My favorite online business of 2008 is Blurb.com, a nifty do-it-yourself book publishing site that takes all the feelings of failure and inadequacy out of self-publishing and adds a little bit of pride.
I discovered Blurb thanks to my favorite interview of 2008, Che Grand, who had a link to the site on his blog. It was like a whole new world of ways to fill/waste my time had opened up to me.
Blurb sells what they call "bookstore-quality books" and they ain't lying. The print quality is terrific on the pages and the covers, and you can pay extra for "premium paper." The binding for the hardcover and paperbacks seem sturdy, too.
To get started, all you have to do is download their free bookmaking software, which provides all the templates and tools needed to create something really fresh looking.
The program can be a little frustrating at times (I had quite a few shutdown errors when working with lots of pictures), but if you're patient things will come out just fine.
The best thing is you can get as deep into it as you want. You can go mad tweaking every little detail or be a lazy ass and let the program automatically create something for you.
The best thing is you can get as deep into it as you want. You can go mad tweaking every little detail or be a lazy ass and let the program automatically create something for you.
I've seen some really great photo and art books on the site all done by dudes like you and me, except maybe a little more talented. I made a nice coffee table photo book for my wife in honor of our fifth anniversary last September and it came out great, except where I wrote on the dust jacket that we were married in 2006, not 2003. Dumb.
And that's the problem with self-publishing. You really need another set of eyes to proof it.
Blurb recently added a new product, the black and white text book, which I promptly took as a sign from God that I should compile a greatest hits book of columns and make people open them at Christmas.
It turned out to be 148 pages of blissful hilarity, a true Christmas miracle, and it can be yours too for the low, low price of $8.95 ($23.95 for the hardcover edition), plus Blurb's insanely high charge of $7.94 for ground shipping. Just click the advertisement at the top right of this page to order. You'll be glad you did. And if you see any mistakes, just keep it to yourself.
2 comments:
You know, I was on that site yesterday — thinking of publishing my own book about how I hate our governor — when I saw your book! I wondered if you were just gonna put it up there and not let anyone know about it.
hey buddy, saw this link today and thought you might want to take a look: www.mashable.com/2007/09/08/books-toolbox/
There's no copy/paste on the iPhone so hopefully I didn't screw that up.
There's also a Prince related post up at the brains on fire blog you might want to check out.
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