Blurb is a bookmaking platform and creative community that enables individuals to create, publish, share and sell highquality photo books, trade books, magazines, and ebooks in both print and digital formats. See more ideas about family yearbook, album design and blurb book. This is where you can show off the dropdead gorgeousness of your handiwork. Writing the blurb for your selfpublished book is one of the privileges of being an indie author. Consider the blurb, one of the most pervasive, longestrunning and, at. But with clever solutions, that task doesnt seem to be impossible anymore and this is what blurb has against mixbook. Canada matte cover and the bottom is of inkubooks glossy cover. Their technical staff is obtuse and they use a biased color profile. There are no layflat, leather or fabric cover options.
There are reasons to use a pay to publish company, instead of selfpublishing. I really loved inkus program for book building so well and the. On a print book, the blurb appears on the back cover. This is more than acceptable, and a very easy give for most people. Chose from several free tools or use adobe indesign or. A blurb is the description of the story found on the back cover of a book. A laudatory quote about a book, usually supplied by a highprofile 3rd party, for use on the cover in excerpted form and in other marketingadvertising copy. Oct 16, 2014 writing the blurb for your selfpublished book is one of the privileges of being an indie author. Ingramspark ive shared a little about our publishing choices in previous posts, but today, i wanted to get more specific about the printing choices weve made. An easytofollow, practical guide to writing the best blurb to sell your selfpublished book, provided by ya author sarah juckes of completelynovel. For your reference, we printed the shoephabet with blurb as a 60page, 6. If you wanted to selfpublish a traditional book, its not particularly cheap. Blurb, the leading creative book and magazine selfpublishing platform, announced the launch of layflat photo books. The quality of all of the products from blurb is better than most competitors.
A textcentric book bookwright does a better job at handling large blocks of text to use an isbn, either your own or a free isbn from blurb. Its fair to say that she knows a thing or two about how to write a blurb that sells. Once your title and cover have drawn the reader in, the blurb is what is going to make the difference between a missed opportunity and a sale. They are very similar books in the same price and quality range. If you have a lot of blurbs, you can put them on their own pages, usually right at the beginning of the book. Whats the difference between bookwright and booksmart. However, this task typically comes just when youre at your least able. Create, print, and sell professionalquality photo books. We ordered only the default, standard pages from each service. The 2011 blurb book crazybananas family yearbook, family album. This is a threepart series on getting a reader to buy your book. Another very important factor in the ebook vs traditional paper debate concerns publishing its rudimentary and sometimes free to publish information in digital formats. Blurb makes it easy for you to create any kind of book or magazinein both print and digital formatsfor yourself, to share, or to sell.
Blurb is a basic service useable for basic book printing. Basically, the name of the game with a blurb is to entice readers to buy your book. Mpix paper quality compared a 12photo book comparison. Sell your book in the blurb bookstore, through amazon, or in the global retail network of over 38,000 retailers, libraries, and schools. How to write a book blurb in 4 steps the opening of your blurb has to be incredibly precise and dynamic, says editor rebecca heyman for a lot of firsttime authors, i think theres an instinct to make sure readers understand everything that happened in the books universe before the beginning of the actual story. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Compare blurb vs mixbook and find out which one is better.
And you can set your discount book by book, unlike some vendors, where you have to pick one discount and use it for all your books. This is something that is supposed to promote a book in a positive way in order for it to sell. They are both photo book giants based in the us but they deliver worldwide, and mixbook has printing stations now around the world for faster delivery. With blurb, you can create a professional portfolio book to showcase your most accomplished work. A distillation of the dramatic arc of the story, highlighting the key forces and consequences that propel its drama. Blurb are a wellrenowned printondemand company, and they offer numerous book printing options, with a variety of paper types, book bindings and other options. Make a beautiful book on the go with our mobile app ios only. Blurb has an entire program dedicated to kickstarter presells. Inkubook is an easytouse online personal photo book publishing service that enables people to make dropdead gorgeous photo books in minutes. Doubleclick the install blurb booksmart icon to launch the installation wizard, and follow the directions. Print as you go sell one copy at a time and let blurb fulfill the orders or place a large order and sell inperson.
View it here as youll recall from our previous blog post, the second thing that sells a reader on your book is the cover copyyour book description you may have the best hook on the first page of your book, the first sentence evenbut what if no one. There is one big difference though between a book blurb and a synopsis. How to write a book blurb that sells not just another. On the other hand, the cover options are standard and limited. To help prevent you from falling into this unfortunate group, weve put together a few tips that should help you write a winning book blurb, whether its for the latest fantasy novel or for a nonfiction selfhelp guide. To find your book on the computer you created it with, open booksmart on that computer and you should see your book in the list under open a book or open book project.
Jan 28, 2015 the finished book file can be outputted as both an ebook and print book. Like the book cover is one of the biggest selling points for any book, a book blurb helps sell the idea of the book to those who are in search of reading something either new or out of their usually picked genres. You have one shot at introducing your story to your reader make it count. If you are founding a company, and hiring freelancers, and getting an isbn block from your national isbn agency, then thats selfpublishing. If your signin credentials are incorrect you wont be able to upload your book. This is a group for flickr members interested in or have already created their own photography book using.
Most people dont have the time to read your book and carefully consider a blurb, but they dont feel comfortable blurbing something they havent read. Once you update booksmart try uploading your book again. Download blurb bookwright, a powerful and free book publishing software anyone can use. Many authors write the book blurb as an afterthought. All of the books we made for testing had hard covers, but the book we made with blurb got high marks for its extrasturdy cover. There are pros and cons to each, but i really like the results as a way to document. The former is an optimal choice for you if you need a book quickly and you are satisfied with basic customization options. Blurb provide multiple options for creating books, allowing you to use either their booksmart software, webbased bookify, a plugin for adobe indesign, or you can do your own thing. All books are stored locally on the computer you originally used to create the book.
With inkubook, its simple to upload photos and then draganddrop them onto creative layouts to make a fantastic book. Design and publish beautiful photo books, trade books, ebooks, and more. Eileen gittins builds blurb to make book publishing easy and. Writing awesome book blurbs a modern indie authors guide. How to get incredible blurbs for your book scribe writing. Apr 21, 2017 a book blurb is your way of selling your book. Our portfolio photo book maker helps you customize and organize anything from art school drawings.
The autofill feature places all of your photos for you. Putting blurbs in the book description or the about the book section can add a lot of social proof to the book. This sidesteps the need to find an agent to secure a book deal with a publisher. It should introduce your main characters, give an insight on conflict, depict genre and arouse interest. Writing the book description is a rather daunting task, which is why many authors would rather avoid it. Blurb blurb is a creative platform and community that enables and encourages people to make books of the things they love. Blurb create, print, and sell professionalquality photo. How to get incredible blurbs for your book the writing. Log in to your blurb account booksmart will prompt you to sign in before you can upload. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading writing awesome book blurbs a modern indie authors guide.
I wanted to print a photo book with blurb for a long time, and finally ordered my first blurb photo book in june 2014. What is the difference between blurb and summary the. Inkubook is an easytouse online photo book website that enables people to make dropdead gorgeous photo books in minutes. How to write the perfect blurb examples, formula, opening. I kind of recommend, but theres also some problem as well. Founded in 2005, blurb is a book printing service and then some, offering many extra distribution features. There is a good chance that i will use blurb to slurp my blog and have a book made. How to write an effective blurb for a selfpublished book. New selfpublishing options from blurb and book design.
Photo book paper quality compared which photo book company. The requests should include the project title and your inkubook email address. Professionalquality photo books for creative expressions of all kinds. Bookify, the online version, and bookwright, the downloadable software. Affordable paperbacks and hardcoverspriced to sell. Uses both negative and positive views, more critical. Many booklovers still prefer the traditional option and value the tactile sensation of a bound paper book. Choose from 3 different page layouts, add captions to bring your story to life, and autoflow your images to create. How to choose your paper type for your book blurb blog. The magazine format offers a sleek solution to serial content.
They are not stored on blurbs site until you upload them for ordering. A simple outline for writing a killer book blurb ink and. Mixbook vs blurb photo books comparison going against one of the best photo book companies is not an easy task. Get started making an ebook with blurbs ebook creator. Keep in mind at all times the blurb is what sells the book, so. But fear not, because theres a secret science to writing the perfect book blurb. Lucy is the author of three novels and five selfhelp books, the managing editor of rethink press, the entrepreneurs publisher, and publish mentor of key person of influence uk. Since blurb just launched their new lay flat books, i thought i would compare it to its biggest competitor, mixbook. This should override any older versions of booksmart you may.
Their process is much easier, the royalties are better, the costs are less, and the resultsquality are equal or. This flickr group is dedicated to people who make inkubooks, people who love inkubooks, and people who are in inkubooks. According to the association of american publishers, ebook sales in the u. The prints are clean and crisp, photo books are sturdy, book covers are made to endure, and framed art is stunning. Blurb books can have up to 440 pages with standard paper and up to 240 pages with our heavier papers. I struggled with how to start, where to start, and what to write. Nov, 2006 the official flickr community of blurb books. You can also set up a presell with kickstarter to fund your project. Forget the book, have you read this irresistible story on blurbs.
Blurb is great for both personal use and aspiring authors alike who want to create books, photo books, ebooks, notebooks, trade books or magazines for. Its briefno more than 100150 wordsand creates interest in the story without giving away major spoilers or the ending. Drag and drop the booksmart icon into your applications folder. Blurb is a bookmaking platform and creative community that enables individuals to create, publish, share, and sell highquality photo books, trade books. Blurb mothers day photo book giveaway enter by 41116. Browse and buy self published books blurb bookstore. Blurbs matte paper is an upgrade, which for this 7. On the back of the book, but can have it removed by following these instructions from their site. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Its extremely user friendly, drag and drop the pictures, press order, youre done. Easy to share, ebooks can be viewed on the apple ipad and kindle.
Blurb clearly knows that some of its users plan to sell their books to consumers. Writing a book blurb is harder than you think, and is an excellent way of getting yourself noticed. Embossing, foil stamping, and other customizations. How is it that a writer can write a story spanning tens of thousands of words but stumble at a 250300 word book blurb describing it. I have been a long time user but they are unable to print photo books true to the original images. Both companies offer loads of discounts, go to the deals section of my blog to find. On par with magazines youd find at your local newsstand. Writing a book blurb for your back cover, and other promotional uses, is one of the hardest steps for many authors.
Books with any kind of photos, paintings, collage, illustrations, or graphics. Make your own affordable wedding photo book part ii blurb vs. Doubleclick the booksmart icon to launch booksmart, and start creating your book. The blurb is a promotional description, found on the back of the book. One of the great things about blurb is that it lets you sell your book through the blurb website, or your personal website. But i did abandon bookwright for a much more expensive option. For distribution, blurb provides an ecommerce platform that enables customers to distribute directly to their contacts, as. With inkubook, its simple to upload photos and then draganddrop. With blurb you have more control and mixbook is easy and fast to use for first time book creator. The opponents are the two photo book giants, mixbook and blurb. When you hear about authors being asked to blurb a book, its this endorsement theyve been asked to provide.
You wont have to spend hours digging for these specs on your own weve done it for you. A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. Despite their many similarities regarding book shapes, sizes, cover types, pricing and even certain features, they each have their unique solutions to convince customers. Regardless of definition, the purpose of a blurb is to excite a. There are several quality photo book sites, but my two favorites are blurb and iphoto. Writing awesome book blurbs a modern indie authors guide kindle edition by terra, evo, moriarty, jeff, conlin, karen. Going against one of the best photo book companies is not an easy task. Custom photo books, magazines, and novels in either print or ebook format. Sep 27, 2015 whatever the old adage might warn, there is a bit of merit to judging a book by its cover if only in one respect. I had a look at blurb and the same book would be 16. Blurb distinct from the back book cover blurb is this 12 line endorsement of a book by a celebrity or another author that sits on the books front cover.
Since i plan on doing annual family yearbooks, and another baby book, this is really. The lower growth rate followed a few years of double. Blurb definition in the cambridge english dictionary. A book blurb should be a fair representation of the style of the book. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dustjacket of a book, and are now found on web portals and news websites. In this post, lucy mccarraher shares her five backcover essentials for any nonfiction book. With inkubook, its simple to upload photos and then draganddrop them. Blurbs own book creation tool, bookwright, is obviously capable, and its free to use, and relatively easy to learn. Its the perennial question of whether the blurbs on book covers are still meaningful or have become just background noise. Create, print, and sell professionalquality photo books, magazines, trade books, and ebooks with blurb. Printing features rich, black ink and deep colors great for page backgrounds, for example.