The print-on-demand publishing sector takes another leap forward as Blurb announce increased sales and expansion into Europe. A fascinating interview with Blurb’s CEO Eileen Gittins in the Guardian outlines how Gittins went from a relatively simple idea (she wanted to produce a single copy of a photo coffee-table book) and turned it into a successful business. This success also illustrates the attractiveness of print-on-demand to the wider publishing sector. Traditional publishing houses, beset by financial woes as the country descends into the first recession of the new millennium, will now have to start seriously considering the potential in publishing on-demand, a business model which helps cut costs, reduce book waste, and also allows publishers to keep old titles in print and have more money to invest in new writers (there would only be marketing/artist development costs involved).
Print-on-demand is also good for the environment. Vast reams of books that are not sold are pulped (one can only hope they are recycled into new books). This is not strictly wasteful considering the bleak alternative would be to dump them in a landfill, but the energy costs involved in this process are large as books can be continually pulped and reprinted. By printing only what customers order, there is no need for books to be holed up in warehouses waiting to be sold or go back to the pulping machine. This is environmentally crucial as businesses start to address carbon emissions that are created due to energy usage – why recycle books when they don’t need to exist in the first place?
What is crucial about Blurb’s success is that they have catered for a niche market. Unlike Lulu, who tries to cover all bases in terms of book formats, Blurb concentrates on high-end, photography-specific (with some text) coffee-table books. This is definitely a smart move, as it means they can specialise in one product and continually perfect both the end product and the software that the customer uses to produce their book. Although I am a huge advocate of Lulu, their attempts to diversify have not been hugely successful. The main focus of their business is the traditional novel format (although frustratingly they only offer the US Trade size 6” x 9”, rather than the UK standard 13cm x 19.7cm) and they produce excellent quality books. However, they recently introduced coffee-table style photography books which are restricted to rather naff templates which you drag and drop pictures into, and due to printing restrictions (they can only print these formats in the US) the shipping costs are astronomical - £60 to ship a book that costs £13 to manufacture. No contest really.
What Blurb recognises is that with the rise of digital photography, people want hardcopies of their pictures but do not necessarily want to go back to the traditional 6x4 single photograph format. They would rather have many albums that are thematically connected (a year in Australia, a wedding) printed together in a high quality hardback book. The service would be attractive to individuals who want to make a personal book and order a few copies, to authors who do not want to get involved with a publishing house who could creatively stifle the project, or to businesses who want to produce something more corporate/consumer oriented and order thousands of copies. Blurb seems to have all bases covered, and that is probably why they are doing so well. Lets just hope publishers are watching and learning.
Well, I for one am not happy even though there may be thousands who are. I started a new blurb ebook on the 15th January 2009. Two days later and I cannot open the book. How about that. It is called, 'Cat that kicks' or something very similar - I have a habit of changing titles.
Ah well, two days work down the drain - doubt if I'll here from anyone.Where does this message go - it's a land of executive cyber unawareness.
Balletblue.
...still like the idea of ebook
Posted by: Robin | Saturday, 17 January 2009 at 18:28