Has anyone ever made a...

OurManInTangier

OurManInTangier

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...book through Blurb books? I believe they're in cahoots with Flickr.
I'm thinking about making a some books as a decent way of leaving portfolios with people. Has anybody had a book made with these guys that can comment on the quality of their final product, actual shipping times and costs or maybe another company that you have used that did a particularly good...or even bad, job.

Thanks
 
I haven`t made it but have bought the book from Tommy Oshima " Magnetic Fields". The book quality is very good and the ordering process was simple. Delivering was very fast, too. I thought about making a photo book my own, using blurbs software (freeware)

cheers,

maddoc
 
Just curious why you only wrote:

"Has anyone ever made a... "

on your subject line instead of:

"Has anyone ever made a book through Blurb books?"

When people scroll the new posts they only see subject lines and I'd guess more than a few people who either are interesting in discussing your subject, had something to add, or knew something about online publishing or blurb likely just passed by the more generic version with little info.
 
Gumby said:
To get hits.
Click to expand...

Interesting theory. Maybe it works. I usually ignore subject lines that give no clue what they're about. Too many posts other posts to bother. I looked at this one as I found his user name interesting...
 
rich815 said:
Interesting theory. Maybe it works. I usually ignore subject lines that give no clue what they're about. Too many posts other posts to bother. I looked at this one as I found his user name interesting...
Click to expand...

I'm going to start ignoring any post titles I don't fully understand, too. On another forum there was once a bragging contest to see who had the most "views". the ego-factor associated with people looking at their posts seemed more important to them than accurate/polite interactions and real information seeking. I doubt that is the situation here, but I was "teased" into looking and will try to avoid any future occurances. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice...." :)
 
rich815 said:
Just curious why you only wrote:

"Has anyone ever made a... "

on your subject line instead of:

"Has anyone ever made a book through Blurb books?"

When people scroll the new posts they only see subject lines and I'd guess more than a few people who either are interesting in discussing your subject, had something to add, or knew something about online publishing or blurb likely just passed by the more generic version with little info.
Click to expand...

Simply a case of thinking it wouldn't all fit on and then the 'system' would arbitrarily cut off part of the title. As a result it is a bit of a teaser and yes they are annoying when you click on one to find you're not remotely interested, so apologies to all for that.

The interest is genuine, as is my complete lack of interest in 'hits' - though it sometimes seems similar in the gallery with people 'collecting' comments!

My original question stands - I'd be delighted to hear any opinions on Blurb's quality or any other recommened company. Its one of the downfalls of such a company being internet based - you just have no idea of print quality/paper quality etc etc.
 
Hi Simon,

I was not berating you, just mentioning.

Dig down a little into this guy's blog. He did some major experimenting lately on a few different services and has some good details on his results. Especially if you plan mostly B&W, which is a huge problem for these self-publishing houses....

http://beckermanphoto.com/
 
Simon, there's nothing wrong with your title, no apologies necessary.

Rich, relax, take it easy... :)

And, blurb is quite good. I made a book for my daughter's birtday and I'm impressed with the quality.

They are supposed to come out with the new version of the software, I've been thinking to upgrade just to see what they have.

On a negative note, it seems that their renderer ignores colorspace information embedded in the jpg files. I'm going to give them a hard time if this were true with their printers.
 
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rich815 said:
Hi Simon,

I was not berating you, just mentioning.

Dig down a little into this guy's blog. He did some major experimenting lately on a few different services and has some good details on his results. Especially if you plan mostly B&W, which is a huge problem for these self-publishing houses....

http://beckermanphoto.com/
Click to expand...

No problem, but it is still a good point...it is rather irritating.

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look at his findings this evening.

shadowfox said:
And, blurb is quite good. I made a book for my daughter's birthday and I'm impressed with the quality.

They are supposed to come out with the new version of the software, I've been thinking to upgrade just to see what they have.

On a negative note, it seems that their renderer ignores colorspace information embedded in the jpg files. I'm going to give them a hard time if this were true with their printers.
Click to expand...

I downloaded the upgrade recently, though I haven't gone through things properly yet as I'm currently rescanning many of the images I'm planning to put in it...a right royal pain in the arse in itself!

This will be black and white images only so hopefully not too many problems but I do worry about my screen calibration and how that will compare to the final prints. I don't fancy coughing up for the book and shipping to find horribly pale or extremely dark images on each page. I simply don't have enough quality colour images to go down the colour book route yet.

Gumby said:
Me neither, Simon!
Click to expand...

As with Richard, honestly - no offence taken:)
 
I have some of my photographs in a Blurb book, Generations By Salt Lake Seven.
The was a part of a group exhibit I was a part of recently, we did the book as a way to continue with the project/exhibit.
We call ourselves, The Salt Lake Seven
I didn't put the book together, someone else from the group did, but I have a copy of course and I feel that it's a great book.
The print quality is great.
Since the book has come out, I have played with the software and I like what I have seen.
It's the only self publish site I have dealt with, but there is also www.lulu.com.
And yes Blurb is a partner of Yahoo or something to that effect, so if you have high res files uploaded it can be easier to produce a book.

Good Luck! Brian
 
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I like the fact that everyone that has seen a Blurb book here seems to be, at least, happy with the quality.

I think once I get my negs satisfactorily prepared I'll get a book printed.
 
OurManInTangier said:
I like the fact that everyone that has seen a Blurb book here seems to be, at least, happy with the quality.

I think once I get my negs satisfactorily prepared I'll get a book printed.
Click to expand...

Guess you didn't check out, or if you did, dig too deep on that link I showed you...

Here:

http://beckermanphoto.com/category/pod-books/

Out of five publishers he tried he liked Blurb the least ("In short, I’d cross Blurb off the list.") I'd read through his comments about Blurb before you order.
 
rich815 said:
Guess you didn't check out, or if you did, dig too deep on that link I showed you...

Here:

http://beckermanphoto.com/category/pod-books/

Out of five publishers he tried he liked Blurb the least ("In short, I’d cross Blurb off the list.") I'd read through his comments about Blurb before you order.
Click to expand...

Still haven't had the chance...I'm doing some photoshopping for some work thats needed tomorrow but keep popping on here too much! Almost done and will certainly have a look now. Shame, had hoped everything would be rosey!
 
OurManInTangier said:
Still haven't had the chance...I'm doing some photoshopping for some work thats needed tomorrow but keep popping on here too much! Almost done and will certainly have a look now. Shame, had hoped everything would be rosey!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I keep popping on here too when work needs to get done!

Of course it does sound like some people are pleased with Blurb but sometimes that might be a lack of comparison to other services or critical examination---and to each his own too. In that link Dave really went deep in comparison study and took some excellent notes. His concerns definitely warrant a look-see so you can determine if they are valid issues you might have a problem with as well.
 
BUGGER!

It sounds like Blurb aren't "all that." This is exactly why I felt compelled to ask around for more info on them. I really appreciate the link to that.

I suppose to be fair its just another case of 'horses for courses' but I really don't want to invest a great deal of time and thought on getting the selection, processing, scanning and page layout just right simply to receive a sub-standard ( at least by my expectations ) product.

I don't particularly fancy paying $295 for the one off Pro Membership ( at SharedINK) until I've at least decided whether I'll actually get some repeat use from it. I think this deserves some further research and maybe the small expense of a trial book with a couple of POD book firms - SharedINK certainly being one of them.

As the chap says in his blog, you simply have no idea of what quality the book is until you hold it in your hand. Mine will be no Magnum Magnum but I can at least make the effort;)
 
Please report back, Simon. We have a RFF book #2 that we're looking for a printing company for. The effort through LULU did not work out well, because of a magenta cast on the B+W photos.
 
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