Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hi folks,

I've been combing the threads but I haven't found one specifically for resources that (who?) can take your perfectly-edited prose and images and make it look damn fancy in ebook and paperback form.

I was really fortunate with the editor of my first book - she dealt with pictures and about 180 headings and footnotes and citations and legal use of images - really, I handed her scraps and she assembled it into a perfect, cohesive whole. However, she found a full time job.

Having waded through that experience, my upcoming projects are simpler, but my standards for them are just as high - way higher than my abilities! And I don't want to learn about perfect formatting. I promise, I am learning my head off in other areas.

My upcoming projects include:
1. A short poetry book with illustrations. I am imagining a Coraline kind of feel. Mature themes.
2. A longer poetry book with illustrations. 1950s housewife themes. More mature themes.
3. A YA novel with illustrations, old style fairy tale layout.
4. A free haiku ebook with images.
5. A fake/real self-help book. Footnotes galore. Pictures.

All the poetry stuff is ready or almost ready to roll, and the quality in that niche is insanely high. One of the books isn't mine, I am just publishing it because it is important, and so it is even more important that I have an excellent final product.

Does anyone have resources for gorgeous formatting? For money, for trade... Am I overreacting and Calibre (is that the name of it?) can actually handle images and multiple fonts and swirly things around page numbers and footnotes?

Thanks for any help you can offer. I'm a performance artist and so it's important to me that my publications... perform themselves.

Tanager

Some people use Calibre and MOBI Pocket reader to convert their Word docs or html to eBook format.

I dislike the lack of specific control involved, so I write my books on notepad, convert to clean html, the convert with MOBI Pocket converter.

Multiple fonts are usually conterolled by the customer's eBook reader in an eBook, so it is a waste of time to try to control that. "Swirly things" are probably images. Yes I can do that. Foot notes are usually not added to an eBook. I publish glossary of terms in the back of my books, and a symbol could be added to let the reader know it presides in the glossary.

If you want to see the results of my work, go to http://morrisegraham.com Go to downloads tab, download the Zorro book in eBook format. You can also check out my work by checking the novel "Warzone: Nemesis" on look inside on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EC190BI.

This method of doing it yourself to get more control was taught me by formatter Guido Henkel. His tutorial is here: http://guidohenkel.com/2010/12/take-p.... He uses notpad and calibre.

I have a standing offer as an editor to format a couple of client's first eBooks for free, if i I don't find the content objectionable. You mentioned "mature themes." I do not work on anything with explicit sex in it. If you like, and I am onboard with the content, If you wish I can do it for you. I can also get you on your feet and show you how to do what I think is the best method yourself. Any subsequent books past the first one will be reasonable.

Best regards, Morris

Thank you!

I edit using Libre Office, then convert to e-book formats using the command line version of Calibre. Follow the links from arcturian-spacefleet.com to the Kindle version, and have a look at the preview.