BookSmarter: Ten tricks to impress your friends and confound your enemies

It may depend on who your friends (or enemies) are … but at any rate, here are a few tricks and tips on using BookSmart for smoother and more powerful bookmaking.

Drag and Drop Images from Your Desktop
While it may be easier to import a whole set of images at once using the Get Photos button, you can also drag and drop images directly from your desktop or folders into BookSmart. Simply open your folder of images on your desktop, and drag it into an open book layout in BookSmart. Voila! Your image is added to the book, as well as to My Imported Photos.

Drag and Drop Images to a Page Thumbnail
Thumbnails are the tiny pages at the bottom of BookSmart that you use to navigate forward and backward in your book. You can also drag images from your library or layout directly to the thumbnails, which is really helpful when you want to move an image to a different page in the book. Give it a try.

Hide Used Images
Not sure which photos in your library you’ve already placed in your book? The “Sort By” menu at the top of My Imported Photos holds many options for viewing and sorting your photos, and the “Hide Used Images” toggle is incredibly useful since it hides all photos you’ve already placed … leaving only those that are still looking for a layout home.

Use Arrows to Nudge an Image
If you are looking for precise control over how your photo is positioned within a layout, try using the arrow keys (Up, Down, Left, Right) to nudge your photo once it has been added to a layout. Simply select the image and tap on the arrow keys.

Use Keyboard Shortcuts and Right-Click Menus
Nothing says “Power User” like keyboard shortcuts … unless it’s getting your right-click on. You can find a full list of BookSmart shortcuts in this FAQ. Looking beyond the standard Copy/Paste? You might try Image Alignment (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + C centers your image for instance), Zoom In (Cmd/Ctrl + =) and Zoom Out (Cmd/Ctrl + - ). Also, try out right-click menus when you’re selecting photos and pages — you’ll get quick access to common actions.

Turn off Text Auto-Zoom
When you insert your cursor into a text box in BookSmart it automatically zooms in so you can edit the text at an easier to read size. If you’d rather zoom on your own, just turn this feature off. Look at the bottom of the View menu and click on the “Auto-Zoom for Text Input” option to toggle this on and off.

“Copy and Paste Page Layout” is Your New Best Friend
This one may be obvious, but it’s also something I find myself using over and over again. Once you have a layout, two-page spread, or sequence of layouts that you’re happy with, it’s easy to build out a book full of those layouts — and ready for your photos or text. Simply select the layout by clicking on the page thumbnail (at the bottom of BookSmart interface) and Shift-Click to select the additional layouts. Then Copy and Paste over and over again to build out your template.

Paste Text to Match Style
Many people write and edit big chunks of text in their word processor. When you copy and paste that text into BookSmart it will, for the most part, keep the style (font, color, size) that you were using in the word processor. This can be a powerful tip in itself, but what if you’ve already defined a look and feel for your text in BookSmart? Under the “Edit” menu you’ll find an option to “Paste Plain Text.” Paste your text using that option, and it will take on the style already defined in BookSmart.

Save Headers and Footers Until Last
Headers and footers are also referred to as folios. These are the small text boxes on the top and bottom of many pages that are used for page numbers, book title, chapter title, etc. We also see the occasional Blurb book that utilizes folios for photo captions. My only tip here is to not worry about designing your folios until you’ve laid out your entire book. At that point click in, edit and style the text, and determine if you’d like to apply the style to the whole book, the chapter, or just the page.

How to be Considered for Staff Picks
OK, so this isn’t necessarily a BookSmart tip, but I wanted to let everyone know how to be considered for Staff Picks in the bookstore. We update this weekly, and one staff pick is selected as Book of the Week. To be considered you’ll need to do two things. First, make sure that your book privacy setting is set to Public. This means it is available in the Blurb Public Bookstore. Next, turn on your Book Preview, because we can’t judge the book by its cover. Not very well, anyway.

Hope these are helpful, and that you found at least one or two you didn’t already know. Have wonderful long weekend making books!

Have other tips and tricks not mentioned here? Leave us a comment with your favorite.

By Chad   Posted in Bookmaking Tools, Handy Reference, Ideas & Tips   July 3, 2008 – 3:47 pm
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Friday is our Independence Day

Nope, I’m not talking about the 12-year anniversary of the Will Smith movie. On July 4, 1776, the United States declared independence from Great Britain. So, 232 years later, we celebrate with backyard barbeques, drinking beer out of cans, watching fireworks, and at Blurb HQ … not working.

We know we’ll be the only ones wearing weird red, white, and blue hats tomorrow, so we’ll only be semi-closed on Friday. We’ll have some great people in Customer Support ready to answer your questions, but not the full staff that handles your questions Monday through Friday. We’ll do our best to get all of your questions answered over the weekend, but if we don’t, you’ll definitely hear from us on Monday.

Our U.S. printers will also be closed, so please keep that in mind if you have books on a deadline.

And watch out with those fireworks. There are hundreds of wildfires burning California and we don’t need another one.

By Kathy   Posted in Blurb Alert, Help & Customer Support   July 3, 2008 – 11:03 am
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Book of the Week leaves us at a loss for words

In 2007, Myriam Abdelaziz traveled to Rwanda — and spent her trip photographing and interviewing survivors of the Rwandan Genocide. The genocide, which claimed the lives of 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsis and thousands of moderate Hutus over the course of 100 days, left innumerable people homeless, injured, and alone.

Myriam’s remarkable book Portrait of a Genocide chronicles the strength and courage of these survivors — as well as turning an unflinching eye on the physical and psychological injuries they sustained.

“They wanted to be heard and I promised to give them a voice,” Myriam writes. And, through a simply designed book that is packed with powerful photographs, she keeps her promise.

The layout of Portrait of a Genocide is straightforward — one photograph and one quote per spread. But the simplicity of the design only contributes to the complexity of emotion experienced by the viewer … if we couldn’t find a play on words to describe it, you know this book isn’t fooling around.

By Reese   Posted in Book of the Week   July 2, 2008 – 4:17 pm
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Blurb Brings B3 to Europe

Today we officially launched the Blurb Business to Business program in Europe, and we’re excited to welcome in a new batch of professionals from across the pond.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with B3, Blurb recently launched this members-only program to offer extended services to business and creative professionals alike. For our professional members, this premium program delivers the extra print control and quality needed to support their businesses. The program has been successful here in the U.S., and we’re thrilled to open it up in Europe.

The benefits include Custom Workflow, a premium upgrade featuring a custom ICC profile that enables soft proofing, as well as dedicated printing machines with super-precise calibration that result in more neutral blacks, better contrast, color saturation and fidelity, and improved shadow detail.

At the moment, B3 is in a closed charter phase, but Blurb is offering a limited number of complimentary 2008 charter memberships to creative professionals. If you’re a professional and you’d like to request an invite, please click here for more information.

And in the meantime, please call us Blürb.

By Reese   Posted in Blurb Alert, Help & Customer Support   July 1, 2008 – 11:47 am
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Leaving prints everywhere?

Trying to give a much-loved Blurb book as a gift … without it looking like a re-gift?

Get rid of those incriminating smudges, smears, or fingerprints on the book jacket using Windex and a soft cloth — or a pre-moistened towelet (try one that’s meant for cleaning glasses).

Of course, you could always switch out your dust-jacketed cover for an ImageWrap cover, which has a matte finish and is harder to smudge. You don’t have to start a new book to get the ImageWrap, just upload your existing book to your My Books page and click on the cover picture to get to the book’s detail page. There, in the Bookstore Settings section below your book cover, check the Hardcover, ImageWrap box — and you’re good to go.

If you want to go the extra mile and really knock the socks off of your gift-ee (or client), consider enclosing your book in one of these custom-made photobook boxes, crafted from fiber carton and featuring velcro corners.

What’s your favorite way to showcase your book when you gift it?

By Reese   Posted in Bookmaking Tools, Ideas & Tips   June 30, 2008 – 4:32 pm
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Informal education

Earlier this week, we double-blogged by blogging about blogger Joe Farace’s Blurb-centered blog post. As you can imagine, this was exhausting for all concerned.

Joe has done us one better by making Blurb the focus of Tips 91, 92, 93, 94 and 95 in Adorama’s series of 100 Photography Tips in 100 Days. AIRC’s editors offer some fantastic tips for amateurs and professionals alike, on topics ranging from adjustment layers to sports photography to making a fake lake in Photoshop. Thanks, Joe!

Looking for additional schoolin’? Try Digital Photography School, which ran two incredibly useful tutorials this week – avoiding camera shake and when to use manual focus instead of auto focus.

You might also take a look at Nick Veasey’s work, for some x-traordinary inspiration. Nick’s X-Ray photography lets you see bats, dolls, and socks in a whole new way.

Have a great weekend!

By Reese   Posted in Blurb Alert, Ideas & Tips, Photography   June 27, 2008 – 4:40 pm
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What — you can’t use $25,000?

It’s almost July 14th, which means the Photography.Book.Now book competition submission deadline is just around the corner. We’re seeing some great work come in, so your book will be in good company.

Remember, if you’ve entered the competition and you bring your book to the events, you’re on the A-list at the door for the Awards Ceremony, meet-ups, and symposia. These events are wonderful opportunities to hang out with other photographers, gallery owners, publishers, educators, press, and industry leaders. You’ll also see some of the freshest, most innovative work out there.

Your work will be reviewed by an internationally renowned group of judges, and it’s your chance to win some fantastic prizes — including the $25,000 Grand Prize.

Books must be submitted (or postmarked) by July 14th, so send yours in immediately if not sooner.

By Reese   Posted in Photography   June 26, 2008 – 4:21 pm
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