Book Design and Imaging
Concern re: using Blurb service to make a maquetteHi all. I couldn’t find an answer to this on the forums so I hope I am not asking a redundant question. I am interested in using Blurb to produce a maquette pre-production “Beta” version of a book as a proof of concept. The reasons for this are varied but include that I have not published before thus have no clout in the industry and have a book topic that is difficult to describe with words alone especially since the finished product will involve many photographs, requiring a model product to use as a pitch to potential agents/publishers. I have concerns about intellectual property rights for my topic if I use the Blurb service to print a few copies as private books to shop around myself. I read all the legal disclaimers and it seems that legally I retain the property rights with the Blurb system but I am sure that someone at Blurb or the printers could see the work and potentially steal my ideas if they wanted so I am jusb wondering if there would truly be any concerns related to this use of the Blurb service or if that is just not worth worrying about. I also wanted to confirm that Blurb does no do any advertizing (like the “just published” section on the homepage for instance) with books that are private rather than public. Thank you all in advance for any responses! 
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I would not be worried about that for three reasons. Firstly they are professionals and would not stoop to that, secondly if they did and were caught the publicity would severely damage their business. Have a read of this FAQ. On a more practical issue they produced nearly 1.4 million books last year (according to Reuters) nobody at their print partners would have the time to look at all those nor would Blurb staff, just looking hrough the public ones must be a major undertaking. …..Tony |
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Well Said, Tony! Brian | Passionately Blurbarian |
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It is your intellectual property you own it, its abit like selling a photograph you retain the copyright to the work the owner of the picture has absolutely no right to sell prints of your work, they only own that single paper print. If it came to the worst you would be able to sue them for stealing your book, ideas I’m afraid are not protected, only an idea made into something tangible like a book is. There are institutions you can join that will fight your case and make sure your paid your due. If such an awful outcome happened they will make sure you are paid compensation and royalties for the stolen work. I hope this helps you out… |
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Thank you all very much for the repies. They are indeed helpful. My concern is that the idea itself is in some aspects unique and once the cat is out of the bag someone with more time on their hands than I could beat me to the bottom line and publish before me if they wanted to do so. Thus I am being cautious. I guess the trick would be to print a private copy shortly before meetings with book agents/publishers and move on quickly from there.
I very much appreciate your input! |
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