Wednesday, August 05, 2020

Monday, April 26, 2010

I need work!

So the last 3 years have been difficult, to say the least. With the economy slumping, the need for personal graphic designers has plumeted - in my case, anyway.

If not for the few clients that continue to use my services, I would not have a business at all. So thank you, my few loyal clients.

New clients! Yes please. I'll have some more, thank you.

If you are publishing a book, creating a website, designing your blog, or needing any kind of design for printed pieces - call me! 843-412-2811 or email me at krend @ sc. rr. com. (spaced to hinder spammers.)

Sunday, July 15, 2007

It's official! Rend Publishing launches

It's official! Rend Publishing has launched its very first book, “She Blew Him Straight to Heaven” by Lola Cross. We are excited to get this brand new company and book off the ground and looking forward to an eventful year full of wonderful books!
If you are first-time author, and looking to have your book published, under your terms, contact RendPub™ today.

The publishing industry can be very confusing, frustrating, and down right infuriating!

Learn the ropes, ask your questions, and…

be
INVOLVED
with the
EVOLUTION
of your book.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

PDF HELP

Many times clients receive their digital PDF proof for their book and they say one or all of these things:

  1. Why are there blank pages in my document?
  2. Why does my document print at the wrong size - didn't I give the correct trim size?
  3. The images are blurry. Will they print that way? Can you please fix them?
  4. I wanted to edit some of the content, but it won't let me. Why is the document locked?
  5. The font is so small/large can we change to __ font size?

Now, there are quite a few more that I am sure I am forgetting at the moment, but, I thought I would address these. We'll do the others later, as the come along.

  1. Why are there blank pages in my document?
    • Almost all books have blank pages. Why? Well, most chapters always start on the right, therefor, if the previous chapter ends on the right, or "odd numbered" page, a blank page must proceed after it, to allow the next chapter to start on the right.
      The confusion lies in Adobe view options. I try to always set the open options on a document to "Continuous - Facing." This way, the client sees that the blank page isn't just sitting out there, all on it's own, but facing a chapter start.
      Sometimes though, I either forget to set these open options, or the client changes the view, causing single pages to be viewed one at a time.
      ...
  2. Why does my document print at the wrong size - didn't I give the correct trim size?
    • Check your print options. More than likely, you have not "unchecked" the check boxes that say: "Shrink oversized pages to paper size, Expand small pages to paper size, and Auto-Rotate and Center."
      If ANY of these are check, your document will not print at the size it was designed in.


      ...
  3. The images are blurry. Will they print that way? Can you please fix them?
    • I know, no, and no. The digital proof that I send to clients, most of the time, is screen-ready. Screen-ready is not press-ready. Screen-ready means it is ready to be viewed on your screen for proofing. If you zoom in, try to proof images by printing, etc. things will be pixilated and/or blurry. In the preliminary rounds of proofing, I try to save download time by making the file size of a document as small as possible. When it is time to proof the images, I will send a locked press-ready PDF for you to proof the images, and print them, to see how they will look. Which brings me to...
      ...
  4. I wanted to edit some of the content, but it won't let me. Why is the document locked?
    • Until the balance is paid on a job, the product is not delivered. Up until the completion of the job, I provide locked files that can be view and printed, nothing else. To submit edits to content, you need to site the page number, paragraph number, and line number, (all from the top of the page), and then provide the corrected text/image, etc.
      ...
  5. The font is so small/large can we change to __ font size?
    • Again, check that you are printing at the correct size and not using Adobe's "Shrink oversized pages to paper size, Expand small pages to paper size, and Auto-Rotate and Center" feature(s). Then, if there is still an issue with the font, note this in your corrections and I will address it.
      ...

Your question not addressed here? Feel free to contact me - I will do my best to give you an answer you can understand. (Sometimes the answers you get from the program help files can be quite confusing!)

Cheerio!

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Don't think you need help?

So many times, I get calls from clients that need my help. I can tell, just from what they are telling me about their job, they NEED MY HELP.

I tell them HOW I can help them. I tell them WHAT they can do to HELP THEMSELVES. To no avail.

Some people just want enough information to hang themselves. Why?

To tell you the truth, I really don't know. Maybe it's because people who are publishing their own stuff, feel like they will lose creative control if they let someone else take the reins. And they probably have a right to feel that way. Many people get burned when they hand their baby over to someone else. It's sad, really.

But you have to trust someone sometime.

I make a mean porkchop. But you won't catch me killing the pig. I leave that to the people who know what they are doing.

I don't want learn it.
I don't want to see it.
Just package it up and I will buy it.
That's what service is all about.

And if I hear great things about a butcher, that's where I will go to buy my porkchop.

Come read some great things...




Thursday, August 31, 2006

Website Traffic

Okay, so one more thing.
I noticed that my traffic significantly increased when I offered a "Useful Links" section on my website, but with untested link information that was pulled from another website. After going through some of the information, I realized that many links were outdated or not the type of link I wanted to promote. So.....
I cut the whole thing and created my own, with links to companies that I a familiar with, and know something about.
But what about all that traffic?
sigh.
I will not put that other page back up. So I guess I will just have to deal with less traffic for quality information.
signing off...
kat
 

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Swamped in South Carolina

Well, it's official. I am swamped with work and burning the candle at both ends to get it all done.
I am wrapping up a few jobs, in the middle of others, and scrambling to keep up with requests. I suppose this is a good thing, to stay busy, but hey - I'm only one person!
If you are a current client tapping your fingernails on the table beside your keyboard, hitting your "Check email" button repeatedly, have faith. I am working my design mind to the max and will ALWAYS respond to your emails.
With that said, I exit this blog to get back to work - (it's 1:30 in the morning...)


Happily delirious....
kat