This is a pretty unique concept that I found on facebook the other day. First of all I have to mention that you have to add /uk behind the main URL to actually get to the UK site - I've not found ANY other way to get off the US site.
Mainly, this website will let you add pictures and text to their 70+ design layouts in over 12 categories and will send you the finished paperback or hard cover book within 14 days of your order. You can also sell your book in their bookstore.
You download their booksmart software, build the book file with all the layout elements including the cover, front matter and content and submit the book for publication when you are done. If you want to include an ISBN number you have to get a jpg made and put it bottom and centre on the back cover page and this has to include the barcode and the ISBN and EAN numbers.
ISBN is not required by the way. If you don't add one you are unable to distribute your book to other bookstores. At the moment blurb does not offer any distribution services so the only place you can sell your book is via blurb, but you can promote the book EXACTLY the same way you promote your clickbank ebook. You only have to direct the buyer to your blurb store.
The essential details:
Cost per copy (100 page book): £9.95 for the smallest form format in full 4 colour.
Setup Charges: £The cost of your first copy. (They want you to buy a copy in order to make it available in their bookstore, although there is a way around it - just enroll in the profits program anyway! )
Layout Help: Not Required unless you want to be really hands off
Cover Artist Help: Blurb offers over 70 pre-made fully customizable cover templates. Use your own artists if you want to import your own cover design.
Editorial & Proofreading: Personal Preference, but would be beneficial to get it done before laying out the book. If you are importing existing material you MUST proof the book before publishing.
Choice of Binding: Paperback, Hardback with dust jacket or Hardback with Image wrap. Image wrap means cover images are printed directly on the hard back cover
The cool thing though is that you can let the customer decide on the type of cover they want to buy the book in!
Book sizes available: (inches) Square (7x7), Portrait(8x10), Landscape(10x8), Large Landscape (13x11)
The Blurb Publishing Process - How it works.
To be honest the introduction above included the full publishing process. You download their software and all the laying out and publishing is done from within that. Blurb is truly as simple as 1 2 3.
Let me show you. 2 years ago I did an interview with the best bunch in the PLR world. It took me 52 minutes this morning to find the original interview transcript, paste it into the software template (an action that is likely to crash the software, thankfully it autosaves) and do some basic editing ( not much ) and put it up on blurb.com for sale.
What you do have to watch with this publisher is that if no one buys your book, it gets deleted off their systems. You are also likely to upload a massive file to their servers.If mine is still there you can search their market place for "private label profits" . If you do find the book and get a chance to preview it, you can see the formatting is not all that great. This is clearly a result of the fac that I did not do enough proof reading.
You should also watch your URLs. When you paste in content it will not actually paste in URL links and to be honest the lay out process is so incredibly easy with blurb that the most time consuming part of the whole thing is the editing, the spell checking and the finishing touches of the page layouts.
Book delivery takes about 2 weeks though from when you first publish the book.
Why Choose Blurb?
The process is incredibly fast, especially if you decide to write your manuscript directly into their software. It is also very very easy to use, and the only thing that a novice would need help with is to create the ISBN number images to go on the back page of the cover.The lush and very luxury look to the books make them perfect for photographs. Wedding, cookery and photography topics are perfectly suited to this publishing format.
Let's say you are promoting the plr ebook on low carb recipies, if you have relevant pictures then you can set up a blurb book to go with the ebook. Once you have the ebook order you can then place the order on blurb and ship the finished book to the customer.
If you are on a very restricted budget should you use Blurb?
It depends on your market as the produced books are very luxurious. If you are a photographer then this is where blurb really comes into its own. If your target market is a luxury market or one of personalisation then this is the perfect solution. I'll be using them to make Christmas gifts.it is certainly inexpensive to set up. If you want an ISBN number on the book then this is the only obligatory initial expense.
Downsides:
If you want to lay out and do your very own thing then blurb may not be for you. And you would have to comply with the exacting book sizes they operate with.
Shipping costs are pretty hefty. You need to take that into account when you are selling these "indirectly" (like as a bonus with your ebook). A 100 page book is likely to cost you up to $30 including postage. The smallest book is £6.99 but that goes up to around £11 ready delivered to the UK.
Blurb is great for fast printing luxurious feeling prouducts and perfect for wedding, photography, cookery and other photo intensive projects. You can write your manuscript directly into the book lay out software for an even faster turnaround than just pasting in exisiting content. When pasting in information, do it bit by bit as it may crash the software otherwise. ISBN not required and your customers can choose the binding.
The luxury feel of blurb books are second to none.
