Publishing through Blurb & Amazon

[kxl]

I just published my first photo book (Everyman. Everyday. Everywhere), a collection of photos that celebrate the daily lives of ordinary people throughout the world, from the sands of Wadi Rum in Jordan to the banks of the Mekong River in Southeast Asia.

Link to AMAZON.

Link to BLURB: https://www.blurb.com/b/9987556-everyman-everyday-everywhere/

If the link doe snot resolve, copy and paste it to a browser.

I also placed an ad in the RFF classifieds.



I used the Blurb software to put the book together and submitted to both Blurb and Amazon for distribution. While the process is straightforward and the quality is reasonably good, production costs are exceedingly high! I wish there were a less expensive way to do this but since my end objective was to use Amazon for distribution, my only two options (as far as I know) are to go through Blurb or to use Amazon's platform, which is primarily targeted for text-heavy books rather than photo books.

Given those options, I will likely use Blurb again for future projects, although I may leverage the Blurb integration with Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Indesign.

 

[filmtwit]

I've made a couple of books for family in the past and really was disappointed by BURB's quality and the cost associated with it. The quality on photo side was disapointing to say the least and I suspect that BURB works better with more text based material then photo quality.

Good luck.

 

[stompyq]

Been using blurb for a long time and have been more than happy with them. I agree about the production costs though. Good luck with the book. If possible post a link from blurb marketplace with the preview enabled

 

[jsrockit]

I’ve been satisfied with blurb. I did a few test books in order to get my IQ right, but once I did the IQ has been good enough. Black and white is harder to get right than color and I use a calibrated screen.

 

[kxl]

I've made a couple of books for family in the past and really was disappointed by BURB's quality and the cost associated with it. The quality on photo side was disapointing to say the least and I suspect that BURB works better with more text based material then photo quality.

Good luck.

I do think there are better options (albeit more costly) for photoooks, but no one else integrates with Amazon for distribution.

 

[kxl]

Been using blurb for a long time and have been more than happy with them. I agree about the production costs though. Good luck with the book. If possible post a link from blurb marketplace with the preview enabled

Link to BLURB: https://www.blurb.com/b/9987556-everyman-everyday-everywhere/

Note: for some reason, this link is not resolving to the preview when you click on it; however, it works when you copy the link and paste it on a browser.

 

[filmtwit]

Here's the thing about photo books (and most art books), technically you want to limit the number copies that you ever make of them because part of your end distribution is collectability. If you can get a book on demand, then it's long term collectability is less then if the book as limit printing. Plus I can probably buy your book for a lot less a year or two from now on the used market.

I do think there are better options (albeit more costly) for photoooks, but no one else integrates with Amazon for distribution.

 

[Emile de Leon]

It's tough to make $$ on books..
The book industry has been in shambles for a long time now..
Simon and Schuster..is on the chopping block this week..
The only way I would publish a book these days is..if I knew it could sell...
Or didnt care..
And just wanted to do it for giggles..

 

[kxl]

It's tough to make $$ on books..
The book industry has been in shambles for a long time now..
Simon and Schuster..is on the chopping block this week..
The only way I would publish a book these days is..if I knew it could sell...
Or didnt care..
And just wanted to do it for giggles..

Absolutely! I'm not dependent on it for my next meal, but I'd certainly welcome funding for camera gear or my next vacation.

And I actually just made my first sale a few minutes ago! 😎

 

[Emile de Leon]

If money is an issue..no pun intended..
I would just skip paper..and just do downloads digitally..
The image quality will be better..the upfront costs will be way less..
And you wont have to keep a bunch of books in storage..
And shipping at retail will be zero for digital..esp overseas sales will like this..
So at the least..give them the digital option..for better sales.

 

[mh2000]

I think the heavier paper used by lulu is nicer than amazon, but to get distribution on amazon, you need to charge more. Neither blurb or amazon will give you a classic high quality "coffee table" photo book though. In the end, for the cheaper prices and distribution, I've gone with amazon. You mostly just have to choose images that hold up to that kind of printing. I've found the automatic convert to digital on amazon to be unreliable, so if you are going that route, learn to make an ebook formatted version yourself. For the physical book, I've found that Libre Office made better pdfs for submission than MS Word (if you're going to use a common tool like that!). LaTeX is the best publishing tool for these services, but most people don't want to commit to the learning curve though. Have fun! 🙂