Got my book from LULU

Sportera · Apr 28, 2006

113 pages from my New Orleans work. The printing is too dark, and one typo. Oh well try and try again. I didn't waste too much money on it and I made it paperback to be affordable. I don't think in its present state that its ready.

Any advice?

SuzanneR · Apr 28, 2006

How much?

Donald Miller · Apr 28, 2006

Sam, I have not dealt with Lulu myself, but I wonder can you reach an agreement that they provide you a proof of the work before you agree to any further printing?

reellis67 · Apr 28, 2006

Not to sound condescending, but is your monitor calibrated well? I know that some of the printing that I have seen recently was off because the person that sent it to the lab used a monitor that was not gamma calibrated first.

- Randy

firecracker · Apr 28, 2006

I have self-published a (postcard) book before (not from Lulu.com). I know the difficulty in the process of getting a good proof.

But eventually your eyes will adjust to the final look of your images from your book.

agGNOME · Apr 28, 2006

I wanna see. I wanna see. They probably charge a fee if they offer proofing, but I bet it's worth it. Another thing worthy of checking into is to see if they offer any Profiles that you can use and adjust your images accordingly. Sam, in the end I hope it all works out to your liking. When you do have copies available I'd like to buy one.
Cameron

Sportera · Apr 28, 2006

No problem Cameron! I'll look into the profiles. The problem I'm having is that I have to submit the file in a doc file, since I don't have the ability to covert to a pdf. The spacing gets all screwed up and the images are no where I want them to be.

I downloaded Quickgamma but when it has no effect on my laptop (dell truebright) monitor. Don't know what else I could do.

Sportera · Apr 28, 2006

oh and the book is not for sale until I ok it. I will keep you all posted.

Thanks

Lee L · Apr 28, 2006

Sportera said:
The problem I'm having is that I have to submit the file in a doc file, since I don't have the ability to covert to a pdf. The spacing gets all screwed up and the images are no where I want them to be.

Sam,

Do you have the ability to download and install openoffice (from openoffice.org)? I haven't used the windows version much, but it should read MS Word .doc files properly unless the formatting is unusual, and should also be able to save to a .pdf file. It does both of these things well for me under linux. I find the automatic and manual formatting under openoffice to be more predictable and controllable than MS Office's "runaway" and sometimes unfathomable automatic formatting. That might be one way to go (at no cost for software) to produce a .pdf formatted version for submission.

Lee

firecracker · Apr 28, 2006

Sportera said:
No problem Cameron! I'll look into the profiles. The problem I'm having is that I have to submit the file in a doc file, since I don't have the ability to covert to a pdf. The spacing gets all screwed up and the images are no where I want them to be.

I downloaded Quickgamma but when it has no effect on my laptop (dell truebright) monitor. Don't know what else I could do.

Can you ask Lulu.com to send you a proof on the actual paper for checking the final image quality? Is it part of your contract? If you can, that will save your time and energy instead of going through all sorts of computer issues.

The paper for the proof needs to be the same or at least very similar to the pages of your book. If the paper tends to absorb too much ink and/or make your images flat, that will be another issue.

Travis Nunn · Apr 29, 2006

Sportera said:
No problem Cameron! I'll look into the profiles. The problem I'm having is that I have to submit the file in a doc file, since I don't have the ability to covert to a pdf. The spacing gets all screwed up and the images are no where I want them to be.

I downloaded Quickgamma but when it has no effect on my laptop (dell truebright) monitor. Don't know what else I could do.

If you don't mind emailing the files to me I could convert them to a pdf for you. I don't know how you feel about sending your book to someone you don't know, but if you don't mind it, the offer stands.

agGNOME · Apr 29, 2006

Sam , Yeah, many lcd's aren't adjustable. Sounds like a program like Indesign would give you the power and flexibility to create the ideal pdf layout. Problem though is that it's just as expensive as PS. With limitations you can create pdfs with PS; I haven't tried. A long time ago I did a text and image layout for a medical journal in PS , not in pdf form though. Hmm, thinking of the possibilites....Acrobat maybe, but you may run into colorspace and image compression issues.
I'm going to go to lulu and see what info. they provide.
-cameron

Sportera · Apr 29, 2006

i ran adobe gamma and calibrated my monitor, How do my images look on your screens? They look good on mine, not at all too dark.

Travis, I may take you up on that. The only problem is the doc file is 167mb.

David im glad to hear your reading nola. Its got some great stories on there that no one leses reads about. I'll have to tell you the article about the last man out of Chalmette.

Cameron thanks for your help.

Travis Nunn · Apr 29, 2006

Sportera said:
...Travis, I may take you up on that. The only problem is the doc file is 167mb...

Yeah, that's too big for email. You could always burn it to a cd and ship it to me and then I could send it back with the pdf. If you decide to do so, just pm me and I'll send you my address.

agGNOME · Apr 29, 2006

The images look fine here too. Viewing with Safari. Well, it doesn't look as though they offer profiles. You've probably checked it out , but I found some helpful stuff here (through lulu):
http://athleticaid.com/yaquinapress/PDF-FAQ.html
in terms of converting pdfs for lulu's process.

Kino · Apr 29, 2006

Lee L said:
Sam,

Do you have the ability to download and install openoffice (from openoffice.org)? I haven't used the windows version much, but it should read MS Word .doc files properly unless the formatting is unusual, and should also be able to save to a .pdf file. It does both of these things well for me under linux. I find the automatic and manual formatting under openoffice to be more predictable and controllable than MS Office's "runaway" and sometimes unfathomable automatic formatting. That might be one way to go (at no cost for software) to produce a .pdf formatted version for submission.

Lee

I second Lee's notion: I use it all the time to export .pdf files of graphic scans of documents I want to email to persons so they cannot edit the content (at least not without a huge amount of effort).

www.openoffice.org

It is easy to install and works great.

If you simply MUST throw $400 at someone for a software package, throw it at the volunteers of Open Office and help fund the next version.

Sportera · Apr 30, 2006

I have downloaded openoffice, and created a pdf. This seems like it may be the way to go!. I am going adjust the levels on my images and reprint the book.

Thanks for all of the help, and I will keep you posted on how its coming.

bjorke · May 1, 2006

My friend Juan just published a hardcover of his street photos

http://jbuhler.com/buy/book.html

he used fastback books

Dead Link Removed

I have seen the book & the tone range is pretty good -- they ran a proof for him too.

agGNOME · May 1, 2006

bjorke said:
Dead Link Removed

I have seen the book & the tone range is pretty good -- they ran a proof for him too.

Their process sounds interesting...I liked how their site was much more direct and accessible in comparison to LuLu (which seems like a chore to navigate through).

Got my book from LULU

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