In a little less than 24 months, hundreds of thousands of you have chosen Blurb to make almost half a million books. Many of you are also sharing and selling your books in our bookstore, and making money. We’re blown away by the quality of your images, the stories you tell, and the creativity of your designs. Seeing the books you create is the best part of my job.
Many of you have also told “your people” about Blurb. Word of mouth has been a huge part of our success, and we appreciate your enthusiasm and your willingness to share Blurb with the people in your lives. Thank you. You’ve told us what you want and how you’d like to see us improve, and your feedback is all over every new version of BookSmart. (OK, so not everything you request makes it into the final product … but we do listen and do our best to prioritize!)
One thing that did get prioritized was a request for printed hardcover books. We heard this request from parents (whose books about their children were actually being chewed by some of those children) as well as from high-end creative professionals who wanted their branding permanently affixed to a hard cover.
The result is that on May 8th, Blurb will launch ImageWrap, a new product that will allow you to print an image directly on the front and back of any hardcover Blurb book, creating a smooth, sophisticated effect. Our ImageWrap books feature a durable matte finish that creates a rich tactile experience, adding visual impact that you typically see with high-end art books. Trust me when I tell you they’re stunning.
The ImageWrap pricing is a tad bit higher as these books cost more to produce. ImageWrap books start at $24.95 for a 7×7, $31.95 for an 8×10 or 10×8, and $56.95 for a 13×11. Don’t worry - our hardcover with dust jacket option is not going away. ImageWrap is simply another hardcover product now available.
I also want to give you a heads-up that on May 8th, you will see new pricing tables that make it a lot easier to choose from the many book options now available. As we were adding new book options, the presentation of that information was getting a little crazy. We fixed that. You will also see some price adjustments - some up, some down, some unchanged - as we needed to standardize our base pricing now that we have these great new choices (and more to come).
In addition, our costs have gone up over the last few months. While this is certainly an inevitable part of doing business, it is still a drag. We’ve been stalling on price increases for as long as possible, and as much as we’d like to absorb the entire hit forever, we simply can’t do it and maintain our quality offering.
The good news is that the starting price for all book sizes will stay the same - so our 7×7 softcover books will start at $12.95, our 8×10 and 10×8 hardcover with dust jacket books will start at $29.95, and so on. In fact, while some prices will go up a bit, about 25% will stay the same or even decrease. About one third of our Custom Logo Upgrade prices will drop as well.
You can preview our new pricing table here, and again, look for these adjustments to be effective May 8th.
One final word: I pinch myself that people are actually paying me to build this company. What a privilege! My message to each of you: Do something you love - the rewards are spectacular.
2008 has been incredible so far, and we’re just warming up. Onward!
Best,
Eileen Gittins, founder and CEO, Blurb
94 Comments
Thanks for the update, always nice to get quality communications from a CEO.
Looking forward to seeing a few close-ups of the new ImageWrap products. Also does that mean another download of BookSmart to handle the new option?
Finally as I’m about to place an order for a small pile of hardbacks for my upcoming solo show with thr custom logo option, just before the price changes, is there any way of compensating if the price were to actually go down?
Thanks
Graham
Hi Graham, glad you’re looking forward to the new products - you’re going to love them!
Here’s the deal re: pricing - it’s a clean switch taking place on May 8th. Once we switch the prices, there’s no looking back. If you prefer to place an order in the next couple days, you’re certainly welcome to.
When ImageWrap is available, you’ll be able to either create new ImageWrap books, or order existing books in ImageWrap.
Best of luck with the your custom logo books - look forward to seeing them.
Mike
If I choose to try image wrap, will that require any changes to my books’ file/
Thank you,
Joseph
Hi Mike
Thanks for that. I ended up going with the standard Blurb logo option (I forgot to change it)!
Take care
Graham
Am I correct in assuming that when one selects the ImageWrap option, the book will be produced without the Dust Jacket?
Actually that’s a good point. It would be nice to have the option to have both dust jacket and the printed cover.
Hey Graham,
We’ve been getting this a lot, and we’re looking into it presently. Stay tuned for more updates.
printed covers are great! thanks for this.
now when do we get a large 12×12 format? scrapbookers will rejoice on that day - and your business will boom for it.
janet g
It seems like the price for the books I make (80pp 8×10 hardcover) is going up by $1. Honestly, I’m not sure I would even have noticed!
You folks are amazing. Thanks for the disclosure, regardless.
+1 for ImageWrap combined with a dust jacket, as well…
I was wondering when you were going to do this! thanks!!!
Will we be able to opt for the Image Wrap printing for books already in the bookstore, or will we need to recreate them? Will a new version of Booksmart be required? Thanks!
Will I be able to change the format of my 13 x 11 book to have a wrap or do I have to remake it?
I’d still like to see a facility where an extra dust jacket could be ordered. They tend to wear a bit after a while and it would be nice to ve able to replace them. I realise Image Wrap would solve the problem but I like my dust jackets.
This is really awesome. Been looking forward to this solution, wondering if it would ever ever be implemented and it’s finally here!
Keep up the good work. =)
Will your prices for existing books be affected by the price changes?
If yes, does an author selling his or her books in your bookstore need to adjust his or her prices?
Will your price for a revised edition of a book be the same as for the original book or will the price be affected by the price changes?
That is excellent news! I’ve had a lot of my customers requesting the wrap. Can’t wait to try it out. Thanks for adding the new features!!
this looks amazing.. but anyway to get the barcode off the back yet???
Hi all, going to try and address questions starting with Janet Grey, and moving down from there. =)
@janet grey - no 12×12 on the horizon, but keep the feedback coming!
@pete - love the +1. and transparency is who we are - we won’t pull any fast ones on you.
@janet - ImageWrap can be selected at checkout for new books and all existing books - no new download required.
@emily - see above. all existing books can be ordered as ImageWrap books.
@david - we hear you - we’re investigating.
@bill - clean break happens on Thursday. you’ll need to adjust prices accordingly, and ALL pricing will shift to the new system.
thanks everyone for the positivity!! we’re excited, and it’s awesome to see all the feedback. keep it coming!!
You Are Awesome! I can’t wait to see this on my books!!!
I just wanted to thank you guys for giving everyone a chance to create and print their own books at such spectacular prices. “Normal” publishing houses charge loads more.
Keep up the good job and thanks again!
~ Odeena Sabnach
I’m excited about the wrap, but a little disappointed about the price increase and the lack of candor. For my latest book, the price increase in the 120 to 160 pp, standard size book is over 25%.
Sorry, we all work with words - a 25% jump is not “a bit.”
That’s a big hit.
- Jim
I am so glad you do what you do. I have made several books with you and will continue to do so. I have told everyone about your quality and the books, well, they speak for themselves. Thanks and I look forward to many years and many books being made with your team.
J_B
Each time we get an update, I hope to hear news about size changes or additions for book options. Any thought to adding a 5×7/7×5 portrait/landscape format. Is there any thought to adding new sizes?
Keep up the great work!
Perfect timing, Blurberatti! Casewrap is where it’s at! I’ll be ordering Monday!
Awesome news!!
So just to clarify, a book that I have started but have yet to order can be purchased with the ImageWrap at check out?
The price jump is a disappointing. I realize you need to be profitable, but that much of a jump? I really like blurb but will now be looking for other options.
Love everything about the Blurb books, but is it possible to used a
higher quality paper for the pages? A little heavier type could be better for us wedding photographer. Sales would go up by 50% for me.
Thanks
dennis
http://www.inrphotography.com
How about offering both image wrap and dust jacket all in one?
That way we can enjoy our books long after the dust jacket has
worn out.
You make AWESOME BOOKS!
You guys are great!
I was waiting for this !!!!!!
And I second Janet about the 12×12 scrapbook format !
My mom and I have been scanning our family’s photos (thousands!) for months and once we are finished we plan on making a blurb book for every year =] 12×12 would be nice for that…
@Jim (22) - glad you’re excited about ImageWrap, we did our absolute best on prices.
@MTeisan (26) - that’s right.
@Nate (27) - we hope you’ll stick with us.
Everyone else, thanks for the feedback - we always take it all in and incorporate as we look to more options, features and releases.
Thanks!!
Mike
This is really exciting news! I’m currently working on 3 new books. I’m glad that I haven’t submitted them yet!
I just checked out the new pricing table… I still can’t believe how reasonable your prices are! Amazingly low cost for excellent quality! This just doesn’t happen out there in the real world very often!
Thank you for being there for us!!!
David
I love your books, and so do my clients.
Have you considered making a collectible slip case for the photo books? It would be a great way to present/preserve the photo books for our clients.
I’m so excited about the Image wrap option. Is it a glossy or matte image wrap?
I’ve been searching for another company to have my photo books created, now I don’t have to!!! If only you could make a slip case for us photographers…;-)
I agree with Dennis- the wedding photographer above. How about an option for a higher quality paper for our photo books? Something that won’t leave finger prints maybe? I usually create my books on the black paper.
Love your products!!!
Tam
Image Wrap is exactly what I was looking for,
Thanks,
Any chance for a vertical (portrait) 11×13 in the near future?
I also agree with dennis, a little heavier paper (not by much) would increase sales for wedding photographers.
Right now I promote them as parent albums and most brides love them but will not buy them as main albums because the pages are just too thin.
THANK YOU!!!! Is it possible to have an extra dust jacket + ImageWrap? It will be nice
Looking forward to seeing the new options. I’m a photographer starting out in the world of bookmaking and recently created my own wedding album and am currently looking in to creating them for others over here in Australia. The book I made of my own wedding was fantastic, and even though some of the prices are increasing, it is still a LOT more affordable than any company over here in Australia (even with the exchange rate.) Thanks for providing such a great service. Would love to see even more layout options added in future releases, or even a wider range of backgrounds or the ability to add your own!
kEEP UP THE GREAT WORK.
If we are in the middle of a project that we have designated as hardback, can we switch to the new imagewrap? It is such an awesome idea and I would love to make this project I am working on with that cover.
I’ve made five Blurb books and all of them have had major quality control problems at the printer: missing pages, pages from other customers’ books, binding problems, curled softcovers, etc. Almost every order I’ve placed has had to be redone–sometimes two or three times! Your customer service is great and they always make things right. But you’re losing a lot of money reprinting/re-shipping orders, which is driving your costs up. And the huge inconvenience to me is that I’ve missed deadlines in delivering books because of Blurb’s production problems.
I recently discouraged a friend from using Blurb for a corporate project because I seriously question whether Blurb could deliver a quality product without glitches on time. THIS is where you need to focus your attention. Software/design upgrades aren’t worth much if your printers can’t handle the task.
Don’t get me wrong. I love what you’re trying to do. You just need better QC on the production line. Most of the botched books I received should never have been shipped.
This is fantastic news, I’m so excited and they are going to look great! Thank you so much!!!!
I LOVE THE IMAGE WRAP!! I just ordered my first book and can’t wait to get it. But I will be adding some more pages to it in a couple of weeks and will order it with the Image Wrap Cover!!!
I’m also slowly slurping my blog to BookSmart and can’t wait ’till the end of the year to publish it.
I should also start on the kids’ baby books….
AAHHH!!! I want to work for Blurb! Seems like a fun place.
Thanks for doing what you do!!
Eileen,
Thanks for the update on the new book cover option and new pricing. I produced a book for my son’s 13th birthday and needless to say, people’s response has been “Wow! You’ve really raised the bar, Tim!”
I will be putting together another book soon to display my paintings (www.timothychambers.com) for potential clients to view. I know that seeing my work in a book seems to “validate” me in their eyes, and your program is so easy to use (and I think you’ve since improved the software since). Thanks for a great product at a still very reasonable price.
Tim
I love my book but there are a couple of local places that want to pick it up and the price is prohibative. The new prices thankfully do not affect my current book, however, they might on future books.Is there any price break for stores that wish to sell a book?
Sweeeeet :) I’ve been looking at a few companies to get my books from and this just seals the deal.
I’d also like to second the 7″x5″ landscape idea and the heavier paper option. 5″x4″ pocket books anyone?
Now any chance of a 12″ x 16″ book with an acrylic cover? Slipcases? Probably getting carried away but thought I’d ask :)
Thank you so much for adding the ImageWrap !! I didn’t like the idea of just a dust jacket on a standard hardcover, but now I can’t wait to have a hardcover book with ImageWrap !!
+1 on the ImageWrap + dust jacket, that’d be awesome.
I hope you won’t have to increase the prices too much anymore though.
Glad to hear about the book wrap- will wait to order to get on e of each
Thanks for that.
Thanks!!
ManofArt
I have to say that I was very pleased with the book that I ordered previously, and look forward to using some of the new options. As costs of materials/shipping increase, I know price increases on our products were inevitable, and that less common sizes will like increase disproportionately to others.
Anyway, keep adding more features, and I hope to be doing more work soon. Never any lack of photobooks desired for gifts.
Eileen,
Congratulations! You are always so inspiring.
-Doug Motel
Darn! I wish we were given more advanced warning that there was a price change coming. The book I’m working on is going up 25%! I would have been sure to finish it.
A 15% price increase on an 8×10 softcover. That more than eats up the quantity discount of 50 books!
How about improving the discount rate?
~Steve
I would like to see a 12X12 book please.
those graphics on the edge, where does one get those or how does one make those graphics?
I’m super excited to try out this new cover option! Hurray!
We actually use a couple other printing services. We had someone turn us onto Blurb a few months ago, and even though we set up an account we’ve not been able to fully explore or use Blurb’s services.
We received today’s “price increase” notice and was sincerely disappointed! We had hoped Blurb might be something our office might use. Now, with the TWENTY-FIVE percent price increase on some products - I doubt we’ll be going with Blurb.
There were three points regarding the notification I was seriously disappointed with and the Blurb CEO needs to take note of these, as I’m sure others feel exactly the I do.
FIRST: A 25% price increase is “NOT” a slight price increase as the email notification states; “While prices will go up “A BIT….” If I were to raise our prices 25% with one day’s notice I guarantee 30 - 50% of our clients would reconsider our services.
SECOND: What I also found irritating with the notification was the implication that one day’s notice was some how …. an “EARLY HEADS UP” !?!? How is ONE DAY any kind of notification?? Good for Blurb’s wallet, but a poor business & service move for Blurb’s customers. We’ll seriously considering and most likely stay with current services we use.
THIRD & LAST: Again… 5% increase is a lot, let alone 25%, and NO explanation!! What also concerns me as a potential customer is what I’m reading in comments. I see product quality requests; paper weight & quality, bar codes removed, size & layout improvements, and most likely dozens others not mentioned in this comment area. What’s happened to these requests BEFORE your price increase - let along now after a HUGE HIKE in price?
So here’s my question: The “creative” people whom you thank for their passion & support are the reason for Blurb’s success. It’s not like customers aren’t paying for those services already, but now, especially with the incredible price increase. With a HUGE and SUBSTANTIAL price increase - where and when does Blurb plan on supporting it’s customers with better services, better quality and options?
Barry
Renovatio Lucis
Portland, Oregon
Wouldn’t you know it, I uploaded a book last night and got the notification this morning on ImageWrap. Gotta love it as I wished for this option from the day I first discovered Blurb through SmugMug. I’ll be trying it out first thing. Ditto on thicker pages.
BlurbNation designer and professional photographer here.
Kudos on ImageWrap!! Excellent option!!
+1 on square format books larger than the 7×7
Christine
YES! 12 x 12 would be nice too
As a MBA candidate, I took a slightly different approach to evaluating this change in pricing. I analyzed the price points for the 8×10 landscape as that is my favorite format.
What I found is that there were previously 20 price points (10 each for hard cover and soft cover). Of those 20 price points, 3 remained the same, 6 increased by 1%-9%, 10 increased by 10%-19%, and one increased by 25%. This is hardly in keeping with the message published above.
I can only assume that the difference in pricing is in response to an excess of demand and find it likely that the price increases target the most popular page counts and formats. Indeed, your per-unit revenue will rise while your delivery times decrease slightly, but you are trading away some of your competetive advantage and doing what many artistic types would call SELLING OUT.
Sadly for me, the 25% increase is for the 121-160 page hard cover format. I am waiting on my proof edition to arrive before ordering multiple copies and likely will make that my last order with Blurb. Sorry, but I don’t appreciate that you are lying to your customer base nor do I like the second-degree price discrimination you are exercising.
The real shame is that the general public will typically swallow the line: “In fact, while some prices will go up a bit, about 25% will stay the same or even decrease.” Sorry, but this is just not the case according to my analysis of 33.3% of your current offerings.
Perhaps you could try being honest with your customers next time?
Hey I think the new Imagewrap is very cool. I also think the ultimate of cool would be Imagewrap AND a dustcover…..that would be awesome!!! Something for you to think about. I’m sure lots of people wouldn’t mind paying a couple extra bucks for an optional dustjacket on their imagewrap book.
Thanks for this, I’m super excited about the new image wrap option!
Just wondering.. is that massive barcode shown in the photo going to be printed on every book?
PS. +1 on thicker pages and 10×10 books!!
I too would love to see a 12×12 book. I have been searching for a place to make a book and I have been holding back in hopes that you would release one. I also think you would benefit big time from the scrapbookers if you chose to do it.
Instead of increasing the cost, have you considered off-shoring your book printing like in China or India?
I haven’t quite ordered my first book yet (Father’s Day present for FireDad) but really like this new option. I’m hoping the entire experience is awesome enough for a mention on our blog.
Thanks for the update on price increases. Not that I quite have a comparative price yet (ha!) but honest companies are fabulous.
I usually do 160page books. The price went up from $39.95 to $49.95. I recently did a 10 book Blurb project that would not have been possible at the new price point, sorry. For folks that order one book, the total price is in the range of $62.00 for one copy, including shipping. Not good. I’d have to think twice before ordering now.
I’m glad to see the new image wrap cover offering. Unfortunately the price to print my 160 page 10×8 hardcover with dust jacket book jumps $10 (25%) from $39.95 to $49.95 per copy. My book is printed for resale, and the economics were already strained at the old price, but I won’t be able to print any more at the new price.
I’m sure Blurb has good reasons to increase the price at this size, and for people making one, two or three copies of their book for their own use or as a special gift, it’s no big deal. But it does trash the feasibility of using Blurb to print books intended for resale at wholesale prices to bookstores.
Retail bookstores traditionally get a 40% discount off the retail price of a book. A local publisher told me the rule of thumb in the trade is that a book retails for 8 times the cost of production.
Over the past 18 months I’ve been able to sell over 600 copies of my book, at least 400 of those through a local independent bookstore at a wholesale price of $50, at a $10 profit to me. For the first year, the store was willing to retail the books at $59.95, making only $10 instead of the $24 standard profit margin. This was because the owner was highly motivated to carry the book because of the high local interest in it.
Six months ago the store raised the retail price to $65, still much less than the standard markup would bring. The sales of the book immediately dropped to less than half of the previous rate. Now, with the prospect of a $10 increase in the cost of my book, I have placed one final order for 20 books at the old price.
I hope Blurb will find a way to give a substantial discount for orders of, say, 50 books or more, because otherwise it is no longer economically feasible for me to use Blurb to self-publish books for resale.
I don’t blame Blurb for charging what they have to to cover increasing costs. It’s just that it no longer works for me.
To end on a positive note, the starting price of most sizes from Blurb has not gone up, so 40 page books still cost the same. Also it looks like the new price of paperbacks is much less than hard cover in the same size and page count. At 160 pages 10×8 the new soft cover price is $36.95, which is $13 less than the hard cover. The old price paperback was only $6 less than hard cover, so now there is more incentive to go soft cover
I love the wrap and it will be just the perfect addition to my new Lunar book! I really like the S/W its easy to use but would really like to know where to send comments to make it better for the future. I am using a beta version of the S/W and it sometimes crashed for no reason, lucky for me the auto save has, well…. saved my you know what several times….
Keep doing what your doing Blurbarians…What you have is awesome!!!!
I LOVE my blurb books! Naturally, I just got a bunch of large format books done that I’d have loved to do the image wrap on…oh well. I’ll love it for the future. One thing I really wish you’d do is have a book that is the same proportions so that one could lay it out in say a smaller format, but then have the option to order it in the larger one later without having to completely redo it all. I’m a little bummed about the price increases…that makes it tough when you’re doing work for a school (like a football team) with limited funds. PLEASE DON’T LISTEN TO THAT GUY Tommy Bombon about outsourcing! Keep it all here!!!!! Thanks for your services. You’re the best. My friends think I work for BLURB because I won’t shut up about it. Heidi…
The price increase in the 8 x 10, 120 -160 page category is $12.00 per copy. That is a huge increase. It seems that a few dollars in all categories would have been a bit more palatable. The price hike might be fine for a one time only specialty book but to make any money on a book is now out of the question in this competitive market. What are you changing to warrant that kind of price hike and to keep your customers satisfied? Better paper quality? Please I’d really like to know. Extremely disappointed and looking elsewhere.
The Image Wrap was the right move and as a Matte Finish will be excellent!
With all that said and done, I would be glad to pay more for your books as my clients so far have loved them and so have I. With everything else going up I tottally understand.
I went to my WPPI Photography show last year and saw over 20 companies offering books like yours and not even coming close to your prices and quality!!!
Thank you and I look forward to ordering more and more from Blurb in the years to come.
Randall Licht CEO
Borel Photography Studios
The Image Wrap sounds like a good idea, but I was wondering what press it willbe printed on. The covers have been printed on a different press than the pages (not HP Indigo) will that be the case too with Image Wrap? Will it be printed on the same press as the dust jackets and covers have been?
Imagewrap especially in the matte finish…is lovely….
how about some variations in colors on the endpages….would love to put images there as well for that fun continuous look…
but at least some darker solid color choices…can make the book feel more wholesome…more complete……more connected.
I can’t seem to find anywhere how will be able to use the Image wrap feature. Do we download it or will it be offered when we upload our next book? I’m sure you’ve explained this somewhere, but this old man needs help. What a wonderful option! You guys are the best!
Hal
Heavier paper PLEASE!!
*I love me blurb books.
*Please offer dust cover with Image Wrap.
How about a template that allows you to use foot-notes at the bottom of the pages?
*Some people would complain if you printed their books for free. Prices will always go up; your quality books are still a great buy at the new price. Either a book is worth it — or it isnt worth it; easy call. I would rather pay more and keep your quality, that have you slide into ’second best’ because you kept your prices down.
J.A. Mark Emmerson of Bermuda
@howell - it’s an option at check-out, so you simply make the book in BookSmart, then choose ImageWrap when you’re checking out. Heads-up that ImageWrap does not have the inside flaps of the book. So if you create those they will NOT show up in ImageWrap.
@JA - thanks for the feedback - noted on the template, we welcome all suggestions. And glad you feel us on the pricing - we really did spend A LOT of time creating this system. Appreciate the positivity!
Imagewrap: Great idea but where do I find it ?
Do I need to download an updated software ?
:)
Thanks for the ImageWrap addition. This addressed one of the few shortcomings in your offerings.
Another shortcoming is your available square sizes. I used to shop with one of your competitors and I standardized on the square format long ago (because it translates to any size, i.e. 4×4, 7×7, 10×10, 12×12, etc. with the push of a button). However I liked your other offerings enough so that I switching to Blurb. (And believe me, it was a hard choice to switch because I will have spent about 20 extra hours just reformatting my many existing square pages to 13×11 by the time I order my first book.)
If you offer a large, i.e. 12×12 format (and then a medium sized, i.e. 10×10, and pocket size, i.e. 4×4), I don’t think that there will be anything else that I’ll wish you had (that your competitors currently have).
I’ve also noticed a lot of square book requests here so please pass this request up the management chain (you’ll build your loyal customer base ;-).
Thanks for your time with this.
Peter Somers
http://www.peters-pics.com
Thanks so much for the imagewrap! I just ordered another copy of my book as a gift for someone, and I cannot wait to see what it will look like! You guys are awesome, and I will defiantly be creating more books in the future.
like others here, im pretty disappointed in this price increase. esp with the short notice. ive purchased/sold about 45 copies of my book and would have placed another bulk order had i known the price was going to jump 25%!
if anything, it would have been nice to have grandfathered all the existing books in the store at the old price and then increase the price on all newly published books.
i too will be shopping around for a new place to print my books.
i left a comment here last night expressing disappointment. it’s since been deleted. is blurb now censoring comments?
Hi Pete — Sorry about the delay in getting your comments posted. All comments must first be vetted by us to filter for spam of which we get a lot of. Your coment came in after work hours hence the delay.
If you read through all of our blog comments and even our Forums, you’ll discover that we do not censor. We take all feedback — good and bad — very seriously and welome it in all fashions.
That said, we appreciate the fact that some of you are upset about our new prices. We certainly hear you and will be sure to incorporate some of everyone’s ideas about how to message info like this in the future.
– Kathy
Hi there Blurb
I too like the new option, however the price hike is not welcomed, I recently quoted my customers a price for a finished book, the price quoted is landed cost to Australia with a bit of leeway for AUD vs US$ and of course some profit, now that profit is wiped out and we will most likely make a loss.
Would be simple to put my price up but our orders are already in and paid for by our customers, as we wanted pre-orders from them.
I have to concur with a few comments above about the prices going up for the popular book sizes! A flat increase across the board may have been better received
I’m older than your average customer, 50+, but love photography and am trying to utilize new technology and products. I finally gave up film and adopted digital two years ago. My local Photo Store — that’s been in the same location for 50+ years — recently gave up on selling cameras and equipment and converted to a download cafe format. I tried making a couple of photo books there on a Hewlett Packard kiosk, but after only a couple of months they may give up on it and the new owner of the place actually encouraged me to try blurb.com. I just struggled through a first order and will see what arrives. My question is, I like to have some idea who I’m working with. I don’t care about an exact address, but in what city and state are you located? In what city and state (or country) are your books printed?
Hi Rob,
Blurb is located in San Francisco, CA. Our books are printed in several states throughout the U.S. and in the Netherlands.
I hope this answers your questions. Keep tuned to the blog and we’ll let you know where we’re at for meetups and other events.
– Kathy
Image wrap? I just updated to the 1.9.5 and can’t find the option? Any suggestions of how this works.
Christina - The ImageWrap option is not actually in BookSmart. This FAQ should help.
– Kathy
I’ve seen a lot of comments from blurb users regarding new technical aspects and such. I’ve also seen a lot of concern (mine included) regarding the price hike, and the EXTREMELY short notice given regarding the price increase.
I’ve seen feedback from Blurb regarding those technical and logistical questions, however, what I’ve NOT seen are answers nor replies to the monetary concerns voiced here - regarding the (NOT “slight” ) price increase.
So Blurb… I’m sure I’m not the only one who would appreciate some “HONEST” candor regarding the price hike and short notice, while addressing people’s concerns here.
What says Blurb?!?
Hi Barry,
We completely understand your concerns. We also heard from others concerned about some of our price changes, and so, last week, Eileen wrote a follow-up post that went into more detail about these changes.
I hope you find that Eileen’s candid remarks answer your questions.
– Kathy
(quote)printed covers are great! thanks for this.
now when do we get a large 12×12 format? scrapbookers will rejoice on that day - and your business will boom for it.
janet g
Comment by janet grey — May 6, 2008 @ 3:44 pm (end quote)
I third what Janet said , even an 8×8 and 10×10 would have me lining up with my scrapbooking pages all ready to make Chrissy pressies for the family :)
I got the 7×7 size and I really like it but it’s still a tad too small for me, I was hoping with the changes there would be an 8×8 at least!
that image wrap option is great!
blushbutter
I suggested Blurb to many people. I have been so pleased with the few books that I have made as have the people I have made them for.
My prices have gone up and I anticipate everyone elses do to. If you or I cannot make a profit we go out of business and that is bad for everyone who relies on our services.
Looking through the library of Blurb and reviewing those that alow me to I envy you in getting to see all the amazing books that you are publishing. Great fun.
Frank Marshman
I had fun publishing my 120 page,hard cover,book.I informed several friends about Blurb and they downloaded your program.My book is great looking-Thank You
fabulous!! I’ve been waiting for this and am working on a new book right now and I’ll be ordering the image wrap. I keep recommending you guys to all the artists I know - a photographer friend was actually over last night to pick up one of my books so he could start using you guys. your service is completely addicting… and your quality is the best out there imho. keep up the awesome work!!
The example of the image wrap cover on this site. How do I choose this layout?(the cover) I’m trying to make a book for my son it only gives me the option to choose a hard cover or soft cover book. Please help. thanks
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[...] I pretty use MyPublisher for my own photo books now, but Blurb just introduced a new book type that looks interesting. According to an email I received from the company, "ImageWrap is a new hardcover book option that lets you print text and images directly on the front and back of your books. You’ll still get to create a front cover, spine, and back cover just as you always have, but with ImageWrap, each area will wrap smoothly over the edge of your book. ImageWrap books also feature a durable matte finish. They’re beautiful." More info from the Blurb blog: [...]
[...] mentioned previously, costs have gone up across our entire print network. In addition, until a few weeks ago we were [...]