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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 17, 2020 5:55:17 GMT
Did the 'old wizard' (RIP), which was the best thing since sliced bread, by any chance run on 'Flash Player'? (Or any parts of it? After all, it was 'interactive'). (Just thinking out aloud...) It was in about 2011 when a 'new' cover wizard was introduced by Lulu, with the 'old wizard' still available. Back then, I looked at the 'new' wizard once, and not again until this year, when I decided to do what I did ... and at the end of 2020, Flash Player will go the way of the Dodo ...
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Post by JesusNinja on Oct 17, 2020 22:51:14 GMT
Yes I think it did run on Flash. That's probably one reason it is gone. It did force me to learn to make one piece covers. They aren't difficult if you have the software. But the old wizard was very user friendly and that is what Lulu needs to remember if they want to keep in business. New people coming in, first time writers need the simplicity.
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Post by BlueAndGold on Oct 17, 2020 23:34:52 GMT
The book previews we could create on the old Lulu were viewable only with Flash, as I recall. That was one of the reasons they wanted to update the system - to get rid of dependence on Flash and other allegedly antiquated patches.
Unfortunately, the replacement has still not materialized.
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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 18, 2020 3:44:17 GMT
Ah ... Flash redundancy ...
And I wouldn't count on a replacement, either. While I have no problems learning a new way of doing things (yes, even old dogs can learn to update an old trick), it is the expense of acquiring an 'image manipulating software program' to create a template where one can put one's cover image, back image, the spine text, and so forth, to create a full cover PDF, which is the major qualm for anyone having relied on Lulu's old interactive wizard.
I know there are 'free' word processing programs one can download, to create one's text block, but I don't know of any 'free download' that could do the job like photoshop, or corel painter, et al, providing a layered file that retains its layers after saving off, allowing a user to create a template that can be used for future books and be easily adjusted to the thickness and trim size of successive cover designs.
There are 'free photo editing software' available, but because I have my old Photoshop, and my Corel Painter, I've never bothered looking at others, or whether they offer layered file formats.
Notwithstanding any obstacle/block/hickups in the preceding steps of creating a book with Lulu (which should all be immediately reported to Lulu via the tech help section, and immediately followed up by replying to the auto-generated emails), the main gripe by anyone who has relied on the old wizard (from what I can deduce), is the cost involved in getting software that supports the required layers (required for image/bleed/spine/etc adjustments if they don't fit into the Lulu preview outlines). When I create a full cover PDF now, I have the screen split - one side has the Lulu preview/upload section open, the other side is occupied by Corel Painter, where I have the layered document open to work on as the Lulu preview dictates.
If anyone knows of a free download of an image manipulating/editing software, maybe posting that info here could bridge the gap left by the death of the old wizard.
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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 18, 2020 4:00:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2020 12:16:40 GMT
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Post by BlueAndGold on Oct 18, 2020 15:03:29 GMT
Gimp is a powerful Photoshop clone (I hear). For me it was a steep learning curve, primarily because I was not versed in photo-manipulating jargon so it was hard to make any sense of it. However, after some study, it allowed me to do things I had no tools for before. With that said, I certainly recommend it.
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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 18, 2020 23:57:46 GMT
Great list - thank you for posting it - I've got Artrage (a few years old now - but paid for it - I've not tried to create a full cover in that one). Many of them give 14 days (or somesuchthing) free trial, and then you have to pay (but since I've not checked any for a long time (a couple of years or more)) I cannot say which one of them is like this, which one is all gratis, and which one has the required layering capability.
In the meantime I've downloaded Gimpshop to my macbook to experiment with - so far it is reminiscent of my old 5.5version 1998 Photoshop (with a few more bells and whistles). I can't say I'm short of a picture program with the old Photoshop, Artrage, Corel Painter, and now Gimpshop.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2020 0:24:46 GMT
All the above are totally free, they won't time out or give you a limited trial and you can use them gratis for as long as you want, though if you want to make a donation to the authors I'm sure they won't object. The three I've singled out as being Free or a Demo are fully working versions of commercial software - usually older or with less features than the paid-for version - but again they shouldn't stop working after a certain time. You may have to put up with a bit of prompting to upgrade to the paid versions of these three or a nag screen though.
As with all software try out several alternatives and go with what you like, has the features and ease of use you require and will do the job for you even if that means you end up paying for it.
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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 19, 2020 0:54:33 GMT
Gimp is a powerful Photoshop clone (I hear). For me it was a steep learning curve, primarily because I was not versed in photo-manipulating jargon so it was hard to make any sense of it. However, after some study, it allowed me to do things I had no tools for before. With that said, I certainly recommend it.
Agreed, it's the learning of something new that can be a stumbling block for many. Becoming reliant on someone else for doing things that should really be done by one-self can be paralysing - I can see that as having been the case with the old Lulu wizard (myself included - I did not want to know about the new wizard, loved the old one, and became reliant on it). Now that I've learnt to understand what a template is, and what determines its parameters (the size of the spine, bleed, trim, wrap, etc), I've become independent of Lulu - I can go to any of the available POD printers, get their templates, adjust my work (interior or cover) and utilize them for my purpose.
I can go to Printer X in country X, take advantage of their super generous one-off offer of so many books free if you print 100, then go to online POD publisher Y in country Y, take advantage of their tempting offer of search engine boosting, adjust the book to their template, and see it on Google's first page of search, etc etc. That goes for books with or without ISBN - some may have restrictions on books without ISBN; nevertheless, by being able to cut the umbilical cord to Lulu represented by the reliance on their old wizard, my books have become flexible to be published by many different 'facilitators' - and that includes the long list of my books now published by a German publisher with the Amazon KDP system. Same books, flexible re-sizing because of the independence I just outlined above. (I took them off Lulu in 2019 when I could feel 'something in my waters' to do with Lulu).
(Note: The above refers only to the creation of the cover and interior [the book], not to any other system malfunctions that now plague Lulu. But by becoming independent from the old Lulu wizard, I have been able to get away from this <bleeping> nightmare.)
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2020 4:28:33 GMT
It took me a long time to learn the old Lulu but with help from Luluers I managed and made many books, some personal and some for sale. When I found out that Lulu had changed it's format I thought, "Oh dear here we go again." However with the help and encouragement of people here I again learned how to self-publish on the new Lulu. Also from our members I have learned a lot about other self-publishing sites and feel confident that I could manage to make my next book in MyBestSeller, should I choose to go that route, or even KDP or IngramSpark.
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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 19, 2020 5:54:14 GMT
larika - good onya! I'm not one to cry over spilt milk withouth an end in sight. My mother, God love her, once said (liberal translation as it was spoken in Alemannish): "Better an end with a fright, rather than a fright without an end." She was right with that one.
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Post by potet on Oct 19, 2020 10:01:13 GMT
Did the 'old wizard' (RIP), which was the best thing since sliced bread, by any chance run on 'Flash Player'? (Or any parts of it? After all, it was 'interactive'). (Just thinking out aloud...) It was in about 2011 when a 'new' cover wizard was introduced by Lulu, with the 'old wizard' still available. Back then, I looked at the 'new' wizard once, and not again until this year, when I decided to do what I did ... and at the end of 2020, Flash Player will go the way of the Dodo ... I have had Photoshop for donkey's years. I have always used it to make the front cover of my book. I used the Lulu cover wizard, which was great for placing the front cover picture, the title on the spine, the whole back cover (author's photo and bio, blurb, ISBN). The big difficulty for me without the Lulu wizard is to make the back cover. Also, did you notice the Lulu icon is no longer available?  |
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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 20, 2020 6:33:28 GMT
With Photoshop you can easily create all of these elements yourself. In fact, now that you're no longer relying on the wizard, you can please yourself. As you are familiar with Photoshop, this should not pose a problem if you use the cover template, and if Lulu can send the 'lost' books' files (including cover) to you, putting that through Photoshop (not as PDF, but as an image file (jpg, tiff, ?) you can easily adjust them to fit the nearest fitting Lulu supported trim size. I've just gone through that process in Corel Painter and I have not found it too traumatic. Photoshop has a good text tool, and I've used that for many years to put text on back covers. You are an artist and writer, surely writing text with Photoshop's text tool should merely be an extension of your artistic skills.
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