U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: blurb

Re: blurb



Sam, Diana and others-

I'm a long time lurker, and seldom post, though I had the pleasure of meeting some on this list at the SPE conference in Portland a while back. My principal interest is inkjet, both for printing and producing internegatives for platinum/palladium and digital photogravue.

I've had an interest in POD (print on demand) for some time; after investigating the alternatives, I've been using Blurb for a number of projects. I'm wondering if there are any list members who would like to establish an email correspondence about Blurb, and other POD providers? I'm not sure that it would be necessary to create a group; although, if there are many of you interested, that would be a possibility.

I'd be more than happy to share my expertise, such as it is. I'm in the process of writing POD curriculum for our digital and professional courses (I'm on faculty at St. Edward's University, Austin, TX), and would especially welcome a dialogue with anyone having similar interests.

Bill Kennedy
K2 Press
Austin, Texas
www.k2press.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Diana Bloomfield <dhbloomfield@bellsouth.net>
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Sent: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:31 am
Subject: blurb

Hi20Sam, 
 
Nancy and Eric came through Raleigh recently, and they had a few books with them, done through Blurb.com, including one large hard cover, so I had a chance to see them. These books were exceptionally well done, I thought, especially the hard cover (don't know if they used different paper on that one or not, but the hard cover seemed to have the best reproduction), but both hard and soft covers had very nice reproductions. I was impressed. I've not seen that many books done on lulu.com, but from what I have seen, I thought blurb was much more impressive. I'm working on doing one (maybe two . . . three . . .) now. They suggested the best way to do it is to order one, and when you get it back, make any necessary changes/corrections/edits, resubmit, and then order the amount you really want. Cost-wise, that seems to be very manageable, too. I think it's a great way to have your work saved and presentable. I had looked at lulu.com, and for me, I blurb has been much easier to use-- but maybe that's just me. 
 
Diana 
On Jul 16, 2008, at 10:56 AM, sam wang wrote: 
 
> Chris, 

> Are you kidding?! Scanning my old negatives will be an ongoing > project for a long long time! 

> But I am in the middle of scanning old family albums. Which brings > it back to sort of alt topic, or would printing Blurb books count? > In case you aren't familiar with Blurb .com yet, they do on-demand > printing of photo books very inexpensively. You download their > software and use their layout options to insert your images and > stuff. Upload and the beautifully printed book is at your door a few > days later. Then if you wish, you can let other people order a copy > from Blurb directly, much like Lulu.com, among others, but Blurb > does a great job with photos and offers 11x13" in addition to > smaller sizes. Anyhow, it took me a few tries before understanding > how to do it on a Mac but the latest copy came back exactly the way > I saw it on the monitor. A great way to make hard copies out of > loose images without getting a publisher and waiting forever. 

> Anyway, on negative scanning, I am getting ready to see if I can > correct (bleach away) the silvered areas on some of them. Hope it's > better than my efforts in cleaning Daguerrotype. Don't ask. 

> Sam 

> On Jul 16, 2008, at 10:18 AM, Christina Z. Anderson wrote: 

>>> Apply for a small grant to pay for a student to do that. Include >>> cost 
>>> for storage hard drives or DVDs. Maybe publication costs. Your >>> school 
>>> or state arts council, historical society, etc ought to give grants 
>>> for things like that. 
>>> Sam 
>>> 
>> Now Sam, I LIKE this idea.... 
>> 
>> Yeah, the thickness of the slides worries me a s far as scanning on >> a regular 
>> flatbed. 
>> 
>> Seems you and I are dealing with the same issue at the same time; >> have you 
>> weeded through all your images? 
>> Chris 
>> 
>>