SDLeary Posted November 14, 2023 Share Posted November 14, 2023 Hey all, found this LINK in a discussion on Book Publishing over on RPGnet. Suggestion articles on the site are short, but cover many (most?) of the issues that I learned WAY BACK in High School print shop, updated for digital sensibilities. Most of the posters on the site seem to come from a Fiction background, but there is significant information for the Non-Fiction crowd as well. SDLeary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDLeary Posted November 14, 2023 Author Share Posted November 14, 2023 (edited) Also with an article on Fantasy Map Generators! SDLeary And an FYI note: Humble Bundle also has a CC3+ bundle in effect. Edited November 14, 2023 by SDLeary Added: CC3+ bundle link 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfbrandi Posted November 15, 2023 Share Posted November 15, 2023 For typography, there is always: https://practicaltypography.com/ 1 Quote NOTORIOUS VØID CULTIST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDLeary Posted November 16, 2023 Author Share Posted November 16, 2023 5 hours ago, mfbrandi said: For typography, there is always: https://practicaltypography.com/ Yes! I actually forgot about that site. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention. SDLeary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooley1chris Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 Who has experience with Print on Demand? I used LuLu to get my ISBN but have only published on DTRPG. LOOKS like POD on DTRPG is a bit of a pain, takes longer, and might not be as good quality as LuLu. Wondering what thoughts are in this from experienced user, please. Quote Author QUASAR space opera system: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/459723/QUASAR?affiliate_id=810507 My Magic World projects page: Tooleys Underwhelming Projects Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMiddleton Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 My limited experience having never published anything major / for money but done a few small things via Lulu (mostly for private use) is that Lulu is pretty easy to use and not that fiddly. Quality of product for the very limited / private works has been great, but the were all of minimal challenge (no page backgrounds, all interiors sparse on art and that all b&w greyscale images). Everything I’ve done I managed to prep in Apples Pages with no major issues. I have never attempted to publish anything via DTR: that may change in 2024, and I therefore have a copy of Affinity Publisher in readiness, but the learning curve is a caution (but then I remind myself of my experience with Scribus and Affinity doesn’t seem so daunting…) 😉 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundamentalist Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 23 hours ago, tooley1chris said: Wondering what thoughts are in this from experienced user, please. In reality, only the cover files differ from Lulu and Ingram Spark (which DTRPG uses). You can use the same files for pages or you may have to tweak the bleed settings. Lulu covers are different to DTRPG/Ingram covers but work on the same principles. Once you have the files for DTRPG you can use them for Ingram. Ingram used to charge a nasty setup fee for each title so I used to wait until free offers and set up a bunch of titles. It used to be that Lulu B&W was better quality and heavier paper, but I'm not so sure today. So print quality wise Lulu and Ingram are similar, and it boils down to personal preference. The biggest drawback is the wait time for the proof copy to arrive, and if you made a mistake you have to submit and wait all over again. ISBN barcodes are pointless on DTRPG, as they use their own stock barcodes for some reason. But Ingrams does not and you can use your own barcodes. Weird. So I leave a white space on my backcovers that DTRPG autofills with its own barcode, and I insert my own barcode for Lulu and Ingram. 1 Quote Adam Crossingham Publisher & Editor-in-Chief | Sixtystone Press Limited Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Brooke Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 On 11/17/2023 at 3:52 PM, tooley1chris said: Who has experience with Print on Demand? I used LuLu to get my ISBN but have only published on DTRPG. LOOKS like POD on DTRPG is a bit of a pain, takes longer, and might not be as good quality as LuLu. Wondering what thoughts are in this from experienced user, please. I've prepared about 120 books for POD on DTRPG. What problems are you having? Quote Community Ambassador - Jonstown Compendium, Chaosium, Inc. Email: nick.brooke@chaosium.com for community content queries Jonstown Compendium ⧖ Facebook Ф Twitter † old website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gray Raven Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 My own experience is using KDP, which is a POD system devised by Amazon. There are no upfront costs charged by KDP. It is just your own time and effort. I wrote my fantasy novels and my nonfiction works on philosophy and on Qabalah/Kabbalah using Microsoft Word and then uploaded them to KDP. My Qabalah/Kabbalah texts have black-and-white pictures and diagrams in them. The covers for my books were in the first version created by myself using one of their templates. Now in the revised versions of my books, the covers were finalized by Marianne Nowicki of PremadeEbookcovershop.com. I used KDP's system to generate the ISBN rather than purchase my own set of ISBNs. There is the obvious drawback that a book created via KDP is an Amazon book; though it does show up in the official BOOKS IN PRINT listings, it is not accepted by brick-and-mortar stores to be sold by them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMiddleton Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 For folks considering investing in software for book publishing - Affinity 2 suite is heavily discounted currently (until 04/12) and whilst I can't speak from experience, I gather that many who have used it and Adobe Creative Suite regarded Affinity as a viable alternative - and its a one off fee, no monthly sub... https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/ I had some spare cash, so splashed out on upgrading my copy of Affinity Publisher 1 to the full version 2 suite. Hopefully will have some time during Christmas break to have an experiment properly. Now just need to some decent SF Stock art for... reasons... 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDLeary Posted December 3, 2023 Author Share Posted December 3, 2023 Affinity Publisher 2 is much better than 1 IMO. Not positive, but I think that @lawrence.whitaker is using it over at DM for Mythras layout. SDLeary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawrence.whitaker Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Yes, we use Affinity. Quote The Design Mechanism: Publishers of Mythras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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