EZ Ebook Templates

I follow a lot of other graphic sites and I see them do this frequently, so I thought I should do the same.

Today’s post will provide you with a list of sites you can draw some design inspiration from when you feel as if you can’t come up with any ideas on your own. This list isn’t for you to go and recopy the exact designs you see, but to aid you in creating your own unique designs by peeking over the shoulder of other designers.

And, there’s not really a whole lot of ebook template layout design inspirational resource lists out there, so this will be the first of it’s kind — that I know of anyway

So, let’s get to this first list of inspirational resources….

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1. StockLayouts.com - Loads of great design inspiration here from newsletters, to brochures, and my personal favorite, the Letterhead template section. Check them out when you need a quick burst of creative genius

2. Paper Direct - Some decent bordered paper letterhead design layouts to peruse through in various categories. I personally liked the “Everyday Border Papers” category myself

3. VistaPrint.com - A nice gallery with plenty of inspirational letterhead paper designs to inspire you

4. OptimalPrint.com - Good assortment of graphic letterhead designs in a variety of styles

5. Microsoft Office Online - Of course you can always visit this free resource and check out the user submitted letterhead designs, not a bad resource to have

6. HP Office Letterheads - Not too many designs here, but there are links to more such as the Identity Kits, those are worth a quick look for sure for plenty of fresh ideas

7. Log Technology Letterhead Portfolio - Looking through these will give you a better idea of what customers are wanting in designs and how much they are willing to pay to get it!

Well, that’s all the resources I’m going to list for today. That should plenty to get your creative juices flowing. I will add more of these inspirational designing sites in future posts so that we always keep all your ideas fresh

I posted this argument, er, point of view inside a Squidoo Lens I set up a while ago and thought it might be a good idea to include portions of the post here for you if you’re still “stuck on the fence” about switching over to OOo Writer from MS Word.

It’s pretty good stuff. Hope you like it.

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Still Using Microsoft Word For PDF Ebook Creation?

Why are you still doing things the hard way??!

That’s right. I said it.

Why on Earth would you still be creatively limiting yourself with such a crappy piece of software that costs out the rear when you can have a much better application that doesn’t cost you one red cent??

And, you can use it to make yourself wads of cash, without spending any??

Don’t get me wrong. I really like using Windows — go figure?

But I absolutely loath trying to figure my way around some cruddy “trial” junk that is so complicated to use you have to read like 12 manuals on how to add chapter links and background images to your ebook templates.

That’s just plain STOOPID.

What would have taken me months to learn using MS Word took literally HOURS in OpenOffice. Or OOo if you prefer.

Plus, I get to design beautiful ebook templates with, err, updated graphic elements that fit into the new generation of web components. You know, like creating a “web 2.0″ looking PDF ebook?

It’s a breeze with OpenOffice Writer.

And, if you are at all familiar with MS Word’s interface, then making the transition over to OpenOffice will be total cake for you.

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Just How Easy Is It To Create A PDF From Inside OpenOffice Writer?

Well, how fast can you click a button?

No, I’m not kidding.

Inside OOo Writer there’s this little bitty “PDF” icon that sits inside the tools menu bar ( *hint: it’s at the top with all the other “little” icon thingys ), and all you have to do is “left click” it once and a new window will pop open asking you to give your freshly created .ODT document a name.

Next thing you know, after you name it, you have a cool PDF file of your .ODT document sitting right on your hard drive, ready to distribute.

Can’t get much easier than this. Can it?

I don’t think so.

Why Are You Posting This Here…Now?

Because I got a message from a fellow marketer in my inbox that was promoting one of my EZ Ebook Template packages and he had suggested that his subscribers use a 3rd party PDF creation software.

Which, as he learned later, was very unecessary as OOo Writer already has this ability within the main program.

“Score 3 Points For OpenOffice! Yeah!”

Why Is This Important?

Because most folks that use Microsoft Word exclusively for their PDF ebook creations have to use a 3rd party software for PDF creation.

People who use OOo Writer don’t. Perfect!

And if Gabriel Aguinaga didn’t know about it, it’s a pretty safe bet that there are plenty other people that don’t know it either.

This is what happens when you’re use to doing things a certain way with a certain word processor program and have no idea how new software can uncomplicate your life.

It can sometimes be as simple as clicking a button.

Amazing.

Even if you DON’T scrapbook, you can get some awesome design elements that can be used commercially from quite a few “digital scrapbooking” websites. And many of them at really affordable prices for the packages.

I’ve actually found some pretty cool brushes, actionscripts, styles, and shapes all from, you guessed it, scrapbooking websites!

It really doesn’t matter if you don’t scrapbook, or if your ebook has nothing to do with the scrapbooking hobby, you can still get some brilliant stuff to add to your ebook templates for low cost.

And, with that said, here’s a list of the best places I’ve found:

Scrappin’ Freestyle
there’s better than 1000 different “commercial use” photoshop actionscripts, styles, shapes, and brushes here. a great resource.

DigiScrap Warehouse
another outstanding site that has plenty of “commercial use” photoshop styles, shapes, brushes, and more

Sophia Sarducci’s Warehouse
some really cool stuff here that can be used commercially in your ebook designs

Groovy Scraps
yep, another digital scrapbooking site where you can pick up some pretty cool commercial use PS elements like brushes, shapes, etc.

Eclectic Digital Designs
more digital scrapbook commercial licensed goodies

Hawksmont Universe
this dude is the coolest! he offers a nice selection of photoshop brushes that you can use commercially including beautiful flower sets, among others. this is one site you seriously need to bookmark!

I’m sure that if you use your imagination, you can come up with some pretty cool ebook template designs.

Now, get out there and get to work creating something beautiful!

I found another great resource where anyone can pick up terrific looking brushes, custom shapes, patterns, styles, gradients, etc., for super low cost.

And use them all commercially, which is always a great thing

So, anyway, the site is called www.GrahpicXtras.com and I’ve been thus far digging through the custom shapes, which look pretty promising. They have shape packages made up of clouds, circles, spirals, dots -n- dashes, faces, embellishments, sketchy, stars, and a whole bunch of others.

I’ll be going through the brushes section next to see what they’ve got.

Average cost for 1 set of custom shapes: $9.00 US

Average value of having such a resource: PRICELESS

And, here’s another terrific, and FREE, site for collecting some custom shapes for Photoshop:

LadyOak.com

Lots of free to download custom shapes that can be very useful and the site states you can use them in commercial designs, so there ya go!

You will have to register for an account there, but, again it’s free.

There you have it. 2 new resources for great commercial use elements for your ebook template designs with Photoshop!

For some people, designing the layout of how their PDF ebook looks is easier than writing their own unique content to put inside it.

Well, this short post is for them. And possibly YOU. If you are someone who is stuck when it comes to writing.

Most people will use PLR content for their ebooks.

What Exactly Is PLR?

The term ‘PLR’ stands for Private Label Rights. And you can find a ton of this type of content all across the web.

Having Private Label Rights content gives you tremendous freedom. Basically, you can become an ‘instant author’ by using something else someone else has written. It’s like having your own personal ‘ghost writer’ on tap.

What it boils down to is this. . . .

PLR author writes up content either as an article, pack of articles, or actual ebook on any given subject.

PLR author sells the content to others that are in need of it either because they cannot write themselves, or just don’t have enough time to do it.

PLR buyer purchases author’s content and is given a Private Label Rights license that allows buyer to claim content as his/her own without giving any additional credits. It is as if buyer has written the content themselves.

PLR buyer transforms PLR content into a new ebook product and resells to his/her customers with designated rights associated.

( Sometimes you can pass on Private Label Rights to your own customers, but you must always check the original authors Terms of Use, or License, that should be included with the PLR product )

But, like most things, you get what you pay for when it comes to quality. And good PLR is no different.

Suffice it to say that you need to be really choosy about the PLR content you decide to purchase. And be prepared to spend a pretty penny for the best stuff.

Now, with that said, here is a list of reputable PLR content sellers:

Gabor Olah’s PLR Wholesaler.com Site
a good option for both free and paid PLR content

Mike Collins’ Fresh PLR Content Site
focusing on specific niche subjects and offers article packages for them at low prices

Nichole Dean’s EasyPLR.com Site
a really big selection of both specific niche article packs and special reports for low cost

Bob Bastian’s Private Label Publishing.com Membership Site
a very good option at a low cost monthly fee for fresh new PLR content every month

JayKay Bak’s Unselfish Marketer Membership Site
my very personal favorite because not only do you get fresh PLR products, but Master Resale Rights products, services, and additional FREE memberships. it’s a #1 site for everything!

JayKay Bak’s Content Provider Pro Membership Site
a nice site providing ghost writer content for your ebook projects — here’s a quick hint, if you join the UnselfishMarketer.com membership site above, you’ll get this membership thrown in free

Once you have a good PLR product, it becomes simply a matter of copy + paste into your ebook document template. You may have to do some additional formatting such as setting the size and style of the font you decide upon inside your ebook so it’s more ledgible to your readers.

Sans-serif is normally best for computer read ebooks. While Serif is best for ebooks that are to be physically printed out and read.

Oh, and one last quick tip . . .

It is a really smart idea to run the automatic “Spell Checker” inside of OOo Writer once you copy + paste your PLR content inside your ebook because many times there are grammatical errors throughout it. And, you don’t want to sound like a total dummy to your loyal readers

Does it seem that far of a leap of faith to believe that practically any static design you can create for a web template can be used as an OOo ebook template design too?

Well, believe when I say you can do this for any “static” web site design.

But, what do I mean by “static“?

By “static“, I mean any content that just sort of, well, sits there and looks pretty.

It’s content that isn’t interactive. Meaning, it doesn’t do anything, or allow your visitors to do anything with it.

So, if you have seen a “static“, or regular HTML based web site, and you think it would make a really cool ebook template design, chances are, you can recreate it.

HOW?

First of all, you need to create the actual static picture, or graphic with an image editing program. Like Photoshop, or GIMP, or Paint Shop Pro.

Then you save the graphic as a background image. Normally using the file extension: .jpg, jpeg, .gif, or .png.

You should only use a .png or .gif file extension if you plan on having a completely transparent background for your image. Otherwise, stick with the .jpg or .jpeg extension as it preserves the image much better with higher quality.

And, also, remember, when you recreate someone else’s designs, you have to make the design look much different than the original, and not just change a few colors. You need to have an end result that is unique, but inspired by the original. Otherwise you risk legal action.

If the design uses circles, use squares or triangles. If the design has daisies, use tulips or roses. I think you get the idea here.

I just wanted you to know that this is possible to do.

Especially for those of you that have already created your own original web site sales pages and wish to incorporate that design to your PDF ebook. You can do it!

And, later on, I’ll upload some tutorials showing you how.