Create your own picture bookUpdated: January 18, 2006 When simple written expressions fail to adequately describe the things you love most, let your digital pictures tell the tale. After all, every picture you've ever taken—as the saying goes—is worth a thousand words. 
With the help of Windows XP and custom publishing services, you can use your digital pictures to create a book that will surely impress your readers.  Choosing a topicTo simplify matters for your audience, make it clear why you created this book. Also, build your book around an interesting personality, such as a grandparent or your child, your travels, or a prize-winning garden. You can even make a custom ABCs book featuring your child. Anything you are proud of or care about can be turned into a successful book as long as you have the pictures to create the story. 
To start, take pictures of your chosen topic, or gather the pictures together if you are using pictures that you've already taken. You can use a product like Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 to help you crop and enhance your photos. The larger, clearer, more diverse, and colorful the compilation of pictures you assemble, the better the results will be. Picking a themeA few themes to get you started on your custom book-publishing project include: | • | Art. Capture your favorite paintings, statues, fountains, or architecture. | | • | Birthday years. Chart a person's life through pictures from each year's birthday to make a great gift. | | • | Child's firsts. Record baby's first day, first smile, first food, first steps, and first day of school. | | • | City scenes. Create a tour of your hometown or document your travels through your pictures. | | • | Graduations. Mark the milestones for elementary school, high school, and college. | | • | Hobbies. Show your interests; anything goes. | | • | Holidays. Record that special holiday to share with others. | | • | Homes. Capture the memories of home sweet home. | | • | Nature. Think trees, lakes, and snow-covered mountains that you've captured throughout the years. | | • | Outdoor activities. Remember those hikes, camping trips, and family picnics. | | • | Pets. Capture funny and fond memories of your pets. | | • | Slice of life. Memorialize the life of a loved one, courageous moments, or just everyday activities. | | • | Sports. Capture those memorable sports moments. | | • | Vacations. Share the beauty of the beach or the exotic nature of your travels. | | • | Weddings. Go beyond the wedding album and create a wedding book. |
Having a visionBefore you begin putting your book together, consider what you'd like to accomplish. You've picked a theme; now decide what the story is going to convey. Having an underlying vision will help shape the entire project. 
A few good reasons for constructing a picture book include: | • | Teaching. There's no better way to learn about something than seeing examples from your own experiences | | • | Commemorating. Whether you've built a business, started a family, or taken the trip of a lifetime, major life events such as these deserve a permanent place on your bookshelf | | • | Memories. Make a picture book of your child's life or your special flower gardens of seasons past, or simply relive that great vacation | | • | Preservation. Document your family history, feature the cars you've owned, or build a collection of your favorite life moments; these are all great ways to preserve your treasured memories |
Now that you have your theme and vision, it's time to publish your book. Choosing a publisherOnline publishers provide a variety of options, from pocket-sized to paperback and hardcover books. Each charges a proportionate fee depending on the size, stock, and number of pages you require, and pricing plans differ for each publisher. Many online vendors offer custom publishing solutions. For example, some publishers even offer full-page photo spread formats, which can create a dramatic effect. Some publishers offer print-on-demand (POD) services, while others include copies of your book in the initial retainer. A few even give you an ISBN number so you can sell your creations. Optional editing and layout services are also available. Prefer going hands-on? Create your own cover, rotate or adjust pages, and plot out the entire manuscript. If you're short on time, let the professionals do it for you. Many publishers also give you the ability to add captions to your pictures. Book publishersIn the end, only you can decide which option works best. Take a look at the some of the publishers that offer custom book making, and decide which one is right for you. Follow their step-by-step instructions for creating your custom book project, and then sit back and wait for the finished product to arrive. Shutterfly www.shutterfly.com You can create professional-looking photo books with Shutterfly’s easy-to-use Web site. Shutterfly offers a variety of book styles, covers, and layouts to fit your project. You can choose a hardcover coffee-table style book, a soft-cover book, or a spiral-bound book. These make great gifts to celebrate a special occasion or commemorate a vacation. MyPublisher www.mypublisher.com MyPublisher offers easy-to-use online tools and user-friendly publishing options with a variety of material choices. Creating basic picture books or oversized hardcover compositions filled with gorgeous, high-resolution pictures is easy with MyPublisher's proprietary BookMaker software. AuthorHouse www.authorhouse.com Turn your visual essay, professional portfolio, or photographic journal into a color paperback. Trafford Publishing www.trafford.com Ever wished you could work as a children's author? Dream no more. Send in your artwork and watch it become a beautiful picture book that kids of all ages will adore. BookSurge www.booksurgepublishing.com A division of Amazon.com, this company lets you print any type of manuscript in marvelous color. Decorate your creation with plug and play designs, fonts, and templates. Xlibris www.xlibris.com Cookbooks, catalogues, comics, graphic novels—this site's picture book program caters to all customers. Any sort of picture-based content is fair game as long as it's between 24 and 80 pages in length. Web addresses can change, so you might be unable to connect to the Web site or sites mentioned here.
 | Scott Steinberg is a freelance author and consultant who has covered gaming for over 200 outlets ranging from CNN to the Los Angeles Times, Maxim, Playboy, Rolling Stone, TV Guide and Wired. He's also the founder of copywriting collective Clandestine Media Group and CEO of Overload Entertainment, an independent licensor and publisher of PC games.
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