I've been reading tons about uploading book covers - how great and easy it is.  Apparently I'm the exception.

I have tried and tried to get covers of three of my books -- nothing.  I did resubmit after sending one with copyright issues, but I have tried the "upload book covers" button have gotten "already art submitted" as well as "it's being approved" I've also tried doing it from the "edit book info" button.  Still no dice.  I can only presume I'm missing something. I have not received any PMs regarding why my art didn't get approval.  Any pointers?  Clearly, I have no idea what I'm doing with this.

- Tracy

http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/view_topic.php?t=60867

Tracy check this thread out on the other discussion board. Sherry has lots of information and if you still have problems, don't hesitate to contact her.

It should be a jpg, not a gif, and not 'too big', plus it needs to be straight (not slanted), have no arrows or marks on it (like Amazon puts on, or some Ebay listers -- marks on the image, not the cover), and should have no extra whitespace all around it (meaning that the picture is ONLY the cover, no extra background behind it).

Also you have to upload from the 'upload covers' link, not the 'edit book data' page, whose cover uploads go nowhere.

How many days ago did you make your submissions. We seem to be having an issue with the system. We have a bunch of images right now that have been approved, but are not showing on the shelves. If you did not receive a notice that your cover was denied, then it is possible that yours are included in this glitch. If you would like to send your missing images directly to me so that I can see if I see if there is a problem (geesh read that 3 times fast!)  Send me a PM with the information, and I'll send you an email addy to use for the images. Thanks for helping out with images, and don't fret, I'll get you to where you can do images!

Big thanks to Sherry and all the image volunteers!  I posted a bunch of images last night and most of them are already up tonight! 

And Sherry, I'm shooting you a PM with a small question.   :)

Sherry my guru.....lol......

I still do not have about 4 of my images uploaded.  You said they were good.....are they stuck in a glitch??  I didn't get a PM about them.  Do I give up on them?

Thanks, everyone!!

It looks like my images have some white space, so I'm going to give it another go with some other ones.

Keep your fingers crossed!!

- Tracy

June, I have feedback sent in on some of yours and some of my own as well. I dont know what the deal is, but I've had several covers that I've approved in the past week, that are still not showing. Don't know what the deal is, but hopefully I'll get an answer soon! They take some bugs in order of priority but unless they affect ordering, they go in order of receipt after they are prioritized. So, images may not be very high on the list. I have my stuff in a folder and once it is approved and showing, then I move it into a 'done' folder. But, it stays in my current folder until it shows.

I then check on them every few days to see if they are showing yet. Which images of yours were we working on, June? I think one was Lullaby & Goodnight, wasn't it? That one bugs me, I approved it myself! I know it's been approved, but it's not showing!!!

Tracy, I've posted some instructions on cropping, if you need help check this topic and see if it helps:

Want to help with Data & Images? Find help here

Is smaller size better?  I think the screen where you do uploads says something like 5 MB, so I didn't resize mine.  Of course, several of them now are pending (for the last couple of weeks), so I can't replace them.  But for the other dozens I need to scan, it would be good to know.

500 x 300 pixels is the optimum size. 

I think if it's too close to the 5mb limit, those get stuck as well so aim for 4.5 or less.  5 mb in a .jpg is enormous and is probably only going to be a concern if you're using a scanner.

Once you scan the image, since it will not be displayed at a resolution higher than 96dpi, you might as well, reduce it to that. And, since it will not be displayed over 500px high, you might as well do that at the same time.

When I scan in, I resize, after cropping, and set both the height & px to those settings. I usually let the width fall as it may, but it usually ends up between 275-325 and that works well on here.

There's just no sense, in my opinion to take the 10 minutes on highspeed connection to upload a 5MB file when it WILL get reduced to 96dpi and 500px after it arrives.

I almost never resize images from the Internet. Although I have found a few that were over 1024px that I did reduce just because it was not necessary to upload something that big when it isn't going to be used.

Thanks to everyone (especially you, Sherry)!!

I'm feeling like a true techno star this week!  I've just cropped and submitted a photo for the last missing picture on my shelf. 

Boy, my bookshelf looks good with all those pictures!

- Tracy