Blurb: customer experience

[bikealps]

<p>For the first time, I printed a photo book. After studying the options, I used Blurb.</p>

<p>Today I received the printed books and wanted to share my experience and impressions.</p>

<p><strong>Software:</strong> At first I struggled to make the pages right. After I understood how it works, it is a very efficient tool. Formatting pages and cropping photos was the challenge. Once you know how to do it, it is so simple that it is embarrassing to admit the frustration I initially had. My first book took a huge amount of time because I have never done one before, was not familiar with their software, and wanted the results to be absolutely perfect. My next book will be easier; I will slam it out.</p>

<p><strong>Resolution:</strong> I got a few resolution warnings where I tried to blow something up big when the software claimed I didn't have enough pixels. On the computer screen, I could see things were pixelated, but ok. Remarkably, in real print, they were better than I saw on the screen. I would advise you to ignore the resolution warnings with impunity. For the vast majority of photos, I had full-res prints from MY camera. In a few cases, I had lo-res thumbnails. They still printed pretty good. I even had a couple shots which were soft on focus, but really necessary to tell the story. They looked marginal, maybe ok, on the computer screen. They looked great in the book.</p>

<p><strong>Dynamic range:</strong> Blurb did an excellent job of printing my images. I had several challenging shots, for example black dogs on white sand. They printed these beautifully. Only one image was blocked in the blacks. I put the blame on myself here. Many challenging images came out very well. There were a few images that showed white lines on the edges on the monitor. I gambled that this was a software artifact. They printed perfectly.</p>

<p><strong>Cropping:</strong> They print the book and cut each page. They give you crop guidelines. Page cutting does vary from book-to-book as per their guidelines. I noticed some variation in my books. I should have allowed more margin, but the final result was very fine.</p>

<p><strong>Size:</strong> The size they give you is exactly what they quote. When I received the shipment, I was underwhelmed. I thought a 80-page 8"x10" book would be more impressive. It was kind of cheap looking and small, but they delivered what they promised. If you want a conspicuous coffee-table book, you have to buy a bigger fancier book, for example the GraphiStudios book my wedding photographer delivered. There is a reason Blurb books cost only $30 and can be delivered quickly.</p>

<p><strong>Paper Choice:</strong> I ordered 5 books with basic paper and 2 books with upgraded paper. I struggle to see the difference. If anything, the upgraded paper is better, but maybe I'm imagining things. I would recommend you not spend the extra coin for upgraded paper.</p>

<p><strong>Cover choice:</strong> I ordered 5 soft cover books and 2 hardcover books. The hardcover books cost more, but I like the softcover books far better. The hardcover sets a certain quality expectation. The binding, although nice, doesn't live up to aesthetic expectations. The softcover book looks cheaper to start but the cover is actually printed better and the string isn't visible on the first open fold. Honestly, I like my softcover books better.</p>

<p><strong>Discounts:</strong> You can get a 10-25% discount by registering and completing one of their webinars. The webinars are very good. If you plan to do several books, you should listen to a webinar. I did so simply to get the discount and I was pleasantly impressed by getting a good education on photography and book publishing.</p>

<p>All in all, Blurb did a really nice job and I would use them again. The next time around the software will be easier for me and I'll order a softcover book.</p>

<p>If anybody can respond with other observations of Blurb or comparisons with their competition (mypublisher, lulu, etc.) I'd be very interested to hear.</p>

[mariosforsos]

<p>I have been working with Blurb since 2004 and have done over a dozen books with them, most for myself but also some for clients and even some as a designer for other people. They have certainly improved over time and THIS is something I like to see in a partner! Now you can edit their layouts (which is a VAST improvement over the previous approaches) and, believe it or not, they have improved their printing methods and quality.</p>

<p>Personally, I prefer their hardcover books and laterly, I've been working only on their larger sizes which, let me tell you, they look infinitely more impressive than the 20x25 ones! Also, the dust cover does make them look a LOT more like professionally printed ones - so much so in fact that I have sold quite a few books, both through the internet as well as personally.</p>

<p>Now I'm working on a large project which I will design using their InDesign templates. They allow for much more creativity, even though they require you to know how to use InDesign, which is no small thing in itself. Still, I know the program very well so I'll see how this works. The proofing process is different and image usage too, so I want to see the difference. InDesign handles colour much more efficiently than almost anything else out there on the market, so I fully expect my colour renditions to come out much, much better (who knows, maybe even noticeably so!)</p>

<p>I've seen books printed by three (no point in naming names here) other such publishers and none of them were better than Blurb, with quite a few examples actually being far worse. The reason I'll be sticking with Blurb in the future is, like I said, their committment to evolution and to their community.</p>

[paul_serafini1]

<p>I've printed about a dozen books on Blurb, and I agree with every comment. Especially with regard to the underwhelming final product. I think the software is excellent and very intuitive and the prices are very reasonable, but when the books arrive, they look a little cheap. Bottom line is they delivered exactly what they promised. I'll continue to use them until I need to change.</p>

[gary_mayo1]

I have three Blurb books. Coffee table sizes, one 400 plus pages. The software is pretty easy to use, and the books

arrive at your door just like they look on your screen. I have not made any smaller books, but I will in the future. Once

you get on to it, a book can be made in a couple hours including tweaking and fiddling. Blurb is a great company.

People are impressed with the books.