Archive for the ‘Review’ Category

Box Shot 3D Review: Can An eBook Cover Software Create Better Graphics Than Photoshop?

Saturday, April 12th, 2008

THE PROBLEM WITH EBOOK COVER SOFTWARE

eBook cover software that I have seen in the past, the graphics that they generate were never up to par. Though claiming to use a 3D rendering engine, graphics created by ebook cover software are always very flat in color, very poor in lighting effects, and also very rough around the edges.

Your product graphic deosn’t look real at all. So you never really get to have that nice, photo-realistic ebook cover graphic.

I can name a few names, but I think you can easily do a few Google search and find them.

That is why I have always used Photoshop for my ebook covers. With Photoshop, you can apply filters, styles, effects and you will have a nicer, more real looking ebook covers.

AN EBOOK COVER SOFTWARE AS GOOD AS PHOTOHOP?

But in the past two weeks, I have been checking out another ebook cover software. I make it appoint to check the sample output graphics before I check out the software more thoroughly. What I saw surprised me. It is nothing like what I have seen from any other ebook cover software.

My first thought was, “No way! They must have use Photoshop, GIMP and Paintshop Pro for this.”

But that was just my thought. I still don’t know the truth. So I thought I’d check it out. I downloaded the trial version and tried it out. And what do you know, they do generate nicer ebook cover graphics. I am so happy with their e-covers that I upgraded from a trial version to a full version.

And the software is called Box Shot 3D.

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Relaunching My DIYeBookCover.com…

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

DIY eBook Cover - Create Stunning e-Covers for Your Website

DIYeBookCover.com is the first sales letter mini-site. It’s a great example how I use mini-sites to make money online - by selling products.

My first actual website is a content mini-site about computer cases. Then, I tried my hands on list building by putting together a long sales letter squeeze page. Yep, a sales letter just to get people into my mailing list. That was MoneyClicking.net, which is now my blog.

Then later, I created my first product - DIYeBookCover.com.

Back then, DIYeBookCover.com was a set of videos on how to create your own ebook cover using Photoshop Elements 2. And not too long after that, Adobe came up with Elements 3, and then 4. That’s when I stop selling DIYeBookCover.com. I felt that my videos were too outdated.

Anyway, a few months back, I thought I’d repackage DIY eBook Cover with some Photoshop Action scripts and start selling them again. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a set of instructions and commands that you can install in your Photoshop. I recorded all the steps needed to create a bunch of e-cover graphics, and now I am selling them as Photoshop Action scripts.

You can use this script and with just a few mouse clicks, you’ll a nice looking e-cover to represent your product. It’s just a simple 3-step process. Step 1, open the template layout file. Step 2, run the render action script to create your e-cover. Step 3, save it as web graphic.

It’s that easy.

With the new DIY eBook Cover, you can choose to represent your product online in 51 different ways. You can choose e-cover designs ranging from CDs, DVDs, books, ring binders, software box, even iPod and PDA and more…

Apart from that, I also maintain a few of the components from the original DIY eBook Cover. Customers will also get the eBook Layout Strategy Videos and also 51 eBook Cover Templates to get them started.

If you need great looking e-covers, you better check it out now…

[+] http://www.DIYeBookCover.com

How To Use DLGuard To Protect Your Digital Products

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

dlg2boxshotsmall.gifRecently I talked about protecting your digital products with Paypal IPN. Using Paypal IPN is the simplest way to protect your digital products that you sell online. Without something like Paypal IPN, you are exposing your product to unauthorized downloads.

Towards the end of that article, it seems that I talked very highly of DLGuard.

I started using DLGuard starting with my second product in 2006. Ever since, every product that I rolled out, I use DL Guard. Of course, that is with the exception of my viral list building projects, where I use a membership site script.

I started using DL Guard from version 2. And now they are at version 4 already. At first Sam Stephens (the creator) used his own data storage system. So no MySQL database is required. There are pros and cons to that. The good thing is you don’t have to mess with difficult MySQL settings. But the bad thing is his own data system is not the best solution to the problem.

That is why now, Sam has started using MySQL in DLGuard, starting from version 3. And you thought that it’ll be difficult. Actually no. With the MySQL version, Sams also took some drastic steps by using better software development tools, IonCube. With IonCube, you Sams is able to deliver DLGuard with an easy to use installer software. All you need to do is run that EXE software, define a few settings and you are done.

Ever since having installed DLGuard, life has been easy… at least in this one area.

Let me tell you about the life before DLGuard…

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