The Soul Wanderers: June 2014

How to make author promotional bookmarks

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Having recently received my own author bookmarks in the mail, I thought it would be helpful to have a "how to", complete from the conception of a bookmark to getting copies in potential readers' hands. For me, it wasn't as hard to design as you might imagine, but it was harder to format to be uploaded to the printer's requirements than you'd imagine.
My goals for this were to spend the least amount of money possible and to get good quality bookmarks. The only thing I paid for were the actual bookmarks and the shipping, which came to $62.81 (including tax) for 250 bookmarks. Most places would be over $100, but if you go with the company GotPrint, you don't pay nearly as much, and they are quite good quality. I also didn't pay for a designer, for special computer programs, or for images I used. I think they turned out well:

I made these instructions ridiculously detailed because it took me a long time to figure out what to do, and I tried a lot of different things until I found what actually worked. This is the path that worked for me, and it should work for any other bookmark too.
So, let's get started!

1) Design the bookmark
I did a rough sketch on a piece of paper, but I find it easier to do details on the computer, so this wasn't much work. I designed my bookmark mainly using the article here. Check it out before starting yours.

2) Get the pieces
I got the text and images I wanted to use, which was the cover, blurb, links, and cool swirly picture (free from Pixabay. Unlike on my blog, I thought it was a good idea to use free images).
For the QR code, I used this website. With this site, you can get 1 QR code for free, and I only needed one, so that was fine. And make sure to get a dynamic QR code. This means that you can change the link that the picture sends you to, so you have to sign up for an account (choose the free one). After you get it, you can make the QR code pretty with different colours and then export it as a jpeg to put on your bookmark. I also put a Muse it Up logo since you couldn't see it in the cover image.

And for making textboxes, make ones with no line and no fill. For the blurb, I didn't realize how small mine would be, so make sure that the text is large enough! Also, if I could do it over, I would not have the textbox with my website url a faded blue. It was a gradient of blue fading to white, but it didn't look so good when printed, as you can see here:

3) Put it together
So what amazing software did I use? Photoshop? Nope, nothing nearly as fancy. I used good old Microsoft Word. Believe it or not, it was really easy to make there. But first, we need the right shape and size for the bookmark. That will be different or different companies, so you'll have to decide what company you want to use at this point. I did a lot of research and found that GotPrint, which prints in California, was the cheapest, even taking into account shipping to Ontario. They also use recycled paper, which is a bonus!
On their website, they have templates for the size of their bookmarks. Click on the 2 X 8 inch bookmark template here and download it as a jpeg. Open this file and copy the template into a MS Word document. Don't change the size of it, because you need it to be the right size for printing. I made two copies next to each other so I could do the front and the back of the bookmark at the same time. I lined mine up vertically, but they look like this originally:

Now put your images in place and make sure to put text and images you don't want cut inside the blue box. I put a black background to the black line and also put the book's cover image to that line, since it was alright if it was cut a bit. You'll have to determine what images are ok to be cropped a bit.
And you can ignore the "Please send artwork without blue, purple, black, and gray frames" written on the template. My bookmark was black to the edges in most places, and I called GotPrint and they said it was perfectly fine. The way to make a black background is to just make a textbox filled with black, and then drag it to the right size and put it over the template.
It might be difficult to line everything perfectly in the box, but that's ok, because we'll do some cropping later. Just make it as accurate as you reasonably can.
Another tip: make sure the images are formatted as "in front of text" under the "Wrap text" option so you can move them around properly. And make sure the QR code is big enough (not sure what the smallest image is that cellphones can detect).

4) Merge and turn into an image
Merge the images on your bookmark, including the background textbox, so you now have two images: the front and the back, as seen below.

Next comes the weird part. You want to turn these into jpegs, but if you do it in MS Word, you'll lose a lot of the image resolution. It's not just slightly bad, but quite noticeable, so you'll have to do this:
a) Copy the front of the bookmark (the entire merged image)
b) Open PowerPoint and post the image into a slide
c) Right mouse click on the bookmark, and select "Save as Picture"
d) Save it as a jpg or png
e) Repeat with back of bookmark
Yes, it's circuitous and bizarre, but it works. For some reason, PowerPoint saves pictures at a better resolution than MS Word.
One other thing to bear in mind: when you copy the image into PowerPoint, for some reason, the spacing in textboxes may be skewed (it changed my 1.5 pt spacing to 1 pt), but you can change this back manually in PowerPoint.

5) Make it the right size and resolution

I skipped this step the first time, assuming that I had aligned my pictures well enough on the template, but the company sent them back and told me to update the quality and make the size more accurate.
To do this, you'll need GIMP, which is a free version of Photoshop. It's a neat software that I also used to make a T-shirt in (like this one), so it's not a waste to download it. You can get it here.
Now, you might want to save an extra copy of your front and back images at this point in case you mess things up :)
First, open the image in GIMP ("File->Open"). Then click "Image->Scale Image" on the top bar. A pop-up will open like this:

For the size: to get it to be 2.1 X 8.1 inches (the extra 0.1 is due to the "bleed), you want to change it from being in pixels/in to inches (see pic above). Do this for the area with Width and Height. Now, if your width and height are 2.1 and 8.1, then you're a super MS Word formatter, and can skip to the resolution part. But if not, type "2.1" under width. Then click in the height box, and you'll see it has changed automatically. IF the height is LESS than 8.1, then type "8.1" in the box (the width will change, but that's ok, as long as it is greater than 2.1). If it is GREATER than 8.1, you're ok, because we'll change it another way.
To change the resolution, if you're using GotPrint, then you need to have the resolution 350 dpi (dots per inch) minimum. If you change it in one box (the X box, say), it will automatically change it in the other (the Y box). So type in 350 in one of them.
Click "Scale" to save your changes.
Now, you have to change either the width or height of the image (whichever is too long. Unless you're super and already have a 2.1 X 8.1 bookmark). To do this, you'll have to use the crop tool, which is on the side panel and circled in red in the picture below. Then select "fixed" in the box below (1), then either "Height" or "Width" (whichever you have as the right size from your scaling) (2 - this is if your height is 8.1 in), then put it in inches (3), and finally, put in "8.1" (4) (if you were doing width, this would be 2.1).
Now crop it by selecting the area on the bookmark you want to keep (5). It will keep the height/width the same (whichever you selected as "fixed"). I just cut a bit of each side off so that I could get it down to 2.1 inches. This is another reason why not to put text too close to the edge. When you think it's good, then click enter, and it will be cropped. Of course, this is just estimating, so you have to go back to "Image->Scale Image" and select to see the width and height in inches again. If you've got 2.1 X 8.1 inches, good job! If not (it took me a few tries), then get out of the scale window. If you cropped too much do an "Edit->Undo" to get rid of your previous cropping, and try again. Otherwise, if you didn't crop enough, then do it again until you get it right, and keep checking in the scale window. There might be a better way to do this, so if anyone knows of one, please share it in the comments.

6) Export image
Now to turn it into a png (or jpg), since it is now in GIMP format. Go to "File->Export", and make sure it is set to save in png format. A box will come up with some options checked off and some not. Just keep them how they are and do the export.

7) Do steps 5 and 6 with the other side of your bookmark! (Ugh...)
Now you have two images, one for the front and one for the back of the bookmark. Check the images and zoom in to make sure that they're alright.

8) Buy it
If you go with Got Print, it will cost $25.60 for 250 bookmarks (really cheap! But it's quite good quality. Not the best out there, but it is glossy and has UV coating) and then shipping to wherever you are (for me in Ontario, it was another $26.62). I selected 14 pt. gloss coated cover with UV and colour on both sides. Their bookmark page is here.

9) Wait
If you were excited as me, this might be the hardest part!

10) Get them in the mail
At last!

11) Make sure the bunny likes them :)

12) If you like the bookmarks, say so
I sent GotPrint a "Thank you for my beautiful bookmarks" email on the Contact page of their website, and they emailed me back a 10% off coupon. Awesome! So next time it will only cost $56.53.
[UPDATE: I just ordered another set, and somehow my 10% off calculation was off, so it only cost $55.98. Even better!]

13) Give them away
I'm still on this stage. So far, I need to find more people to give them to!

So that is how I made my bookmarks. If you give it a try, let me know if it works for you!

Quotes of Wisdom: Animals and the astral light

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"Students may also bring, if they desire, a owl or a cat or a toad." (so said Harry Potter's acceptance letter to Hogwarts)
Yes, I did just quote Harry Potter, but not for no reason. The actual quote of wisdom is this:

From Manly P. Hall's The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928):
"Certain plants, minerals, and animals have been sacred among all the nations of the earth because of their peculiar sensitiveness to the astral fire--a mysterious agency in Nature which the scientific world has contacted through its manifestation as electricity and magnetism...The magicians of the Middle Ages surrounded themselves with such creatures as bats, spiders, cats, snakes, and monkeys, because they were able to appropriate the life forces of these species and use them to the attainment of their own ends."

Cats, snakes, bats, owls, monkeys...they are all "magic" animals, and often seen in pictures with witches or magicians. This is not just a coincidence: it is due to the "astral light" (same thing as astral fire) that they draw near them. This is also known as animal magnetism, which was named by Franz Mesmer in the 1700s for a natural invisible force exerted by animals. The astral light, named by Medieval mystics, is mystical light from a higher world, commonly associated with fire and the Sun. It is a connection between the higher worlds and our lower world. The Theosophical Society says that "the astral light or astral plane is another world, or another story of the world, related to a different set of human senses, and characterized by different relations of space, time, and other qualities." It is also what Eliphas Levi calls the "universal imagination" that we can all access and gain inspiration from. However, it is not simple to access this astral light, and that is where these special animals come in.
Supposedly, certain animals such as those mentioned above have a connection to the astral light. Why a cat and not a dog? I have no idea. It may be that it just happens naturally, so that it doesn't make sense to ask the question (like asking "why do chickens cluck instead of bark?" Well, it's just the physiology of a chicken that makes it cluck).
So magicians would keep these animals near them so as to borrow the powers of the astral light for their magical endeavours. The animals weren't necessarily conscious of their connection to this power, but emanated the astral light naturally. They did not have to harm the animals to do so, for the astral light is not a physical substance that can be attained by some magic potion. However, we know that witches' brews often contain animal parts, but from what I've read, it seems that the true magicians do not need to physically concoct something in order to use magic. Just being near creatures with this astral magic can help bring more of it into their being and so allow them to be more attuned to the higher worlds. This might be another difference between "light" and "dark" magicians.
Cats are especially potent in the astral light, and the ancient Egyptians certainly knew this, keeping cats in their temples. Serpents too were kept in temples in Ancient Greece, such as with the Oracle of Delphi. The serpent was also a symbol of wisdom, and perhaps this is due to its ability to attract the astral fire.
So Hogwarts students carry on the tradition of Medieval magicians with their magically potent animals, and maybe you too, if you have a pet cat.

You can learn more about the astral light here.
Manly P. Hall's book is here. It's very long, but very worth the read!

Sunday Musings: life inspiration for writing

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See how Muse it Up authors have been inspired in their writing by real events, or in my case, snatching people to put in books :)
http://museituppublishing.blogspot.ca/2014/06/sunday-musings-june-22-2014.html

Interview on Suzanne's Thoughts for the Day

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Check out my interview about Aizai the Forgotten, including my ideas about the series and inspiration:
http://suzannesthoughtsfortheday.blogspot.ca/2014/06/happy-book-birthday-to-mary-jean-harris.html

Aizai the Forgotten Giveaway!

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Check out Books in the Spotlight blog to enter to win a FREE e-book copy of Aizai the Forgotten:
http://booksinthespotlight.blogspot.ca/2014/06/giveaway-aizai-forgotten.html

Aizai the Forgotten Release!

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You can now read Aizai the Forgotten! Check it out here.

Quotes of Wisdom: Egyptian Mummification

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I'm going to start to write posts about ancient philosophy/magic quotes from books I have read. They might be from a modern author or from someone from ancient times. It fits the theme of my newly released book Aizai the Forgotten, and it will be fun!
Here is the first one:

From Egyptian Magic by S.S.D.D (1896)
"There are reasons to suppose that only those who had received some grade of initiation were mummified; for it is certain that, in the eyes of the Egyptians, mummification essentially prevented reincarnation. Reincarnation was necessary to imperfect souls, to those who had failed to pass the tests of initiation; but for those who had Will and the capacity to enter the Secret Adytum, there was seldom necessity for that liberation of the soul which is said to be effected by the destruction of the body. The body of the Initiate was preserved after death as a species of Talisman or material basis for the manifestation of the Soul upon earth."

There is little doubt that there was a secret priesthood class in ancient Egypt who had many advanced philosophies that caused Plato, Pythagoras, and others to travel to Egypt and learn from the masters. Of course, most of their wisdom is lost to us now due to their secrecy, but we have still learned some elements of their philosophies, mainly from those in Greece or other regions who travelled there.
But about the quote: the common idea of mummification as a means of preserving the body for the afterlife was not actually the intention of the Egyptian philosophers. The initiates of the "secret priesthood" wanted to get out of the cycle of reincarnation and ascend to a higher world--not necessarily Heaven, but some higher plane of existence where they could exist as more powerful souls.

Reincarnation, however, meant that at the death of their body, their soul would inhabit another being, causing them to forget their previous life and hence all their learning that could have ascended their soul to another realm of existence, which was the goal. The idea is that if they were enlightened enough, that at death, they would go to a more enlightened realm. This was necessary for the "imperfect souls" who were still subject to the cycles of reincarnation. So by preserving their body, in some sense it never really "died" in a way that would cause their soul to return to Earth in another being. The body would remain as a "talisman" that would allow their soul to come back to Earth (perhaps looking through the eyes of the mummy? Well, it's probably more philosophical than that) and also prevent it from being "snatched" into another body since it still technically belonged to that body. Well, I'd say this is "experimental metaphysics", though that certainly sounds like an oxymoron!

So mummification liberated the soul, not so that it could go to the afterlife with its old body, but so it could travel to any world unbounded by a body. Yet if the initiate was already enlightened enough and headed to another world, then it didn't matter what their old body did--their soul was strong enough to stop any reincarnation issues. This is interesting, because we see that most Pharaohs were mummified, which means that they did not have confidence that their souls were high enough to be bound to some higher realm. As for those high initiates who weren't mummified, we'll never be able to find their remains, since they were not mummified.
An interesting idea, and one that may be encountered in a later book in my The Soul Wanderers series.