Blurb Books

HeavyJ

I use to love the DIY books. I've made plenty for different events (Weddings, Family Photos, Japan) and because I have complete control over all aspects of the book making process I'm always happy in the end. Prints are done at a local print shop, book covers and binding are DIY from goods bought at the local stores.

However, it's now tiring and I need something like Blurb to take over. My questions are:

Are there any color issues when going from my PC to Blurb print press type issues? Hue/Sat issues? Loss of detail or sharpness? What you get for the price offered seems almost too good to be true, but not impossible. However, if perhaps Blurb could comment on any issues I should take into account (Adjustments I could make to images to ensure that the quality stays intact) then I would be happy to order my first book.

Second question: I live in Japan. What would the delivery cost be if anyone has ordered from Asia?

Scott_Quier

HeavyJ wrote:

Are there any color issues when going from my PC to Blurb print press type issues? Hue/Sat issues? Loss of detail or sharpness? What you get for the price offered seems almost too good to be true, but not impossible. However, if perhaps Blurb could comment on any issues I should take into account (Adjustments I could make to images to ensure that the quality stays intact) then I would be happy to order my first book.

Second question: I live in Japan. What would the delivery cost be if anyone has ordered from Asia?

It would seem to me that contacting Blurb directly would be the fastest and, possibly, the most reliable way to get answers to the Blurb related questions, including the shipping expense questions.

As for the "too good to be true" point - there are always compromises. With Blurb, you get a product at a quite low price, but that's because there are trade-offs in color, page qualtiy/weight, etc.

Have you considered Asuka books? Unless I'm mistaken, they do the printing in Japan and ship back to the states. There might be a savings there. Downside? You have to be able to convince them that you are a "professional" photographer (their form requires a studio name and a website URL).

mercphoto

I personally find the Blurb books to be priced according to their quality. I mean I'm happy for the price paid, but often I really do want a great looking book, and Blurb just doesn't cut it. You get what you pay for.

Scott_Quier wrote:

Have you considered Asuka books? Unless I'm mistaken, they do the printing in Japan and ship back to the states. There might be a savings there. Downside? You have to be able to convince them that you are a "professional" photographer (their form requires a studio name and a website URL).

Asuka is an awesome book and I've used them often. I like their "Book Bound Hard Cover", which has a full bleed color laminate cover and a frosted plastic protective case. 10x10 20-page books start at $96 as an example of price. But their are drawbacks to Asuka. One was mentioned above. The other is a lack of page count flexibilty. You can get a 20 page book or a 30 page book, but not 24 pages. Another is a lack of sizes. They are big on the square format but have few options for rectangular. And most all the rectangular are portrait orientation, not landscape.

Pounds Photo Labs in Austin (www.poundslabs.com) has the same quality as Asuka in terms of color reproduction, look and feel, build quality. But cheaper prices, flexible page counts, square formats plus rectangular formats in either orientation. I might stop using Asuka because of this.

mercphoto

Just got an email from Blurb that they are now introducing what they call a premium paper. Has anyone tried this yet?

http://blog.blurb.com/index.php/2008/10/21/introducing-premium-paper/

My biggest complaint about Blurb is the quality of photo reproduction on their paper, its just not as nice as Asuka or Pounds. But now I'm wondering if this might bridge that quality gap sufficiently?

heatherfeather

I used to use Blurb, but then had quite a few QC issues and am currently in the market for a new lower end book company. I did just get my first Graphi Studio Album and whoa nelly, what a difference. Of course the price is QUITE a bit more. But I already have a B & G willing pay the difference for the quality of product.