Any experience with books from blurb.com?

[Redneck]

I just received a wedding photo book which I had ordered (first time) at blurb.com and it looks really lousy. The pictures are noisy/grainy, unsharp and simply cheap and very low quality.
Did anybody experience anything like that with blurb.com?

Any recommendations for higher quality books?

[mercphoto]

The low price of Blurb should have been your first clue. ;) I use them myself, but only for stuff that is not too terribly important. (For example, see the link in my signature to a racing book done through Blurb). If I need a very nice book I'll use Pounds Photo Labs (here in Texas!). There are a ton of other choices out there, depending on what exactly you need and what the budget is. Asuka Book, White House Custom Color, Bay Photo, Forbeyon, Graphi Studio...

[lscottpht]

I haven't ordered from them, personally, but my clients have and have sent me copies. The ones they sent me look really good, picture quality wise, for a cheap book. I suggest it a lot for my clients that don't want to purchase an album. A lot of my clients have done guest sign in books with the images from the e sesh.

For higher quality, but still inexpensive, you can use Asuka/Vision Art/or even Graphi (they have major sales).

[mercphoto]

More of my thoughts on this here:

Mercury Photography News: Review: Blurb Premium Paper Photo Book, and in the other corner...

[janikphoto]

Blurb and similar are fine for grandma... my wife just took some of our family blog pics and made books for our grandmothers as Christmas presents. The books aren't great, but they are fine for this - especially considering the blog pics are only 12" longest side at 71ppi. For a pro product that a client might pay a lot of money for, I'd go elsewhere.

[RobyMD]

I used to use blurb for clients coffee table (parents album). I only had one issue with quality and they corrected pretty quick ( some of the pages stuck together when).

Well also the cover has a blue tint but I really think they have a good product, well the last time I printed with them they did.

I now use BlackRiverImaging for a few reasons. 1. They offer a lay flat design on the same press printed paper. 2. The give ($5) you a nice box for the final presentation. 3. The square book is 8x8 vs 7x7, inches matter 4. You don't have to pay extra for shipping or to take the stupib blurb logo off.

You also have more cover options.

I know ROES is the rage but I like Blurbs ordering system better.