Blurb, Inc.
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Printing |
| Founded | Incorporated 2005 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| Key people | Eileen Gittins, CEO |
| Products | BookSmart |
| Employees | 100[1] |
| Website | www.blurb.com |
Blurb is a company that provides a print-on-demand layout, printing and self-publishing service for the general public.
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[edit] Awards
- In April 2008, Blurb is nominated for A 2008 Webby Award[2]
- In 2010, Blurb becomes 2010 IMA Award Winner.[3]
- In May 2010, Blurb is named in Lead411's "2010 Hottest San Francisco Companies” list.[4]
- In August 2010, Blurb is announced 2010 AOP Open Award Winner.[5]
- The same month and year, the company makes the Inc 500 as #1 media company.[6]
[edit] History
Blurb offers a free, downloadable, book-layout 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.[7]
Blurb is capable of printing books in full-color or black-and-white, with hard or soft covers, in six different sizes and formats.[8]
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,"[9] and the service has been featured in the New York Times,[10] Wired News,[11] USA Today,[12] and elsewhere.[13][14][15][16][17]
[edit] 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 blogs, 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.[18] The company reports that nearly 10,000 individuals signed up to receive BookSmart while the software was still in its beta-testing phase.[19]
Users have noted[citation needed] 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Pullen, John Patrick (November 29, 2011). "Unlimited Editions with Blurb". Entrepreneur. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220717. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
- ^ 12TH ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS NOMINEES & WINNERS
- ^ Blurb’s Killed Ideas: 2010 IMA Award Winner
- ^ Lead411 launches "Hottest Companies in San Francisco" awards
- ^ 2010 Open Award Winners are Announced & Exhibition is Launched
- ^ America's Fastest-Growing Media Company
- ^ Rich, Motoko (January 27, 2009). "Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/books/28selfpub.html?_r=1&hp. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
- ^ Blurb Book Pricing and Sizes
- ^ "Web Search and Services". Time. 2006-08-03. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1222614,00.html#blurb. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
- ^ Peter Wayner (July 20, 2006). "Basics; Technology Rewrites the Book". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E5D6163FF933A15754C0A9609C8B63.
- ^ Blurb.com Gets Book Smart
- ^ "New tech stuff protects, organizes, amuses". USA Today. 2006-02-08. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2006-02-08-demo-conference_x.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
- ^ Self-publishing made easy online | CNET News.com
- ^ Blurb Goes Live - 11/17/2006 - Publishers Weekly
- ^ "Blooks" Are In Bloom
- ^ My Book, by Me | Fast Company
- ^ Gittins, Eileen (2006-05-04). ".com Live: Online Book Publishing". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/05/03/DI2006050301188.html. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
- ^ http://business2.blogs.com/business2blog/2006/02/slurping_up_the.html
- ^ Blurb’s Book Publishing Software Democratizes Publishing Industry | Blurb
