Blurb Book - Outstanding!

redleash · December 1, 2008

Just received my first book from Blurb. It is for a customer who ordered it as a Christmas gift for a friend. I'm disappointed the customer won't see it, as she wants me to ship directly to her friend. I am sooooooo pleased with the quality that I want everyone to see it!

The paper cover is very nice, both paper quality and image quality. The book is nicely bound, images are true to original color and clarity, and the text is crisp. It looks like a book I could find at a fine bookstore!

Lauren

Ann McRae · December 1, 2008

redleash wrote:

Just received my first book from Blurb. It is for a customer who ordered it as a Christmas gift for a friend. I'm disappointed the customer won't see it, as she wants me to ship directly to her friend. I am sooooooo pleased with the quality that I want everyone to see it!

The paper cover is very nice, both paper quality and image quality. The book is nicely bound, images are true to original color and clarity, and the text is crisp. It looks like a book I could find at a fine bookstore!

Lauren

Can you show us photos?

ann

redleash · December 1, 2008

Hi Ann-

Thanks for asking! See if this works: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/421886

If not, you can go to Blurb.com and search for "Walking in the Good Way," which is the name of my book.

I'll be interested to hear what you think.

Lauren

leaforte · December 1, 2008

Very nice.

It's so great you are happy with the finished product!

Travis · December 1, 2008

Looks good and I'm glad to hear your positive comments about the quality. I'm about to create a few.

sweet caroline · December 1, 2008

Travis wrote:

Looks good and I'm glad to hear your positive comments about the quality. I'm about to create a few.

I used Blurb for the yearbook at my daughters' school last year. They only had 40 students, so I worried about going with one of the traditional yearbook publishers since most have minimum orders or a surcharge, etc. The books turned out so beautifully that they display one at all new parent info sessions. I was very pleased with the quality of both hardcover and softcover versions. Plus, for the size book we created, the price was very reasonable.

Caroline

MaryBoo · December 3, 2008

I've made a 11x13 book as a gift for a friends wedding and everyone was pleased with the book. (http://www.blurb.com/books/110966) I've also made the 8x10 size book. (http://www.blurb.com/books/283960) I did have some issues with some of the pictures in that book. In the first book the pictures were ok, but in the re-print many of them were pixelated (sp?).

I also saw a book that my sister made for her boys sport teams. She did a green background with orange font (yuk - but those were the team colors). Anyway..the printing was way off! The font showed white and orange. She should have asked for re-prints.

I understand that their customer service is good and that they will do reprints, but it would be better to have it printed right the first time. Still, they are the best price in town. My 8x10 hardback, image wrapped book with 168 pages and almost 300 photos cost less then $80, including tax and shipping. I can put up with some pixelated pictures for that price - but only for famliy use. Not so sure about selling to a customer. I think I would show them a book with a few problems and see if they are ok with it for the price. A nice Blurb book for $200 or Exceptional book for $500+ ???

Mary
www.cherryvalleyphoto.com

shniks · December 4, 2008

redleash wrote:

Just received my first book from Blurb. It is for a customer who ordered it as a Christmas gift for a friend. I'm disappointed the customer won't see it, as she wants me to ship directly to her friend. I am sooooooo pleased with the quality that I want everyone to see it!

The paper cover is very nice, both paper quality and image quality. The book is nicely bound, images are true to original color and clarity, and the text is crisp. It looks like a book I could find at a fine bookstore!

Lauren

I agree Lauren- I have designed a few books there and they all turned out excellent. Besides their customer service is stellar.

Cheers,

thenimirra · December 10, 2008

wow that looks great! thank you so much for sharing with us!

redleash · December 11, 2008

Thanks! I've ordered some more copies for other gifts. Ya'll let me know how your books turn out too.

Lauren

Snowgirl · December 14, 2008

Looks lovely and I'm glad to hear the quality is good.

I'm about to create a book for my first grandson and was wondering which way to go. thanks.

MaryBoo · December 14, 2008

Snowgirl wrote:

Looks lovely and I'm glad to hear the quality is good.

I'm about to create a book for my first grandson and was wondering which way to go. thanks.

For a personal family book like that, Blurb is the best way to go. Their prices are the best around for books over that 20 page base price. And be sure to order it as a hardcover book with the image wrap. The dust jacket is awesome, but it would get damaged over time and that baby book is going to get a lot of use and be around for a long time.

Snowgirl · December 14, 2008

MaryBoo wrote:

For a personal family book like that, Blurb is the best way to go. Their prices are the best around for books over that 20 page base price. And be sure to order it as a hardcover book with the image wrap. The dust jacket is awesome, but it would get damaged over time and that baby book is going to get a lot of use and be around for a long time.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll do that

jhelms · December 19, 2008

I just put this 156 page one together and got it yesterday - http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/456324

Couple of things I like about blurb - their customer service reps must have been trained by smugmug because my dealings with them so far have been AWESOME!

When my book was delayed they upgraded the shipping for me and after a second delay I was given a coupon to use on my next book.

Yesterday when I got the 2 copies that I ordered (both with imagewrap, one regular paper and one premium paper) I had some issues so I emailed Blurb the following:

The imagewrap cover on the premium paper book was grainy and blurry. But, the but the rest of the premium book (inside pages) are fine.
Oddly enough, on the regular paper version that I ordered, the cover was very sharp, but all of the pages inside are slightly blurry - enough to really bother me.
It looks like the black ink drum was just a hair off, you can tell from the way the text is barely misaligned over some of the backgrounds (not sure if I'm explaining that correctly).
Please let me know what I need to do to get these corrected, thanks!

Their reply was fast and easy:

Hi John,
Thanks for letting us know about this problem with your book. I'm sorry to hear that we did not get things right for you in the first place.
Your order has been submitted to our printer for a reprint. You’ll soon receive an automated email message with your new order number. This new order number can also be found in your order history when you log into your Blurb account.
Finally, would you please email us a digital image that clearly shows your book's defect? Simply attach the image(s) and return to us via this email. To ensure the attachment goes through, please CC the following email address: [EMAIL="<A href="mailto:photonoreply@blurb.com"]photonoreply@blurb.com[/EMAIL">photonoreply@blurb.com"]photonoreply@blurb.com[/EMAIL]
We use these images to follow-up on quality issues at our print facilities, and we appreciate your help in maintaining our high standards.
Please let me know if you have additional questions about this reprint process.
Best Wishes, Arthur
Blurb Customer Support Blurb.com/Help

WOW! That is wonderful IMO, very cool of them to do that. This is only my second book with them and my total orders amount to roughly a dozen or so copies so far. My fingers are crossed that the next books will both be sharp, but I'm impressed at how they are handling it so far... <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/thumb.gif" border="0" alt="" >

sherijohnson · December 20, 2008

redleash wrote:

Just received my first book from Blurb. It is for a customer who ordered it as a Christmas gift for a friend. I'm disappointed the customer won't see it, as she wants me to ship directly to her friend. I am sooooooo pleased with the quality that I want everyone to see it!

The paper cover is very nice, both paper quality and image quality. The book is nicely bound, images are true to original color and clarity, and the text is crisp. It looks like a book I could find at a fine bookstore!

Lauren

did you do regular pages or premium?

jonh68 · December 27, 2008

I made a 11X14 book for my parents of shots I took in their backyard and used the premium paper. An interior decorator looked through the pics of the hummingbirds and was wowed about the detail in the feathers and remarked she felt like she could touch the hummingbird because it had a 3D look. You can get better books, but Blurb is a great bang for the buck on the only people who would notice would be people looking for the differences in quality.

redleash · December 27, 2008

I used the premium paper--very nice. I also just got 2 paperback versions of the same book, also with premium paper. I gave one as a gift for Christmas and am keeping the other as a portfolio piece. I was equally pleased with the paperback version.

My only complaint: Blurb puts a tracking sticker of some kind on the back cover of the book. It says it is easy to remove but I have found just the opposite to be the case. It left lots of residue, which was especially troublesome on the customer's hardbound version (paper cover).

If the Blurb rep on DGrin is watching: please get rid of those stickers!

Lauren

jhelms · December 30, 2008

Here's a quick gallery comparing the 2 books that I got - remember, they are sending me new copies of BOTH books free of charge...

http://www.johntookmypicture.com/gallery/6893290_Szm3t

mercphoto · December 30, 2008

jhelms wrote:

Here's a quick gallery comparing the 2 books that I got - remember, they are sending me new copies of BOTH books free of charge...

Wow. Thanks for posting the comparison. Too bad they didn't turn out any better than they did. Looks like you still get what you pay for.

JDub · December 30, 2008

They are great books. I have used them for all of my weddings, and my clients love them! Me too.

DonRicklin · December 30, 2008

Nice Book! More talk about Blurb at Rust and Whimsy where I announce my Blurb book awhile back!

Don

jhelms · December 30, 2008

mercphoto wrote:

Wow. Thanks for posting the comparison. Too bad they didn't turn out any better than they did. Looks like you still get what you pay for.

?? My previous books from them have been perfect, and I think the quick customer service response of them sending me 2 more books at no charge (2nd day shipping too!) is a little more than what I paid for.

mercphoto · December 30, 2008

jhelms wrote:

?? My previous books from them have been perfect, and I think the quick customer service response of them sending me 2 more books at no charge (2nd day shipping too!) is a little more than what I paid for.

Just seems to me, from all I've read, is their quality is hit and miss, sometimes good sometimes not, that's all.

mercphoto · December 31, 2008

jhelms wrote:

?? My previous books from them have been perfect, and I think the quick customer service response of them sending me 2 more books at no charge (2nd day shipping too!) is a little more than what I paid for.

To be fair I didn't realize you had such good luck before with them and that the problem with these two books was not typical for you. With their new laminate covers and premium papers maybe I need to give Blurb a fresh try.

jhelms · December 31, 2008

mercphoto wrote:

To be fair I didn't realize you had such good luck before with them and that the problem with these two books was not typical for you. With their new laminate covers and premium papers maybe I need to give Blurb a fresh try.

Cool, no problem - and I do usually find myself searching out the 'low-cost-leader' for some of my projects. I have gotten 'bitten' sometimes, but most of the time lately the results have been pretty good on various fronts.

Heck, I've gotten over a dozen 20x30 poster prints done at my local Sam's for $11.66 each and if you can put up with the lack of customer service the bang for the buck is hard to beat.

My decision to use blurb was made in a similar fashion to my decision to use smugmug, good pricing, adequate product for my target market (friends, family, the occasional client), and the ability to market and sell those books I create afterwards without me having to keep track of things. :ivar

Blurb Book - Outstanding!

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