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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 31, 2014--Blurb, the indie book publishing platform, today announced offset book printing, short term book warehousing and fulfillment, plus a slate of new options for making books truly custom.
Blurb offers customers a wide variety of customizations, giving them different ways create professional-quality books and express their creativity. (Photo: Business Wire)
Blurb was founded on the premise that everyone -- not just the talented few -- should be able to publish beautifully designed books with first class production values. By creating a business model that supports a minimum of one copy per title, Blurb has opened up the world of publishing to everyone who has access to a computer plus a story to tell or work to share.
These latest offerings expand Blurb’s position as the leading platform for self publishers to create and sell beautiful illustrated books. To date the company has seen more than 1.1 million self-publishers produce 2.8 million unique titles ranging from architecture, children’s books, photography, travel, how-to books, and food books, to every kind of design book you can imagine.
Offset printing
“The number one request from self publishers is to increase profits from book sales, while businesses want reduced book costs so the project comes in within budget,” said Eileen Gittins, Blurb’s founder and CEO. “Our new offset print capability can reduce unit costs by as much as 40% or more over single copy print on demand.”
Offset runs begin at 750 units or more with print locations in Hong Kong, the US and Europe. For more information, please visit http://www.blurb.com/offset-printing or contact Blurb directly at customquote@blurb.com for a custom quote.
Agile fulfillment program (AFP)
“Self-publishers come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing’s for sure: most do not have their own warehousing and fulfillment capability,” said Gittins. “In the past this meant that the apartment dweller could not get best pricing via volume orders as they had no way to manage the warehousing and fulfillment. That’s all changed as a result of our new agile fulfillment program.”
Any Blurb print order of at least 300 units is eligible for AFP for up to six months at a nominal fee per unit. When orders arrive at blurb.com, instead of being printed on demand the orders are routed to the warehouse where they are picked, packed and shipped directly to the customer.
“The combination of offset printing plus agile fulfillment is leveling the playing field for those who want to independently publish,” said Gittins.
Customization Options
The expanding menu of book customizations is a result of customer demand for different ways to showcase their creativity, as well as create professional-quality products to market and promote their businesses. These customizations are available for orders of 300 or more and include:
Embossed and debossed text or patterns on the cover and spine Foil stamping on the cover and spine Page marker ribbons Personalizable end sheets – with a photo or other graphic Headbands and footbands “In a world where self publishers can now choose between ebooks and print books, when they take their books to print, they want them to be even more special. These new customization options from Blurb ensure that every book is highly individual and memorable,” said Gittins.
About Blurb
Blurb is a company and a community that believes passionately in the power of books – in both print and ebook form. Blurb’s indie publishing platform is simple yet flexible enough to make everyone an author — every blogger, cook, designer, photographer, entrepreneur, poet, everyone. Founded by Eileen Gittins in 2005 and funded by Canaan Partners and Anthem Venture Partners, the Blurb platform enables everyone to independently publish, share, market and distribute their work. Blurb’s portfolio of free software tools include Blurb’s BookWright, BookSmart and Bookify in addition to a plugin for Adobe InDesign plus full integration into Adobe Lightroom. With over 1 million book creators and more than 2.8 million unique titles published to date, Blurb is re-imagining not only who gets to be an author but also what books can and should be in the 21 st century.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20140331005410/en/
CONTACT: for Blurb
Kelly Brieger, 650-704-1748
kelly@kbpr.net
KEYWORD: AUSTRALIA UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES EUROPE NORTH AMERICA CANADA AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: OTHER CONSUMER ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY ONLINE RETAIL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE RETAIL COMMUNICATIONS MARKETING BOOKS PUBLISHING CONSUMER
SOURCE: Blurb
Copyright Business Wire 2014
PUB: 03/31/2014 06:17 AM/DISC: 03/31/2014 06:17 AM
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