And boy do I make a lot of them. Or so it seems.
I hope by sharing with you, these posts will stand as a reminder to myself, not to repeat the same mistakes over again.
Why? Because mistakes are costly.
Mistakes cost when you have to do something over and over, not just in time but often in money too.
How you can avoid my mistakes…
- Use the right software for the right job.
I tried to use “workaround” software but that only make the job harder and take longer. You know what I mean like using a shoe to hang a picture instead of hunting down that long-lost hammer in the garage.
- A little investment is worth your time and sanity.
No one software does everything. Pick the one that works best for each task.
Listed at the bottom are some of the ones I discovered and love.
- Don’t go with the hype.
Adobe Acrobat has been the go to forever. Gag. I bought Adobe Acrobat and went almost batshit crazy trying to get it to work like I wanted. Canceled my purchase, did more research, and bought Nitro10. Happy days!
- Some free things are good.
Again with Adobe, people have sworn by Adobe Photoshop for years, forget about it. I have discovered a program that is cheaper and easier, in my opinion, to use called Sumo Paint.
Paint Net is a great program for sizing the DPI of your pictures and drawings. It’s free and super easy to use.
Canva.com is great for making a book cover. Although you may still have to change the DPI after it’s finished.
Do you have a software that has made publishing easier?
A favorite software you can’t live without?
Do tell…
Talk to me, the lights on and comments are now open.
Keep reading I’ve listed links to my favorite software must haves at the bottom of the page!
You can find me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdelland Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! Please remember to click and share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook fans.
Nitro Pro PDF Software for You
Nitro Pro has a monthly plan or yearly for $159. Worth every penny. Very user-friendly. And it offers a free trial period. Interfaces well with Word documents so if you can use Word you can use Nitro.
Serif PagePlus X8 desktop publisher
I love this for formatting a picture book. My editor suggested I give the program a look and I’m so glad I did. Inserting and moving pictures around is so easy even I can do it. After done just publish to PDF and voila! Ready to submit to IngramSpark. There are later versions X9 and X10, but I bought X8 on sale for $39.99. I love a sale. Reg price is $119.
Sumo Paint Photoshopping in your browser
You can use this program online for FREE or upgrade to Sumo Paint Pro for $4.00 a month. This is an amazing photoshop program for almost nothing. It’s easy to learn and there are several videos on YouTube to help.
Jean's Writing 
Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
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I haven’t heard of Sumo Paint. I’ll have to look into it. Right now, I have Gimp which is a free program like Photoshop, but it’s not easy to use.
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You will love Sumo Paint and it is free to use online. Only $4 monthly to download to computer. Love this program. I could not get the hang of GIMP.
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Reblogged this on Just Can't Help Writing and commented:
Check out these software tools from Jean. Do you use any of them? What was your experience like? Do you have others to recommend?
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Thanks for the reblog!
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I downloaded GIMP because it was free and found it fairly usable, but I’m intrigued by your review of Paintnet. I don’t do picture books, so I’m mostly looking for editing tools for photos on my blogs and on Twitter or Facebook. I’m currently running a series on my blog Just Can’t Help Writing describing my experience using InDesign to format my POD books. I hope to get my first copy from Ingram this week so I’ll be able to see how well I did (the proofs looked great!). My next project is to compare formatting using just Word. I admit these efforts are meant largely to satisfy my curiosity. I love finding I can do things that looked difficult or that I was told I couldn’t do! I do end up with a lot of different tools for different tasks. I hope to use Canva more in the future. Thanks for a great list!
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As I mentioned Paint.net is great for adjusting the DPI, I haven’t used InDesign, I’ll have to check it out, thanks for the tip. Good luck with your book. Let me know how it turns out.
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I’ve been using one of the older versions of PaintShop Pro for a long time. I tried Gimp and hated it.. I tried Photoshop and wasn’t impressed. I’ll try Paint.net and see how it does. Canva is something I’ve been lazily looking for because I might have to go Indie with my project. Thanks for the link.
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Yeah, I wasn’t impressed with Gimp either. I use Paint.net to change the DPI on my pics, works easiest for that. I use others for the more intricate work.
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A really useful post, thank you for sharing it. I’ve bookmarked it so I can refer back to it in the future and I’ve also shared it on twitter and my Facebook page.
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Thanks Haley for spreading the word. Glad you found a tip that was helpful.
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You’re very welcome.
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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Thanks for the reblog!
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I haven’t managed to master Scrivenor yet, to be honest it scares the life out of me! But Canva is good for some things, and Picmonkey is better…
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I haven’t tried Picmonkey but I’m gonna give it a look. Thanks for the tip.
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I know you’ll love it…
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I’m getting better and better with Scrivener and use Canva often. Not familiar with the other software programs but will check them out.Thanks. @sheilamgood at Cow Pasture Chronicles
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You’re way ahead of me with Scrivener. Maybe I’ll catch up one day. 🙂
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Well you’re way ahead of me period. Don’t know that I’ll ever catch up. LOL
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Scrivener is my favourite software for writing. I can’t imagine writing a novel without it. I use Canva quite a bit but mostly as a marketing tool. On occasion, I’ll run writing through Grammarly.
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I use Scrivener off and on but never quit gotten the hang of it yet. Oh, I do love Grammarly. I’ve come to rely on it a lot.
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I’ve been writing with Scrivener for about 4 years now. I think I’d cry if I had to use something else…
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Maybe I’ll eventually get the hang of it.
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