‘Even the bad books are awesome’: Meet the woman behind $45m empire that allows anyone to become a published author (talented or not)
Most people harbour a secret desire to be a singer, an actor or a novelist but aspiring writers and artists looking to publish their material need no longer dream.
Thanks to Eileen Gittins, the founder and CEO of Blurb, creative types can see their work in print for as little as $3 by filling out a simple template and printing the requisite copies.
In search of a ‘cathartic, creative outlet’ herself, the former Kodak executive and technology start-up guru launched the business after discovering there was no way to print a book of photography on which she had been working in her spare time.
Nothing out there?
What a nice puff piece, including accepting the founder’s assertion that there were no services that allowed for this sort of self-publishing. Say, like Lulu, which is considerably older than Blurb.
Blurb specializes (100%, I believe) in photobooks. That’s fine. But it’s neither the only game in town nor the oldest nor (I suspect) the most reasonably priced. (I wonder whether CreateSpace is also older than Blurb. Can’t be sure.)
Authority
Walt. Do you really have any authority to comment on this piece? You talk like you wrote a book called – The Librarian’s Guide to Micropublishing: Helping Patrons and Communities Use Free and Low-cost Publishing Tools to Tell Their Stories
😉
So I do, so I do
Yes, indeed I do talk like that. Thanks for the link: The only book I’ve ever written that I can confidently say would be useful for every public library down to & including Whale Pass, Alaska (legal service area: 31) in English-speaking countries served by Lulu. Also for many/most academic libraries as they become publishers.
as someone who’s published with CreateSpace 5 times…
I can tell you that it’s not the same as the article describes. And the examples are not even close to what you’d think of as traditional publishing. I had to type, edit and upload a document. This service claims an “drag-n-drop” interface which would appeal to an author with lots of images to publish. so no, the CreateSpace process was nothing like this. also, images had to be 300 dpi and set within the text and all the formatting had to fit within standard printing guidelines. ….so, to me, this sounds “new.”
Blurb isn’t CreateSpace
I haven’t used Blurb–and I’ve published with Lulu more than half a dozen times, with three of those books also appearing in CreateSpace editions. My understanding is that Blurb–which, after all, is entirely dedicated to photo/coffee-table books–is indeed drag-n-drop. (Lulu’s added a drag-n-drop style interface for photo books, I think; surprised CreateSpace hasn’t.) If you’re working with CreateSpace, you might find my book (see comment above) useful; while I use Lulu as the example, the template and methodology will work exactly as well with CreateSpace. But yes, you have to do more work.
I have a printer
If I use Open Office and print out my amazing vampire/Ninja crossover romance novel, aren’t I just as much of a published author?
Not what we are talking about
>>If I use Open Office and print out my amazing vampire/Ninja crossover romance novel, aren’t I just as much of a published author?
I think the focus of the discussion in regards to these publishing sites in regards to LISNEWS is to provide a way for libraries to print professional looking books for community projects.
I don’t think any of this was about becoming a quote unquote published author.
The article is though 🙂
And it is connected to LISNEWS in terms of individuals wanting to publish their ‘book’ as well as communities.
Who in public libraries hasn’t had someone printing out the next great American Novel on their printers using all the paper?
Pay for print
>>Who in public libraries hasn’t had someone printing out the next great American Novel on their printers using all the paper?
Charge for printing. Then you do not care if they print out 1 page or 500 pages because they are paying.
Of course, but…
That’s not the point, I mean we all have such people so offering this sort of service (producing books) to individuals is important, not just groups 🙂