Recommendations for a photo book

[Dan Dozer]

Hi Hugo,

Give me a call in a week or so and I'll have my first book back from Blurb. I can let you know about how the quality turns out. I just "published' it this past weekend. Software is not difficult to use and it costs nothing to make it. Just put it together, download to Blurb, and people can order it directly from them.

Dan

[analoguey]

Blurb - try it only if you want sit through multiple screw-ups of theirs and pay for them too, to finally get an iffy product at the end of it.
Customer support is so laughable that the folks there didnt have a clue how to figure the resolution of a hi-Res image I sent them - they took resolution of the preview in mail and told me 'these arent high-Res images, so print quality will suffer'.
On pointing it out, Their next reply was that they cant size down high-res images so print quality was bad.
On pointing out that it's a stupid excuse, Their final answer was that 'your images are poor and hence print quality is bad'
First book came out with a tear in the binding - and I didnt get an assurance it wouldnt happen in reprint.
Reprint is so bad that I'm having it around to show people how badly blurb prints. (alongside same images printed elsewhere, locally)

Ymmv, of course.
But I saw their forums after I placed my order.

[Jim Becia]

Hi everyone,

I am playing with the idea of putting 40-50 images from my recent Tibet trip into a book. I have no experience in publishing a book. A few people have mentioned Blurb. I bought a Blurb book from a forum member here a few years ago and was disappointed by the quality of its printing. I have heard that Blurb is better now.

This book will be a very small run like 30-50 copies, but I want the printing quality of the images give its readers an enjoyable experience, like that of looking at contact prints. Is it possible to achieve this by scanning the negatives and digital printing?

Or is it better to find a book binder and use only 4x5 contact prints for such a book? Or some contact prints and some digital prints? Cost issues?

Where do I get started?

Thanks.

Hugo,

Not sure this will be of much help as you are in need of a small run of 30 to 50 copies. I currently print and bind my own books using an inexpensive system from Unibind. The linen book covers I use hold 12x12 pages and about 30 to 35 sheets of double sided paper. I then print all my images via inkjet and bind them using their system. Their system uses a very sticky glue that is heat activated. I am sure it is not the equivalent of regular bound book, but mine have held together over several years. They will not lay down flat as that would probably break the glue. However, the books are quite nice as each photo is printed individually. On the flip side, it does take a while to put a book together and they are not inexpensive. I roughly figure my cost in materials to be about $90 to $100 per book, not including all the time. Not exactly cheap, but the printing quality is better than any offset or Blurb book. Just a thought if you decide to go a different route.

[DrTang]

Blurb's quality is now very, very good. This assumes you prepare the files properly. It can take some homework to figure out the best way to do so.

hint: page numbers look A LOT BIGGER printed than when on your computer

[Richard Johnson]

I don't know if Blurb's canned software allows you print from your home printer to proof the design and type, if not the image quality. That's why I always used InDesign and output a PDF to Blurb's auto-specs. If you have some graphic design experience then it's a lot more powerful... and you have control over page numbers ;-p

[Tin Can]

I use https://www.artisanstate.com/photo-b...lack-book.html


I have made several $20 5x7" 20 image books for an artist that I copy his color pencil drawings.

He was very happy with the results using Lustre E-Surface. He uses the 2 books as carry around sales tools for his original very large pencil and paper drawings.

Since they use the same paper, also metallic and similar construction on all their books, you can test the waters for very little money.

ymmv

[Dan Dozer]

I've been very happy with the quality of my new book. Got the first copies a week ago and looks pretty nice. From what I saw, when you "publish" the book to the Blurb website, there is an option to have them send you a PDF file of it (cost something like $5 more). I couldn't figure out if you can print from their software or not. There are instructions on how to proof your book on your monitor if it is calibrated and if you have Photoshop.

The text I have in my book is white on dark background. On the Blurb website, the text is difficult to read, but in the printed version, it worked just fine.

Also, the page numbers in mine are very small (about 1/16" tall) and hardly noticeable. The one thing I didn't see was being able to print the page numbers in any color other than black. My pages have a dark charcoal background color so you hardly see the page numbers at all.

Here's the link to my book.

http://www.blurb.com/b/5512251-platinum-women