You could offer the buyer the option at purchase time whether to inform the author who bought the book. That way friends/family could choose to send that personal info, while the buyer from general public could choose to remain anonymous. You could offer the buyer the option at purchase time whether to inform the author who bought the book. That way friends/family could choose to send that personal info, while the buyer from general public could choose to remain anonymous.

2008-01-02T18:16:40Z

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Actually as a Java developer myself, I find the user interface clunky and slow. For example, the fact that you can't set a font preference or page template globally (at least, not that I'm aware of!), is a real flaw.  That being said, I am happy to use it as it does offer a lot of flexibility. It's pretty easy to get up and running, so that's good. I know that printing on demand is a really new phenomenon (just a few years ago it wasn't even possible for individuals to print books affordably.)  So as the industry matures, I expect things will improve. Also the fact that it is designed in house allows for Blurb to constantly improve their product without depending on some external organization. Actually as a Java developer myself, I find the user interface clunky and slow. For example, the fact that you can’t set a font preference or page template globally (at least, not that I’m aware of!), is a real flaw.  That being said, I am happy to use it as it does offer a lot of flexibility. It’s pretty easy to get up and running, so that’s good. I know that printing on demand is a really new phenomenon (just a few years ago it wasn’t even possible for individuals to print books affordably.)  So as the industry matures, I expect things will improve. Also the fact that it is designed in house allows for Blurb to constantly improve their product without depending on some external organization.

2008-01-02T18:11:58Z

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Yup, I've done it. Used Genuine Fractals to upsize the image so the width would be a high enough resolution for two full-bleed pages. Cropped the image so the height is correct. Then cropped the image in half, with the left going on the left page, and the right going on the right page. <img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323603/original.jpg" border="0" alt="two page" width="533" height="400" /> Yup, I’ve done it. Used Genuine Fractals to upsize the image so the width would be a high enough resolution for two full-bleed pages. Cropped the image so the height is correct. Then cropped the image in half, with the left going on the left page, and the right going on the right page. <img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323603/original.jpg" height="400" alt="two page" width="533" />

2008-01-02T17:36:42Z

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I used Genunine Fractals (a PhotoShop plugin) to upsize my images, for example I did a 2 page spread with full bleed on both pages. Upsizing doesn't improve the quality of the image, just allows a higher resolution at a particular DPI. I know a pro photographer who uses Genuine Fractals to make huge poster prints without loss of quality.  Dunno what the limitations of the built-in Photoshop resizing are in terms of quality and/or size. I used Genunine Fractals (a PhotoShop plugin) to upsize my images, for example I did a 2 page spread with full bleed on both pages. Upsizing doesn’t improve the quality of the image, just allows a higher resolution at a particular DPI. I know a pro photographer who uses Genuine Fractals to make huge poster prints without loss of quality.  Dunno what the limitations of the built-in Photoshop resizing are in terms of quality and/or size.

2008-01-02T17:16:35Z

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Congrats on your book and the news story. I was just in Alaska (Haines) in November and made a book of eagle photos. I'm already itching to get back there! Congrats on your book and the news story. I was just in Alaska (Haines) in November and made a book of eagle photos. I’m already itching to get back there!

2008-01-02T16:43:41Z

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My eagle book has black background with white text. I used a 12 point font and made it bold. Text looks great, photos look great.  I don't know or care what's trendy or done professionally, but I think the black makes the photos look really good. My eagle book has black background with white text. I used a 12 point font and made it bold. Text looks great, photos look great.  I don’t know or care what’s trendy or done professionally, but I think the black makes the photos look really good.

2008-01-02T16:08:51Z

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Thanks - even with the 8x10 size, I still had to upsize the image to get it at 300 dpi for two pages. This was my first book, and I did the two-page spread as an experiment. Now that I know it works, I'll definitely have to try it out with the larger format when I get a chance. Thanks – even with the 8×10 size, I still had to upsize the image to get it at 300 dpi for two pages. This was my first book, and I did the two-page spread as an experiment. Now that I know it works, I’ll definitely have to try it out with the larger format when I get a chance.

2007-12-21T17:39:46Z

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I did it by using Genuine Fractals to upsize the image resolution, then cropped an image to the the same height and width as two full bleed pages. I cropped the image in half and put each half on a page. The result:<img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323603/original.jpg" border="0" alt="two-page spread" width="533" height="400" />   I did it by using Genuine Fractals to upsize the image resolution, then cropped an image to the the same height and width as two full bleed pages. I cropped the image in half and put each half on a page. The result:<img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323603/original.jpg" height="400" alt="two-page spread" width="533" />

2007-12-21T16:41:00Z

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Actually I received the softcover version, and I was somewhat underwhelmed by it. Not any fault of Blurb, but because I only have 30-something pages, the softcover is not nearly as substantial as the hardcover. It's almost more like a pamphlet.   Actually I received the softcover version, and I was somewhat underwhelmed by it. Not any fault of Blurb, but because I only have 30-something pages, the softcover is not nearly as substantial as the hardcover. It’s almost more like a pamphlet.

2007-12-21T14:50:08Z

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Thanks, it's hard to go wrong with eagles. :-) I wasn't sure what to expect with the printing, but it turned out great! I Thanks, it’s hard to go wrong with eagles. :-) I wasn’t sure what to expect with the printing, but it turned out great! I

2007-12-20T01:22:23Z

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I took a trip to Alaska last month to photograph eagles and planned to create a book as a gift for friends and family. I was a bit nervous because I didn't have time after my trip to create the book, order a proof copy, and then order additional copies before the holiday shipping deadline. So I took a chance and went ahead with the holiday order with the book sight-unseen. I received a hard cover version last Friday and am very happy with the results. For the two-page spread I used Geninue Fractals to increase the image size, then cropped the image in half and put each half on two separate full bleed pages. That was an experiment which worked out pretty well. Here are a few photos of it.<img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323598/original.jpg" border="0" alt="Cover" width="533" height="400" /><img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323599/original.jpg" border="0" alt="Inside page" width="533" height="400" />  <img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323600/original.jpg" border="0" alt="Inside page" width="533" height="400" /> <img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323603/original.jpg" border="0" alt="Two-page spread" width="533" height="400" />  I took a trip to Alaska last month to photograph eagles and planned to create a book as a gift for friends and family. I was a bit nervous because I didn’t have time after my trip to create the book, order a proof copy, and then order additional copies before the holiday shipping deadline. So I took a chance and went ahead with the holiday order with the book sight-unseen. I received a hard cover version last Friday and am very happy with the results. For the two-page spread I used Geninue Fractals to increase the image size, then cropped the image in half and put each half on two separate full bleed pages. That was an experiment which worked out pretty well. Here are a few photos of it.<img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323598/original.jpg" height="400" alt="Cover" width="533" /><img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323599/original.jpg" height="400" alt="Inside page" width="533" />  <img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323600/original.jpg" height="400" alt="Inside page" width="533" /> <img src="http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/90323603/original.jpg" height="400" alt="Two-page spread" width="533" />

2007-12-17T21:37:38Z

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