We recently published Sarah's World: The summer to remember on Amazon Kindle. We wanted to get the digital version out so everyone could see all the nice illustrations in living color! All Illustrations in our books are drawn by Noe, then fiddled with by me using Picasa software and various free fonts available on the internet.
But you know, a lot of us would still like to have a hold-in-your-hand print copy, so for the past few weeks we've been learning all about that. Lulu seemed to be a good place to go, because they will make your book available for sale in various places, and seemed pretty easy to do. Sounded like they'd be reasonably priced, etc.
Once we got started, though... wow! First of all, we use Google Docs to do all our work, and they do have different sizes you can choose from to make a document. So I chose what is called B5 (6.93" x 9.84"), thinking that would be about the same as the 6x9 size I was trying to make on Lulu. But Lulu said that was not formatted right, that I'd have to choose another size for our book or resize the document. Then I saw Lulu had what's called the A5 size (5.83" x 8.27") and so does Google Docs, so I chose that.
Now, after having put in all the color illustrations, we downloaded a copy in pdf form (the kind Lulu asks for), and it looked really good. Then we went all the way to pricing, and for full color -- they said it would cost us about $33 to print!! And to sell, it would be about $44!! You see, the book turns out to be 100 pages long and there are 26 illustrations, so that must be the reason it would cost so much to print. Ok, back to the drawing board!
I began transforming the illustrations into black & white, but after downloading the pdf again, you could see that some illustrations came out pretty good, others really lousy. Back to the beginning again! Now I'm making them darker and with more "saturation" of color before changing them into black & white or sepia... I guess you kinda have to either know what I'm talking about, or be there so I can show you.
Anyway, that's where we're at with regard to making a print copy... still in the process. It's not that Lulu is hard to do, it's just that you have to learn how and then keep at it till you get it right. It's a journey, leading hopefully to a satisfying result. If you have any suggestions, do post them please.
UPDATE: We are not going to do this print copy ... sorry
Thank you for reading what noeandcindy.write !
When I started writing Sarah and Pcee, I didn’t have in mind doing any illustrations, because as I have commented on another post, my abilities as an artist are limited. And on top of that, I just wanted to get the story out. So this book has only the cover as an illustration, but we included links to websites that have lots of photos on them.
However, during the process of self-publishing this first book on Amazon Kindle, we were asked: Is this part of a series? We decided we should answer yes; in the course of writing Sarah and Pcee, other stories had come to mind, but if it had not been for that question, we might not have pursued it.
Cindy had been urging me to do illustrations, but I thought, “This is coming from someone who has trouble drawing stick figures, so naturally she thinks I draw good enough to illustrate!” Well, when we were doing our second Sarah’s World book, Sarah looks out the window, I intended to put in pictures that we found on the Internet, but was just having trouble finding good pictures that were public domain -- free to use -- or just the right pictures.
It was then I decided to see if I could draw the pictures we wanted, well enough to let the whole world see. The scariest part to me was trying to draw the girls, Sarah and her cousin Margaret. That book has 7 illustrations, and we think they came out pretty good!
The third book, The Nickname, was going to be a much bigger challenge, because the girls would have to be in different places: the Ice Cream shop, on the swingset, and hardest of all -- looking in a mirror. The 6 illustrations in this book have more to them than the last, and Cindy says I’m getting better and better. Maybe so...
Anyway, that’s really the main reason why our first book did not have any illustrations and the other two do. I have drawn some to go with it, and maybe I’ll post one for you to see here on the blog soon.
Noe
The process of illustrating our books is a collaboration from start to finish. It begins with determining what part of the book should be illustrated. For our kid’s books, we like to have five or six pictures, and sometimes one of these can be used for the cover.
Once the decisions are made on what needs to be illustrated, then I go to work sketching something out, and we both have to agree on the sketches. Let me let you in on a little secret -- Cindy has an eye for critical points that take what would pass as acceptable to an illustration worth putting in the book.
After the sketches have been approved, I ink them and add color, which again has to pass “the Cindy test”. I have told her about three hundred million times that she makes everything I do much better; and after thirty-four years of life with her, I am saying this in all sincerity and truth.
[It is something that is an irritation to me when people who are supposed to be in love put each other down and criticize one another and it's suppose to be a joke. I never joke in my praise of my Cindy... she means too much to me.]
When the colored pictures are done, she then scans them into the computer and adds more of her special touches. I am always amazed at the finished piece. Without her -- I know this is so obvious -- there could be no Noe and Cindy write.
Noe
https://www.amazon.com/author/noeandcindy.write
Illustrating for the stories we’ve done is for me the other side of storytelling. Drawing is something I have always done... I cannot see a blank piece of paper without being drawn to it, to draw on it.
It has its advantages and disadvantages, though. One advantage is: we don’t have to pay an illustrator, and at this stage of our writing endeavors, that is a definite plus. Another is: when I am blocked on a story, it gives me a welcome diversion while still working on the story.
On the other side of the coin, having to illustrate when you’re only fairly good at it, as I am, is restrictive, because some things that I might wish to illustrate seem to be beyond my ability, so I am left doing without them. Then, of course, there is the time involved doing the work.
I am hoping that, as I continue to work on my books as the illustrator, I will improve. Thanks to YouTube there is plenty of instruction for a fifty-something like me to learn from. I will say this, I derive as much satisfaction and enjoyment from the artwork as I do from the writing, and I hope you do too.
Noe
