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Post by potet on Oct 19, 2020 10:10:49 GMT
Nostalgia is driving me mad. Look at all the advantages we had with the cover wizard. I did everything with it, erased the titles automatically generated on the front cover, and pasted the front cover picture made with Photoshop instead.  |
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ec20
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Post by ec20 on Oct 24, 2020 22:21:11 GMT
I haven't created a new cover for a Lulu book in about a year. Until then, I did as you mention, Potet -- I created images outside of Lulu for front and back covers, then uploaded them using the "Photography" option for the cover, which allowed us to insert images created using Photoshop. Are you saying we can't do this anymore?
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Post by JesusNinja on Oct 24, 2020 22:38:40 GMT
Very true. In my honest opinion, the Lulu website could have been left alone and just fixed the cover wizard. Flash is being discontinued for support in Dec. But they'd have all that time to keep things they way they were. Instead they lost so many people and probably lose more. The old cover wizard was great as you said. Just delete the old text and upload your own graphics. The new one can't be done that way. Forcing people to stick with an ugly cover or learn to make a one piece cover on their own. It's really not that hard once you do it once, but many don't have the know how or the software. I agree with you. The old ways were so much better. Now no wizard, no revenue report, no adding anything to Author's Page. It really sucks as a website. It has no personality what soever.
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Post by potet on Oct 24, 2020 23:11:58 GMT
Without the cover wizard, I find it difficult to position the title on the spine in terms of distances from the margins.
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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 24, 2020 23:41:59 GMT
Without the cover wizard, I find it difficult to position the title on the spine in terms of distances from the margins. Why? The template generated for your book thickness gives you precise measurements. Finding the 'middle' of a Photoshop file would therefore not be difficult. Do you understand how the template works they give you to download?
Understand this: the old cover wizard is gone - for good - it's not coming back - if you want to get on with self-publishing your books, you have to learn a new trick.
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Post by adrianallan on Oct 24, 2020 23:58:05 GMT
Without the cover wizard, I find it difficult to position the title on the spine in terms of distances from the margins. Why? The template generated for your book thickness gives you precise measurements. Finding the 'middle' of a Photoshop file would therefore not be difficult. Do you understand how the template works they give you to download?
Understand this: the old cover wizard is gone - for good - it's not coming back - if you want to get on with self-publishing your books, you have to learn a new trick.
How hard would it be for Lulu to employ a software engineer to design a cover wizard that does not use Flash? I know Lulu fix things slower than the average snail but I would like to think that is their long-term goal. |
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Post by tasmanianartist on Oct 25, 2020 3:16:31 GMT
I loved the old wizard, but it made me dependent on Lulu. Now that I have learnt to use a template, I can easily change a cover to fit any of the POD publishers, I can pull up sticks and move to the next patch over night - each POD publisher's template differs slightly, but they're essentially the same thing, being able to adjust quickly, being able to put a new link to a book you're advertising definitely minimises loss and frustration, and keeps the book available for your readers.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2020 5:14:49 GMT
I loved the old wizard, but it made me dependent on Lulu. Now that I have learnt to use a template, I can easily change a cover to fit any of the POD publishers, I can pull up sticks and move to the next patch over night - each POD publisher's template differs slightly, but they're essentially the same thing, being able to adjust quickly, being able to put a new link to a book you're advertising definitely minimises loss and frustration, and keeps the book available for your readers. I wholeheartedly agree with you tas It took me ages to learn all the ins and outs of the old Lulu. I used to make my own covers with the cover wizard which was so convenient. Then came the update and I had to learn to use the template. With help and advice from members here especially bizzley and the JesusNinja, I learned how to do it. Now like you I can self publish on other sites. I was all set to use MyBestSeller but unfortunately my illustrated book for children hadn't enough pages. So I went back to Lulu and I learned how to use it. However my next book is a novel and who knows where I will publish it. |
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Post by potet on Oct 25, 2020 11:05:16 GMT
Without the cover wizard, I find it difficult to position the title on the spine in terms of distances from the margins. Why? The template generated for your book thickness gives you precise measurements. Finding the 'middle' of a Photoshop file would therefore not be difficult. Do you understand how the template works they give you to download?
Understand this: the old cover wizard is gone - for good - it's not coming back - if you want to get on with self-publishing your books, you have to learn a new trick.
I don't see what you mean. Here is the template Lulu sent me for a hard-bound book. Where do you see frames for the title and the author's name on the spine?  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2020 13:09:58 GMT
Hope this helps. You are free to put whatever you want, wherever you want, in the purple area: the Title, Author's name or any graphic or logo you want. Some people will have worked out by now that this new system allows you to create truly one-piece wraparound covers with images spreading seamlessly across the Spine Area.
There are no frames on the PDF Template Lulu sends you, if you looked inside the file you'd see it's nothing more than one big JPG. I've posted elsewhere how you can take a PDF Template and use it to create a finished PDF Cover of the correct size that Lulu will accept, all for free.
(I couldn't give you Height calculations because the image you posted somehow got truncated. Sorry)
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Post by potet on Oct 25, 2020 22:31:56 GMT
Bizzley wrote: "Some people will have worked out by now that this new system allows you to create truly one-piece wraparound covers with images spreading seamlessly across the Spine Area." Thanks a lot. Yes you are right. The advantage of this system is also that I can put a picture on the spine. The fact remains that if they had added frames on the spine for the author's name and the title, things would be easier for awkward people like me.  P.S.1. I don't have the Microsoft wordprocessor. Mine has been WordPerfect since its creation. P.2.2. I use Photoshop to work on the cover frame supplied by Lulu. |
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Post by JesusNinja on Oct 30, 2020 4:23:03 GMT
The way I make my title and author on the spine is setting the cursor on the spine in the template and type it out. Then I move it from horizontal to vertical, center from the book top and bottom and then the sides of the spine. Only takes a few seconds.I use the " free transform" tool in Photoshop for that. There are guidelines that pop up showing when your graphics or text are centered. I can't remember the name of them. It's a setting you can choose. It does help to get things centered correctly.You could probably use Photoshop to add the photo to the spine like you wanted. Then resize it using the free transform tool. Then just add the text as explained above. To be honest once you learn to use the template in Photoshop you can make some really nice covers. Better than using the old wizard. It's not that hard once you do it once or twice. Here is my latest one. I got advice on the front from Ron Miller which helped so much in changing it from a depressing cover to a colorful one. The back I used suggestions from Maggie. It's the second cover I've made using the one piece cover template.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2020 14:57:24 GMT
The way I make my title and author on the spine is setting the cursor on the spine in the template and type it out. Then I move it from horizontal to vertical, center from the book top and bottom and then the sides of the spine. Only takes a few seconds.I use the " free transform" tool in Photoshop for that. There are guidelines that pop up showing when your graphics or text are centered. I can't remember the name of them. It's a setting you can choose. It does help to get things centered correctly.You could probably use Photoshop to add the photo to the spine like you wanted. Then resize it using the free transform tool. Then just add the text as explained above. To be honest once you learn to use the template in Photoshop you can make some really nice covers. Better than using the old wizard. It's not that hard once you do it once or twice. Here is my latest one. I got advice on the front from Ron Miller which helped so much in changing it from a depressing cover to a colorful one. The back I used suggestions from Maggie. It's the second cover I've made using the one piece cover template.
You've come a long way Jesus Ninja. The cover is gorgeous. |
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Post by JesusNinja on Oct 30, 2020 19:23:21 GMT
Thank you Maggie. I had some great teachers/advice. You and Ron.
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Post by potet on Oct 30, 2020 20:37:04 GMT
The way I make my title and author on the spine is setting the cursor on the spine in the template and type it out. Then I move it from horizontal to vertical, center from the book top and bottom and then the sides of the spine. Only takes a few seconds.I use the " free transform" tool in Photoshop for that. There are guidelines that pop up showing when your graphics or text are centered. I can't remember the name of them. It's a setting you can choose. It does help to get things centered correctly.You could probably use Photoshop to add the photo to the spine like you wanted. Then resize it using the free transform tool. Then just add the text as explained above. To be honest once you learn to use the template in Photoshop you can make some really nice covers. Better than using the old wizard. It's not that hard once you do it once or twice. Here is my latest one. I got advice on the front from Ron Miller which helped so much in changing it from a depressing cover to a colorful one. The back I used suggestions from Maggie. It's the second cover I've made using the one piece cover template.
Congratulations. |
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