Monday, August 17, 2009

PRINTING OUT E-SKETCHBOOKS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

A while back when discussing E-sketchbooks, I mentioned that once I had finished one and was done with it, I could print it out.  At the time, what I envisioned was printing it out from within my software so that it would be kind of like a newsletter format, then taking it to a printer’s to have it spiral-bound.

One issue is that I do not have a color printer.  My husband does, but he doesn’t have the software.  The software being by Microsoft probably will not load on his computer.  The only other alternative would be to network our printers. 

A couple of years ago, a professional computer guru did just that for us when he came to our home to deal with some more important computer issues.  It was nice for both of us.  He could print black-and-white and I could print color.

But then it stopped working.

But then I discovered a particular concept of self-publishing, thanks to a piece in the Wall Street Journal (August 6, 2009).  The Journal had written an article on having one’s own cookbook put out in a form comparable to a published cookbook.  Not to sell.  Just to have a copy for one’s self, maybe a couple more for friends and family.

Most of the sites just do cookbooks.  But two of the sites will take on any kind of publication.  The two websites are Blurb and Bookemon.  

On my own, I also found Lulu. But this site seems geared more to persons wanting to sell their product.

And I found an interesting blog post on self-publishing by Gojko Adzic, whose blog focuses on computer software.

Related Post:  Sketchbooks for Weavers


Printing Out E-Sketchbooks” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 17, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Newer MS products have a PDF maker button (or maybe Adobe adds this in when you have Adobe Acrobat, I don't know). You can then print to pdf, save it as a file, and email it or take it on a flash drive to your local printing shop.

You can also print to a file in Publisher (I think, my PC is upstairs), and send the file to the copy store. However, they must have Publisher too (although if it's Kinko's they probably do). You might call them and ask what the options are.

Kimmen

Peg in South Carolina said...

Thank you for your suggestions, Kimmen. My Publisher is an older version without pdf capabilities but I do have a pdf printer. I do exactly that when I want Chuck to print out something for me in color! Works like a charm. Don't know why I didn't think of it for this!