InkuBook FAQs

(Click on a category to go to the questions.)

Creating and Editing Books

1. How many pages can be in my book?

Books created with Inkubook must have at least 20 pages, and they cannot be more than 120 pages. Books must be printed with page counts that are multiples of two (20, 22, 24, 26, and so on). If you create a book with 45 pages, the printer will add one blank pages so that the total is 46 pages.

2. How do I save my changes?

You don't have to save; we do it for you! (We don't slice, dice, or julienne potatoes, though.) Each time you make a change to your work in the Inkubook editor, a save is performed. For example, when you drag a picture on to the page, the revised page is saved as soon as you've made the change. The same is true when you add text to a page, insert or remove pages, or rearrange pages.

3. Can I change the title of my book project as it appears on my user home page?

For the time being, you're stuck with the book project name (also known as the nickname) that you start with. But there's good news: The book project name doesn't have to appear anywhere on the book itself, so you can name the book project "my first book" and give the book a totally different title, like "Joey and Janice's Day of Fun." The book project name will be on your cover only if you check the Show This on the Cover box when you start your book project.

Even though your book project name won't be on the printed book, we suggest you give the project name some consideration before creating it so that you don't reveal any secrets to contributors that you invite to the project. If you don't want your sister to know that your pet name for your significant other is "Schmoopie," it's best to not use "Schmoopie" in the book project name.

4. How do I change the background of my book pages once I've started creating the book with another background?

Based on the type of book you chose to create when you started your book, certain backgrounds have been applied to particular pages. These backgrounds have also been loaded into the Backgrounds gallery, which you can access by clicking the Backgrounds tab at the top of the screen

To change the background on a page, you can drag one of the preloaded backgrounds from the gallery to the page. The background of each page is selected individually, so you can have an absolute rainbow of backgrounds in your book if that suits your fancy.

You're not stuck with only the preloaded backgrounds, though. We have other backgrounds to choose from, so if you'd like to add another background to your gallery, click on the Get More Backgrounds button at the left end of the Backgrounds gallery. The background choices will appear. Click the background of your choice, and it will display in the example box on the right. Click the Apply button (at the bottom left of the box) to add the background to your gallery and the active page.

5. There are just a few layouts in my Layout gallery. Can I add more?

The layouts that are preloaded into your Layouts gallery are the templates that are on the pages by default when you start a book. There are quite a few more layout options for each book type, and you can add any of them to your gallery. Here's what you need to do:

Click the Layouts tab to see the Layouts gallery.
Use the Get More Layouts button at the left end of the gallery to open a window that displays all available layouts for the type of book you're creating.
Click any of the layouts and a larger thumbnail version will display in the example box on the right. If you're satisfied with that layout, click the Apply button and the layout will be added at the beginning of your Layout gallery and to the active page in your editor.
Repeat this process to add other layouts to your gallery.

6. Can I switch my page layout after I've started creating the page?

Does a one-legged duck swim in circles? (We say that this means "Yes, you can switch page layouts after you've started creating a page," despite the fact that our support manager, who is much more savvy in the ways of water fowl than the rest of us, says that a one-legged duck does not, in fact, swim in circles.)

First, make sure that the page you want to change is displaying in the book editor. Then click the Layouts tab to display the Layouts gallery. Grab the page layout you'd like to change to and drag it onto the page. (If you'd like to see what other layouts are available but don't know how to find them, read FAQ #5 in the "Creating and Editing Books" section for more information.) If you have already placed photos or text on your page, they will be inserted into the new layout. If the layout you're changing from includes more photos than the layout you're changing to, the appropriate number of photos will be used. If you switch back to the original layout, all your photos will reappear.

7. Can I change or reorganize the layouts?

Don't care for the layouts we've chosen for the first 20 pages of your book? Well, we understand. You might not like the wallpaper we picked for our kitchen, either. We all have our own styles.

You can swap out the layouts with any of the choices available for the book format you're using. All you have to do is open the page you want to change in the book editor, open the Layouts gallery at the bottom of your screen, and drag the layout you'd like to use to the page. Text or photos you've already placed on the page will carry over to the new layout as space allows.

If you were hoping to be able to exert a little more graphic design power, we're sorry to say that layouts cannot be modified more extensively. You can't move photo and text blocks around within the default layout templates. The only way to "modify" a page template is to choose to leave certain text or photo blocks empty. The outlines of empty boxes will not print.

8. How do I move a page?

See those buttons with the arrows on them that are under the Pages label in the lower left side of your screen? You need to use those. First, check that the page you want to move is outlined with a box in the Pages gallery at the bottom of your screen. That means it's the active page. (So if you want to move page 7, there should be a light blue box around it in the Pages gallery.) To move the page forward in the book, click the right arrow that's next to the word Move. To move the page farther back in the book, click the left arrow. Ta-da! Your page is moved.

9. How do I delete a page?

The Delete button has a label that says Delete. It also has a scary red X on it. The button is located at the left of the Pages gallery at the bottom of your screen. To remove a page from your book, the page you want to delete should be outlined with a box in the Pages gallery that displays on the right of your editor window. (So if you want to delete page 13, there should be a light blue box around it.) Click the Delete button and that page will be outta there. Once it's gone, it's gone, so use the powerful Delete button with caution.

10. How do I insert a page?

The Add buttons that you need to insert a page are at the left end of the Pages tab. They're the left and right arrows that are on either side of the word "Add." First, select the page that the new page will be before or after. (When the page is selected, there should be a light blue box around it in the Pages gallery.) Then click the right arrow button to insert a page after the current page, or click the left arrow button to insert a page before the current page.

11. Can I make things seem larger on my screen when I'm editing them?

If it feels like the editor is a little cramped, or if everything is a little smaller than you would prefer, there's a way to expand things to fill the full screen if you're using Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 3. Press the F11 key and you'll switch to full-screen mode. The bars at the top and bottom of your screen will disappear, which leaves more room for Inkubook to expand. It makes quite a difference.

When you're done using full-screen mode and want to return to the way your screen normally looks, you need to do one of two things. If you're using Internet Explorer 7, press F11 a second time and your screen will be restored to normal setup. If you're using Firefox 3, hover your mouse at the top of the screen. The menu bar and open tabs will reappear and you'll be able to click the Minimize/Maximize button to restore your screen to normal view.

12. How can I view contributions made to my book?

If you've extended invitations for contributions to your book and people have uploaded their contributions to your project, those items will appear in your Photo and Text galleries in the book editor.

13. How do I make a page that's a photo with a full-page bleed in my Simple Square book?

You know the layouts that have a background image with two smaller images in the foreground? Well, those are multitaskers. To create a page that's one full-page bleed photo, place your photo in the background image container, but leave the foreground containers empty. In the editor, the outlines of the foreground images will still be visible, but in preview mode and in the final printed book, those outlines will not appear.

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Editing Covers

1. How do I create a cover for my book?

A book without a cover is a little like a house without a roof, isn't it? It just wouldn't be right. Here's how to customize the cover for your book:

In the editing tool, the "pages" for your front cover and back cover are automatically created when you start a new book project. The front cover is represented by the FC page in the Pages gallery, and the back cover is represented by BC. To add photos and text to your covers, simply click the FC or BC in the Pages gallery. After either cover is displaying in the editing pane, you can chose a cover layout from the Layouts gallery and add text or photos to it as you would any other page in the book.

2. How do I change the background of my cover?

Based on the type of book you chose to create when you started your book, a certain background has been applied to the cover and the pages. These backgrounds have also been loaded into the Backgrounds gallery, which you can access with the Backgrounds tab at the top of the screen

To change the background on your cover, you can drag one of the preloaded backgrounds from the gallery to the cover. The background of the cover is selected individually, so you can have a background on your cover that isn't used anywhere else in the book if you so choose.

You're not stuck with the preloaded backgrounds, though. We have other backgrounds to choose from, so if you'd like to add a different one to your gallery, click on the Get More Backgrounds button at the left end of the Backgrounds gallery. The background choices will appear. Click the background you like, and it will display in the example box on the right. Click the Apply button (at the bottom left of the box) to add the background to your gallery and to your cover.

3. How can I change the font used on my cover?

It is easy to make changes to the font that appears on the cover of your book. Within the book editor, go to the page labeled with FC (this is your front cover). Click the text box that contains the title of your book. When you click in the box, a little editing pane appears. To change the font, select the text and choose your new font from the drop-down menu. You can also change the styling (bold, italic, underline) and size of your title.

4. How do I change the title of my book?

In order to change the title of your book, click on the cover page that displays in the Pages gallery of the book editor. Click in the text box that contains the title of your book. Highlight the text you want to change and type your new text. (This changes only the title as it appears on the cover of your book. It will not change your project name.)

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Flickr

1. How do I import photos from Flickr?

The window that opens after you click Get Photos offers you two options for getting photos. You can browse your computer or you can click the Import button that's to the right of the Flickr logo. The first time you click Import you'll have to give Flickr permission to share your photos with Inkubook. You should only have to do this one time, and there are step-by-step instructions to tell you what to do. (Basically, you'll sign into Flickr and click an Authorize button, then you'll be ready to select the photos you want.)

When you select photos in Flickr to be imported into Inkubook, we'll grab the largest available file for each photo. In some cases, the quality of this photo might not be the same as the quality of the photo you originally uploaded to Flickr due to certain stipulations Flickr puts on what types of files we can grab. If you place one of your Flickr photos in a layout and you receive the low resolution warning, you can try placing the photo in a smaller photo container.

If you're particular about making sure that the original photo that's in Flickr gets into your book, you can consider upgrading your Flickr account to a Pro account, which has an annual fee. Inkubook certainly does not require you to have a Pro Account with Flickr in order to use photos from your account, but the option is available to you if you choose to exercise it.

General Questions

1. How do I report a problem I'm having with the site?

There are several ways to contact us if you're having a problem with the site. You can chat with our online support representatives. To start a chat session, visit the Support page. Or you can email us at support@inkubook.com.

If you prefer talking to typing, you can get us on the phone between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern time on business days. The number is 877.886.7034.

No matter how you contact us, we'll work on resolving your problem as quickly as possible.

2. Why can't I sign in?

Chances are that if you can’t sign in, you might be using the wrong information—what nerdy programmers like to call "credentials." You need both an email address and a password to sign in. If you have forgotten your password, it's no big deal. Just click the "Forgot password?" link in the sign-in window. We will promptly send you a new password, and you’ll be off and running.

It's a whole other ball of wax if you've forgotten your email address. We're not mind readers, so we can't tell you what your email address is. We don't normally advocate wild random guesses, but you can try entering a few of your usual email addresses on the Forgot Your Password screen. If you hit on one that we have in our files, we’ll let you know you got it right by sending an email (with a password, no less) to the correct address.

There's one last possible reason why you might not be able to sign in, and that's the off chance that the site could be undergoing a slight interruption of service at the precise moment you decide to sign in. We don't expect that to happen often, but it can happen, and the only solution is for you to try to sign in again after a short time has passed.

3. Why won't Inkubook work on my Mac?

PowerPC Macs do not play well with Microsoft Silverlight, and until Microsoft creates a version of Silverlight that does work on a PowerPC, there's not much that we can do to help you aside from suggesting that you try to use Inkubook on an Intel Mac or on a PC.

If you have an Intel PC and it appears that Silverlight won't install properly for you and that it's not supported, we suggest that you check to see if your browser has been set to run in PPC emulation mode. You can check here to get instructions on how to see if PPC emulation mode is on and how to turn it off.

4. Can other people see the text and photos or the books I'm creating?

Right now, only you have full visibility into all the text and photos that have been contributed (whether by you or others) to your book. Contributors cannot see the individual photo and text items that you have in your galleries. Both you and your contributors can see the book in preview mode, but other members of Inkubook cannot.

5. Is my personal information protected in Inkubook?

We here at Inkubook try our best to not ask for much personal information. When we do, we treat it with the respect that it deserves, employing secure, encrypted data transfer, and we store only a little basic information so that you can sign in to the site.

6. What is the Inkubook return policy?

The craftsmanship of printed and bound Inkubooks is guaranteed. If you receive a book that is damaged or is defectively assembled, please contact support@inkubook.com within two weeks (14 days) of receiving the package and we will assist you with obtaining a replacement copy. Please review the full Return Policy for the complete information.

7. What is Inkubook?

Inkubook is a web-based book creation service. With Inkubook you can create books of text and photos, collaborate with others on book projects, and have your books printed and bound. Inkubook is created and supported by Author Solutions, a company with a long and successful tradition of helping people become authors. Through the Author Solutions brands (AuthorHouse, iUniverse, and Wordclay), more than 75,000 people have become authors, and each year 1 out of every 17 books published is from an Author Solutions brand. For more information about how Inkubook works, check out the Learn More, Creating Photo Books, or the Photobook Fun with Friends pages.

8. How can I cancel my Inkubook account?

You can cancel your Inkubook account at any time by sending a written request to admin@inkubook.com.

9. What is Silverlight and why do I have to download it?

Microsoft Silverlight is the plug-in technology that was used to build Inkubook. If you've ever been asked to download Adobe Flash or Apple QuickTime when you've visited another website, this is a similar situation. Without Silverlight, you won't be able to use the Inkubook editor. To learn more about Microsoft Silverlight or to download it, visit http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/default.aspx or http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/resources/InstallationFiles.aspx?mode=sysreq.

10. How do I turn the pages of my book in preview mode?

When you're in preview mode, use the green circular arrow buttons to turn from one page to another. The right-facing arrow flips the pages as if you're reading the book front-to-back. The left-facing arrow turns the pages the opposite way.

If you'd like to have an experience that's much like turning the pages of an actual book, just click on any page and it will "flip."

11. Can I make things seem larger on my screen when I'm editing them?

12. Why does the site look a little funny in my browser?

While we strive to support all browser types and versions, it can take a little time to fully update the site for all browsers. For optimum performance, we recommend you use Internet Explorer 7 or Mozilla Firefox 2 or 3.

Inviting Others to Make Contributions

1. How do I send an invitation for contributions?

From your user home page or from within the book editor, click the Invite button. On the next screen, enter the email addresses of the people you're inviting (separate their addresses with semicolons). If you use Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, Live, or MSN to manage your email, you can also import the addresses you have stored in your address book.

We've provided some basic text that will be in the email the invitees receive, but you're welcome to write a custom message. Click the Send button, and your invitations will be on their way!

2. Do people I invite to contribute to my book have to be a member of Inkubook?

The people you invite to contribute to your book don't have to be members of Inkubook at the time you issue the invitation, but they will need to sign up to be able to submit photos or text.

3. If I invite more than one person to contribute to my book, will each person be able to see the contributions of the other invitees?

Each invitee will be able to see a preview of your book, so any contributions that you've used in the book will be viewable by all contributors.

4. Will the people who contribute to my book be able to buy a copy?

As long as your contributors have money we will gladly sell them a copy of your book. All they need to do is click the Buy button on the user home page or in the book preview.

If your contributors don’t have any money, maybe you can let them look at your lovely Inkubook and then they'll get motivated to find a job so they have some money to buy their own copies. Or maybe you can work out some sort of barter system with them. They could do some yard work for you, or maybe they could give you some livestock, and in exchange you could buy them books.

5. How can I view contributions made to my book?

Making Contributions to Others' Books

1. How do I contribute text or photos to a book?

First, you'll receive an invitation email. In it will be a link that you should use to get to Inkubook. Even if you already have an Inkubook account, use the link in the email because it's going to take you to the specific book project you've been invited to contribute to. After the invitation page is open in your browser, use the appropriate link on the page to either sign up or sign in.

The first screen you'll see when you're in the site is the Submit Content screen. You're automatically directed to this page so you can easily contribute photos and text to your friend's book. Follow the appropriate steps to add your text and photos (please see the information about performing those tasks in the Photos and Text sections of the FAQ). When you've finished submitting photos and text, you can preview the in-progress book you've just contributed to.

2. How much text can I contribute to a book?

Well, that kind of depends. The most text that could fit in any one of the Inkubook layouts is about 30,000 characters, and that would be 8-point type on the layout that is one large text block in the Classic Landscape book. Our best advice is to use some discretion. Ultimately the project owner is going to decide how much of what you contribute will be in the final book, so that person would probably appreciate it if you don't submit War and Peace as your contribution.

3. Can I upload more than one photo at a time?

Mais, oui! Here's how you do it:

From your user home page or the book editor, click the Get Photos button.
In the Submit Content area, make sure that you're on the Upload Images tab.
Click the Browse button on the Upload Images tab. In the dialog box that opens, browse to the location of your photo files. Select the files you want to use then click the Open button. All selected files will be uploaded to the Inkubook server
If you want to upload more photos that are in a different folder, repeat the steps for each separate folder.

4. What size do the photos I contribute have to be?

The highest resolution an Inkubook can be printed at is 300 pixels per inch (300 PPI). Placing images larger than this on a page will not improve the quality of the printed book. Larger images will make uploading more difficult, or even impossible, and may also result in a distorted image.

300 PPI is the optimal resolution. If you use a photo that is 200 PPI or smaller, you'll receive a warning that the printed picture might not look as great as you'd like in the finished book.

5. If there's more than one person contributing to the same book that I'm contributing to, will the other people be able to see my contributions?

Other contributors will only be able to see your photo and text submissions if the project owner uses them in the book. All contributors will be able to see a preview of a book, so each of you can see how your contributions were used by the owner. Other contributors will not be able to see the individual photo and text submissions that you made until they're in the book. Remember that the book owner will be able to use any of the photos you submit, so if that picture of you wearing the ginormous sombrero is something that you'd rather not have anyone else see, it's best to keep it to yourself.

6. Can I purchase the book I've contributed to?

Assuming that you have a widely recognized, valid form of payment, we will accept it in exchange for a brand-spanking new (and dare we say sexy?) photo book. Click the Buy button next to a book on your user home page, within the book editor, or from the Book Preview and we’ll take you step-by-step through the purchase process. At this time, the "widely recognized, valid forms of payment" we're talking about do not include Diner’s Club cards, wampum, or hobo nickels, despite what you might have heard. (We do accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and American Express, though.)

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Ordering and Shipping

1. How much is shipping?

Shipping costs vary depending on the shipping method you choose and your location. Visit the Shipping page for more details.

2. How long does shipping take?

Shipping times vary depending on the shipping method you choose and your location. Visit the Shipping page for more details. Reminder: Shipping days are added to the number of days it takes to print your book. Books are printed in 2 to 6 business days.

3. Can I place a rush order?

Inkubook offers next day and 2nd day shipping options that will expedite your order. (Or international express shipping if you're outside the U.S.) There is not an expedited printing option.

4. What are the Inkubook payment options?

Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and American Express are accepted forms of payment.

5. Can I order more than one copy of my book at a time?

Certainly. As you put in the details of your order, you'll run across a box where you can enter the quantity of books that you'd like to order. Enter the number then click the Update button. The screen will refresh and the totals on the pages will be updated. If you're ordering quite a few copies of your book, you can also use our Volume Pricing form to get more information about bulk pricing.

6. Can I order multiple copies of my book and have them shipped to multiple addresses?

At present, you must place a separate order for each address.

7. If I've made more than one book can I order copies of each of them at the same time?

If you've made more than one book with Inkubook, you'll need to order each book separately. Because each book is printed at the time it is ordered instead of being plucked off a shelf of pre-printed books, each book must be prepared and tracked separately. It's like getting a made-to-order outfit instead of buying something off the rack.

8. Can I get a discount if I order lots of copies of my book?

If you'd like to order multiple copies, we'd love to talk to you about a custom quote for your order. Just fill out our Volume Pricing form and an Inkubook representative will be in touch with you as soon as possible.

9. Will Inkubook ship to addresses outside the U.S.?

Yes, there is an international shipping option. For more details, please review our shipping information.

10. Is my personal information protected when I order my book from Inkubook?

Absolutely. While we collect a small amount of information during the purchasing process (so we know where to send your book) all the important private information is transferred via a secure connection to a third party that specializes in credit card transactions. That means that we never even see that information and everything is protected with the same level of security as is practiced by banks. We don't store any of your private information.

11. What is the Inkubook return policy?

Photos

1. How do I add photos to the gallery for my book project?

From your user home page or the book editor, click the Get Photos button.
In the Submit Content area, make sure that you're on the Upload Images tab.
Click the Browse button on the Upload Images tab. In the dialog box that opens, browse to the location of your photo files. Select the files you want to use. Click the Open button.
If you want to upload more photos that are in a different folder, repeat the steps above to add the other photos to the list.
Click the Upload button, the screen will close, and all the files in the list will be uploaded to the Inkubook server. They'll appear in your Photos gallery. While they're uploading, you can work on other things in your book editor.

2. Can I upload more than one photo at a time?

Mais, oui! Here's how you do it:

From your Dashboard or the book editor, click the Get Photos button.
In the Submit Content area, make sure that you're on the Upload Images tab.
Click the Browse button on the Upload Images tab. In the dialog box that opens, browse to the location of your photo files. Select the files you want to use. Click the Open button and all the selected files will be uploaded to the Inkubook server and they'll appear in your Photos gallery..
If you want to upload more photos that are in a different folder, repeat the steps above for each separate folder.

3. Why does it sometimes seem to take a long time to upload photos?

When photos are uploaded to Inkubook, we import an exact copy of your original file so that the photo is a sufficient resolution to be used in a high-quality photo book. We also make a second copy at a lower resolution, which will be used for the thumbnail version that appears in your Photos gallery. All this is a much more complicated process than when you upload photos for other purposes that might have simpler requirements, such as when you upload a photo that will be used as an avatar or profile picture. Consequently, it can take a fair bit of time to upload photos for your book. We are constantly working to improve this process to make it even faster than it already is.

4. Why can't I upload my photos?

If you're having difficulty uploading your photos, the most likely issue is the size of the files. Large files might cause a problem if your connection to the Internet is intermittent or slow. Try uploading fewer files at one time or using smaller files.

If the file size doesn't seem to be the issue, check the file type. Files must be one of these formats: .jpg, .tif, or .png.

If file type isn't the problem either, please contact our online support representatives (go to the Support page to start chatting with someone) or contact us by phone or email and we'll help you troubleshoot the problem.

5. Can I add photos from several different folders to my book?

Adding photos from more than one folder on your hard drive is no problem. Just follow the steps described in the "Can I upload more than one photo at a time?" answer. You can add photos from as many different folders as you need to.

6. How do I add a photo to a page?

Adding a photo to a page is a snap. All you have to do is drag the photo from the photo gallery to the picture container on the page where you want the photo to appear. If you need more information about how to add photos to the gallery, please see the FAQ that explains how to upload photos.

7. What types of photos can I use in Inkubook?

You can use photos of most anything—cats, dogs, wombats, lemurs, wildebeests—the list goes on.
Oh, you probably want to know what file types work, right? If that's the case, your image files should be in one of these formats: .jpg, .tif, or .png.

8. What file size should my photos be?

Image files must be 20MB or smaller.

9. What's the best resolution for my photos?

The highest resolution your Inkubook can be printed at is 300 pixels per inch (300 PPI). Placing images larger than this on a page will not improve the quality of your printed book. Larger images will make uploading more difficult, or even impossible, and may also result in a distorted image.
300 PPI is the optimal resolution. If you use a photo that is 200 PPI or smaller, you'll receive a warning that the printed picture might not look as great as you'd like in the finished book.

10. Can I use pictures from photo services like Snapfish or Flickr?

As a matter of fact, you can import photos from Flickr. (Eventually we expect to partner with other photo services, too, so don't give up on us if you use something other than Flickr.) Here's what you need to do:

Click the Get Photos button just as you would if you were planning to retrieve a photo from your hard drive.
The Flickr logo and an Import button are on the right side of the Upload Images tab. Click the Import button.
On your first attempt to import photos, you'll be asked to grant authorization for Inkubook to make a connection with your Flickr account. Follow the instructions to grant this authorization.
Using the drop-down options next to "Select a Photo Set" find the group of photos from which you want to import. Thumbnail images of the selected set will display in the pane.
Click the photos you want to import. If you want to choose a bunch of photos that are all right in a row, press the Shift key while you click on each photo. If you want to choose photos that aren't one after another, press the Ctrl key while you click.
When all the photos you want to upload have been selected (a green box should appear around each selected photo), click the Upload button at the bottom of the screen. The window will close, and you can proceed with other business in the editor while the photos upload to the server.

11. Is there a limit on how many photos I can have in a book?

There's only one thing that limits how many photos you can have in the book and that is the number of photo blocks available in the layouts you choose. If your objective is to use as many photos as you possibly can, you could use the overlapping collage layout on every page. We suppose that would be a lot of photos and we could probably figure out exactly how many it would be, but that would feel too much like math class. (Oh, who are we kidding? We had to know. If you use the collage layout on every editable page of a 120-page Classic Landscape book, you could use 1440 photos.)

12. Will the outline of a photo container print if I don't put a photo in it?

If you leave any containers on a page empty, whether they're for text or photos, they will not print. So if you want to use one of the collage layouts but you have only five photos instead of eight, leave three of the spots empty and no one will ever know that you could have put eight pictures on the page.

13. Why does it look like the edges of my photo are cut off when I place a photo that goes to the edges of the book?

One step in the binding process is the trimming of the pages. Trimming is what the printer does to make sure that the pages inside your book (the "guts") align properly with the cover. About a quarter of an inch is trimmed off. You also have to be aware of what might fall into the gutter of the book (that's the edge of the book that's bound.)

When you use preview to look at a page of your book with a full-bleed photo (one that extends all the way to the edges), it is shown with the edges trimmed off and we've tried to simulate what the gutter will look like. It's not perfect, though, because our image is totally flat but your book won't be. We suggest that on full-bleed pages you not use any photos that have something really important (like the top of Aunt Betty's beehive) around the edges of the picture.

If you'll be using a graphics program to customize full-page layouts, you can refer to this document for some guidelines on how to size your pages.

14. On the layout that uses an image as a background for other images, is there a way to make the background image lighter than the other images?

Currently there is not a photo-editing tool in Inkubook that you can use to adjust a photo in this way. If you want a background image to have the appearance of being lighter or more grayed out than the images in the foreground, you should modify the background photo in a photo-editing application before importing it to Inkubook.

15. Can I use scanned images in my book?

As long as your scanned images are one of the supported file types (.jpg, .tif, or .png) you can use them in your book. There might be some degradation in the quality of scanned images, though, so you should check them carefully to make sure the photo looks okay after you've scanned it.

16. Can I use a photo more than one time in the same book?

Absolutely. Let's say you have this one photo. It's beautiful. As far as you're concerned, it's the only photo worth looking at in the whole wide world. You want to put it on every page of your book. Go for it! There's nothing in Inkubook that will prevent this. You can reuse one or several photos as many times as you'd like.

If your objective is to not use any photos more than once, we've tried to help make it easier for you to tell what's already in the book. Photos that you've used will have a green checkmark next to them in the Photos gallery. You can also sort your gallery by Used, Unused, and All photos.

17. Why do my photos look like they're sideways?

First, is there a chance that:

You are lying on your side?
Your monitor is lying on its side (perhaps as the result of an earthquake, mudslide, or other catastrophic event)?
Your pictures were sideways to start with?

Our best guess is that C is the most likely answer. The Inkubook editor is designed to take images as they are and put them into the book. While we are hard at work on some advanced image-editing tools, for the time being your best results will come from making sure the picture looks good—and is oriented properly—before you add it to the Inkubook site.

18. How do I make a page that's a photo with a full-page bleed in my Simple Square book?

You know the layouts that have a background image with two smaller images in the foreground? Well, those are multitaskers. To create a page that's one full-page bleed photo, place the photo in the background image container, but leave the foreground containers empty. In the editor, the outlines of the foreground images will still be visible, but in preview mode and in the final printed book, those outlines will not appear.

19. How do I import photos from Flickr?

20. Why does the background of my transparent PNG file appear as black?

Although we think it would be totally cool to print invisible books, we're just not able to. Therefore, the transparent portion of the PNG file is defaulted to black. If this isn't appealing to you, we suggest that you modify the background of the image prior to loading it to your gallery.

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Printing

1. What are my choices for book size and cover options?

The current size choices are the 8.5" x 8.5" Simple Square in softcover, the 11.5" x 8.5" Classic Landscape in hardcover, and the 8.5" x 11" Ultimate Portrait in hardcover. Please visit the Styles & Pricing page for more information about other formats that Inkubook will soon be offering.

2. What kind of paper will my book be printed on?

All books from Inkubook are printed on 100 lb. silk paper, which has a nice sheen without being super shiny and prone to collecting fingerprints (unless touched with fingers covered in chocolate, peanut butter, BBQ sauce, or other tasty treats).

3. What kind of stock will the cover for my softcover book be printed on?

Softcovers are printed on 100 lb. silk cover stock.

4. What resolution do I need to use for my photos so that they print well?

The highest resolution your Inkubook can be printed at is 300 pixels per inch (300 PPI). Placing images larger than this on a page will not improve the quality of your printed book. Larger images will make uploading more difficult, or even impossible, and may also result in a distorted image.

300 PPI is the optimal resolution. If you use a photo that is 200 PPI or smaller, you'll receive a warning that the printed picture might not look as great as you'd like in the finished book.
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Profile and Password Management

1. How do I change my password?

After signing in to Inkubook, choose Account from the top navigation on your user home page. On the Account screen, click the Change Password button. On the page that opens, enter your current password in the first box and your new password in the second and third boxes. Then click the Change Password button. Your new password will be in effect the next time you log in to Inkubook.

2. What do I do if I can't remember my password?

There is a "Forgot password?" link on the sign-in window. When you use this link, you'll enter the email address that's on your Inkubook account, and we'll send you a new password. It'll be a crazy combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, which makes it very fancy, very secure, and very forgettable. Consequently, you'll probably want to change the password after the first time you've logged in with it. Check out the "How do I change my password FAQ?" for more information on how to do that.

3. How do I upload a new avatar?

First, sign in to Inkubook, and choose Account from the top navigation. This will open a page where you can enter some basic personal information. The avatar displays on the right side of the screen. If you want to change it, click the Browse button to find a photo you'd like to use for your profile. After selecting the appropriate file and clicking Open in the dialog box, click the radio button to indicate that you want to display your avatar then click the Upload Avatar button. If you'd like to make any other changes to your profile, you can do it now, then click the Save button on the bottom right of the page. Your new avatar will display at the top of the page with your screen name.

4. How do I change my screen name?

Unfortunately, your screen name is much like your real name. It is better to grow to love it than try to change it. Someday we hope to add the functionality to allow you to change your screen name, but we don’t have that done yet, so for now we hope that the screen name you have is something you can live with.

5. How can I cancel my Inkubook account?

You can cancel your Inkubook account at any time by sending a written request to admin@inkubook.com.

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Text

1. How do I add text to a page?

If you or a contributor has uploaded text files to your project, those text files will show up as thumbnails in your Text gallery. To add one of them to a page, drag the thumbnail from the gallery to the appropriate text block on the page. To learn more about uploading a text file to your project, please read the "Can I import a text file into Inkubook?" FAQ.

You can also add text to a page by clicking on a text block. Your cursor will appear in the text block and a small formatting toolbar will open. You can type your text directly in the text block.

2. How much text can I add to a page?

There are lots of variables that determine how much text you can put on a page but the main thing is that you can only put as much text on the page as will fit in the text box of the layout you're using. So, if you choose the layout that's a full page of text, you can fit a lot of words on it. The full text layout in the Classic Landscape book will hold about 30,000 characters of 8-point type. That's pretty tiny, though, so you might want to choose a larger font size. Use your best judgment to find the combination of pictures and words that works for you.

3. Can I import a text file into Inkubook?

Yep, you can. One thing to note, though, is that once a text file is in Inkubook, you can't break it into separate pieces. If you have a file that contains enough text for every page of your book, we recommend that you break it into separate files (one for each page).

To import or upload a text file, follow these steps:

On your user home page or from within the book editor, click the Get Photos button.
In the Submit Content area, click the Upload Text tab.
Click the Browse button. In the dialog box browse to the location of your text file or files. After you've found what you're looking for and made your selection, click the Open button.
If you want to upload more text files that are in a different folder, repeat the steps above to add the other text files to the list.
Click the Start Upload button, and all the files in the list will be uploaded to the Inkubook server.
When you've finished uploading text files, you can submit photos from this same area or you can move on to your user home page or book editor to manage other tasks related to your book.

4. Why does my text disappear when I change the layout of a page?

If you change the layout of a page from one that includes photos and text to one that includes only photos or photos and captions, the text entered on the original page will no longer be visible. If you switch it back to a layout that includes a text box, your text will reappear.

5. How do I change the font of my text?

When you click in any text block within the book editor your cursor will be placed in the box so that you can edit the text. A toolbar appears that allows you to change the font, type style (bold, italic, underline), alignment, color, and size of your text.

6. Can I use my own fonts to create my book?

Unfortunately, fonts are a tricky business. In order to make them look like you would expect, we have to make sure that our printer and your computer share the exact same font files. Because there are literally a bazillion fonts (trust us, we put an intern to work counting them all), we've played it safe by choosing the most common fonts. We can pretty much count on everyone having the fonts we've chosen.

If you are particularly inclined toward the graphic arts and you absolutely have to have a particular font because no other font will do, we suggest that you buck the system and convert your text to a graphic file. Then you can insert it as an image. Just don’t tell anyone we told you that, okay?

7. Can I use special characters (such as accent marks and copyright symbols) in the text of my book?

Yes and no. Some special characters will survive the trip if you upload a text file that includes one or if you try copying one from a document and pasting it in Inkubook. Lots of times they'll look okay on your screen. However, some special characters won't print properly in the book despite how they look in the book editor. (We've discovered that hearts, smiley faces, and musical notes cause problems.) We're working on figuring out how to make all special characters work. In the meantime, use them if you want, but do proceed with caution because the character you choose might be one of the troublemakers.

8. Is there a way I can check my spelling in Inkubook?

We're confident that you'll spell everything perfectly when you first enter it, so we haven't included a spell check feature. You won't let us down, will you?

Actually, we hope to include a spell check feature eventually, but for the time being the text editor is without one, so please be careful what you type. If you choose to upload a text file instead of typing or pasting in the book editor, you should check your spelling before you upload the file to Inkubook.

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