review of blurb book service

[barP]

howdy! i've seen lots of commentary here at tpf - and learned a lot - about some of the different options people use for getting books and albums printed, so i thought i should contribute my own experience since i just had a book done at blurb.

in a nutshell, the whole experience was easy and fun, and produced results i'm happy with. in other words, i got my money's worth.

more specifically, i found the blurb interface to be very good. it took me no time to download and install the booksmart software on my mac and i was off and running. i agree with other posters that the software doesn't give you much flexibility, but for what i would use blurb for, it's perfect. they give you many themes and page layouts to choose from, and i can't imagine not being able to make one of them work for things like proof books, portfolio books, or even marketing pieces. if you need a lot of graphic control, just do the layout in your application of choice, save as jpg of appropriate physical and file size, the drop it on the page. the drag, drop, and position utility is great. i'd even recommend it to my mom, who isn't that computer literate!

i spent about 5 hours on my layout for a 48 page book and placed my order a week ago last saturday. the book arrived yesterday, so i had it in 9 days. i got the hardcover version in 10x8 format. overall, i felt the quality was in line with other reviews: nice quality but not something you'd sell to a customer spending a lot of money with you. the cover is high gloss, which some people like, but i had hoped for matte. the paper is of about the same weight as and finish as that found in a good photography magazine like jpg, but the print quality isn't. i'll use the term "ink density" but i don't know if that's correct. basically, it doesn't appear that the density is as high as that of prints in jpg because the dots don't fill all the space - you can see minute bits of white space between them, especially in colors that are continuous and fairly dark. it's not objectionable for the price, but i noticed it immediately. it makes some images look soft. i will say that the colors are excellent.

other than that, my only disapointment was in the size, but that's my own fault. it's easy to think while you're laying the book out on a 23" display that it will be huge, but really, 10x8 isn't that big.

anyhow, i give blurb a definite thumbs up. i got a 48-page book for $48, including shipping, that i can definitely use to show customers a basic portfolio or proofs. it is also a good option for customers that want a book but have no budget.

someone asked in another thread to see an actually picture of a book, so here is one. i even included my dinner as a scale reference!



wp.

[mgadell]

I second the motion. I had a similar experience with blurb -- even the same reaction to the same size book. (It was smaller than I thought it would be, but exactly the size they said it would be!) I recommend them.

[dbphotos]

I agree. I had both a hardback and paperback version of the same book made and quality was excellent!

[CincoJoe]

Does blurb put their logo on the book?

[brad]

Yes, last page is blurb's logo .. looks lame in a wedding album... but I've used blurb for proof books with good results.

[Jake]

The last blurb book I got I had them not put their logo in there. I think it cost a little more, but was worth it.

[Wes]

Love Blurb. I have used it to produce hard back books for my son's baseball team. The parents freaked! They absolutely loved them.

The biggest gripe that I have with Blurb is that you are forced to use their pre-defined page layouts. Good for most things, but there have been times that I wanted to design something myself. No can do.

[barP]

Originally Posted by Wes

The biggest gripe that I have with Blurb is that you are forced to use their pre-defined page layouts. Good for most things, but there have been times that I wanted to design something myself. No can do.

you can do your own layout, you just have to do it in photoshop or other, then chose the blurb layout that runs from edge to edge and drop your image on it. i get what you're saying though, because diy is way more work.

wp.

[Wes]

DOH! Hadn't thought about that. Thanks for the tip!

[Steelsun]

Also a thumbs up for Blurb. My wife and I shot some friends' alternative wedding, and put the images into a blurb book (hardback) and gave them a copy as a wedding gift.
They ended up ordering a few more for family.

The software was quite easy to set up and use, even for a novice.