Oldie, but goodie (I hope) ...

Just real quick, loved to get some feedback on sending out writing clips via snail.
Any thoughts on whether it's best to stick with the old-school copies from the actual tear sheet or print off copies of the stories from the Web and/or an inter-office archive system we have here.
Seems to me the former would be more appropriate because the latter typically calls for more pages being stapled together and causes more headache than perhaps is necessary for the SE.
Maybe, I'm old fashion. Just curious.

 

When I pass my clips along, I try to include the actual clippings, if possible. But sending print-outs of the dinks or PDF has worked for me in the past. I'd stay away from printing out the Web site copies. But it's just a personal preference.

 

First, scan in every story you have as a PDF. Do with it what you like: post 'em online on your personal Web site, let the files gather dust on your hard drive, whatever.

Second, invest in the professional versioin of deskPDF. You will thank me later. It's the best $30 or $40 I've spent. Allows me to PDF anything -- images, Word docs, spreadsheets -- and allows me to merge all the PDF files into one. I have it set up so that it takes five minutes for me to put together a PDF package of cover letter (once written), resume, clips and designs, all from the comfort of my laptop or PC, with no trips to Kinko's required.

 

I'm incredibly intrigued by that, yet I'm so computer illiterate I wouldn't know how to "scan in every story I have as a PDF."

 

Correx from my original post: I didn't mean to scan in every story you've ever written. I meant every clip-worthy story.

 

I still wouldn't know how to 'scan into a PDF' was my basic point.

I just photocopy clips. I'm so techno-stupid.

 

You're not the only one. I do the same thing.

 

HP Scanpros or whatever they are called are amazingly simple to work with. Scan the story in as a text document at 300 dots per inch. I believe that's the default setting, anyway. Then if you have deskPDF set up on your computer, right-click and you should get an option to "convert with deskPDF." Amazingly simple.

 

I apologize if I'm underestimating your computer knowledge and being really basic here, but "scanning it in as a PDF" just means that you have a machine that operates not much differently than a Xerox copier, except that instead of making another hard copy it creates an image of the story as a computer file.

The image is called a PDF. It's not like a Word document that you can go in and change, it's more like a snapshot of the hard-copy you have scanned in. It's a file, and you can then print it out whenever you need it or link to it in an e-mail or on a website.

I may be oversimplifying, but that's my understanding.

 

Yes, and that machine is called a scanner.