Category: updates & improvements

Categories
updates & improvements

Guide to new features

What Design Should I Choose?
Proboscis have created 2 different eBook designs which you can choose from, both of which are available for A4/US and A3/Ledger sizes.
Basic is a simple book design which places the title, author, a cover image and a logo image on the front cover. The eBook title, author, credits and secondary logo are placed on the back cover.
Custom Cover allows users to design their own front cover and upload it as a JPG image. The eBook title, author, credits and both logo images are placed on the back cover.

What are the page dimension for the different sizes?
– A4/US Letter eBook Portrait : 88mm by 133mm
– A4/US Letter eBook Landscape : 133mm by 88mm
– A4 StoryCube : 55mm by 55mm
*
– A3/Ledger eBook Portrait : 130mm by 193mm
– A3/Ledger eBook Landscape : 193mm by 130mm
– A3 StoryCube : 82mm by 82mm

Where can I download the content templates?
Proboscis have created some simple empty page templates for MS Word, OpenOffice and Adobe InDesign which can be downloaded here.

What dimensions should my cover image be?
Images should be saved as JPGs or PNGs at a minimum resolution of 72dpi at exact size or greater. For best results 150dpi is recommended.
Basic Design
– A4/US Letter eBook Portrait : 65mm by 90mm
– A4/US Letter eBook Landscape : 90mm by 65mm
– A3/Ledger eBook Portrait : 90mm by 135mm
– A3/Ledger eBook Landscape : 135mm by 90mm
Custom Cover Designs
– A4/US Letter eBook Portrait : 88mm by 133mm
– A4/US Letter eBook Landscape : 133mm by 88mm
– A3/Ledger eBook Portrait : 130mm by 193mm
– A3/Ledger eBook Landscape : 193mm by 130mm

What can I use the Logo images for?
The ‘Logo’ spaces allow users to add one or more logos to the covers of their eBooks. The Main Logo could, for instance, be the logo of the ‘publisher’ or author and the Secondary Logo might be used for credits, such as acknowledging sponsors/funders or for placing a Creative Commons-type image. However, they can also be used just as spaces for images on the front/back covers.

What happens when I order some POD eBooks or StoryCubes?
When you confirm your order an email is sent to Proboscis where one of us will calculate the cost and send you an invoice via Paypal. Once we receive payment we will send your item(s) to press and aim to have the finished products in your hands within 7 working days. StoryCubes will be printed on a regular basis – check here or on twitter for details of the next printing deadline.
The ordering system is very hands-on whilst we’re still developing the alpha version of bookleteer – please bear with us and forgive its manual shortcomings!

Categories
updates & improvements

Updates & New Designs

We are just finishing tweaks to the latest set of updates and improvements to bookleteer and will be integrating them into the live server over the next 24 hours : there may be some disruption to the service whilst we do this.

We’re very excited by what’s in store, it’s a big step forward in both the usefulness and ease of use of bookleter :

    • new sizes : A3 & Ledger sizes will allow users to create larger eBooks and StoryCubes

    • new designs : the new ‘Custom Cover’ design allows users to create their own customised cover design and upload as an image

    • PPOD ordering system now integrated – users can order A6 or A5 eBooks, and StoryCubes from A4 or A3 sheets

    • new user dashboard showing most recent publications and orders

More details once everything’s up and running.

Categories
help & guides updates & improvements

New videos on folding/making Diffusion eBooks

We’ve recently posted some new videos demonstrating how to fold, cut and make up the 4 different types of Diffusion eBooks that can be made using bookleteer:

How to make: Book Landscape Diffusion eBook from Proboscis on Vimeo.

How to make: Book Portrait Diffusion eBook from Proboscis on Vimeo.

How to make: Classic Landscape Diffusion eBook from Proboscis on Vimeo.

How to make: Classic Portrait Diffusion eBook from Proboscis on Vimeo.

Categories
publishing on demand updates & improvements

Print On Demand with bookleteer

Last week we passed another significant milestone for bookleteer – integrating a new set of templates that automatically render each eBook into a Print On Demand (POD) version. We’re sending the first 12 samples to be digitally printed as full colour A6 saddle-stitched booklets today and will post up some photos as soon as we get them back.

We’re also announcing our initial prices for the POD service (see below) which we hope will meet with approval. There are two POD options for eBooks, with a minimum print run of 50 copies :
Option A – for eBooks between 12 – 24 pages and,
Option B – for eBooks between 28 – 40 pages.

Option A prices start from around £3 per copy and go down to £1.61 per copy.
Option B prices start from around £4 per copy and go down to £2.29 per copy.
All prices include shipping within the UK. Please contact us for enquiries about larger quantities and overseas shipping. Turnaround time is expected to be 5-7 working days.

The StoryCube POD service has a minimum print run of 200 full colour cubes (single or double-sided), which can made up up of one or more StoryCube designs. Prices include VAT and shipping within the UK. Please contact us for enquiries about larger quantities and overseas shipping. Turnaround time is 5-7 working days.

Get in touch if you’d like to know more – we aim to start accepting POD orders after Easter.

Categories
updates & improvements

HTML Content & Preview for eBooks Update

HTML content and page preview for eBooks has now been corrected to work properly. This means that content pasted or added directly into the HTML editing window in the eBook create/edit page will now flow into the eBook PDF file at the correct scale. The page preview function is also now working properly to help you see how content will flow across the eBook pages, so you can choose where to insert page breaks etc. To see how your content looks as landscape or portrait, change the ‘Orientation’ (from Landscape to Portrait etc), ‘Save Changes’ and click on ‘Preview Your HTML Content’.

Test it out and let us know your feedback!

bookleteer-html-preview

Categories
updates & improvements

more interface updating

So we continued with the tinkering yesterday – shifting some simple things like the login and main menu items to be consistent at the top of the page, made the library and my publication page lists of eBooks and StoryCubes behave more elegantly, and tidied up the home and help pages too. Links to create new eBooks and StoryCubes have also been shifted to the main menu items at the top so it should be simpler and more intuitive to create your shareables. We’ve also added in some more help notes related to making StoryCubes.

Next week, we should be pushing through some more fixes and improvements and testing the back end for a new print on demand capability for eBooks (similar to that which we currently offer for StoryCubes) which we’ve been working on for the past few months. Lastly, we’ll be working on new templates for making A3/Ledger sized eBooks, which will fold down to make A5/half-US Letter booklets.

Categories
updates & improvements

Interface Updates for Authoring Pages

We’ve spent today making some further improvements to the user interface of the authoring pages for both eBooks and StoryCubes, reducing the screen clutter, grouping the choices of format etc to be made, and the content entering/uploading areas.

Principally we’ve added some diagrams to show the different options for eBooks (Classic and Book formats, Portrait and Landscape orientation) as well as StoryCubes (improving on the previous diagram added last week). We’ve also re-named some of the buttons to make the process of uploading content and then generating the PDFs clearer.

We’re looking into fixing some of the intermittent bugs and errors that have been reported over the next few weeks. A niggling issue with the HTML content editor where fonts and image were not flowing through into the eBook PDF at the correct sizes has now been isolated and will be fixed in the next week or so. At the same time we will fix the ‘preview HTML content’ functions to show how content added in the HTML editor will flow into actual eBook pages.

create-storycube-update

create-eBook-update

Categories
updates & improvements

Interface Tweak

Following feedback at this week’s PU&P we’ve made a small, but important tweak to the StoryCube create/edit page – a diagram showing the position and orientation of each image on the cube (front and back):

bookleteer_storyCube_interface

The exact dimensions of each StoryCube face are 55mm by 55mm and we recommend making images at no less than exact size at 72dpi (or 150dpi optimum).

Categories
updates & improvements

recent design tweaks

We’re continuing to make small changes and improvements to the design of the eBooks and StoryCubes – the most recent of which has been to make the way proboscis and bookleteer are credited on the back cover of eBooks more discreet:

bookleteer_credits_1bookleteer_credits-2