1. Sub-D is not the only method of getting smooth edges, you can also try beveling the edges that are sharp and they will look smoother. And taking into consideration the object that you model, in our case, a book, sub-d isn’t really necessary because that will only increase the load of your scene and the object is perfectly doable without it.

2. Regarding the texture problem:
- the “washed out” look of the texture comes from the gamma setting in your Final Color Output. If, for example, the gamma is set to 2.2, then you must divide the gamma of the texture in the Texture Layers panel by the same amount. Simply type 1/2.2 and you should get 0.4546 or just type that in. If the gamma is set to 1.0 then you don’t need to make any changes to the image gamma.
- another thing that I do 90% of the time is turn off anti-aliasing for the texture, that way the texture stays crisp. You can find that setting in the same panel. (Texture Layers)

one question though. My texture JPG-s are really sharp and saturated. on the renders though they come out really washed out of colors and blurry in the corners. what could have I messed up? Should I work more on the lighting properties or the material of the book cover?

thx for this tutorial but you should say aswell which shortcuts you use.
example: H-hide selected…
but one more time, really thx a lot…
y.