Fourth -Things-Last For Self Publishing

Puttin' it All Together
 
Did you have a Happy Easter? I sure did. I ate too much once again. And, why does it seem like Jesus is gettin' pushed around to different days? For as long as I could remember, Easter was in April. I bet Jesus is mad about this 'switchin' up the schedule' stuff. Ok. Back to the last part of this four-part article. I have told you about the software that allows you to do layers for sexy bookcovers. I let you in on the fact that you can use your digital camera for uploads of your own pictures. I will even tell you about a software called, 'Book Cover Pro,' that will allow you to work on a pre-measured work space. It will even generate an ISBN barcode for you! You just provide your own paid for, ISBN. Great, right! I know.
 
 But, what you probably don't know is this:
The interior layout can be a real, 'B.'
Yes. The correct layout can be quite a mess if you do not understand industry standards. Chile, do not fear. Just know what size book you want to layout, and then copy from your example book that I told you to choose. Make sure that everything is in order; copyright page, pagination order and lower page corners, dedications and so on.
 
Make sure that you have checked that your edited and Chicago Manual styled novel is set to the right size. I like to use 5.50 X 8.50. So, that means making sure my PDF translation is on shrink to fit for the printer. I use 'Lightningsource' for a lot of my books. There are others out there. Booksurge is another known name that will allow you to possibly get your title's into the bigger chains, and most online stores will just list you on auto title.  The two places that I've mentioned will need for you to apply for an account. It's not that hard to do. You just have to fill out the forms correctly. They have phone numbers to call for help if you should get stuck.
 
So, once you go through all of the motions, and you get your proof back, and you like it...Well, then I hope you make the Best Seller's List from there. It's enough room for Everybody 2 Shine!
 
Join me next time as I will give you a head's up on sales tricks.
 It's free game baby. That concrete based, foundational game. I'm down here all of the time.
Much luv all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to you.
Happy writing, and do what you gotta do to Get Ya Shine ON!
'Get Ya Shine On!' - Milwaukee's Urban Author, Teresa Rae Butler of, 'Don't Even Trip,' the sequel, 'God, I Respect Ya Gangsta,' and the 2008 release, 'Entreprenubian Royalty.'
Please check out the new fiction- 'HO-9,' by Teela Winters-Evers for Black Espionage.
www.myspace.com/teresaraebutler
www.text4mpublishing.com
And the
Teresa Rae Butler's CITY SEXY BLOG http://teresaraebutlerscitysexyblog.blogspot.com

Third Things- Next Checklist for Self Publishing

 How to make your own sexy covers in a flash!

 How to make your own sexy covers in a flash!
 
But how do you ask? It is possible with the right software as I told you last time. If you have a new computer, then you most likely have enough room on it to get to know Adobe Photoshop CS3. This software teaches you as you learn to take digital photos with your digital camera and do marvelous things with them. You can add animations, funky colors around them, dynamic text, shadows and even tractor beams for those cool spaceship book themes. And to be honest, there is so much more that you can do than that. The system requires about 524 ram from your computer so this is important.
 
It is however, a pricey little thing. Adobe's web site says it costs around 600-700 dollars. But guess what? You can go and get yourself an E-Bay account and haggle a new program for as little as $100.00! You will be going up against others but you may win it for the low-low. I got mine for under $200.00- a 400 something-dollar-savings! And if and when you do get this, remember you will have to learn how to use it.
 
I got that covered too. Just sign up for the photoshop user groups in your area through the ADOBE.COM web site. Enter Adobe Photoshop Design Group into the search bar. There you will see the closet classes to you and MOST are free. Not all though. There is also another tactic to learning free.
 
You've guessed it- THE LIBRARY! I know- I know...you hate reading. Ok. How the hell you gone be a writer if you hate reading then? LOL! (Laugh-Out Loud)- can you believe that some people still don't know that lol means laugh out loud? Y'all really need me, and I am here 4 ya. Back to the library stuff though- just read the titles and books in Adobephotoshop CS3 and check the books to see if they come with software too. It won't take you long to learn. Next time I will tell you about InDesign and White Smoke.
 
 Are you all learning anything yet? Those of you who already know- give some feedback. But do you really know the tricks to publishing the industry standards for less? I'd like to think that I know some myself.
 
Join me next time as I will give you a fourth-things-next checklist for self publishing. It's free game baby. That concrete based, foundational game. I'm down here all of the time.
Much luv all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to you.
Happy writing, and do what you gotta do to Get Ya Shine ON!
"Get Ya Shine On!" - Milwaukee's Urban Author, Teresa Rae Butler of, "Don't Even Trip," the sequel, "God, I Respect Ya Gangsta," and the 2008 release, "Entreprenubian Royalty."
www.myspace.com/teresaraebutler
www.text4mpublishing.com
And the
Teresa Rae Butler's CITY SEXY BLOG http://teresaraebutlerscitysexyblog.blogspot.com
 

Be Their Parents, Not Their Friends

There something terribly wrong with what is going on in today’s school and with today’s children. Our children are destroying their futures and their bodies at record numbers. Literacy is at an all time low and the rates of pregnancies remain steady. Where are the parents? What happen to raising future leaders and contributors to the better good?

This piece is not to attack parents but to hopefully make them take notice of the damage they are doing by not arming their children in this war they face each day they walk out of the house.

I am teacher of 11 plus years and I have worked in urban areas my whole career. Living and teaching in Brooklyn, I have had the advantage of being on the same streets as the one’s our children have to pass by to get to school. This allows me to truly look deeper at the negatives that I see running wild in our children lives. I am going to ask some things that you as a parent, aunt/uncle or friend of someone that has a child might make you look at yourself and question your parenting skills deeper. I challenge parents to take a minute and ask themselves, do you know what your child is doing on my space? Have you seen their account? Do you know what pictures they are showing each other? Our teenagers are using my space to pass back and forth conversations of what is going on with them and what is going on in school.

They are talking to any and everyone that will give them attention. If you don’t believe me, you should see the eyes of my students when they hear I have my space page. “Yo B, you got a my space? Word! I’ll send you a add tonight?” I then remind them that I use my space for business and they literally get bent out of shape. However I did add one of my ex-players from my basketball team so I could keep an eye on her. This is where I get to see what is going on. The next question I am asking anyone reading this that has contact with children is, do you know what is going on with their cell phone? I question parents because the phones I see kids use are very expensive with multiple technological features. What do our children use these phones for? Yes you guessed it, pictures, video and of course texting. If I could tell you the amount of things I have seen stored on phones the kids have would scare even the toughest parent. This however is on the parent. These children can’t afford $200 - $300 phone. But why buy them? The NYC Department of Education has told teachers to take cell phones during the city wide exams because the kids were texting the answers to each other. We have confiscated sexual pictures taken by cell phones and even explicit videos taken with cells. Come on you say, well think about what must be going on for children to think its OK to 1. Have sex with others watching, 2. Stand there and watch and record all this with a phone, 3. Share what they saw with everyone that will watch, and 4. Then get on the PC and post it on You Tube, or My space? The answers vary but in many communities all four are OK.

I could go on and on but this article is to get parents to take a deeper look into their children’s lives. It is a scary world out here and we have to do more in protecting our children instead of enabling our children to be deviants.

We have to show our children that the parents are still the parents and control is going to be had by only the parent. If your child doesn’t understand that you run the risk you’re your saying to them “Do whatever feels right to you.” Now ask yourself how much did you know when you were 11-16? If you’re like me than you answered that question with a funny look on your face and quiet “No Much”. Please check your children. If you need some help contact me and I’ll share a minute with you to talk about what I see and what we can do to reach and save our children.

K. L.

"Trying to be creator of the stories that touch your soul."
KLthewriter .com
Myspace.com/KLthewriter.com

A Recent Letter From Behind The Walls

Dear Urban Literary Review,

I am currently at the end of a seven year sentence served in North Carolina's Department of Corrections.

In 2007, for the first time ever we witnessed the Asiatic race stand up against America's unjust system in Jena, Louisiana.  We also witnessed this in Washington, DC at "The March for Justice" and we now need to witness our people stand up all across the United States of America and combat the racial profiling and the injustices that are occurring nationwide and in the penal system.

I entered the system at 19 years and I will be 26 years old upon my release in a few months.  Within this, I have witnessed a large amount of homosexuality, HIV and Aids cases, drug dealing, extortion, theft and communism through reading, post employment and the reentrance into our society as a person who has paid for their wrong doings.

The system was supposedly created to rehabilitate people prior to their return to society yet, it has strengthened the weakness of many prisoners. 

We are refused the right to self educate ourselves in certain aspects.  Our reading material is censored and books are denied entrance to the facility based on a correctional mailroom clerk or warden's intuition or belief.  We have been told you can't have certain books because it's a security threat. Such books that are being denied are book such as "The Message To The Black Man" and "Breaking The Chains of Psychological Slavery".

The fact of the matter is they want to control our minds, be able to decide what history/understanding you can absorb.  One of our greatest leaders, Carter G. Woodson (founder of Black History Month)  said, "If you can control the way a person thinks, you don't have to worry about his/her actions".

If we challenge the system then we are labeled terrorist and investigated through mock files that are submitted to the FBI and used upon our release.

I write this as too often are our voices are not heard because once upon a time in life, we may have made a bad decision. I hope to bring light to some of the issues that we as people of color face after being charged with some of the same crimes that our government commits from day to day.

Urban Literary Review, I ask that you will use your media outlet to bring attention to some of the issues that are hard for me and many others to communicate from behind these walls.

I hope to enlighten and spark an interest in some of the things that take place with our brothers and sisters in prison and hope that your listening audience will walk away with a better understanding as to why we must encourage our people to stay as far as possible from activities and lifestyles that sell them back in to slavery.

Sincerely,

Brother X

Social/Political Activist

Soon to Be Home

Second-Things-Next Checklist for Self Publishing

The ISBN number and the barcode on the back of each book that is sold is what calculates the number of royalties you get. But what if I told you that in TRUE self-publishing, you can buy your own block? Want to learn more?
 
YES! In fact, if you want to be a publisher, that is basically a great place to start. Do this by buying your own ISBN numbers. There is a web site called Bowkerlink.com that sells them individually, or in blocks. A block of ten is sold for about $250.00 last time I checked, because I bought a gang of them for my company, and it's been a while.

This way, if you are really serious like I am, you can later help others publish books too. Now as for the barcode, you can buy them, or you can go to any free bar-code generator site and have one made for free. All you have to do is put in the ISBN # you chose for your first title purchased from Bowkerlink, and enter it into the spacebar. These web sites are really easy to follow, so don't worry. But please try to look at the finished product on the computer monitor and compare to an actual book you bought that is already published. You will click and see an image of the barcode when you are done. Are the numbers lined up right from the book as an example to the monitor? Did you remember to put the price in? There is a five digit side bar across from the ISBN number that will allow room for pricing.
 
It starts with 5. Then you can put in for instance, 1999 after it if your book sells for $19.99. Then the five digit code will read 51999. OK. Now that you have an ISBN # and your barcode with price, now what? What about that book cover design? Wait! Did you even get professional editing? I know some of you are probably thinking, "What do you know? Your cover is non-standard?" That is because Teresa is different. I can make sexy covers too. All I need is a camera and my laptop that is fully loaded with everything from Adobe Cs3 to In design. From Wizards for Word to White Smoke. But do you really know the tricks to publishing the industry standards for less? The reason why I am asking again is because there is certain software that you can buy to jump all of these guns. If you have at least 2 GB of computer space that is free, or even better, a new computer with hella space to work with fresh, then we can talk. It will cost you a pretty penny, but I know how to cut all costs. Now I bet you want to be my friend. Hah! I'm just kidding. That's why I am here.
 
Join me next time as I will give you a third-things-next checklist for self publishing. It's free game baby. That concrete based, foundational game. I'm down here all of the time.

Much luv all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to you.
Happy writing, and do what you gotta do to Get Ya Shine ON!

"Get Ya Shine On!" - Milwaukee's Urban Author, Teresa Rae Butler of, "Don't Even Trip," the sequel, "God, I Respect Ya Gangsta," and the 2008 release, "Entreprenubian Royalty."

www.myspace.com/teresaraebutler
www.text4mpublishing.com
And the
Teresa Rae Butler's CITY SEXY BLOG http://teresaraebutlerscitysexyblog.blogspot.com