How2 Create A Property Portfolio Book With MyPublisher

In this How2, we’ll show you how to create great portfolio books for your listings using the MyPublisher.com publishing tool. We’ll take you through the process of downloading and setting up the software, uploading your photos, creating your book, and then ordering your book. The end result will be a gorgeous photo book that is an amazing listing tool and a terrific addition to our Distinctive Collection program.

INTRODUCTION
When you are trying to get a high-end listing in a competitive market, you need to show sellers that you’re willing to go the extra mile to help sell their home. Along with professional photography, videos, and other marketing pieces, one great tool that we’ve developed is the “portfolio” displaying that great photography in a coffee-table-sized book that you can use not only to help market the property but also as an amazing listing tool that differentiates you from the competition.

Even if you’re not working the high-end, photo books can be a great way to clinch a listing. The portfolios come in a range of sizes and prices and can be great listing tools for any of your listings. Certainly, it helps you stand out in a crowded marketplace, because no one else is doing this type of marketing.

Most importantly, making the books is easy and relatively affordable. We’ve partnered with MyPublisher.com, which provides a very slick interface for creating the books, and has provided us with a range of pricing that is extremely competitive. The software can be a little intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll find that it’s very easy to create books in under an hour.

To help show you how to make a book, we’re going to take you through the whole process – starting with how to download and set up the software, upload your photos, design the book, and then set it up for publishing and delivery. The end result is a gorgeous book that now only shows off your listing, but provides you with an amazing tool to help you get your NEXT listing.

To be honest, you DO NOT NEED THIS HOW TO Guide! This is long and detailed, and covers everything you need to know, but the program is designed to be run by children. Try just downloading and playing around with it, and you’ll figure it out. But if you want us to take you through it, read on….

STEP BY STEP

We’re going to take you through each step of the process:

• Step One: How to prepare for making your photo book, including how to organize your photos and descriptions, and get design elements from Marketing,

• Step Two: How to start the project by downloading the software and creating your new book.

• Step Three: How to create the main design elements that you’ll need for the book, including the front and back covers, the Title Page, and the spine of the book.

• Step Four: How to build the body of your book, including how to lay out your photos and descriptions.

• Step Five: How to finalize and order copies of your book.

Make sure you review the entire How2 guide before you start the process, so you have a better sense of the project.

STEP ONE: PREPARATION

You will find that creating your book will be a LOT easier if you do a little bit of preparation beforehand. As part of your preparation, you’re going get your photos ready, write whatever descriptions you’re going to need, get some design images that you’ll need from the marketing department, and then download the software to your computer.

First, you need to get some design elements from Marketing, RandCenter, and your own files. The MyPublisher software is designed for everyday use, so it’s not particularly set up for creating our photo books. So in order to create a “Title Page” or to use logos throughout the book, you need to coordinate with the Marketing Department. Here’s what you need:

• To get a Distinctive Collection logo, just go to Randcenter, go to the Downloads section, and look for the “Distinctive Collection Marketing Downloads.” There are four version of the logo – black, white, tan, grey – and you can choose whichever one you wish.
• To get a “Title Page” for your book, contact the Marketing Department. You’ll need to give them the property address, the MLS#, and your name so they can create your Title Page.
• If you want to include a picture of yourself in the book, you should make sure to put on in the photo folder that you created.

Second, you should organize your photos in the order in which you want to present them in the book. This is not absolutely necessary, but we find it helpful to arrange the photos in advance so you’re not searching around for the right photos when you are in the process of making the book. To organize your photos, do the following:

• Move all the photos you want to use into a folder, and name that folder according to the listing address and/or the homeowner name. N
• Number the photos in the order you want to display them: number them “01,” “02,” “03” and so on.
• Make sure to include in the folder the Distinctive Collection logo file that you’ll need, and the “Title Page” that you got from Marketing.

Note that you are going to need a MINIMUM of 25 photos to fill up the book. The minimum size of the book is 20 pages, so you need enough photos to fill out those pages.

Third, if you are going to use descriptions of the photos, you should write them in advance. Descriptions aren’t absolutely necessary, since many agents have created books that simply put the standard property description that they use for the online listing at the beginning of the book, and then just lay out the photos, letting the pictures speak for themselves. That’s a fine way to do the book. But if you want to provide more text for the book, and really describe each room or a set of rooms, you should write out those descriptions in advance. Just create a document in your word processor, write out the descriptions you want, and mark for yourself what pictures those descriptions will be connected to.

STEP TWO: CREATE YOUR BOOK

Now that your preparation is done, you can start creating your book. In this Step, we’ll show you how to download the software and start your book .

First, you have to download the MyPublisher.com software to your computer. Here’s how to do that:

• Go to www.mypublisher.com.
• Click on the link for “Photo Books”.
• Click the red “Get Started” link.
• Click the “Download Free” button.

The software should then start downloading on your desktop. Now, you’re ready to start your book.

Second, make your choices for the kind of book that you want. Double-click on the MyPublisher icon to open the software, and you’ll be presented with several options. Once you get used to using the software, you can start to play with it and perhaps make some more creative choices in how you want to present your book. But when you’re first learning the software, we suggest you make the following choices:

• Choose “I want to make my book myself with Custom Publisher” and hit “Continue.” If you don’t choose “Custom Publisher,” the book will be created automatically from your photos and probably lay out in a much more casual way.
• Enter a “Project Name” and select the style of book that you want to create: My Mini, Pocketbook, Classic Hardcover, and Deluxe Hardcover. We have full descriptions for each style at the end of this How2, but for now we suggest choosing “Deluxe Hardcover” and hitting “Continue.”
• For your style, select the “Bestseller” style, which is the best design layout for mixing both photos and descriptions.
• For your book cover, you can choose from several styles, but we think that the “Photo Finish” is the best choice for the property photo books. So choose “Photo Finish” and hit “Continue.”

Now that you’re “created” a book project, you need to get your photos into the software.

Third, select the photos that you want to use in the book. What you should now be looking at is a window with three panes. At the top left is a folder directory for your computer. On the top right are displays of the photos that are in the folders in that directory. If you click around the folders in the left-hand pane, you’ll see the photos in that folder displayed on the right-hand pane. On the bottom, you’ll see an empty pane that runs the full length of the window. That’s where you are going to drag the photos that you want to use in the book.

So to get your photos into the software, just select the project folder on the left-hand pane that has all the photos you need for the book, and then select and drag the photos from the right-hand pane into the bottom pane. You can do it one-by-one, or select multiple photos at once using your keyboard or your mouse:

• To select multiple photos with the mouse, position the cursor in the white space directly above and to the left of the first photo you want to select. Then hold down the mouse and scroll down until you’ve highlighted all the photos you want. Release the mouse, and the photos stay highlight. Just click on one of them and hold down the mouse, then drag that group of photos into the bottom pane.
• To select multiple photos with your keyboard, select the first photo that you want with the mouse, and highlight it. Then hold down the shift key and use the arrow keys to highlight the additional photos you want. When you have all the photos, use the mouse to click on any of the photos, and drag that group of photos down into the bottom pane.

When you get your photos, make sure that you include the logos and the “Title Page” that you got from Marketing.

When you are done, look at the bottom where it says “2 Make Book” and click on that link. That will take you to the next step of the process.

STEP THREE: FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE PROGRAM

Okay, now we’re ready to start building your book. Before you jump right in, though, take a moment to become familiar with the system, and learn the basics of how to create and lay out pages.

What you should now see is all your photos laid out in the top window, a visual representation of your book in the center window, and a set of tools along the left hand side and the bottom row. This is the main interface you’ll use throughout the rest of the process of creating the book: basically you’re going to choose a page layout for a particularly page of the book, and then drag the appropriate number of photos onto that page.

First, become familiar with the design tools displayed on the left hand side and the bottom of the window. Here’s what those tools are:

Along the left hand side:

• Photo Box: add a photo box into the standard layout for the page, which is what we use when we want to add a Distinctive Collection logo to a page.
• Text Box: add a text box anywhere on the page.
• Arrange: some funky design elements you probably won’t use.
• Background: create a background image or color for a page.
• 2-Page Spread: create a two-page spread anywhere in the book, useful for the centerfold to your book.

Along the bottom, first row:

• Page View: change the view of the pages you’re working on.
• Book Options: make changes to the book style you initially chose.
• Settings: make global changes to the entire book for background and font.
• Page Layout: choose the layout, the mix of photos and descriptions, that you want to make for a page.
• Autobuild: automatically imports your photos and lays them out for you (don’t use this).
• My Style On/Off: makes changes to the menu.
• Undo: very helpfully allows you to undo any editing choice you made.
• Directional Arrows: move from page to page within your book.

Along the bottom, bottom row:

• New Book: create a new book.
• New Card: create a new card.
• Save: saves your progress.
• Status: Shows you where you are in the process, from Get Photos, Make Book, Preview, and Purchase.
• Price Check: allows you to check the price of the book you’re making so far.
• Share Book: you can share the book layout with others, which you’ll need to do in the ordering process.
• Chat: get online support help.

Second, become familiar with the basic design and layout process. Here are some simple steps you can take to familiarize yourself with the program:

• How to navigate through the book. On the bottom right, you can see directional arrows. Click on the “right” arrow to page through the book, to see how you can navigate from page to page. You’ll notice that at the very top of the window, the program will tell you what page you are on, and that the program defaults to a standard 20-page book, plus the front and back covers. There are ten “sheets” to a book, so printed double-sided that makes 20 pages. You can add pages if you wish just by clicking on the “Add New Page” button.

• How to change the page layout. As you click on page after page, you can see that each page has a different layout. Those are the default layouts, and you can change them by clicking on the “Page Layout” button on the bottom of the window, in the center. When you click on it, you’ll see that you have an array of choices for your layouts, depending on whether you want layouts for one photo or multiple photos, and whether you want “captions” included in the layouts.

• How to add photos. Pick any page in the book, click on any photo in the top window pane, and drag the photo into the space marked “Drag Image Here.” You’ll see that the photo immediately pops into place and displays on the page, and that it disappears from the photo array in the top window pane (because the program doesn’t want you to accidentally use the same photo twice). If you click on the photo on the page, you’ll be given a new menu window for various image controls, which can be helpful in modifying the photo. If you don’t like the photo there, just drag it back to the photo array pane at the top (or hit “Undo” at the bottom).

• How to edit photos on the page. If you’ve placed a photo on the page, but you want to edit it – crop out a piece of it, zoom in or out, or pan from one side to the next – just click on the photo to bring up a window with options. When you’re done, close this options window. If you’ve moved your photo too far in one direction or zoomed out too much, so that there is now blank space, MyPublisher will alert you and highlight the blank space yellow.

• How to add text. In the “Page Layout” choices, you have options for choosing page layouts with “captions,” which are places where you can put text. To add text, just write out what you want to say in the text box, where it (helpfully) says “Enter Text Here.” If you don’t want to have text on the page, just change the page layout to select a layout that does not have captions.

Generally speaking, we think that the portfolios look their best when you put just one photo on a page, either with or without a caption. You should never put more than three or four photos on a page, and only in cases where you have enough photos to fill out your twenty pages.

STEP FOUR: BUILD YOUR BOOK

Okay, now you’re ready to start building the book. In this Step, we will establish the global settings for the book, create the main design elements, and then build the body of the rest of the book.

First, you need to establish the global settings for the book. It’s important to make the global setting changes so that your book has a consistent look and feel throughout, and in order to ensure it is consistent with the Distinctive Collection design elements. Here’s how to make those global settings:

• First, click on “Settings” on the bottom tools pane. That should open up a new window. In that window, you have the choice to set a default font, color, and background color
• For “Default Font,” select “Arial”, and then “Regular”.
• For “Font Color,” select “White.”
• For “Background Color,” the procedure is different depending on whether you are on a PC or a Mac.
• If you are on a PC, select “Other” as the background color, which will open up a new window. Then select “Pick a Color,” which again should open up a new window. You’ll see in that window an opportunity to input color choices for “Red”, “Green,” and “Blue.” This is a standard way in design to choose a specific color in layout. What you need to do is input the following: Red 95, Green 96, and Blue 98. That will select the appropriate Distinctive Collection grey. Click “Ok” on both windows to save the change.
• If you are on a Mac, select “Other” as the background color and then select the “Iron” “crayon” from the virtual display of crayons. That’s the closest we can get to the right shade. Hit “Ok”.

Second, now that you’re familiar with the basic layout of the program, we need to create the “design elements” to the photo book. The design elements include the front cover, the back cover, the spine, and the “Title Page” that you will get from Marketing to place as the first page of the book. We believe it makes sense to do this first so that you get the technical aspects of the book completed before you start laying out the pages. Here’s how to create the main design elements of the book.

Front Cover. The front cover should be a great picture of the home, usually a standard frontal view image that you use in your online marketing. You’re going to have that photo, along with the property address and a picture of the Distinctive Homes logo on the bottom left corner. Here’s how to create it:

• To add the photo. Drag and drop the front cover photo from the top window pane into the Front Cover photo box. Click on the photo to bring up a window with options in case you want to zoom or move the photo up/down/left/right. When you’re done, close this options window. If you’ve moved your photo too far in one direction or zoomed out too much, so that there is now blank space, MyPublisher will alert you and highlight the blank space yellow.

• To write the text box. Click in the text box to zoom in and create the book title. Change the font to “Arial”, font size to “28” (if needed), text color to white, make the text bold, and right justify the text. Type the street address on the first line, city and state on a second line (do not abbreviate). Click outside the text box to zoom out again. If you get an error message that the text is too large, make the text box a little taller. (Note: Don’t worry if there’s a line around your text box, it won’t be in the print version.)

• To add the logo. From the bar on the left-hand side of the window, choose “Photo Box”. Zoom in (bottom left of the window) to get a closer view of the bottom left corner of the front cover. Use your mouse to draw a square on bottom left of the front cover in the gray area. Drag and drop the gray logo from the top window pane into the photo box you just created. Zoom out to see the full book again. (Note: Don’t worry if there’s a line around your photo box, it won’t be in the print version.)
Note that you can always click the “Preview” button on the bottom of the window to see what the printed book will look like. And be sure to hit “Save” frequently to save your work!

The Spine. The spine of the book will have the address of the property, so that you can see which book it is as you put them on a bookshelf as part of your elaborate collection of Portfolios! Here’s how to create the spine:

• From the Front Cover, click the “Back” button (bottom right of the window), to access the Spine of the book.
• From the bar on the left-hand side of the window, choose “Background” to open a new window. The Distinctive Collection gray you created for the front cover should be the color next to “Pick A Color” – select this option. Click “OK” to save the change.
• Click in the text box to zoom in and create the spine title. Change the font to “Arial”, font size to “13” (if needed), text color to white, make the text bold, and center the text (if needed). Type the street address, city and state on one line (do not abbreviate). Click outside the text box to zoom out again. (Note: Don’t worry about the line around your text box, it won’t be in the print version.)
• Click the “Next” button (bottom right of the window), to access the Front Cover again.
The “Title Page.” The “Title Page” is a photo file that you’ll get from Marketing and place as the first actual page of the book (the inside front cover is always grey, and does not have design elements). The “Title Page” is really just a photo that you’ll place into the book, containing the company logo, your picture and contact information, and property information such as the address, bedrooms, bathrooms, house size, and lot size. We do NOT put the price in the book.

• From the Front Cover, click the “Next” button (bottom right of the window), to access the first page of the inside of the book, the Title Page.
• The left-hand page will always be gray with no text or photos. The right-hand page is the Title Page. From the bottom center of the window, click “Page Layout”. A new window will open. Select the layout with the photo encompassing the entire page. (Be sure your Page Type is “1 Photo” and you’re looking under the “Without Captions” column.) Then close this window. The page will now display with the photo box on the entire page.
• Drag and drop the Title Page from the top window pane into the photo box.
If you do not yet have your “Title Page” from Marketing, just skip this page and come back to it later.

The back cover. The back cover is just another good picture of the home laid out for the full page with a logo in the corner. Here’s how to create it:

• Click the “Last Page” button (bottom right of the window), to create your Back Cover.
• Drag and drop the back cover photo from the top window pane into the Back Cover photo box. Click on the photo to bring up a window with options — you will most likely want to zoom or move the photo up/down/left/right. When you’re done, close this options window. If you’ve moved your photo too far in one direction or zoomed out too much, so that there is now blank space, MyPublisher will alert you and highlight the blank space yellow.
• From the bar on the left-hand side of the window, choose “Photo Box”. Zoom in (bottom left of the window) to get a closer view of the bottom right corner of the back cover. Use your mouse to draw a square on bottom right of the back cover photo. Drag and drop the tan/white/black logo from the top window pane into the photo box you just created. Zoom out to see the full book again. (Note: Don’t worry if there’s a line around your photo box, it won’t be in the print version.)
• Click the “First Page” button (bottom right of the window), to see the entire cover of your portfolio. Click the “Next” button (bottom right of the window), to get to the Front Cover again.
Now that you’re done with all of that, you can start building all the inside pages that will make up the body of the book.

Third, start creating the interior pages of the book. With the standardized technical elements out of the way, you can be as creative as you wish with the remaining pages of the book. Some people like doing full-bleed pictures on every page, others prefer breaking up the layout by rotating one-, two-, and three-picture layouts, and still others like using the captions to write out engaging descriptions of each area of the home. It’s up to you.

Here are some things to keep in mind about creating the main body of the book:

• How to choose the layout you want. MyPublisher has pre-selected page layouts for you. However, you may change any of these layouts by clicking on “Page Layout” from the bottom center of the window. A new window will open. Select the layout you’d like to use. Change the “Style” and “Page Type” to see alternative options. Note that there are layouts with captions, with text only, and with a photo inset on a full page photo (select the “2 Photo” option for “Page Type”). Once you choose a new layout, close this window to see the new layout on your page.

• How to use the picture tools to refine the picture placement. Drag and drop a photo from the top window pane into a photo box. Click on the photo to bring up a window with options — you will most likely to want to zoom or move the photo up/down/left/right. When you’re done, close this options window. If you’ve moved your photo too far in one direction or zoomed out too much, so that there is now blank space, MyPublisher will alert you and highlight the blank space yellow.

• How to use the text boxes to create vibrant text. Click in a text box to zoom in and create a caption/text. If preferred, change the font size to “12” and make the text bold. Enter your caption/text (do not abbreviate). Click outside the text box to zoom out again. If you get an error message that the text is too large, make the text box a little taller or wider. (Note: Don’t worry if there’s a line around your text box, it won’t be in the print version.)

• How to customize your layouts. You can modify the standard layouts with additional text or photo box by clicking on the corresponding option on the left-hand side of the window. Use your mouse to draw the size of text/photo box desired in the location desired. Then insert the photo or text. It’s a nice way to create some variety in the layout.

• How to create two-page spreads. To create a photo that spans two pages, go to the desired page and make sure that each of the two pages is selected as a single-photo page with full bleed. Then click “2-Page Spread” from the left-hand side of the window, and click “Yes” to confirm. Drag and drop a photo from the top window pane into the 2-page photo box.

• How to arrange photos and text boxes. Take note of the “Arrange” button on the left-hand side of the window. You can use these tools to align one or several photo/text box(es) within the page. Select the photo/text boxes to be aligned, click the “Arrange” button, and select desired alignment.

• How to fix mistakes. The “Undo” and “Redo” buttons on the bottom center of the window can be very helpful.

• How to get more photos. If you forgot to move a photo into MyPublisher or need additional photos, click GET PHOTOS from the bottom center of the window to go back to that step.

• How to add or remove pages. You can add or remove pages by using the “Add New Page” and “Remove Page” buttons on the bottom right of the window.

• How to get help. Click “Chat” in the bottom right of the window to reach MyPublisher Customer Support. They can access your computer (if needed) to see what you’re having problems with.

• How to review your work. At any time, you can click on the “Preview” button at the bottom to see what your book will look like. You can also check to see how much your book costs (before the Rand discounts, which are about half the list price) by clicking on the “Price Check” bottom on the bottom right.
Finally, remember to SAVE YOUR WORK FREQUENTLY. There’s nothing worse than having a computer freeze up after you’ve laid out half your book, and losing all your work. Save your work every time you finish a page.

STEP FIVE: FINALIZE AND ORDER YOUR BOOK

The final step of the process is simple: you need to review your book with the Marketing department, and then order and pay for it.

First, do a review of the book by hitting “Share Book” on the bottom right. A nice feature of MyPublisher is that the system conducts a spell check and a review of your pages for structural errors before you share or pay for it. So if you hit the “Share Book” button on the bottom right, you’ll get a message from MyPublisher warning you if there are issues/problems with the book: typos, blank pages, an uneven number of pages, etc. If you do have problems, it’s a good reminder to go fix them before you share the book with someone, or even worse get it printed! Just go back to the “Make Book” step in the process, by clicking on the “Make Book” button on the bottom, to fix the problem. If you don’t have problems, you’ll be able to share your book with someone via email.

Second, if your book is ready, share it with Marketing. Before you pay to publish it, you should have a Marketing representative review the book to do a final proof, ensure that the book is well-designed, and make sure that it is consistent with the look and feel of our Distinctive Collection campaign. Once they have reviewed the book, they will send you the current coupon code for the Rand Realty discount.

Third, make your final design choices. Just click on the “Purchase” button on the bottom, and MyPublisher will AGAIN run a structural error check of the book. Assuming everything is okay, and you are satisfied with the book you have created, mark the check box to indicate you have previewed your project and are ready to checkout. Then click “Continue”.
You will then be given a series of choices for how you want to print the book. Here are the options we recommend:
• Choose the finish of “Gloss”.
• Enter you quantity in the box supplied – note that the Rand Realty discount only applies if you order 3+ books in the same size.
• Enter the promo/coupon code provided by Marketing, and click “Verify Code”. Your estimated total will display. Click “Next” to continue.
• Choose “Standard” paper style and click “Next”.
• Choose “Superior Paper” and “Satin Paper”, then click “Next”.
• Choose “Standard” printing style for the inside pages and click “Next”.
• Choose “Textured Gray” for the end pages and click “Next”.
• Opt out of the “Deluxe Slipcase” and click “Next”.
• Enter your shipping information and click “Next”.
• Select your preferred shipping method and click “Next”.
• Enter your payment information and click “Next”.
• Verify your order and click “Done”.
Usually, it takes a few days to print the book, after which you’ll get the book within a week depending on your delivery choices.