Blurb.com
Encyclopedia
Blurb is a company that provides a print-on-demand layout
, printing
and self-publishing
service for the general public.
software client, BookSmart
, with which potential authors create their books using their own text and images. The completed book layout can then be uploaded to Blurb's web server, after which copies may be ordered for printing and delivery. Blurb also allows authors to sell their books to anyone and retain a mark-up on the printing costs as author profit. An ISBN number can be obtained through any ISBN provider and added to a book for distribution through third-party retailers, though Blurb has stated that they plan to provide a free ISBN service for its members in the future.
The company's revenue grew from $1 million to $30 million in two years. In 2008 they published more than 300,000 titles.
Blurb is capable of printing books in full-color or black-and-white, with hard or soft covers, in six different sizes and formats.
The company was founded in 2004 by Eileen Gittins and funded by Canaan Partners
and Anthem Venture Partners. Blurb's headquarters are located in San Francisco, California
.
Time Magazine named Blurb one of 2006's "50 Coolest Web Sites," and the service has been featured in the New York Times, Wired News
, USA Today
, and elsewhere.
s, one's computer, Flickr
photo sets, iPhoto
albums, Picasa
web albums, SmugMug
, and Photobucket
. A major consideration is that material can only be imported, not exported. The only output is paper books purchased from blurb.com and locally printed pages with a watermark superimposed on them, indicating they are proofs.
BookSmart runs on Windows 2000
, Vista
or XP
, and on Mac OS X
. Blurb released the beta version of BookSmart in May 2006, following a trade premiere at the 2006 DEMO consumer technology conference in February 2006. The company reports that nearly 10,000 individuals signed up to receive BookSmart while the software was still in its beta-testing phase.
Users have noted that BookSmart accepts and displays file formats (such as grayscale), that are "not currently supported" by Blurb, and, according to Blurb, "may not print correctly." This mismatch has not been corrected.
Blurb also offers PDF to Book, allowing users to design their books in the design tool of their choice. Users can download Blurb's pre-made templates for Adobe InDesign, or use Blurb's guidelines and specifications for all available book sizes and cover types to get started. Once users PDFs are complete, they simply upload and order their book.
Page layout
Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements on a page.- History and development :...
, printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
and self-publishing
Self-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...
service for the general public.
Awards
- In April 2008, Blurb is nominated for A 2008 Webby Award
- In 2010, Blurb becomes 2010 IMA Award Winner.
- In May 2010, Blurb is named in Lead411's "2010 Hottest San Francisco Companies” list.
- In August 2010, Blurb is announced 2010 AOPAssociation of PhotographersThe Association of Photographers , often referred to colloquially as the AOP, is a trade association for British photographers.-History:...
Open Award Winner. - The same month and year, the company makes the Inc 500 as #1 media company.
History
Blurb offers a free, downloadable, book-layoutPage layout
Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements on a page.- History and development :...
software client, BookSmart
BookSmart
BookSmart is a bookmaking application developed by Blurb,Inc. It allows users to design and publish books. The software can import content from blogs, Flickr sets, Picasa, SmugMug, and iPhoto albums, business plans, recipes, photos, email, and other sources, and includes book templates to aid in...
, with which potential authors create their books using their own text and images. The completed book layout can then be uploaded to Blurb's web server, after which copies may be ordered for printing and delivery. Blurb also allows authors to sell their books to anyone and retain a mark-up on the printing costs as author profit. An ISBN number can be obtained through any ISBN provider and added to a book for distribution through third-party retailers, though Blurb has stated that they plan to provide a free ISBN service for its members in the future.
The company's revenue grew from $1 million to $30 million in two years. In 2008 they published more than 300,000 titles.
Blurb is capable of printing books in full-color or black-and-white, with hard or soft covers, in six different sizes and formats.
The company was founded in 2004 by Eileen Gittins and funded by Canaan Partners
Canaan Partners
Canaan Partners is a multi-billion dollar global venture capital firm focusing on investments in early stage companies in the technology and healthcare sectors....
and Anthem Venture Partners. Blurb's headquarters are located in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Time Magazine named Blurb one of 2006's "50 Coolest Web Sites," and the service has been featured in the New York Times, Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, and elsewhere.
BookSmart
Blurb's proprietary software, BookSmart, is designed to allow users with no experience in publishing layout or graphic design to lay out a professional-looking book. It contains multiple templates, into which users can drag and drop images and text. BookSmart is capable of importing content directly from blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s, one's computer, Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
photo sets, iPhoto
IPhoto
iPhoto is a digital photograph manipulation software application developed by Apple Inc. and released with every Macintosh personal computer as part of the iLife suite of digital life management applications...
albums, Picasa
Picasa
Picasa is an image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website, originally created by Idealab in 2002 and owned by Google since 2004. "Picasa" is a blend of the name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the phrase mi casa for "my...
web albums, SmugMug
Smugmug
SmugMug is a paid digital photo sharing website.- History :Chris MacAskill and Don MacAskill started the original company to build a new video game-oriented web service in February 2002. By August 2002, though, their focus shifted...
, and Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket is an image hosting, video hosting, slideshow creation and photo sharing website. It was founded in 2003 by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal and received funding from Trinity Ventures. It was acquired by Fox Interactive Media in 2007....
. A major consideration is that material can only be imported, not exported. The only output is paper books purchased from blurb.com and locally printed pages with a watermark superimposed on them, indicating they are proofs.
BookSmart runs on Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
, Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
or XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, and on Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
. Blurb released the beta version of BookSmart in May 2006, following a trade premiere at the 2006 DEMO consumer technology conference in February 2006. The company reports that nearly 10,000 individuals signed up to receive BookSmart while the software was still in its beta-testing phase.
Users have noted that BookSmart accepts and displays file formats (such as grayscale), that are "not currently supported" by Blurb, and, according to Blurb, "may not print correctly." This mismatch has not been corrected.
Blurb also offers PDF to Book, allowing users to design their books in the design tool of their choice. Users can download Blurb's pre-made templates for Adobe InDesign, or use Blurb's guidelines and specifications for all available book sizes and cover types to get started. Once users PDFs are complete, they simply upload and order their book.