Jump to content

Zines, booklets - Publishing help! InDesign and all that stuff.


Recommended Posts

Okay, so I've been trying to get a zine together for a while. I made some mockups that I printed myself but it took me way too long sticking pages together and shit.

I currently have Scribus and Photoshop CS5. If anyone has experience with these then help would be appreciated.

Or if anyone has downloads to good quality software for Mac, again, would be much appreciated. Any kind of tutorials, templates.. I've searched the net but maybe I'm just not searching hard enough.

 

What I'm trying to do is an A5 zine, black and white. The only text will be on the front cover, maybe the back cover. Otherwise all the pages will be photos. Not sure how many pages but that doesn't matter.

I need something where I can get all the image areas the same sizes and be able to export it nicely as a PDF to take to a printer.

 

Props will be issued for help. Trying to teach myself but I'm trying to get this done in the middle of a lot of other shit. Thanks in advance smart people of the Oontz!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This forum is supported by the 12ozProphet Shop, so go buy a shirt and help support!
This forum is brought to you by the 12ozProphet Shop.
This forum is brought to you by the 12oz Shop.

download a trial of InDesign. You can set up multiple pages with the same look and then change the ones you need. Also, adobe has good free tutorials on their site. I am sure you can also find good ones on youtube. The trial is 30 days so it should be enough time to knock that out

Link to comment
Share on other sites

just remember that if you use pirated software you waive the right to complain when someone 'appropriates' your photos or ip for their own use.

 

...and if you then use said software publish or make money off of those photos or ip, you open yourself to a lawsuit.

 

...and since you have already linked your name, IP addy, and flickr to this account, you are not too hard to find.

 

just sayin'

 

Scribus

Scribus tutorials

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think I have too much of a worry with people stealing my photos, if they do that's my own fault and I take that into account - Nothing to do with pirated software though.

I'm not publishing a book or anything, just a small zine, limited run and mostly locally distributed between mates and like minded people. I would take that into account in the long term though but for now, I think everyone downloads Adobe shit though.

 

Cheers for the heads up though, definitely will be a thought in any bigger publications. In the long term though I think a small zine will be of no significance by then. AND hopefully if I have the money to print something major I would have the money to buy all the super cool software I'd ever need, haha.

Appreciated tips in any case

Link to comment
Share on other sites

never say never. i have been published 3 times this year, and sold a few more photos to local services. i still think everything i do sucks, but i digress...

 

you take good shots in obscure spots and could easily be published if you pursued it. why infect your workflow now? get scribus and learn it up and down. at the same time, download the indesign trial and learn to use it (but do not use it for any 'live' projects'). when/if you make money off of your photography and/or publishing you can flip that into a legit key for indesign and never look back. if you find scribus suits you fine, you can buy more glass or new lights instead.

 

in my case, my workflow is 100% open-source, but i HAD to purchase the creative suite to provide certain clients with their desired file format.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can I get a copy when it's done? :)

 

Have you ever done any Blurb books? I made one of live band photos a few years back to give to family members for Christmas...I think each book cost around $10, and I definitely went with the cheapest option they had.

 

I was thinking about doing another of all Holga shots but I don't have the patience right now to try to sort through all my photos for ones I want to use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

never say never. i have been published 3 times this year, and sold a few more photos to local services. i still think everything i do sucks, but i digress...

 

you take good shots in obscure spots and could easily be published if you pursued it. why infect your workflow now? get scribus and learn it up and down. at the same time, download the indesign trial and learn to use it (but do not use it for any 'live' projects'). when/if you make money off of your photography and/or publishing you can flip that into a legit key for indesign and never look back. if you find scribus suits you fine, you can buy more glass or new lights instead.

 

in my case, my workflow is 100% open-source, but i HAD to purchase the creative suite to provide certain clients with their desired file format.

 

Thanks for those tutorials above man, I'll check them out. Yeah I generally like to go with open source stuff but I've been feeling lazy at the moment while I've had other shit to focus on. But I guess it is probably worth my time to get my act together and learn it properly.

I'm the same, generally using open source software. I was using Linux solely for a while but I went and got a Mac again just because the workflow was too broken up. If there was an equivalent to Lightroom for Linux then I still would use it. Obviously some similar programs but it was a hassle.

 

The support is appreciated though dude, this is exactly why I made this thread.

 

And qsyue, definitely! Once I finally get it together I'll make a post on here somewhere.

I've looked at Blurb but for the moment at least, it wouldn't be beneficial. The cost to ship a book + printing would leave a lot of people unwilling to buy it.

Also there's a few people across the states, New York, San Fran, etc.. That I need to hit up with a zine when I get it published so that's all I'm looking at for the moment.

Although I will be looking at a book for my portfolio soon. But yeah, just small projects for now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Any progress on the zine?

 

I had the same problem with blurb. It just cost too damn much! I was fairly aggravated that a 7x7" softback black and white photo book was $19.95 plus shipping. I wasn't about to charge over $20 for this small book. I wasn't planning to make a profit it was just for promotional ventures and friends/family but the price point was too high for such a small book by an unknown photographer. A few close friends bought it but that was it. Blurb makes really nice quality books but they just aren't beneficial. (Unless you're doing one offs or printing only a few. The hardcover books are a really great way to present your portfolio. Make the biggest size photo book you can and pull out all the stops. people will really notice your portfolio book then)

 

I ended up getting a few books at the library on book binding and book arts and was able to put together a better quality photo book. It was a bw portfolio of about 25 images, hand bound on heavy paper with a hardcover slip case. Each book cost about $8 to make and I sold them for $12-15(15 when the edition started to run out!). It was much nicer and more personable than the blurb books. Plus, I had a great time teaching myself how to make books. Best part though is that you have absolute control of every aspect of creating your book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No progress right now, but thanks for bumping this thread, haha. Reminds me to post some progress and get my shit together.

I'm actually working on it with a mate now and we're going to do a split zine, he's just caught up with work so we're trying to get all our negatives sorted and pick the photos we're going to use. Hopefully everything will fall together very soon though.

 

That sounds pretty sweet, I really like hand bound books. How long did it take you per book? I might look into that because I'm thinking of publishing something small and more 'professional' soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
my mag made entirely using scribus:

mag_pi10.jpg

mag_pi11.jpg

mag_pi12.jpg

i have never used indesign but scribus has worked well for me, it's fairly simple to use. Dont give up, printing is expensive but it's possible to make something pretty fresh.

 

got any more copies? you could sell this at proletarial... or kulturez or whatever it is now; I'd get a copy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...