©Julienne Brown

Publishing a Photo Book
A brief guide to doing it yourself on the Internet
©2009 Julienne V. Brown

Many years ago, when I owned a New Mexican specialty foods company, I published what turned out to be a very successful cookbook. Now out of print (save for a few used ones on Amazon), I still get requests for it. It was illustrated with beautiful pen-and-ink drawings done by an artist friend. I had been researching ways to get that going again and even put it on a disk, but people want a book they can hold when it comes to recipes. One day it just came to me, "Why not just re-do the recipes and surround them with your beautiful photos of New Mexico?" I experimented with a couple of different self-publishing sites and really enjoyed working on www.blurb.com.

Far from a computer wizard, I have done quite a bit of work on Microsoft Publisher and am familiar with some of the basics of text boxes, etc. The Blurb program made it easy to work with (even if you don't know this stuff) and allowed for creativity in the process. The site also allows for you to work totally on your own, but I chose to use the templates and modify them as necessary for my desired end result. (The other Internet program I tried did not allow for any modification of the templates and it was frustrating to work with.)

This best part of this program is that it costs you NOTHING! That's right—NADA. You do have to purchase at least one book once finished (within 15 days) or they will erase it from their bookstore. So, it you don't like it, walk away and you didn't spend a cent, except your time.

So, here's how to do it: Go to www.blurb.com. You should probably familiarize yourself with the site, what they have to offer, browse the bookstore to see other books (thousands of them!) and get a general idea of what is going on. You will be the copyright holder and publisher of the work. If you order an ISBN number (which currently Blurb does not provide, but they promise they will someday), your work can be sold on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, other bookstores, etc. Blurb does have the copyright on the templates so you can't go print it elsewhere in their format. You can get your ISBN by going to www.bowker.com. I haven't done this yet as I wanted to see how the book is received, so I will just sell it through Blurb for now.

Go to "Make Books." I used their "Book Smart" program which you download onto your computer. Just walk through the steps as they are presented. Several shapes (square, rectangle, portfolio, landscape) and sizes are offered for your selection. You should also look at the pricing before you get too far along to make sure your book will be priced in the realm of reason. For instance, my "Taste of New Mexico" is a Standard Landscape Portfolio (8" x 10") and it has 40 pages. It is the same price for 20-40 pages, but then it jumps for 41-80. Also, a photo book should be printed on premium paper, which does hike the price. You must specify if you want this option. Undoubtedly, you will want to receive a royalty on the book, so you will eventually add what you want that to be and that is the price that will appear in the bookstore. Your price as the author will be the manufacturing price less the royalty.

One note I want to make early on: Think through your "username" as it will be permanent! Not knowing this, I thought it was like a password and used my dog's name "Chilidog." Well, now I'm stuck with that moniker and feel like a dork. Oh, well....maybe it goes along with the NM food idea!

After answering a few basic questions, the Book Smart program will come up. This stays on your computer and automatically saves your work. On the left side you will click "Get Photos" and pull up those you wish to use. Make sure they are cropped and enhanced as you wish before you import them. This selection of photos will stay in the left margin for you to drag onto the book as you go. If you wish to change the photo, just drag on another one.

Before you can drag a photo or write text, go to the top left and select the template you wish to use for that page. There are many options for both text and photo and combinations of the two. If you change your mind, just click another!

If you need to change the layout for any reason, you can do so. Perhaps you have more text than fits in any box, or you wish to add an image somewhere. At the top toolbar there is an icon to "Edit Layout." Click on that and you can make all the changes there. Apply the changes (or apply and save, if you think you will want that layout again). You will be back to the "edit" page to continue your work.

You are provided with a large selection of fonts, sizes and all range of colors for the type. You can type over photos if you select that kind of template. As you are working, you can "preview" your book at any time. Just click the "Preview Book" button on the lower right and the book will appear as in print. Look closely at all the detail to make sure it is just as you want it.

I saved the cover design until last and there are a few things to know. A nice feature of this program is that you can have your book in soft cover, hardcover (which is solid black binding on mine) with dust jacket, or "image wrap," which is a printed hardcover with no jacket. (This last choice has specifications you need to follow for it to print correctly). Unless you know for sure that you won't ever want a dust jacket, I recommend you make up the flaps in addition to the front and back covers. This will allow flexibility in future ordering, without having to re-do the book.

Once the book is complete, preview it again and maybe have someone else look it over to be sure it is perfect. Then click on "Order Book" and walk through those steps. It will upload to the Blurb site and then you have more work to do! Some of this is to decide if it will be private (by invitation only), or public (for sale in their bookstore). You set the preview as you wish: only the cover, a few pages, all pages, etc. You write the book summary and your own bio. Upload your photo, if you wish.

You have opportunities now to announce your book to friends, on the web, etc. As orders are placed, they are printed individually (hence the high price) and shipped. Within about 10 days, you should have your book. I hope this information was helpful. Have fun doing this and congratulations on your upcoming book!

To see a sample of Julienne's book, click here.