Late summer update

Summer on the West Coast is winding down and that means that trade show/conference season can't be too far behind.  There has been a lot of churn about eBooks of late and I'm sure that will be a major point of discussion as we move into the fall.  At Blurb we've been busy with a new web-based creation tool that is in beta as well as a few new wrinkles that are upcoming.  Planning for capacity in the fourth quarter is always paramount to the Print Operations team and we're in great shape as we move into autumn.  Customers in France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have personalized services, pricing and shipping options.  All that and we're trying to get a bit of R&R in before the deluge hits.

Personally I'll be on the road in September and October at the Photography Book Now events in NYC and Seattle, Photokina in Cologne, PhotoPlus Expo in NYC and at the Interquest Forum 2010 de l’impression numérique de livres in Paris.  I love to get out and meet with suppliers and customers and it really gets me fired up for the end of the year.

Here's hoping your year has gone well and that I'll  see many of you during my travels.

Review of iPhone 4 and iOS4

The friendly FedEx driver dropped of a highly anticipated package yesterday just before the 3PM deadline.  It was my new iPhone 4.  Several folks have asked about my opinions on it so here goes.

First off, if you have a 1st generation iPhone or a 3G, you can skip the rest of this review and just head down to your local Apple or AT&T store to try to get your hands on one.  You are now in the dark ages of iPhonery.

I was still on my first iPhone, a 3G which I've been using for two years, so this was my initial experience with migrating to new hardware.  It was a breeze.  Apple obviously has this right and the only delay was in getting the final activation from AT&T, which took about 15 minutes.  The migration is absolutely flawless--it even remembered what web page I had up on Safari. All of my settings are exactly as I had them on my 3G, except it added a new "lock" screen image and the Compass app.

I had upgraded my 3G to iOS4 last week.  The new OS is a much a part of the iPhone advance as the hardware of the 4, but it caused my 3G to run very sluggishly, almost to the point of being useless.  The 1st Gen iPhone will not run the new OS at all. My suggestion to those who plan to keep their old devices is not to upgrade to the new OS.  But the primary suggestion here is that you need to move to the 4.

If you have a 3GS and have not upgraded to iOS4, do so right away.  You'll love it.

When I unpacked my new iPhone 4 it was obvious right away it was a bit heavier.  Not clumsily so, but noticeable.  I think it must be the new longer-life battery that has added the weight.  In your hand it's also thinner on the edges as well as a bit so on the width, sort of like the Gen 1.  It feels good in your hand, very substancial, like a quality device.

The Retina display is fabulous, all that it has been puffed up to be.  But honestly, like most quality improvements, you don't really notice it after a short time.  I'm sure I would notice the difference if I had to go back to my 3G.  Looking at a book in iBooks, the text is crisp and readable.  Images look stunning but this is still a small device so nothing earth shattering here.

The new camera is great.  Users of the 1st Gen and 3G in particular will immediately notice no shutter lag time. The new zoom feature is great, and the focus select is new for me since I didn't move to the 3GS.  The image here was my first shot taken with my new phone.  I'm very happy with it,  plus it has an LED flash for low light situations.

Like any new iPhone, there are a lot of little things that have improved with the device, as with the new iOS4.  I'll let you enjoy those little surprises on your own.  But for me this is a major improvement and I cannot recommend it too highly.  A great device.

A print-resolution color display...for $199.

It's been pretty much a done deal that I was going to upgrade to the newest iPhone when it was released this summer.  I decided not to bite on the 3GS when it launched last year, thinking it wasn't really a major improvement and wanting to wait to see how the whole carrier issue/AT&T coverage problem would work through.  I use my iPhone as my one and only phone for office and personal.  I get five bars of 3G at my home/office in Seattle so I have no big complaints with the coverage I'm getting.  So committing to AT&T for another two years is no big deal, especially given my use.  If something better comes up in the next 24 months I can justify any penalties I would have to pay by the importance of the device to my daily life.

I was one of those folks watching the Tweets from the WWDC when iPhone4 was announced.  Not many surprises but the changes that we're already known were confirmed and none is more exciting in my mind than the new Retina display.

This updated display--"print resolution" as Jobs called it--reminded me of a meeting I had with Gary Starkweather at Microsoft Research in the late 90's.  Gary literally invented the laser printer when he was at Xerox in 1969 and then invented the color management technology that became ColorSync in the early 90's. As one of the early Apple guys,  he was key in developing a piece of the company that you don't hear much about anymore but was game-changing nonetheless, the Apple LaserWriter.  It was one of the first laser printers available to the mass market and was a vital component at the advent of desktop publishing. Companies like mine--and me personally--owe a great deal to pioneers like Gary (along with the folks at Aldus) who made companies like Blurb possible.

Gary had called me to come over to Research in Redmond to see his new toy--a monitor he was working on with IBM that could display at 300dpi, or print resolution.  I was running Corbis' Global Imaging Operations at the time, and we were always looking for ways to improve the quality of our digital images at the retouching stage, and this display was certainly a game changer. I remember thinking it was just like reading a book, the quality was so good. As far as I know that device never materialized as a product but the writing was definitely on the wall. Displays were going to continue to improve and, as always, continue to reduce in price.

So as I wait for this Thursday when my new iPhone4 will be shipped, I'm thinking about Gary and the contributions he made to the enjoyment I know I'll have with my new device.

My a bit late review of the iPad and the future of book

It was the biggest event in the publishing world in months.  And it comes from a company that to this point was not even involved in book publishing.  Only Apple can turn an industry on its head almost overnight, just as it did with the music business and iTunes.

I had a chance to use an iPad for an extended time at Blurb's HQ this past week and I've come away with my own opinions.  But first I'd like to share some points from Antonio Rodriguez, a serial entrepreneur and general partner at Matrix Partners in Boston.  Antonio is a long-time Apple user so I knew he would be taking delivery of his new device last weekend.  I wanted to get his first impressions but also his opinions on if and how the iPad would be a game changer.  You can see his full review on his blog here.  Of interest to readers of Print/Ready will likely be his opinions toward the end of his post about photo sharing.  Antonio believes that the iPad has the opportunity to change the photo ecosystem forever.  I don't completely agree, but he makes some great points about how ink on paper may be on its way out when it comes to personal photography.

In my experience with the iPad over a few hours, I'm going to join the crowd in saying that it is heavy.  Too heavy for my liking.  I spent some time with in on a desk, which was not a very good experience, and quite a bit of time catching up on some of my favorite columnists on NYT, WSJ as well as looking at some "iPad optimized" sites like National Geographic.  Holding an iPad in my left hand and navigating with my right was a cool experience at first but got old as my wrist began feeling the strain of the 1.5 pound device. After a couple of hours I was ready to abandon it for my MacBook Pro.  At first when I started using the iPad I thought I would want one but now I'm not completely sold.

What the iPad did was really make me appreciate my iPhone.  I think the link between your primary computer and your phone in this day and age is the key connection.  While the iPad does a good job of replicating the iPhone experience, I don't feel the need for this device as an addition to my daily net fix.  But the fact that it's not critical for me to have the the connection to my business infrastructure for the device has actually left me excited to try the other new iPad-like devices on their way like the HP Slate and the rumored Microsoft Courrier.  I don't really see a need for an eReader to be linked into my work environment.  In fact, I don't think I want it to.

Those of you who spend a lot of time on the Net and on email for business will be able to relate to what I am going to say next.  We all know folks whose jobs are outside of eCommerce who use email for enjoyment and casual communication.  For me, doing email or surfing the Net reminds me of work.  And I really want no part of it when I'm trying to relax.  That's why a good old book is great.  No "ding" when an email arrives.  No hyperlink to "learn more".  It's reading for reading sake.  That said, I do like the idea of having some sort of iPad-like device on my coffee table at home to catch the latest issue of The Economist or to catch up with baseball scores on mlb.com.  Or the idea of having a "consumable" book that I can download and take along on an airplane has merit.  But with the iPad it gets back to the weight thing for me.  But reading a book with an eReader--with two hands if it is an iPad--is a travel experience I could enjoy.

I mention "consumable book" above because this gets to the crux of how my company fits into this mix. Eileen Gittins, our founder and CEO, has some great insight into how "book" moves into the future.  First off, she believes that books fall generally into two categories, consume and keep.  A book you consume is reference, or a novel, or informational.  I read Seth Godin's "Linchpin" last month and after I finished it I gave it away to a colleague to read.  As great of a book as it is, I had consumed it and it no longer had value.  I could have read Seth's book on an eReader and had a great experience.  A "keep" book, I believe, will stay ink-on-paper and that medium will actually increase in value as more things move to temporal and electronic.  A book about my recently deceased father.  A monograph of one of my favorite photographer's best images. A book of my favorite poetry.  These are things that I will return to over and over again.  And this is where I part ways with Antonio.  I don't believe that passing around a color eReader is the best way to experience these types of books.  And maybe it's because of my background in photography, but I prefer a reflective over a transmissive viewing experience in these cases.

So does that mean that Blurb is going to rest on our laurels as an "old fashioned" book company?  Absolutely not.  But it does mean that print is in our DNA and will remain the ultimate expression of what Blurb is all about.  Eileen said it best in a presentation last month: "We believe that the future of books will combine different media types with different entry and exit points--all contributing to the story line.  The 21st century book will enable you to lose yourself in the book without getting lost in the web."  Well said, E.  And how are we going to do that?  You'll just need to stay tuned to find out.

More on the e-book agency model

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and EDItEUR—the international body that maintains ONIX product information standards—working in collaboration with representatives from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the U.K. Publishers Association (PA), have made provisions to the "ONIX for Books" standards to allow for a standard means of communicating agency model sales terms for e-books. 


More here http://bit.ly/bOvuRc

Photography Book Now announces call for entries for 2010

I'll admit it...I love the smell of ink on paper.  Especially when the paper is gloriously bound and contains some of the most beautiful and compelling photography you will ever see.  Such is life at Blurb for the next few months as the Photography Book Now 2010 competition gets underway.

Many of my readers attended one or more of our events last year, each a celebration of photography, creative people, and the art of permanence over temporal things.  This year we will be taking the show on the road, with events planned from Seattle to Rome.

Much thanks goes out to those whose entries the past two years have made our competition a real phenomenon in the industry.  And a big shout out to our 45 (!) sponsors, including our Platinum Sponsor HP, who once again is underwriting the grand prize of $25,000.

So please take a look at the site and think about what your book might be.  And also browse through the entries from last year to get your creative juices flowing.

Rich-content self-published books are still too expensive

At Blurb we've made a pretty good living printing primarily 4-color books over the past four years.  In fact we shipped more than 1.3 million books in 2009 to a tune of over $45M.  At one point we were taking a new title every 1.1 seconds.  Pretty cool stuff.  But our vision since the beginning was the "democratization" of publishing.  Have we succeeded or are we still just scratching the surface?

Blurb's success revolves around several building blocks.  First, we revolutionized how full-color, digital offset books are priced, moving away from the pay-per-page model that was embraced by the digital photo album folks that were attracting the early consumer adopters.  Then, as a software company, we listened closely to our customers during our beta period and created products and services that met their needs along with a full ecosystem to manage their Blurb experience.  Finally, we captured a cool factor that creatives understood and embraced.

But an ever growing group of our customers are authoring books to make money.  These are the true self-publishers that are avoiding the traditional means of publishing, a stale model that leaves the author with a minute percentage of the book's selling price as a profit.  Or they are creating titles so specifically targeted that they could never publish traditionally and in the past had to live in the world of newsletters, zines, and, more recently, electronic means.  Browse around the Blurb Bookstore and you'll see stunning examples of what these authors are creating.  We are obviously thrilled but we're still not happy.  Why?  Because the promise of self-publishing rich-content titles has still not been fulfilled.  Even though we are the price leader in the color book printing category, I think that getting a bookstore quality color book at a price allowing for re-sale is still a bit illusive.

So we continue to push the envelope for our customers.  Our close relationship with HP, manufacturers of the Indigo presses that are used exclusively by our global print network, allows us to continue to drive efficiencies in the print process as well as create economies of scale that can be passed on to our customers. Growing from zero to $45M in just a few short years also helps us gain credibility in a publishing marketplace that often looks at newcomers with a suspicious eye, allowing us to parlay our success into valuable relationships with suppliers.  But those relationships, while vital, have still not moved the needle in a way to create the sea change needed to really democratize the industry.

I am excited about some prospects over the coming months.  The new high-speed ink jet presses, like the T-300 from HP and the Prosper from Kodak, hold the potential of very good quality color output at a price that could change the industry.  Various inventors and entrepreneurs are looking at ways to remove some of the labor out of book binding, which remains one of the biggest cost of goods. Plus, Blurb is looking to keep innovating on how our authors can promote their books easily and inexpensively.

We've just released a new beta of a product we call Blurb BookShow.  BookShow is a widget that authors can embed in their website, blog, or Facebook page allowing potential customers to automatically preview and buy their book.  It's the first of the ongoing innovations that we are releasing this year to support our author/customers. Rest assured that we are not resting on our laurels. We won't be happy until we revolutionize the publishing business.