I've bought and sold a few books on blurb, never had a problem. I have Emil Schildt's book from 2012 and it looks like the day it was printed, Denise Ross' too
I've bought and sold a few books on blurb, never had a problem. I have Emil Schildt's book from 2012 and it looks like the day it was printed, Denise Ross' too
Have done some in the past with Blurb - is OK if you have modest expectations and OK with variety in printing quality from one order to the next. Also used Lulu but the best is Edition One in San Francisco. Real quality operation.
I’ve used Blurb for a number of photo books, going back over a dozen years. No fading or yellowing so far. I used their ICC profile and their software, and if I put some effort into targeting for their machines the results were decent and satisfying.
But their prices are too high to make selling to others a reasonable option, compared to the traditional large batch. But it’s a lot less risky.
Rick “no need to sell books or shuffle off this mortal coil with 175 boxes of unsold books in the garage” Denney
I've used Blurb and SAAL Digital and like SAAL better. Excellent results if you do your part.
I see a lot of people have used Blurb. I've found them to be pretty good and have tons of options. I guess it just depends on what your needs are. If you want a fairly good quality photo book at a good price, then Blurb works great. You can even publish with them and they print on demand for ecommerce, which is neat. There are other great options that I've tried as well and have had great experiences. I think most modern print labs do pretty well. The best thing I think you could do is order some samples if they provide them. If you have a business of some sort there are more options opened up to you. Here are some other options that I've tried and they are very good quality.
https://www.whcc.com/ - WHCC is a professional print shop that has tons of options and does a great job, as well as pretty quick turnaround and shipping.
https://www.millerslab.com/home - Miller's is probably an obvious one. Professional print shop thats pretty well known. Their consumer facing site is going to be mPix I believe.
https://bayphoto.com/ - Bay Photo is also a really good option for all kinds of prints. Pretty much compares with the previous two.
https://www.saal-digital.com/ - As others have already mentioned, SAAL Digital is also a great option. I've had some photo albums printed with them and they are great. Keep an eye out for their Instagram as they often offer huge sales, discounts, and sometimes free trial options. I got a photo album from them for free that I otherwise would have had to shell out $150 for. So keep them in mind.
I probably have chimed in here about Blurb. OK quality for color, a bit of hit-and-miss for black and white, since they print on digital CMYK presses and the slightest imbalance can give B&W a tint. Which can be livable except that tint can vary from signature to signature, giving a variety of tints among the book pages. What I do like is if you opt for e-commerce, they post an online e-book that can be paged through so prospective buyers can see the book. I made a number of Blurb books for a painter a while back, and he sends the Blurb link to prospects to show his work instead of having a website (something beyond his technical and economical abilities at this point). However, if you can afford to print several hundred copies of a black and white book, I would go with someone like Bookmobile. They even provide a set of unbound proofs prior to printing, so changes can be made and there are no surprises when the books show up.
I also used Blurb for creating books. I liked their paper quality, which holds up over time. I had a similar situation with a photo book from another company where the edges of the pages started to yellow after a few years. I haven't seen this issue with Blurb, and the books I've made with them still look brand new
Last edited by retropetro; 18-Jun-2024 at 08:36.
Don't order any books without first signing up for their mailing lists. I get promotions from Blurb twice a month (not around Father's Day/Mother's Day or Christmas). Wait for Black Friday if you can. The discounts can be 50%. I have had good experiences with Blurb and MagCloud.
`
–Stephen Schafer HABS | HAER | HALS & Architectural Photography | Ventura, California | www.HABSPHOTO.com
Bookmarks