19th century
  93. make a puzzle with Mary Taylor’s picture or a collage or a set of puzzles from the illustrations in “My Grandma Mary” book
  94. make a family tree that shows the connection between Mary Taylor and each family member
  95. make a Christmas card inspire by Mary Taylor (did that)
  96. make a time capsule with all the things we all the Mary Taylor story projects
  97. write a song about Mary Taylor and what she means to me
  98. make a family planner with facts about Mary Taylor and important dates in her life
  99. make an infographic about Mary Taylor
  100. have “Mary Taylor” come for dinner

Most of these idea could be applied to your ancestor and there are many more story project ideas that you could come up with. There is no shortage of ideas. The challenge is to choose one and make it happen. Remember to start with smaller simpler projects.

Did my list inspire you? If you don’t already have a story project you are working on, I challenge you to decide on one today.

Shadow from A to Z

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The sixth anniversary of our pet dog, Shadow’s, passing was just a few days ago so I thought this would be a good time to share this project. I put this book together a couple of years after Shadow died. It was my way of writing his life history but not in a chronological way. I used the letter so f the alphabet and chose words that described Shadow as the structure for telling stories about his life with us. This book was therapeutic for me and in many ways is a legacy for all the puppies we are now raising for Guide Dogs for the Blind. It is the precursor for all the puppyhood books I am doing for them. I used digital scrapbooking papers and elements on the pages.

Do you have a story project that would lend itself to the alphabet approach instead of the more traditional chronological approach?