From the Author
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Why is "Using FREE Scribus Software to Create Professional Presentations" needed?
We REALLY like Scribus. We think you can use it to make ANY kind of cover, like one image covers the front, back covers and spine, circular cover image, vertical titles, etc. The best part is: The Scribus software is FREE.
We document the whole process of designing a book cover with Scribus in our book with many color screenshots, "Using FREE Scribus Software to Create Professional Presentations (Full Color Edition, ISBN: 9780984374151 )"
You can learn how to design book cover by just looking through the color screenshots in our book. We use our book as an operation manual in our office also. Our goal is to make Scribus as easy to use as a telephone.
A book cover design can easily cost from $299 to $1500. This book will save you thousands of dollars by teaching you how to use Scribus to do book cover designs.
What others are saying about "Using FREE Scribus Software to Create Professional Presentations"...
An Important New Book
"Using FREE Scribus Scribus Software to Produce Professional Presentations" is a brand new book that I wish that had had sooner. It is a very detailed book that goes through every step you need to produce professional graphics art results using free software that can be downloaded from the Internet. Versions of Scribus are available for Windows, Linus, and Mac OSX. I used very expensive Adobe InDesign for my last book cover but I expect to use Scribus in the future. Scribus is a professional quality graphic arts program that is available under the Open Software License. This book makes it possible for even the rank beginner to achieve professional results in just a few hours. Every step is spelled out in minute detail. It is a small, but very important book.
---Fred Sias, Woodsmere Press.
Outstanding! Easy to understand, easy to create great presentations!
In a word ...Outstanding! Clear, crisp screen shots and graphics. A must for any book cover designer or publisher. Recommended for authors interested in designing their own book covers and just about anyone else who wants to create professionally published materials.
I wish I had this book when I started out. Chen has unlocked Pandora's Box to free book cover design. It really explains the easy, pull down, windows-like Scribus software way to book cover design. A perfect addition to the library of all design professionals.
I had heard so much about Scribus as a great software program but also knew there was little in the way of easy to understand documentation for it. Finally, a simple, easy-to-follow user's manual everyone can use!
---Sam Hendricks
Highly Recommended - You WILL Get What You Pay For
I read the book "Using Free Scribus Software to Create Professional Presentations" and I could hardly wait to begin utilizing the procedures outlined in it. Alice and Gang have done an outstanding job of making the creative process easy to understand by following their easy-flowing step-by-step instructions. The book provides accurate links to all the necessary software and offers eye-popping examples of the anticipated outcome. I found these examples to be inspirational and it made me work toward achieving the same results. Through its proper use, this book will advance the user from being a novice designer to an expert in a relatively short period of time. This book delivers exactly what the title projects. If you can read, you WILL be able to create professional presentations.
--- EllieW
Presentations Made Easy
"Using FREE Scribus Software to Create Professional Presentations" gives you an EASY formula to create book covers and professional documents. It guides you through step by step instructions that anyone who uses a computer can follow. The software is free and can be downloaded from the web. You do not have to search for anything! This will save you money and time. It is a wonderful concept and is written extremely well.
--- City Girl
Well thought out!
This book is very professionally done. Each page breaks the instructions down to only what you need. The color illustrations are clear and easy to read. If you want a book that will take you from beginning to end with the design of your front and back cover, this is it.
--- Sandra
You Can Do This - For Free!
A short, easy-to-read book that tells you how to design book covers yourself using Scribus and other free websites. No more paying big prices to create quality covers.
This is a truly useful book, particularly if you're a self-published author who has paid in the past to get published. With a little work, patience, and tenacity, you can complete the cover design process yourself. You might use ... other free publication sites and this book to complete the publishing process basically for free - and have a professional looking product.
It might also be useful for product instructions for your invention, your group's cookbook, or manuals for your office. If you want a presentation that people keep, make up a quality cover using the step-by-step instructions provided here.
From beginner to expert in easy to understand steps leading you through the creation of a professional cover
This book, while being fairly short as far as standard books go (only 70 pages) this book is concise and to the point. It is not just a book telling you what to do, but it goes step by step into how you do it.
Chapter One is Preparation - downloading the free software which includes Scribus and 5 other software you will need. Also included is getting the Cover Template, PDF and EPS files, the Bleed area, and Safety Area and Minimum Margins.
Chapter Two is Setting up the Sheet and Preparing the Background. It includes setting up the basic dimensions of the book cover, bleeds guides and layers (You will understand these as you go along), extracting the barcode, setting your RGB or CMYK colors (it tells you which ones to use) and adding the background color to the cover.
Chapter Three has adding the Barcode, Images, Titles and Text, and includes getting free or inexpensive pictures for your book cover. Exporting to a PDF file and making revisions, as well as a FAQ page (frequently asked questions) and a trouble shooting guide.
Then there are the appendices: List of Figures, Annotated Bibliography, and Back Page Promotion.
By the time you finish this book you will have made your book cover, and be pleasantly surprised at how much you have learned and how well these authors have presented, in their meticulous fashion, the secrets to having a professional looking cover for your book, as well as other forms of presentations.
From the Back Cover
Where can I download the FREE book cover design templates for the book cover design exercise in your book?
See link below:
scribus.webs.com/downloads.htm
You can find sample texts and other information in customer discussion sections under the lower portion of this Amazon listing page.
Some people ask: Where's the bang for the buck?
Our response: Didn't you hear the big bang for the bucks? If you spend $29.99 to buy our book, and spend a few hours reading it, you can design your own book cover and save $299 to $1,500 in book cover design fee.
That is a super loud bang for the bucks. How can you not hear it?
The book is also in full color with many step-by-step screen shots. The cost of making it is MUCH higher than a black and white interior book.
We use Scribus to design ALL our book covers. See the upper-left hand corner of this book's Amazon's detailed listing for our samples of book cover design using Scribus (We uploaded them as customer images).
Scribus is as good as Photoshop, and it is FREE. However, many people do not know about Scribus, let alone using it.
Our goal is NOT simply to teach people Scribus, but to make Scribus accessible to the mass. Our goal is to let you master the framework and fundamentals for Scribus AND achieve your goal in the shortest time.
About the Author
About the authors
Alice Chen is an avid Scribus user. She has extensive interest in presentation software, and resides in California.
Gang Chen holds a master's degree from the School of Architecture, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree from the School of Architecture, South China University of Technology. He has over 20 years of professional experience. Many of the projects he was in charge of or participated in have been published extensively in Architecture, Architectural Record, The Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, etc. He has worked on a variety of unusual projects, including well-known, large-scale healthcare and hospitality projects with over one billion dollars in construction costs; award-winning school designs, highly-acclaimed urban design and streetscape projects, multifamily housing, high-end custom homes, and regional and neighborhood shopping centers.
Gang Chen is a LEED AP BD+C and a licensed architect in California. He is also the internationally acclaimed author of other fascinating books, including Building Construction, Planting Design Illustrated, ARE Mock Exam Series and LEED Exam Guides Series, which include one guidebook for each of the LEED exams. For more information, visit GreenExamEducation.com
