Blurb Forums

Asking for a final word from the staff about binding (European)

Hi everyone,

I’m in the process of planning and developing my first Blurb book. I chose the largest format (panoramic) and I started doing my (long…) duty in Photoshop, as I plan to use personal design and justified text (obviously I’ll build all page spreads, then I’ll use the full bleed option to load a single page on each physical page of the book).

I started reading the forums and I have to admit I am really worried about all the binding complaints. I have to say that the most important thing that Blurb does and other online printing services don’t is the fact that I can use up to 440 pages for my book. But this is not going to be practically an advantage, if the european binding is so delicate that pages are detaching from the book.

I read users complaining about it in summer 2007 (and probably even before that period). They were assured  that the issue was well under control. The staff said it happened to 1-3% of large books. I have no evidence that these numbers are wrong, but I see that in february 2008 the problem is still here. Some posters said the staff asked them to put any large book design on hold until the issue will be totally solved.

If this is true, I expected the staff to inform the whole community with a BIG and OFFICIAL warning. But let’s go on with this issue. It seems that only european users are experiencing this problem. If so, give us the possibility to print with the same service used by US users. I wouldn’t mind paying and waiting a little bit more, if you assure me that my book will never lose pages.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to remember that under 120 pages the hard cover large books are sewn and not stitched. Could someone of the staff please confirm this? Are they 120 "physical" pages (240 pages considering front and back) or 60 physical pages (120 pages if considering front and back)?  If I compose a book with 110 pages in large format, can I be sure that it will be sewn? This may be a practical limitation (where are my 440 pages?) but I could live with it as long as you find a solution for the binding issues. I have to say that I would expect the staff to announce what they’re doing to solve the problem publicly. Are you going to change your printing partners? Give us the choice to have sewn bindings for a little extra money also for books with more than 120 pages? It’s february 2008 and it is 8+ months that you are aware of the issue. It’s definitely time to solve it, don’t you think? Reprinting is ok and you definitely have a good and supportive team, but this does not solve the problem. We need durability. I will not get a book that I can’t show to family and friends because it’s too fragile…

Don’t get me wrong: I am really interested in Blurb books, and I will pay more to get a durable product. I’m just saying that we need a clear and final word from the staff about this issue. Keep up the good work (and do better bindings, at least here in EU!).

Alfredo – Italy 

Hi Alfredo, happy to answer your questions. First off, we are still working on getting a satisfactory resolution to the issue. We think part of the problem may indeed be with glue adhering properly to full bleed imagery but part of the issue may be associated with the oil used as part of the printing process. We expect to have a workable fix in place by the end of the month, which will give us time to complete out tests and for our printers to acquire additional manufacturing equipment, if necessary.

Hard cover books under 120 pages are generally side sewn, and this is indeed the case for books printed by our European print partner. This is 120 “sides”, 60 sheets—counted the same way you would in a normal book. The reason for this limitation is that the side sewing equipment cannot sew through books that are thicker than 120 pages. We currently use a hot glue method for binding soft cover books of all sizes and for hard cover books over 120 pages. This is the area we are currently having some issues that we are working to resolve.

We are feeling good about the progress we are making to resolve this issue and ask for just a bit more patience while we develop a solution that we have confidence will bring these larger books into compliance with our manufacturing standards.

Best,

—bw

Shannon is right! My second book, a free reprint, also fell apart immediately. I showed it to a bookbinder, a very professional one, and he says you are using the wrong glue. You need PUR glue.

Crap – i’ve just seen this forum – i sent my book to be printed last night – so hopefully this problem is fixed!!

Phew – seems my book is being posted from the US – so fingers crossed its as good as you say my friend!! :)

Hi Gerlach. As I mentioned above, we have made some adaptation to our standard routing to give additional assurance that the binding issues will fall within the normal level of defects. Are you continuing to see binding issues with your books even with the new routing?

We are definitely seeing a material decrease in binding issues over the past three weeks since we instituted the changes so if you are still having problems my apologies and we are committed to fulfilling your order to our product standards.

Best,

—bw

I too have “suffered” from the binding bugaboo. In my case a 280 page 7×7 book ordered in early March. I would have waited until the issue had been resolved, but thought that it was confined to the “larger” formats.

Once again I have to commend Blurb for the great customer service. Michael has kept me informed of progress every few days, and I expect the replacement will be ordered in the coming week. (The original copy is getting close to unusable now!)

Of course it’s disappointing to have a problem, but the next best thing is to have it fixed promptly!

Thanks again to all involved.

cheers,

P