Blurb question

[twirlerzmom]

I discovered that Blurb seems to be reasonably priced and spent most of last night uploading my Christmas layouts to be printed into a 12x12 photobook there but have a question for you that have used them before.

I see they have their own templates. I uploaded my 12x12 layouts and they appear to be fine in their software preview. I didn't resize them according to their template. Can I trust what I see in the preview is how they will be printed then? Also, I can't seem to upload my own image onto their spine. I managed to get my front and back cover uploaded but how do you get the spine? Everytime I try to drag my spine layout over to their spine "page" it doesn't drop in. What am I doing wrong?

[earlofoxford]

I've done three books at Blurb, but I wasn't aware you could put anything on the spine except text, like a title and author's name. With regard to anything getting cut off on your layout, there are guidelines that show you approximate crop marks. I adjusted my pages based on those marks. Because of binding the visible part of your page will not be perfectly square, but close.

[whatnext]

i think that the book has to be a certain number of pages before anything can be printed on the spine. and the rest, what Linda said above. Click on the place that makes the crop marks visible and that will help.

[twirlerzmom]

Thanks. I did find out that Blurb doesn't allow for you to add your own design to the spine, only text. I guess they used to but have since discontinued it due to printing problems. I have 3 books sitting there waiting for the purchase button to be pushed. I'm just so afraid to actually order them in fear they won't print nice. I should just go ahead and do it already!

[bjrobie]

I did full bleed on my blurb books. As stated in the FAQs, about 1/8 inch will be cut off of your pages. It does. When using full bleed pages, be sure no pertinent info/elements are on the edges of the page. My mom's birthdate was changed from Dec (12) to Feb (2) on a page cuz the 1 was cut off. I didn't reprint it for that though.

[dorah]

Ditto what was said above. I just got my first book from them yesterday. It is only the 7 X 7 size but I absolutely love it. I didn't even order the high quality paper and yet the pages are excellent.

[earlofoxford]

The regular paper quality is fine, but the premium upgrade is fabulous. I did the upgrade for my last two books.

[Aino]

I also ordered 7x7 book, soft cover, and it is so cute! I ordered full bleed and it did cut off a little, but it doesn't bother me.
I will order again from Blurb, just because to me it is a little more affordable (they have a European branch too).

[twirlerzmom]

You answered another question I had, regarding the quality of the standard paper. One book I want to print is 98 pages and wasn't cost effective for me to print on their premium paper so I'm going with their standard paper for that book. I was hoping the paper was at least of decent quality.
Sounds like I don't need to worry about that aspect of it then.

Does anyone know if the pink shaded areas are the 1/8" margins or is that shaded area more than that? During preview it shows the dotted lines and I'm fine with everything falling within that range but the shaded area seems to be larger than that dotted line area. A little confusing.

[earlofoxford]

I think as long as you stay within the dotted lines with important elements, you'll be fine.

[dugarner]

Bump!

I'm done putting my first 12X12 Blurb book together. (It is 115 pages, so I couldn't go with Shutterfly; and many suggested I not remove LOs, so I didn't! And I'm happy!)

I have a quick question: I see the pink "warning area" and that makes sense, as does the dotted red line for the possible trim area. I'm inside that zone since I leave 1/4" trim space always when I do a LO.

I am really, really hoping they DO trim the entire area outside the dotted lines, because on my preview, every page has a tiny white border around it, about 1/16th of an inch. Did anyone else see this on preview, and does it get trimmed off? I uploaded true 12X12 JPEGs, I guess I should have resized them to 12.0675 X 12.0675 to have a true full bleed?

I could run a Photoshop action to re-size all my pages to 12.0675 X 12.0675 and re-do the book, but do you think it's worth it? I really don't want that white trim on the pages. When I ordered my Viovio book (it was a disaster) I had the same problem.

I guess you can't add your own image to the spine, so I just matched the color to the dominant background color of my front and back covers. I think it will look just fine.

TIA!

[twirlerzmom]

Sarah, I'm not at the computer that has the blurb previews loaded but I don't remember seeing any white trim around my pages. And I stuck with the 12x12 size, I didn't go with their exact measurements. I haven't ordered my book yet so I can't tell you how the pages turn out. I'm procrastinating. Actually I'm hoping to finish another book or 2 to get the most out of shipping.

[dugarner]

Here's a screen shot of a layout in their "Preview" mode in BookSmart. You can see that white line just above the dotted red trim line. It's on every page. I'm just wondering what it is.

[twirlerzmom]

Sarah I just checked my layouts in the Blurb Booksmart program and mine have that thin white line on them too. I guess I never really paid attention to it before. I'm wondering if it prints that thin border too?

[dorah]

I have only ordered one book from them and it is teh 7 x 7 soft cover but there is no white line around the edge. They are printed full bleed. I think I lost a little around the edges on some pages but I didn't really have those sized for book printing so went clear to the edge with a lot of things. Anyway there is no white border around my pages.

[Squiz14]

Hi Sarah
I'll second what Dorah said. I had a 12x12 Blurb book printed at the end of last year and also loaded the true 12x12 JPGs like you did (I didn't resize but also made sure no important details were near the edges). There was no white line printed on any of the pages. FYI I chose their premium paper which is similar to the paper Shutterfly uses. It does cost extra but looks fantastic, so I'm glad I made that choice.
HTH!

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by Squiz14

Hi Sarah
I'll second what Dorah said. . . It does cost extra but looks fantastic, so I'm glad I made that choice.
HTH!

Thanks, everyone! I was planning on using the premium paper, I was just concerned about the white border. I think they'll probably trim it off.

[dugarner]

Bump! I just got my Blurb book, and it looks fantastic. The colors are right (maybe a tad undersaturated on a few pages, but I don't calibrate my monitor, so I usually consider that operator error). The cover is a flat matte surface instead of glossy (which is fine), and they did not trim any more than the trim guides showed on my preview in the BookSmart software. I'll definitely think about going to them again for my 100+ page books!

[twirlerzmom]

That's reassuring to hear Sarah. I ordered 3 books from them and they are scheduled to be here in a few days. I received confirmation they were shipped on Thursday. I'm anxious to see how mine turned out.

[carollee]

That's good to hear Sarah. Is there any other little tricks to know? Like the turning off vivid pics with Shutterfly? Or with Blurb what you see is what you get?

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by carollee

That's good to hear Sarah. Is there any other little tricks to know? Like the turning off vivid pics with Shutterfly? Or with Blurb what you see is what you get?

I guess what you see is what you get---I did not turn anything off or make any adjustments. I uploaded my finished book from BookSmart and it printed exactly the way I saw it on the preview. Side-by-side with Shutterfly, I am extremely pleased. The binding is not quite as tight as my Shutterfly books, but this is a 115-page book, so I've never had one as thick. Also, they can't print your design on the spine, which is a drawback. I just used the color picker on my front cover, then wrote down the RGB numbers and entered that color for the spine. That's about the only thing that kind of bugged me. But the spine feels good and tight, and the glue looks good. It's definitely worth it, considering it's a 115-page book and I paid a total of $101, shipping was free. A 100-page 12X12 Shutterfly book would be $190 with shipping.

[readstoomuch]

What is the max number of pages that you can use with Blurb? It is wonderful that blurb is easy/economical way for the girls not living in the US to make their books.

[muddygirl]

I have a question? If you have had books printed with shutterfly, and then you change to Blurb, are the books much different. Sarah you mentioned that the covers are not glossy, anything else? I guess what i'm asking, would I be dissapointed if I swapped when I am doing a series of books?? ( I have printed my sons first year book with shutterfly, but am working on the second and third books)

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by readstoomuch

What is the max number of pages that you can use with Blurb? It is wonderful that blurb is easy/economical way for the girls not living in the US to make their books.

Their site says up to 440 pages.

[dorah]

You haven't mentioned what size you are making your books. If they are 8 x 8, blurb does 7 x 7 so your sizes wouldn't match. If you are doing 12 x 12 then you will be fine. I have only gotten one book from them so far and I got the smaller size with a soft cover and am extremely pleased with it. I will definitely be ordering more from them in the future.

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by muddygirl

I have a question? If you have had books printed with shutterfly, and then you change to Blurb, are the books much different. Sarah you mentioned that the covers are not glossy, anything else? I guess what i'm asking, would I be dissapointed if I swapped when I am doing a series of books?? ( I have printed my sons first year book with shutterfly, but am working on the second and third books)

I honestly don't think you would be disappointed. As long as the image on the spine and the cover texture don't bother you. I would prefer the glossy cover, but the cost and over-100 pages tradeoff was worth it.

I am very, very picky about the quality of my books, and if I didn't like this one, I would never consider using them again. I've been burned before by other companies. I looked at it again several times last night and I'm still happy with it. But I don't want to recommend something that someone else may not be happy with. The main reason I used them was the 100+ pages . . . the lower cost was a secondary benefit.