Blurb make their money selling printing services, not from giving away software. They have no incentive to give away Booksmart so that you can use it to make a book you print elsewhere.

I don’t think you even read my post. I don’t want Blurb to give away their software, I want to pay for a licensed copy of Booksmart that exports a full quality PDF. I have no delusion that Blurb would use Booksmart as a primary source of income but a couple of hundred dollars to export a PDF at book quality for a book that’s already been printed through their system? Sound smart to me.

If I was happy with that answer, I would have stopped when I saw an almost identical response to given to hundreds of questions in this forum.

Again, if you read my post, I am going to start my book again from the ground up in another program to be printed elsewhere because I can’t pay to export my book from BookSmart.

Thanks for replying anyway.

Should be “I did read your post.” I didn’t proofread my response, however :-)

Try this. Put your page in edit mode as wide as possible on your screen. Then capture the picture and save it under a pdf format or another format. Then use this picture where you want. Make test to be sure it works as you wish.

It won’t – Blurb prices are based on size of book, number of pages and choice of paper and cover not on the design tool. If you select Book Pricing under the Help menu (at the top or bottom of this page) you’ll see the details.

…..Ton

Hi Rakuli,

I’m in the exact same boat as you. I have been using Blurb for years now, and this is really aggravating.

Tony, here is a list of the problems that I am having with both Blurb and Booksmart:

1) Print quality is incredibly varied. Some of my books come back as expected, and others return so dark that I can barely read the text. Blurb needs to work on the reliability of the ink jets used so that the product can be replicated time and time again, without variation.

2) The paper cropping has been sloppy on my last two books. One was cut on such an angle, that it looked intentional. The 1/2 inch border that I had around a full page photo started as 1/8 inch on the inside, and ended at 1/2 inch by the outside. Considering the price, I expect straight cutting.

3) Multiple times someone has stuck a barcode directly to one of the printed covers, and although they are easy to remove, they leave residue around the perimeter of where the barcode laid. If I am sending a client a book, I expect that they books will be in good condition, and not have gunk on the back.

4) The inability to print a non watermarked PDF is incredibly irritating. I’ve already ordered 1,000 copies of one of my books- I’ve made it clear to them that I am ordering more- and yet I can’t get a copy of my work. I’ve bought the ebook version, and the layout gets all messed about. That’s a terrible feature, and I regret having paid for it.

5) There is no loyalty program. Considering how often I’ve printed with Blurb, I should be offered a reward for continued business. There is no incentive for me to remain a customer when I can take my business elsewhere, and for less money.

6) The delivery system is completely flawed. When I placed the batch order for the first 1,000 copies of one of my books, the delivery man was instructed to leave the boxes on my front door, no signature needed. I had $20,000 work of product sitting on my front steps for the entire day while I was at work. To make matters worse, it rained that day. The only reason that I didn’t lose my order was because a neighbour ran across the street, and lugged 15 boxes over to their house, in the rain. It is a severe flaw that it was not a sign-on-delivery order, and it would have messed up my time frame to have had to reprint them.

7) Blurb’s booksmart software is incredibly basic. There should be a free edit mode where I can do full layout on each page without having to click on “edit page” for each layout. While in free edit, there should be snap grids to aid in aligning photos, and also a selection box so that photo boxes can appear at a predetermined size. The software designers should play around with Quark, and try to emulate their example.

I have been very fair and patient with Blurb over the past years, but this is too much. I’ve been writing back and forth with their customer service team, and nothing is being done to resolve my issue. I am now going to have to scan in every page of my book manually to make a digital archive. I agree with Rakuli in that I would pay to have a PDF copy- I know that their software isn’t free.

I am very disappointed, and for many reasons, I am finding another printer.

Hi Kirsten,

You can now order a PDF of an uploaded book for under $10. You do not need to also order a print version so this may be an effective way to send a PDFproof to a client.

-Craig