Comments on: Photographer Banned by Blurb Books

By: roger beck

roger beck — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:35:11 +0000

To answer an earlier question about WHCC, it is a portrait and wedding lab that has really great service and printing, of all kinds. http://www.whcc.com/ Photographers are very picky, and labs like this offer quality and consistency like you wouldn’t believe. After reading one too many reviews about Blurb, I just cant trust them to send a good quality book to clients. Prices are only slightly higher and with guaranteed quality and a lot more size options. They have 2 versions of press printed books/albums. I quickly priced a 10 spread/20 side 8×8 press printed book with wraparound photo cover – $65. Pages are hinged so they lay flat, etc., yadda

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By: rhudson

rhudson — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:47:56 +0000

I’ve printed 14 books of recent photo-reportage projects with Blurb using there simple Booksmart software and have to say that I and my clients have been very happy with the results.
There was a small problem on one print run that Blurb immediately rectified by reprinting the whole run correctly.
Im quite hqppy with them but from my experience at the begining think you need to order a couple of books and then adjust your photos accordingly

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:04:47 +0000

I just wanted to say I’ve ordered 2 books. I’ve been happy with both.

By: Dave Acheson

Dave Acheson — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:29:43 +0000

Re Messages 75/77

Was in touch with Blurb about the two crinkled pages (one backed onto the other!). Sent them photographs and within a few hours I was told I would get a reprint of my 402 page book. Superb after sales service. Book came within a week and I was told I could keep the original flawed book. Amazed at that! The colour that I felt was slightly off in the flawed edition was now perfect. I am one happy bunny! Thanks guys!!

By: Dave Acheson

Dave Acheson — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:44:00 +0000

Wouldn’t you just know it! I wrote message 75 and have just received my 400 page book back. Colour is definitely not as good as my earlier book and there are two pages crinkled – enough to annoy me!

Grrrhh!

By: Charlotte Snowden

Charlotte Snowden — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 07:24:55 +0000

I have just recieved my first Blurb book for a wedding client, and they have printed the page numbers on the pages, but only some pages and not others, looks shocking I can tell you!

By: Dave Acheson

Dave Acheson — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:28:19 +0000

As a graphic designer with 30 years experience and 20 years working on all the major Apple packages I approached Blurb with some trepidation. I had read all the forums and was worried that one day I too would have to write my bad luck story of Blurb gone wrong.

I sent my 268 page book off in September and had it returned to me within two weeks. I was pleasantly shocked to find it was perfect in every way. Indeed I wished some of my litho printers could do as good a job! People have to understand CMYK is different from RGB and that the Blurb profiles are there for a reason. I checked my 700 photographs in my book twice to make sure everything was right before I sent it off. Time consuming but professional.

Now I have a 400 pager ready to go – a similar mixture of photographs, illustrations and black text and a 200 page photography book in the works. I hope I am not tempting fate but I hope to get as good a job.

If I have a gripe with Blurb it would be the lack of an A4 format for British based designers. It’s what we work in 90% of the time.

Overall I am happy with my book and those I have seen from other photographers and designers who have used the InDesign to PDF format. Fantastic value for money. Am looking forward to an iBook future with the guys though perhaps not just so keen to have to work in BookSmart.

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By: Donna

Donna — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:12:30 +0000

Well, I’ve sold over 300 copies of my book on blurb in the 15 months since I published it. Shameless plug: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1644955

I’ve not had a single complaint from anyone who ordered from blurb or bought a copy from me (personally or via amazon). I’ve ordered abut 75-100 copies myself and every single one looks great. I might be the exception, but , really, I’ve got no complaints.

I’ve gone so far as to recreate the book as a large landscape HB (11×13) for a limited edition and while spendy, it’s a gorgeous book. Again, as I’ve checked each book, the only errors I’ve found have been my own formatting glitches or spelling errors (now corrected and newly uploaded).

Before I even created my book, I did a dummy 20 page book to take a look at blurb’s quality and was pleased. I was concerned because I did (and do) read the forums and there is a lot of griping. I’m happy to say, speaking for me alone, I’ve got nothing major to gripe about.

While I am looking forward to blurb’s addition of an iBook format, I do wish they could/would do something about a distribution deal with amazon. Blurb and I would sell more books that way.

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By: Kengi

Kengi — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:38:51 +0000

August 7 2011 I published a book with Blurb Books. The book is photographs I took during my 29 months of homelessness while in my 5th battle with cancer.

At first glance the book looked fine, but after I started having people mail me the books to sign them I noticed how some of the pictures were blurred and the color towards the ends of pages was fadding. Then there were books where pictures had lines through them.

Last month I had 3 book sales, but blurb lost two of those sales and since then they’ve done nothing more then tell me to be patient. It’s been over 7 days and they have not contacted nor corrected this issue.

Blurb books fails on so many different levels. As i prepare for my new book, I am not trusting it to Blurb Books

By: Ed Hamlin

Ed Hamlin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:37:38 +0000

It is very true, Garbage in and Garbage out. Typically that is not the problem with on demand printers. The issue is when your image is printed, does it look like a high quality print or does it look like a magazine page.

I have printed a couple of books and I am working on another. The problem with the second book I had printed was there were bands that showed up in some of the images. This is a problem with the printer and not my image file. The next issue, some we lighter or darker than what was displayed on test prints and on my calibrated dsiplay. I even verified on a second system. I don’t know of many professionals that don’t use calibrated displays it doesn’t make sense.

Lastly if the printer doesn’t have some kind of quality control system to ensure they are working at 100% on their end, they are going to need a large customer service staff. When you spend over $100 for a single copy you want it to be right especially if it is art versus a family trip, so I reserve the right to express my dissatisfaction (whine as you word it).

By: Ed Hamlin

Ed Hamlin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:23:27 +0000

I just reread this and I wonder how blurb is doing these day on the quality of printing and it’s paper choices.

By: Billy J.

Billy J. — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:25:45 +0000

I have had 2 books printed by Blurb. My first was a 7 inch, soft cover, 20 page used to check their color printing. I and all who saw it were very pleased. The color of the prints matched what I had on my screen and were sent as jpeg. The second book was a pictorial keepsake of my familys trip out to the southwest. It is a 12×12 hard cover with dust jacket, and 238 pages, 512 pictures. Again the printing was just the same as on my screen. Thank you Blurb for preserving our great memorys. I have taken both books to our local Photographic Soc. meetings and recieved much prase. All you whiners should calabrate your screens. Blurb can only print good books from good input. Garbage in / Garbage out!

By: robert

robert — Fri, 13 May 2011 02:33:40 +0000

I’m wondering about Jonathan’s being banned. He said “Blurb “disabled” my account for me without my permission…”
Does this mean that the file, his book, his persona property, was
confiscated? Was no longer where he could get to it? If a company decides they don’t want to continue with a particular customer,
they should at least return that customer’s belongings — meaning
he should have access to the file containing his work. I hope
that was the case. ??

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 02:39:45 +0000

I need to apologize publicly for my ill-worded line about the customer service agent Michael. I meant to write that I felt Blurb’s customer service system (email/live support) was a joke, not that he and his service were a joke as it came across in my post.

They have offered a reprint and full refunf of all associated costs with the printing of the book. Hopefully I will finally get the copy I planned on, even though it is weeks after my dad’s 70th party and his actual birth date.

By: Trevor Taylor

Trevor Taylor — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:24:44 +0000

I wrote a 107-page book for my father’s 70th birthday. I ordered a proof copy on Dec 15. I received the proof copy in very short order and it looked great. I used it to make many changes and adjustments and ordered 2 copies for my dad’s birthday on Jan 15.

I noticed a page didn’t upload into the “book preview” even though it showed in Booksmart. I emailed customer support but they confirmed the file uploaded and it should be fine. It wasn’t both books printed without page 99.

After emailing customer support I was offered a free reprint. That reprint was horrendous. Streaks and smudges throughout both books. At this point the months of work were ruined as I had no book to give my dad on his birthday – despite my leaving enough to go through 2 prints!

The “customer service” (what a joke!) agent Michael, offered to have someone inspect the book to be sure it printed correctly. Well apparently the inspectors snapped the binding of both books at page 2. So once I again I emailed and sent photos. After many days (more time to respond to my emails than to print and mail the proof book I might add), Michael responded something about a lay-flat book and how they wouldn’t reprint since I couldn’t be satisfied!

I don’t know what a lay-flat book is but I just want the book I ordered to be printed and shipped with all the pages their, no printing errors and the binding in-tact.

I would definitely recommend you look somewhere else as you can’t reach anyone from Blurb. They hide behind their email/live support chat. Save your money and you memories for a company who delivers what they offer!

PS – I have the entire thread of emails and the pics of my book if anyone is interested: newt_dunbarton@hotmail.com

By: carl

carl — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:22:13 +0000

Well, my expectations for Blurb were much more modest. I’ve ordered about 30 soft bound, 20-page photo “books” from Kodak. $19.99 for each book, not including shipping. Blurb has a similar product at a very similar if not identical price, very close in size (although I think Kodak is maybe a wee bit bigger). Now, these type books tend to have a much better looking cover than interior pages but, again, that’s to be expected given the price; and I should say that one should not expect either product to look as good as your Fuji Pearl or Kodak Metallic … okay … got my Blurb book yesterday and it looked flat compared to the Kodak. To my eyes, every image had a less “pop” than the book from Kodak. The images seemed grainier and more diffuse. Now, I realize that whenever we make these claims other people have not seen the books and thus can’t really say whether they’d agree with our assessments … one man’s trash is another’s treasure … understood … But for me, my test of Blub is the literal “one and done”.

By: Rudi A Blondia

Rudi A Blondia — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:40:12 +0000

I’ve 7 or 8 Blurb books by now and printed over 50 of them. One got slightly damaged in shipping but that was not a blurb issue … that’s it.

Happy with the print quality for the money and the easy of workflow. My digital workflow is calibrated, I use premium paper as there’s a difference in my observation.

My expectations are based on my understanding of the print process and many years of hands on experience in printing images in a variety of processes. I own hundreds of photography books printed by a wide variety of publishers … there’s an equal variety of print quality ;-)

I’m happy, my customers are happy, what else can I say ?

I also use MyPublisher, WHCC, GraphiStudio and have used other wedding book suppliers in the last 6 years … your mileage may vary … all of them have their good and bad points

Do your research and set your expectations accordingly.

By: johnny

johnny — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:52:37 +0000

What bullshit. If you read Blurb’s forums you will be shocked at how many customers crap all over their product without being banned or censored. He must have gone overboard to get banned.

By: Thomas C. Olson

Thomas C. Olson — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:58:30 +0000

I did not find Blurb easy to use. It is definitely harder to put a book together than Shutterfly. I looked at their video and I feel I do not have access to all of their tools. Can someone help me? Is there a written pamphlet available on how to put a book together on Blurb?

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:28:18 +0000

I just published a book with Blurb. I also entered the book in the Photography Book Now contest . When I received the book, I was extremely disappinted. The image wrap binding was sub-par, but not to the point of returning as I considered this first copy a “review Print”. However, the quality of the photographs (primarily black & whites) are unacceptable – too dark. I am also knowledgeable about color management and calibration – In order to hopefully get the images so they will print better, I went back and made adjustments to those that absolutely needed help – am hoping they will now print better.

With so many forums that include professional photographers and designers including those on their website reporting this flaw, it amazes me that Blurb would not launch a major campaign to correct this issue. The other major concern is that I can’t find a telephone number for customer service – so much can get lost in translation in an email. Is this how they hide from problems?

I am doing research to find another viable alternative – would love to form a list of the Top 5 that we could all share!

By: Cassie

Cassie — Fri, 14 May 2010 04:22:35 +0000

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my photography is landscape and architecture. I imagine that Blurb would do just fine for portraits or weddings.

By: Cassie

Cassie — Fri, 14 May 2010 04:16:46 +0000

I just ordered my first blurb book and am thoroughly disappointed! I am pretty sure that I could have recieved the same (if not better) quality ordering a photo book from a discount printing site. It is a shame that a site would offer a “quality” product that is really just crap at an unreasonable price!

By: Sue

Sue — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:12:37 +0000

I have been a graphic designer for well over 25 years. I have created hundreds of pdf files to go to printers, so not exactly like I am a newbie. I spent considerable time on this layout in InDesign for wedding book. Downloaded their special pdf export software and then the problems began. Continuous errors on a font. They are sorry I have been “inconvenienced” but they don’t support CS. That is all they will say, no attempt to work with me. It is a little more than “inconvenience” to build for another vendor, but sure don’t want to work with these guys. Thanks for all the info on other vendors. Will try and find one with same size format so I don’t have to recreate the whole thing.

By: gramam68

gramam68 — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:33:23 +0000

Over the last 18 months I have had many books printed with blurb, I am a busy professional photographer and know about colour management and all the associated issues/implications. No, these are not finely bound, fold-flat books, but the printed quality has only ever been good, very good. My only issues relate to a lack of quality control with the bindings. However, when I raised my concerns about any individual book, it was immediately replace, WITHOUT QUESTION OR DELAY. Colour fidelity has never been an issue, and I mean NEVER. The only time I had an issue with printed quality, was due to an error on my part, I sharpened the images twice, silly me!
Clients have only ever had positive things to say about there books, they are great value for money and as such can help to complete a job without adding much to the price. Blurb books are a standard item with all my wedding photography options, if a client wishes to upgrade, they are welcome to do so.
My vote sits with Blurb, maybe someone else will begin to challenge there position but at this moment in time, unless you pay considerably more, no body can compete with their service.

Get things right at your end and accept them for what they are, good quality and good pricing.

Graham

By: susie cushner

susie cushner — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:07:40 +0000

@john n.,

What is WHCC?? I’d like to look into it. Just received a disapointing result from BLURB.
Thx.

By: chris shaw

chris shaw — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:35:24 +0000

overall i`ve been quite pleased with the books i`ve made with blurb re the quality and the price..i live in europe.black and whites not so hot..but then its not twin palms publishers its blurb-and i`ve had a book published with twin palms.
the colour printing in europe is good quality..but then you cant make pearls out of a sows ear!
there are teething problems with the process but i lke the idea of artists publishing their own very limited edition books.its a great marquette.to hand to publishers..

By: Photographer italy

Photographer italy — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:15:21 +0000

Iìve been so disappointed by blurb, so i decided to make my books in other way, like Aperture printing, or myphotobook way…the print a good quality product, but after all blurb, for the price, makes a decent job..
the point of strenght of blurb is the ability to allow someone to place an order of your book online, are there different alternatives for this service?