In June 2017, Anna Lafferty of Lafferty Design Plus came to me and said, “We need an eBook version of this… Can you do it?” I thought about it for an all too-short moment, then replied, ”Well, I’ve never made an eBook before, but I’m sure I can learn." Meanwhile, my back-brain was screaming, “What, wait! Really…?! Tim…?!? What the #$%&@& are you saying you can’t you’ve never done you haven’t you can’t just learn ‘n’ your out of your mind to even consider it… AHHH, I’m doomed…!!!”
Then came the countless hours in forums, Lynda & YouTube tuts, and several million web searches to learn from on the fly. During that process, I’d repeatedly broken the InDesign content, then fixed it then broken it again, cowered in the fetal position for a few hours, then more fix n break n fix … Whew, thank the Adobe wizards for packaging!!! (I have a whole article on the genius of packaging coming soon. Stay tuned, it will be fun!) I had to use the magic of packaging way sooo many times when I’d broken the days’ work beyond repair… umph…!
BTW I’m really good at breaking things ha-ha another article topic coming soon lol.
So… finally… we did it… The copy still read left-to-right and was still in English, no less. The inline images were, well, kind of inline; the custom fonts were still custom; the Table of Contents was right-side-up and actually had content; and the dingbat ornaments were all floating on the right pages… Done! What a concept!!!
Now, I’ve just completed my fourth eBook for Lafferty Design Plus, with more on the way, I hope. And by now I’m beginning to think, “Well, hey, Tim, old buddy, that’s not too bad. I’ve learned a lot. I just might be getting ok at this...” Then, when the new one comes around the corner, what happens? I go through the same process all over again, beginning with, “What, wait! Really…?!” and ending with, “AHHH, I’m doomed…!!!”
So here it is, my first eBook design:
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Santa Barbara Central Library, the Friends of the Library present –
Then came the countless hours in forums, Lynda & YouTube tuts, and several million web searches to learn from on the fly. During that process, I’d repeatedly broken the InDesign content, then fixed it then broken it again, cowered in the fetal position for a few hours, then more fix n break n fix … Whew, thank the Adobe wizards for packaging!!! (I have a whole article on the genius of packaging coming soon. Stay tuned, it will be fun!) I had to use the magic of packaging way sooo many times when I’d broken the days’ work beyond repair… umph…!
BTW I’m really good at breaking things ha-ha another article topic coming soon lol.
So… finally… we did it… The copy still read left-to-right and was still in English, no less. The inline images were, well, kind of inline; the custom fonts were still custom; the Table of Contents was right-side-up and actually had content; and the dingbat ornaments were all floating on the right pages… Done! What a concept!!!
Now, I’ve just completed my fourth eBook for Lafferty Design Plus, with more on the way, I hope. And by now I’m beginning to think, “Well, hey, Tim, old buddy, that’s not too bad. I’ve learned a lot. I just might be getting ok at this...” Then, when the new one comes around the corner, what happens? I go through the same process all over again, beginning with, “What, wait! Really…?!” and ending with, “AHHH, I’m doomed…!!!”
So here it is, my first eBook design:
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Santa Barbara Central Library, the Friends of the Library present –
Library Book: Writers on Libraries
Edited by Steven Gilbar
