I have published my own handbooks for about fifteen years, and since 2012 I have had them professionally printed through CreateSpace, a self-publishing division of Amazon. Last year, thankfully AFTER I had ordered my handbooks, CreateSpace became a part of Kindle and now they only publish books that will be made publicly available for sale. While I still have a children’s book available on Amazon, my agreement with IEW only allows me to provide the handbooks to my students, so I had to find a new publisher.
Lulu.com to the rescue! Lulu is a great resource for self-publishing, with many more options for bindings than CreateSpace offers, and the handbooks are only a little more expensive per copy than Amazon. Unfortunately, their cover creator is fairly primitive, especially compared to CreateSpace, so I am having to design my own covers.
Canva.com is a super design website that helps non-designers like me! It is so thrilling to be able to use their ideas, templates, and design elements to create graphics of all types! I was very annoyed that I had to design new covers from scratch, but honestly, I have been having a little too much fun. 🙂
Here’s the new cover I finished today for the Level 2 Supplement, which is used in the first Level 2 essay of the year, “Planning for Success.” I am very pleased with it.
Full disclosure: I scavenged the design straight from Canva! I had to change sizing and a few other elements, but I can’t claim credit for it. That’s the beauty of designing in Canva.
