The new trend among professional as well as amateur photographers is the Print On Demand (POD) service offered by several actors on internet. The costumers can create their own photo books; just by order them through a webpage. It’s a great concept which has gained popularity fast and the providers of the POD services have increased accordingly.
According to Christian Roth Christensen at Foto.no, there is at the time being one company that stands out, that is Blurb.com.
It is Easy to Make Your Own Photo Book by Using Blurb
The big question is of course, how easy is it really to make your own photo book? According to Blurb’s own web page, it’s supposed to be very easy and quickly done. And, it is actually really easy! There are two main options; make your book by your own favorite program and upload a pdf file or create your books with Blurb’s free, easy to use bookmaking software Blurb BookSmart®. The software can be used on PC and Mac.
When you’re done editing your book, upload the pdf file or the book created by BookSmart via the software to Blurb and order your copy. One of the draw backs with this kind of Print On Demand services is the limited choices for book sizes and covers, but Blurb has more options than average and you can choose between six different sizes and two different paper qualities. The Norwegian photographer Bård Ek recommends the thicker paper quality due to a higher quality of the print on the tick paper, according to foto.no.
Is Blurb Reliable?
There are three alternatives you can use for shipping your book to most destinations: Economy, Priority and Express. Priority and Express shipments are for most destinations trackable.
Once ordered, most Blurb books arrive within 7 to 10 business days, depending on the shipping option you choose. Delays in the deliveries are known to occur occasionally, and if you select a non-trackable or delivery confirmation method, Blurb will not assist in the recovery of any package that is lost or missing in transit.
Blurb ships to the following countries and territories: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Virgin Islands (British)
The Price for Print On Demand Photo Books
The price of your book will vary depending on size, page number, paper quality and shipping method. The cheapest alternative for a photo book is the square book (7×7inches or 18×18 centimeters) with soft cover, 20-40 pages and with standard paper quality will cost you US $12.95 at present (May 2010), not included shipping. For black and white text only, the price will go down to $4.95 for the cheapest alternative. When the customer starts increasing the number of pages, the size of the book, adding hard cover and thicker paper, the price will increase accordingly.
In addition shipping and any local duties, customs, and taxes that apply must be paid by the recipient upon delivery
Comparing with prices form Iphoto, which is Apple’s correspondingly product, and Japan Photo Blurb offers low prices on their POD books.
How to Earn Money on Your Print On Demand Photo Book
There might be several purposes for making your own photo book:
- you have conducted photo project together with your friends and family and want to present your work in a book
- you might just want a photo book to show for your friends and family
- you want to print your blog
- you want to give someone a special present
- you have been photographer in a wedding
- you need a portfolio to show off for your customers
- you want to make a dummy book before handing in your big photo project to your publisher
- you want to be a self publisher
The last option is easy made possible by the fact that Blurb.com also acts as an online photo shop where you can sell your own books. The price for a book is decided by you; you can add your profit to the price claimed by Blurb, and you will earn that amount for every book you sell via their web page. You can also save the profit for your cause and do fundraising via Blurb. Widgets, badges and preview options are available to put on your own web page or blog to promote your book.
Birgit Ryningen - Birgit (born 01.11.77) is a judo player with one Nordic and several Norwegian Champion titles. She holds a PhD in material science and ...
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