Blurb or My Publisher?

[DarkPenguin]

I know that Blurb was considered better a while ago.  I've heard My Publisher has improved.  Anyone with recent photo books from either or both have an opinion on their quality?

[Wayne Fox]

I know that Blurb was considered better a while ago.  I've heard My Publisher has improved.  Anyone with recent photo books from either or both have an opinion on their quality?

just tried my first book with blurb.  Used the same images in a calendar printed by mPix. I was disappointed in the blurb output, colors were much more accurate and vibrant on the calendar.  Haven't tried myPublisher.

[markhout]

My Publisher has improved and I would deem it slightly better than Blurb, but overall I am still unhappy with the quality of both. Blurb I found lacking in paper quality and resolution; MP's books had a weird shine to the pages and blacks were not as black as I had hoped.

[DarkPenguin]

just tried my first book with blurb.  Used the same images in a calendar printed by mPix. I was disappointed in the blurb output, colors were much more accurate and vibrant on the calendar.  Haven't tried myPublisher.

Did you use the premium paper?

[DarkPenguin]

My Publisher has improved and I would deem it slightly better than Blurb, but overall I am still unhappy with the quality of both. Blurb I found lacking in paper quality and resolution; MP's books had a weird shine to the pages and blacks were not as black as I had hoped.

Did you use the regular blurb paper or the premium stuff?  Might try blurb first since it seems to be cheaper.  I've only used lulu.com.  The results were good considering the lulu staff had apparently never conceived of a photo book when they started the business.

[neile]

I know that Blurb was considered better a while ago. I've heard My Publisher has improved. Anyone with recent photo books from either or both have an opinion on their quality?

I can only speak to Blurb, but I can give my impressions from recent work with them. My book is at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/926672. My requirements for a printing place were somewhere that let me upload a PDF. That pretty much meant I had to go with Blurb.

First off, if you do your own prints on a large format inkjet printer, be prepared to adjust your thinking. There is simply no comparison between a Blurb book and your inkjet prints. Set your expectation accordingly.

For a photography book with fine art images you definitely want the premium paper. The regular paper is just too thin and you get too much bleedthrough of images from front to back.

Colour management is a total disaster and crapshoot with Blurb. If you are not a B3 member you have no control over colour output, and depending on which city your book comes from you could get wildly different results. I've had book covers from the exact same upload come out completely devoid of colour and way too dark, and the reprint come back perfectly.

If you want to do colour management with Blurb you have to be a B3 member and you can only use the Booksmart software, you can't upload a PDF. For the extra fee per book they will guarantee your book will print on a specific machine every time. I have a copy of my book both B3/Booksmart and non-B3/PDF, and the non-B3 is clearly more magenta.

Finally, if you go the PDF upload route, be warned that Blurb adds an *additional* page to the end of your book with their logo on it. This is different than with Booksmart, where the back of your last page gets the logo. It'll drive you batty if you spent a ton of time designing a book perfectly, only to find that there's two gaping white pages at the end that you didn't expect. My solution instead of paying the whopping fees to do a book without logo was to cut the extra page out with an exacto knife.

Let me know if you have any futher questions about Blurb. I've spent a ton of time fighting with just about everything to get my book right.

Neil

[Mark D Segal]

You may wish to give Pikto here in Toronto a try. They're more expensive than Blurb. but the quality is very good. We had a commemorative book done for a family occasion and the results were fine. Color management good, B&W shots look neutral, paper quality good and binding also very well done.

[DarkPenguin]

Colour management is a total disaster and crapshoot with Blurb. If you are not a B3 member you have no control over colour output, and depending on which city your book comes from you could get wildly different results. I've had book covers from the exact same upload come out completely devoid of colour and way too dark, and the reprint come back perfectly.

Is it worth going nuts over color then?  Or should I mostly try to get the layout and whatnot right and check it against my expectations?

Thanks!

[neile]

Is it worth going nuts over color then? Or should I mostly try to get the layout and whatnot right and check it against my expectations?

Thanks!

With Blurb there really isn't any point losing hair over the colour management. Accept that you are paying for on-demand printing and that it costs way less than ordering copies from, say Paperchase or some indirect overseas publishing company. Set your expectations accordingly. B3 printing is slightly better, but it costs more per book.

For my Antarctica book I basically spent zero time on colour management and instead focused on making sure the layout and content was correct. Does the colour match from order to order? Not exactly. Does the colour match my screen? No. Does it match my inkjet prints? Heck no. But everyone who sees my printed book thinks it looks awesome.

Neil

[DarkPenguin]

With Blurb there really isn't any point losing hair over the colour management. Accept that you are paying for on-demand printing and that it costs way less than ordering copies from, say Paperchase or some indirect overseas publishing company. Set your expectations accordingly. B3 printing is slightly better, but it costs more per book.

For my Antarctica book I basically spent zero time on colour management and instead focused on making sure the layout and content was correct. Does the colour match from order to order? Not exactly. Does the colour match my screen? No. Does it match my inkjet prints? Heck no. But everyone who sees my printed book thinks it looks awesome.

Neil

Well that does simplify life.  Thanks again!

[DarkPenguin]

You may wish to give Pikto here in Toronto a try. They're more expensive than Blurb. but the quality is very good. We had a commemorative book done for a family occasion and the results were fine. Color management good, B&W shots look neutral, paper quality good and binding also very well done.

They have software, too.  Interesting.

I should also look at whcc.com as they are across the river from me.

[Mark D Segal]

Neile and DP,

This is defeatism. You put so much effort into making good photographs and getting your own colour management right. We know well that these services are capable of producing first class results if they put their minds to it and maintained standards. I would not accept inferior quality from any of them. But that's me. Each to his/her own.

[DarkPenguin]

Neile and DP,

This is defeatism. You put so much effort into making good photographs and getting your own colour management right. We know well that these services are capable of producing first class results if they put their minds to it and maintained standards. I would not accept inferior quality from any of them. But that's me. Each to his/her own.

I don't think so.  I haven't done this before so there is a lot to do outside of the  printing.  I need to create the actual book to be printed.  If I get  that done to my satisfaction I'll worry about where I'll print it later  on.

I only have to buy one book.  If it blows then I move on.  But it should give me a feel for the specific product I'm trying to make.

Point taken, tho.

[neile]

Neile and DP,

This is defeatism. You put so much effort into making good photographs and getting your own colour management right. We know well that these services are capable of producing first class results if they put their minds to it and maintained standards. I would not accept inferior quality from any of them. But that's me. Each to his/her own.

Don't take it that way, it's just a realization that I'm getting what I pay for. At the moment, if I wanted a full colour-managed process that accepts PDF I'd have to go with a place like PaperChase.net. I priced them out, and I couldn't afford it. So I go with the Blurb books, and for the people I give it to (friends, family), they think it is awesome and my cost for benefit is perfect.

Just want people to realize that if you are going into Blurb expecting to get a stunningly beautiful book like what you see in bookstores it ain't going to happen. You need to go with another type of printing solution that will cost more and likely have order minimums.

Neil

[Mark D Segal]

OK, I see the points you guys are making. My perspective is a bit different. If I were to put all the effort into this that it requires, I'd be let down with nothing less than 1st class results. But I agree, that comes at a price and other people may not necessarily be as tuned-in to the quality differentials.

[neile]

OK, I see the points you guys are making. My perspective is a bit different. If I were to put all the effort into this that it requires, I'd be let down with nothing less than 1st class results. But I agree, that comes at a price and other people may not necessarily be as tuned-in to the quality differentials.

To give you an idea of the cost difference, Pikto wants $279.50CAD for a 78 page 11x14" Hardcover Personalized book. Blurb's 11x13" book costs me $84.95USD. Paperchase, IIRC, was around $120USD a book, but I had to order 10 of them. I also got a quote from a place that outsources production to China, and the price was $10USD a book but I had to order 1000.

With that pricing, and the likelyhood that the only people in the world who would want to see my book are my mom and my dad, I live with Blurb's colour issues

Neil

[Mark D Segal]

Agreed - those price differentials are huge - didn't realise it was that big a difference.

[edt]

Neile,
Subject to confirmation--but I am pretty certain Blurb no longer charges extra for "Custom Workflow" which is the B3 color management thing. That change took place in recent months--it was about $8 per book when they charged for it. I have done a number of Blurb books, all with B3 Custom Workflow and  all with the upgraded paper. fwiw, I have found Black River Imaging's books with layflat pages and laminated pages superb. Their quality is worlds ahead of Blurb. But you get what you pay for, and if you want to sell 5 or 10 or 25 copies of a sports book for $100 or less each, then Blurb works great. Blurb's cost for 120 sides with custom workflow and heavy wt paper allows you to sell that 120 page book for $100....but that same book from the higher quality source would be about $175 and with a max of 80 pages....
Ed

[neile]

Neile,
Subject to confirmation--but I am pretty certain Blurb no longer charges extra for "Custom Workflow" which is the B3 color management thing. That change took place in recent months--it was about $8 per book when they charged for it.

That's cool, and I just confirmed it with one of my private books. Unfortunately B3 isn't supported with PDF-to-Book. The only way to get B3 at the moment is to use Booksmart to do your book layout and upload

Neil

[wolfnowl]

There's also createspace.com and lightningsource.com  No experience with either of them; I believe createspace.com has a relationship with Amazon sales.

Mike.