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Blurb Reviews & Provider Details

Wesley D.
WD
English Instructor & Teacher Leader
Education Management
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about Blurb?

Blurb allows for easy and quick publication of student-produced text. The simplicity allows the process to be put into students’ hands and for them to walk away with professional looking books. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

Fonts sometimes are not supported, and as can be expected quick self-publishing means that there are inconsistencies in formatting, primarily trying to match cover dimensions without using the suggested (but not always user-friendly) Bookwright program. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

Students’ ownership of the editing and revision process is enhanced by the professional product and the quick turnaround of the published book/magazine/photo book. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Blurb Overview

What is Blurb?

A complete publishing platform. Authors, creative professionals, business people, photo book makers⎯no matter who you are, welcome. You’re here to create and publish a book and we’re here to help you do it.

Blurb Details
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Provider Description

A complete publishing platform. Authors, creative professionals, business people, photo book makers⎯no matter who you are, welcome. You’re here to create and publish a book and we’re here to help you do it.


Seller Details
Seller
Blurb
Year Founded
2004
HQ Location
San Francisco, CA
Twitter
@BlurbBooks
94,254 Twitter followers
LinkedIn® Page
www.linkedin.com
170 employees on LinkedIn®

Recent Blurb Reviews

Ansley W.
AW
Ansley W.Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
5.0 out of 5
"Great for making custom books through their InDesign Plug-in"
I like designing picture books withing Adobe InDesign and then loading it through their upload PDF. You can install their plug-in and load it direc...
Verified User
U
Verified UserSmall-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
0.0 out of 5
"Dissapointing"
Quick customer service reply though the online chat.
Jason C.
JC
Jason C.Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
0.0 out of 5
"Unprofessional Logo Policy"
The website is fresh and easy to navigate and their product offerings are robust.

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14 out of 15 Total Reviews for Blurb

3.7 out of 5
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14 out of 15 Total Reviews for Blurb
3.7 out of 5
14 out of 15 Total Reviews for Blurb
3.7 out of 5
G2 reviews are authentic and verified.
Ansley W.
AW
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about Blurb?

I like designing picture books withing Adobe InDesign and then loading it through their upload PDF. You can install their plug-in and load it directly from the software on your desktop. They also have coupons available frequently to cut down on costs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

I hate when you are ordering and you make a selection such as Expedited shipping; when you enter the mailing address in or the coupon code, it resets the shipping the default and you have to go back and make sure that you reselect the faster shipping options. It's caused me to have a delayed order. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

We can print professional books very quickly and easily. They are delivered very quickly, and the quality of the printing is very good. Their customer service is also quick to respond and have reimbursed the agent for shipping if the book arrived late. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Jason C.
JC
Guild Certified Hypnotist
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: Organic
What do you like best about Blurb?

The website is fresh and easy to navigate and their product offerings are robust. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

It is clear that Blurb caters to amateurs. They charge a 25% "Custom Logo Fee" to have their logo REMOVED from your book. Yep, unless you are willing to be a free advertisement for them, you must pay them for removing their logo.

There are plenty of other options out there that do not expect clients to be unpaid ad staff.

I would never use them or recommend them for that reason alone.

Their online support also seems to be tone-deaf to the whole idea that people who resell their products don't want 3rd party logos on the books. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Blurb:

Find a better option. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

I run a professional photography studio, and my clients buy custom books. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Writing and Editing
UW
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: Organic
What do you like best about Blurb?

Quick customer service reply though the online chat. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

Fraudulent company, won't let you access your own work. Their printing prices are 6 times the cost of my local printer but they will only sell me an unprintable pdf as a way to try and force me to pay their exorbitante printing prices. The work in the app is my content and my labour which they can profit off of but they refused to even sell me my own work to print myself. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

I started using blurb to design a book after reading you can pay for a pdf. They dont disclose ahead of time however that the pdf is not for print. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Government Administration
UG
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about Blurb?

It's a simple to use website that let's you publish yourself without too many complicated hassles. Uploading, set up, and layouts are easy to create and fun to use. Their customer service is very easily reachable and you get your product in a timely manner. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

Lately, since they've begun to be more popular, they have been making mistakes on the printing, specifically with the quality of it. Some come out with missing pages, others with ink spots or lines, etc. And they seem to not be as good at replacing the prints as easily and complacently as before. It's a big push away for me. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

This is a great way to publish things in a professional manner all on your own. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nada Chan, C.
NC
Project Manager
Financial Services
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: Organic
What do you like best about Blurb?

Super easy to use. I loved the preset layouts - they let me create entire books easy and quickly. I liked that I could put in quotes, large blocks of text as needed. I could upload photos as backgrounds so layouts varied between white clean pages and more image focused layouts. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

Sometimes I couldn't find the layout that I was looking for and there wasn't an option to change the layout and customize it. Text was hard to input - fonts sometimes were inconsistent in type and in size, so I would have to do a check on each text box after I inputted all the content. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

Solved the business problem of how to capture the essence of the experiential learning programs that we create and manage for the various participants on the program. Our participants loved the books that we created and it has helped increase the sign up volume for future programs as the books served as a marketing tool when previous participants use the book to share their experience with their family and friends. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Jenny H.
JH
Freelance Artist
Arts and Crafts
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
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Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about Blurb?

What I love about Blurb is that it brings book publishing to the masses! In this digital age where we never look at our photos after we've taken them, Blurb makes it so easy to make a great family album or record a special event with ease and then order it as a lovely gift for a loved one. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

In the past I tried to use the InDesign merging option with Blurb, I'm not sure if this feature still exists as I haven't looked at it lately but despite being a professional designer with knowledge of pagination and imposition and what not I still managed to screw up the pagination so that my pages were out of order. I think what was unclear was that it is not made clear how many pages are added at the beginning and end of the book for Blurb's end pages and that's where I went wrong.

However, other than that minor hiccup which could very well have been user error it worked fine. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Blurb:

Blurb can be used to create practically anything, a beautiful wedding album, family photo album, workplace manual, cookbook, memoir etc etc etc. It really is up to your imagination to what you create. The free software that comes with it 'Bookwright' is easy to use and straightforward to understand. This is definitely a great option for anyone considering self-publishing. They have also been around for a long time - I've used them on and off for years whenever I needed to create a book and they are constantly improving, so they are a great option for someone looking for a stable company that knows what they are doing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

The benefit of Blurb is that now anyone can publish a book of their choosing whether it be a short story, children's book, photo album or cook book. Their free software makes it very easy if you are not computer savvy and if you are then you can go nuts with the design and enjoy it regardless. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Brett F.
BF
Owner
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about Blurb?

Blurb offers great tools especially in book making. I was able to make a book with images and text that I needed exactly how I wanted it and at a decent price. The printing was really good. Great quality. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

Their interface was slow and it took a decent amount of time to finish the book, partially because I put a lot of images and text and design changes into it, but the issue I had was the slowness of the system at the time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

It was a really good option for lower budget book making where I only needed one copy. It was way too expensive to try to print a book a traditional method. Blurb was one of, if not the first, company I found that was able to solve this problem for us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Food & Beverages
UF
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about Blurb?

You just upload your artwork, and it's ready to be printed! Very simple process that's affordable and quick. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

Cover and paper options, there could be more, but I'm not complaining. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Blurb:

I highly suggest blurb over any other book creation website. This is clean, simple, and very professional. You can create your book without their logo for a small extra fee, which is nice because it makes the book look even more professional. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

I needed a portfolio book for interviews after college. Instead of binding one on my own, blurb gave me a much cleaner, easier option. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Jodi G.
JG
Travel Specialist
Consumer Services
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about Blurb?

Blurb is really easy to use, and the print quality is excellent! Colours are exactly as they should be. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

Although the quality is slightly superior to others, the cost is also a little bit higher than others. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

I had so many photos and wanted to create something so I can display them nicely. Blurb really does a great job! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Emanuela C.
EC
Director Digital Marketing & Technology
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about Blurb?

I can create photo books with the layout I create. I created multiple page layouts so I can apply the same on all my books and be sure that all books and all pages will be perfectly aligned.

I can also add texts and titles.

All my photo books appear as professional photo albums and I store them all together in my library. They are really nice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Blurb?

The premium paper is not really nice, the photos appears blurred in some cases. I prefer the standard paper.

The resolution of the pictures will decrease compare to the quality you see on your computer. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Blurb solving and how is that benefiting you?

I use blurb to print the photo books of my travels, they appears all aligned and I don't have to print all the pictures. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.