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Images are also something you may want to add in your e-Book. Adding an image (or creating an image) is really simple & only takes a few seconds. First, I will tell you how to easily insert an image that you already have saved into your document. Then, I will show you an easy way to take images & screenshots from your computer.
To add an image that you already have saved on your computer, simply click in Insert–> Graphics (also may be called pictures or images)–> From File. You will then select the picture you want to insert by locating it on your computer. Then click insert. This will insert the picture into your document. You can then change the size, adjust the location (left, center, or right), or write a caption about the image.
To change the size of a picture, you can click the picture with your mouse. This will select the picture. You can then drag the picture to the size you want by clicking on the corner & dragging the picture with your cursor until it is the desired size.
Another way you can resize the picture is by placing your cursor over the picture & right clicking the mouse. Then select “image tools” (may also be called picture properties in other word processors). You can then change the pictures size. Depending on the word processor you are using, you can also usually adjust the alignment, add a border, and other things.
How to Capture & Insert Screenshots for Your eBook
It can be helpful to include screenshots when you are writing your e-Book. A screenshot is simply a picture of something that is on your computer screen. The pictures you see below are screenshots of how to do certain things on your computer (such as insert a picture, etc).
I see people using screenshots on their blogs, eBooks, and so forth all the time. Even large websites such as eBay.com, CNN, Google, and others utilize screenshots for tutorials and so forth.
Using screenshots is extremely simple. I will walk you through the steps of how to quickly & easily capture & edit screenshots using Microsoft Paint.
Microsoft Paint is a free graphics program that comes with Microsoft operating systems. If you do not have Microsoft Paint, you can use just about any kind of photo editing or drawing/graphics software. You can download OpenOffice.org’s Draw software for free. There are also other free applications you can find online just by searching on Google.
To take a screenshot, make sure you have your computer screen on the page, file, folder, software, or whatever–that you plan on using in your screenshot.
Next, find the button on your computer keyboard labeled “Print Screen.” It may also be abbreviated as Prt Scr. It is usually located towards the top right section of your keyboard.
When you are ready to take a snapshot of your computer screen, simply hit that button. When you hit the button, it copies the screen (although it may appear as if nothing happened).
Next, you will want to open up the Microsoft Paint program (or any program you are using). To find paint, you usually select the following sequence of keys on your computer: Start–> All Programs–> Accessories–> Paint.
After you open up the Paint program, select the edit box, right click on the white blank Paint window, and select “Paste” as pictured below. This will then paste the entire screenshot into Paint. (NOTE: If it the screenshot is not copied into Paint, you may want try again by pressing either the ALT key or the CTRL key while you press the Print Screen button. However, usually this is not required and pressing the Prt Scr button is all you need to do)
paint
After you have copied your screenshot into Paint, you can save the entire screenshot, edit the screenshot, or do anything you would like to do with it.
Many times, I do not use the entire screenshot. Instead, I will cut out a portion of the screenshot & save it (just like the picture above of Paint). Here is how I do this:
First, I copy the entire screenshot into Paint as I described above by clicking “paste.” This will paste the entire screenshot into paint. Most people don’t usually post entire shot of the whole screen. Instead, they like to zoom into the important part (such as a button, file, image, etc.).
Since I didn’t need the entire Microsoft Paint screenshot for the example, I cut out the portion I needed. I did this by selecting the edit box. I then pressed the right mouse key, and drew the edit box around the portion I wanted to save.
After I used the edit box to draw a box around the portion I wanted to use for my screenshot (as shown above by the small blue dotted line), I right clicked & selected copy. When I did that, it copied that small box. I then went up to the menus at the top & selected File–>New.
It asked if I wanted to save the changes to “untitled document.” I selected no, and then it brought up a new white blank screen in Paint. Then, I selected the edit box again, right clicked on the screen, and selected “paste.” After I did this, it pasted only the small box I needed to use as shown in the picture below.
paint
After I copied this box into paint as shown above, I then drew lines with arrows and wrote the text. You can also add or draw anything you want. You can make a large arrow, write something, copy another picture, or anything.
When you are finished editing your picture, point your cursor to the lower right hand section of the white background. Here you will see a small blue box on the edge that you can select with your cursor & drag it until it only included the portion of the picture you want is visible.
Remember to select the blue box above with your cursor & drag the window until there is no white background. If you leave excess white area in the background, it will also be shown when you save the picture. So to save only the part of the picture you want, make sure to drag the plain white background up to the point to where you want the picture to be saved.
When you are ready to save the picture, simply click File–> Save As. You will then be able to select a location, file name, & file type format option. It is important to save you image in a location where you can easily find it. I usually save it to my desktop. Then I usually name the image something like “image 1.” After that, you simply select the file format & click the “save” button as pictured below:
paint
When you select a file type, you should choose a type that will offer good quality at the lowest possible file size. I usually save all of my pictures as either a GIF or PNG format. JPEG & Bitmap usually offer great quality, but the file size is very large. PNG usually offers great quality at a reduced file size. GIF can distort images if they contain a lot of colors, but this is also a good format for a low file size. The images were saved in PNG format.
Choosing a correct format is VERY important whether you are using screenshots or pictures from your camera. Again, you want you pictures to look great, but at the same time you must try to keep your file sizes low. You can try saving your picture in each format to see how it looks each time. Start with the best formats (JPEG, BMP) and then save in the other formats (PNG & GIF). Then compare each picture’s quality & file size. You can see the file size by selecting the file, right clicking, and select “properties.” Choose the picture format that has a great appearance, but lowest file size. By keeping your file sizes low, it will reduce the overall size of your e-Book. You need to minimize the e-Book size because you want to offer fast downloads, and save on your website bandwidth.
After you save the image & choose the file type, you can insert the image into the e-Book by following the same steps outlined at the beginning of this section. Images & screenshots are an easy way to add quality to your e-Book & help explain your material. It may seem complicated at first, but once you do it a couple of times it is as simple as tying your shoes!
Tips on Writing Your eBook-Chapter 4
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Posted under Write an eBook, eBooks
This post was written by Ben on June 5, 2009
