Bricker's Posts

I know this topic has been kicking around. But both as an Blurb author and a customer, I am frustrated that entire books cannot be previewed. Why wouldn’t an author want this? When you shop at a bookstore, you can see the entire book.

I’ve seen some Blurb books I’m interested in buying, but I want to see the entire book before I order. What if I buy a book and don’t like the pages that I wasn’t able to preview. Am I allowed to return the book? What’s Blurb’s policy on this? If Blurb doesn’t accept returns in this case, then customers are buying blind.

I can understand if you’ve published a story or book of poems or recipes that you don’t want people to read online for free; if they can read it for free, why buy a copy? But photo/art books really should be seen in their entirety. You wouldn’t show a section of a painting on an online gallery and say, "If you like this bit, wait til you see the rest"...and expect someone to make a no-return purchase.

I think this should be the author’s call. I hope Blurb will make whole-book previews an option soon.