A Little Blurb Update

[Frank Petronio]

When you have a problem with a Blurb book, you usually have to send them some photos of the issue and then they will grant you a credit, but you also need to ship the book back to them (they send you a prepaid UPS slip). One time they just accepted the photos and credited me without asking for the book back, but 5-6x now they've wanted them back.

I think they would automatically just reprint the book except that I edited it inbetween, so the original files were already off the Blurb site. Phew - it let me get a new book with MY new edits too. So if you revise or make a mistake on your book be sure to delete it ASAP.

[Doug Dolde]

The problem with Blurb, besides your quality problems, is that they are priced too high if you want to sell them for a profit. Their prices are what a retail price should be.

[Frank Petronio]

It'd be silly to purchase my book, I admit. If it were a 10,000 run retail book it would sell on Amazon for $39.95 tops, probably $29.95 is the price to hit.

I did put $12 of mark up into it, I figure once it gets stupid expensive, whomever wants it is a big fan and I deserve a beer or two for it.

[Doug Dolde]

You can get perfect bound paper backs done in color from Lightening Source for $!.00 + $.09 per page and there is no 180 page limit, more like 480 pages. Check it out.

[jnantz]

You can get perfect bound paper backs done in color from Lightening Source for $!.00 + $.09 per page and there is no 180 page limit, more like 480 pages. Check it out.

i checked it out doug!

they have professional credentials,
respectable client list,
1,000,000 books they have printed already
they print about 50K books a day,
good prices,
bookstore quality product ...
they OVERNIGHT a proof
AND pretty much guarantee that
every book will look exactly like the proof ...

sure sounds better than blurp.

[Doug Dolde]

An update on Blurb versus Lightning Source. Now i have a proof from each vendor and I can say unequivocally that Blurb's color rendition and reproduction is far superior to LSI.

But, and a Big Butt She has, Blurb's books are Way more expensive and they limit the page count to 180. In fact a Blurb book could never sell for much of a profit; their pricing is already at (or over) what retail should be. I mean look around at Barnes and Noble, the average photography book is around $40.

With LSI there is room from profit at $.09/page + $1.00 for an 8.5" x 8.5" perfect bound color paperback. Just don't expect the image quality to be anywhere close to what you can produce on your inkjet. So if you really want to show off your images, LSI is not the way to do it. If the book's purpose is something else then the quality will suffice.

[Malcolm Ray]

I was certain I read from Blurb that files should not be submitted as CMYK(?).
I am working on a book now. How certain are you that their quality slipped on some of your last images in your recent book, because this is upsetting. I require pretty much perfection, following all that work to get the images just as I want them....
Thanks

[Frank Petronio]

The Workflow using the BookSmart Application requires sRGB files. The alternative PDF Workflow can be either CMYK or RGB. Blurb provides profiles and can be consistent, but I would never trust them to get it perfect every time. To their credit, they do make good on their errors.

Nothing beats doing a smaller book as a test...

If you want perfect, you may need to spend an extra $30-100K on a real book.