Lesson 12: Uploading your Book

UPDATE: The Cherishbound site is no longer available. I now use Mypictales.com. However, some of the information in this post is still useful and applicable for other publishing websites.

Ok, yes, this is a shameless plug for my favorite website for digital scrapbooking. But this company has given me so much with my beautiful books, plus I wanted to demonstrate how to upload a page into a book, and this is the only way I've ever done it! Now, usually with Cherishbound, in order to create a book, you have to have a consultant. I've contacted the company, and they have provided me with a special URL--if you click on this link, it will allow you to create a new account and get started right away! I'm not sure how long this will last--so even if you aren't ready to create a book, get a login today.

So, here's a little more about Cherishbound, and then I will have a video for you!

To see pictures of my new 2010 yearbook, click here!

First of all, Cherishbound is NOT a digital scrapbooking site. At least, that is not their focus. They focus on learning to write your story. And they have some fabulous products like Story Starters, that will give you help in writing your story. There are different starters for different subjects, and they are full of questions and ways to format your story that can really help you. My sister (also a digitial scrapbooker--in fact, she got ME started) used them when she created a book to honor my grandmother and her life. The story starter really helped her know what questions to ask and how to organize the book. The way I see it, there are a lot of great stories hidden in your family that you can only bring about by asking the right questions. Story starters help you find those questions. It's pretty amazing. Cherishbound is what helped me switch my style of scrapbooking from a collections of photos, to a journal with photos. I do a lot more writing because of it. If you are creating a book for a special event, that's when story starters can really help. To see some of their story starters, go to http://www.cherishbound.com/products/sscatalog.php?c=53_21.

You'll find that scrapbooking can go a lot faster if you do the writing first. Then it's just copy and paste. Here's an example: My sister has three children. She wants to make a baby book for her third child, just like she did the first two. But--when does a mother of three ever have time to sit down and scrapbook? But then--if she waits, she'll forget all those special moments, the mile markers, when he walked, his first word. So, she writes it first. She just adds to it little by little in a Word document. And then, when she DOES have a few minutes to work on her book, part of it is already done. Just copy and paste what's needed.

Here's another example: A few years ago, a friend of mine wanted to make a book for her adopted daughter. She just wanted it like a little storybook she could read to her, that would tell her the story of her adoption--so she'd grow up knowing all about it. Not being a digital scrapbooker herself, I told her I'd help. So she came over one day, and we got that book done in one afternoon. She'd already done all the writing, typed it up, and emailed it to me. Then I just picked one kit, and quickly put out a good 20 pages, cutting and pasting her text, and adding a few pictures and elements. It was a short book, and a mini one--not a full size 8 1/2 x 11. And it's very much loved. And it was done in ONE DAY. Yes, writing first can be useful!

In Cherishbound, you can also make a book without using Photoshop at all. There are templates that you can use where you choose the location of your text and photos, and then just choose a border for the whole book. And it looks very nice--though I ten times prefer to do it in Photoshop! They also have a new thing called StoryClub. Honestly, I don't know a lot about it, but it's a great way to get discounts and deals when publishing. You may want to look into that when you are on the site. Its still a very new program.

Ok, now for a video that explains