Huge week at Blurb

I try not to be too much of a Blurb fanboy here on the print/ready blog, but there's a lot of pride about what our little company accomplished this week.  So please allow the shameless plug if you would as I wax about our latest releases.

Today we announced four new languages to add to our stable.  After this week's launch of Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish, we are now localized in seven tongues including French, German, and English. You can see the new sites at http://es.blurb.com/, http://it.blurb.com/, http://nl.blurb.com/, and http://br.blurb.com/.

We've also made a huge plunge into eBooks with our new iOS offering.  Anyone that has previously created a book using BookSmart or Bookify can now purchase and sell eBook versions that can be viewed on any Apple mobile device (iTouch, iPad, iPhone). You can see more about this cool offering at http://www.blurb.com/ebook/

Not to be outdone, our tried-and-true backbone authoring tool, BookSmart, has an upgrade as well.  Now you can create weekly planners, import seamlessly from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, along with a slew of little updates like improved spell-check, font management, UI enhancements, and new spreads.  Plus, you can now make books of 240 pages using our Premium or ProLine paper options, up from the previous 160.

Our upstart mobile group has an update as well, Blurb Mobile 1.4.  With it you can now export to video, take advantage of a new layout editor, as well as improved sharing.  You can get it now at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blurb-mobile/id430933688?mt=8

So, yeah, we're pretty proud.  And we hope all of our customers will like what we've done and keep coming back for more.

My Humble Steve Jobs Blog Post

Like just about everyone I know, I have strong emotions about Steve Jobs. There will be plenty of epitaphs that will be much more interesting, or well written, or relevant than mine. But here goes nonetheless.

My first practical Apple experience was, as many of us in the 80's, via graphic arts. I was running production for a Pacific Color, Inc., a professional photo lab in Seattle. In the days before large screens and digital projectors if you needed to do a presentation you used view graphs or slides, all optically created on movable-stage cameras. That changed when the original Macintosh gave graphic power to to masses. At PCI we invested in a system that would allow folks to make their own slides. The Autographix and Dicomed imaging systems we installed were the first of their kind, but everything was still monotone, including the authoring tools in software like Aldus Persuasion. If you were around in those days, you'll remember that with Persuasion you received a sleeve of 20 slides with colors and ID's to choose your for your text. At PCI we created and imaged all of these inserts for Aldus (Seattle-based and early Apple supporter before being purchased by Adobe)and produced most all of the final customer output for the Pacific Northwest.

I soon moved on and joined Bill Gates' little start-up, Continuum Productions, later renamed Corbis. I quickly had a five million dollar global budget to expand the footprint of the scanning operations, much of it spent on totally tricked out Apple Quadra 950's, the ultimate state of the art at the time for graphic applications, partially due to ColorSync 1.0. Keep in mind, in the early and mid 90's Microsoft and Apple were not friendly and one of my favorite "Bill stories" is when, soon after the release of Windows 95, Bill was touring my Bellevue WA lab and said "I guess we'll be changing all of these Macs to PC's now that Windows is color managed." I got to inform him that W95 had faux color management at best and we had no plans to replace our Apple hardware. I would have hated to be the W95 product manager when Bill made it back to Redmond.

Fast forward to September 1997 and the Seybold Conference in San Francisco, then the largest of its kind in the world and a must-go event for those associated with publishing and graphic arts. Steve was still interim CEO of Apple at this point, returning to try and save them after some disastrous months. When Bill Gates appeared on the big screen behind Steve at the keynote the crowd booed lustily, the beginning of the real fan boy mentality for Apple in my opinion. But Steve knew he needed Microsoft to survive and Bill could have snuffed Apple out if he would have decided to stop producing software for the Mac. Microsoft invested in Apple and the rest is history.

During this time I got my first dose of what it was like being close to Steve (or, at least, close to those close to him) as Corbis became the flavor of the month around Apple as we tried to find ways to work more closely together. The pull of his personality was palpable, even second hand.

My next experience with Apple was in 2002. I began working for the company that produced the photo books for iPhoto and I was constantly amazed that Steve himself was so involved in even the smallest details of the product, down to the paper weight and color profiles. I have to say having Apple as a customer was not much fun and intense is an understatement of what it was like. But being part of the Apple extended network is something I'm very proud of.

Being a Seattle guy, I was always a bit conflicted in the Apple vs Microsoft wars. Over the years I moved pretty freely between platforms, finally settling for good on the Apple ecosystem when I joined Blurb. As a mobile professional, iPhone, iPad and MacBookPro has changed the way I do business so completely that I can't imagine how I could succeed without these tools. So this becomes Steve's legacy for me. The freedom to live where I like, do a job I absolutely love with an extended family of graphic arts pros and operations folks, making strikingly beautiful artifacts.

Can you imagine how many disparate stories like mine that are being written today?

Just when you thought print was dead....

Last week was a great one for me.  I started out in Chicago at Graph Expo and got a chance to catch up with a lot of vendor friends as well as representatives from all of the Blurb Global Print network, including our newest member from Australia (yep, OZ folks, you will soon be getting books printed in-country!). Walking the show floor and talking with folks from throughout the industry, there is still a real buzz about what is possible.  If you weren't in the industry you would likely think that a print show in 2011 would be like a death march.  And don't get me wrong, it's a tough world out there.  But to see the pace at which enlightened printers are looking to expand their horizons via social media, just-in-time manufacturing, and direct-to-consumer fulfillment is very encouraging.  A new generation of print service providers have learned that they can compete against the big guys by being agile, creative, and customer oriented.  Anyone who thinks there is not a major move in progress hasn't paid attention to the grassroots groundswell that is happening around industry groups like Dscoop, who threw a great party on Monday night by the way.

Then I was off to New York City for the Photography Book Now awards party.  Held this year in the center of creative photo expression at the Aperture Foundation, this year's entrants were stunning. And making the hard decisions on winners is a task I'm glad is not mine.  The winner, Gomorrah Girl by Italian photographer Valerio Spada, was an offset printed book not published by Blurb, a proud reminder of the independence our judges bring to the competition. But Valerio's book was just the tip of the iceberg.  Seeing the attendees handling, inspecting, and, yes, smelling the volumes of ink-on-paper proves something that a digital display will never give--a physical, personal relationship with the author's vision. It was a great night not just for the winners, many of whom made the trek to New York from around the world, but for all the lovers of art objects that attended as well.

I finished the week feeling refreshed about the print business.  From seeing new, excited participants entering the print industry at Graph Expo, to rubbing shoulders with emerging artist/authors less than half my age at PBN, I know that print is alive and well.  Like any changing industry, print must adapt to the times and I'm happy to say that the great people engaged in just that bode for a very exciting future.

Why I don't use an eReader--and hopefully never will

There are several technologies that have changed my life.  The move to CCDs and digital photography revolutionized the photo business and enabled companies like Corbis, where I spent 8 years scanning film and building the huge digital collection.  Electrophotographic print devices like HP Indigo, Xerox iGen, and Canon CLC proved that you didn't have to use silver halide materials to create one-off image-intensive prints and paved the way for the mass personalization that is so prevalent today. The Internet changed forever how we do business, and the smartphone changed the style in which that business is done.

If I had tried to imagine what my work life today would be like back when I was running a professional photo lab in the 80's I don't think I would have come close.  Keeping an eye on Blurb's global print network means that I'm at various parts of the country and the world at any given time, and the sun never sets on places where we do business.  Questions and issues don't wait for regular business hours and have to be managed in real time.  I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that the business I'm in could not exist in it's current form without the free-flowing communication that mobile devices bring.

But there is a downside of course.  Since I am remote from Blurb's headquarters I'm on the phone a lot.  Always.  Every day.  And because of this I've lost my ability to have a non-business phone conversation without trying to figure out how to end it quickly.  Talking on the phone has become synonymous with work.

It's very much the same with things I read.  During the week I take all of my news on-line, but on the weekends I crave my paper New York Times.  I even save some parts of the Sunday times to read during the week so I can savor it a bit.

Reading anything on a screen puts me into "work mode".  It's a sickness that I can't kick, the bit of OCD that serves me well when dealing with business but puts me in exactly the wrong space if I want to read for pleasure.  That's why I don't have a Kindle or a Nook.  I do have an iPad but I use it for "consumable" reading and to keep the weight of what I carry from town to town at a minimum.

I know that eBooks are what most folks talk about and I'm excited to see the possibilities that exist to new authors that did not in the past when publishers held all of the cards.  But to me a "transmissive" experience equals work or research and a "reflective" one equates to reading on my own terms.

Technology has indeed changed my life quite a bit.  But I'm determined to not allow it to completely run my life.  And reading books with ink on paper is my small rejection of a completely digital world.

Uncoated paper options at Blurb

At Blurb we've been in the final stages of judging for the fourth annual Photography Book Now international juried book competition.  It's always an exciting time as we wait to find out who the winners are and have one more chance to review the thousands of fabulous entries.  The competition is great for the artists that have the opportunity to have their work reviewed by a top-notch group of judges. But it's really good for us as well as we get lots of valuable feedback on what our highly creative customers need.

This year the big deal is the addition of Blurb ProLine, offering those submitting work to stand out from the crowd with options on book papers, end sheets, and cover linens.  While all of these options have been widely used by PBN entrants, the judges were most struck by the addition of our ProLine Uncoated Paper.  Which leads to the question, "what exactly is the difference between coated and uncoated papers"?

In general, uncoated papers have a bit more of a "natural" feel to them. A bit toothy.  Like what you would expect stationary paper to feel like.  Coated papers basically fill in the gaps in the natural fibers with a coating that enhances it's ability to hold ink with less dot gain, or spreading of the ink beyond where it is laid down on the paper.

When we were looking for a more natural look for artsy books, we knew we wanted an uncoated option.  But we wanted to limit the downside from a quality standpoint.  The obvious choice for us was the Mohawk Superfine Eggshell Ultrawhite with i-Tone surface treatment. Developed for digital presses, this paper has the feel we wanted but with excellent ink adhesion and durability.

ProLine Uncoated is a substantial 100# text/148 gsm sheet, perfect for high-end, photo intensive books.  But there are times that you want to add a bit of color to a more text-heavy option as well.  To that end we have recently released our new Color Trade and Pocket choices.  These are the same sizes and bindings as our one-color product line, but with the addition of 4-color printing.  The paper is complementary to our off-white, one-color paper, and is white with a vellum finish.  It's a lighter-weight sheet at 60# text/89 gsm, and you will see a bit more dot gain in this product.  But it's great for lower-fi applications like notebooks, memoirs, travel books, mini portfolios, and novels.  And we've kept the price low so you can buy a lot or sell for some bucks.

Whatever paper you choose, we want you to be able to find one that will enhance your vision.  ProLine and Color Trade and Pocket are just a couple of new ways to make your book your own.

What's on your wish list for Drupa 2012?

It's less than a year until the mother of all trade shows, Drupa, reappears to once again shape the future of all things print.  While the rhythm of print shows swings to Chicago and Graph Expo this year, most eyes are on May of 2012 when we'll get a chance to see the mavens of print manufacturing unveil what has been in process for much of the past years since Drupa 2008.

I see the printing industry at yet another tipping point.  It was big news when HP had the largest footprint at Ipex last year, overtaking the traditional offset manufacturers. And in a year where the biggest photo trade show in the US, PMA, is co-locating with CES in January, it will be interesting to see how the move to more electronic publishing is going to influence the folks whose main business is ink on paper.

When Blurb launched, we repurposed presses, DFEs, and binding equipement that was really made for other uses.  At Ipex there was a growth in new machinery that was more dedicated toward the POD book marketplace.  I'd like to see more of this, allowing larger digital printers like those in our global print network to continue to improve productivity, quality and price which will allow the self-publishing marketplace to continue to thrive.  I'd like to see the advances made in PUR binding continue beyond the few options currently available.  I hope to see high-speed ink jet keep improving print quality to the point that it rivals that of the best offset printing.  And I'd like to see lower priced entry-level presses to help to expand the global reach of companies like ours. Oh, yeah, and larger sheet sizes.  And faster.

What advances would you like to see at Drupa next year?

PUR-fect book binding?

When Blurb looks to add printers to the Blurb Global Print Network we look for companies that excel in four areas: printing, binding, IT, and fulfillment.  These core competencies bring together the art, craft, technology, and logistics that it takes to deliver one single copy of one unique book to one thrilled customer.  But it's not always easy.  When we delivered the first Blurb book to a paying customer in 2006, the state of the art for preparing files for printing, color management for digital presses, and one-off binding were all processes taken from other sectors, like direct mail, library binding, and traditional offset printing.

Book binding is where craft meets technology in a way that is not seen anywhere else in our process.  Our early books were all side sewn. We then moved some of our larger books to double-fan adhesive cold glue and wire stitching.  These were all alternatives to the way that longer run hardcover books are usually bound, Smyth sewing.  The issue is that POD is by nature run on small sheets, usually around 12x18 inches. To Smyth sew, you need to print in signatures, which are multiple pages printed on a single, large sheet and then folded.  Not really possible with cut sheets, so the POD marketplace required alternative methods.

Enter PUR, or polyurethane reactive glues.  This process, which has been around for a while but it was not really usable for short run book binding, is similar to hot glue binding which has traditionally been used for soft cover paperback books.  The issue with hot glue is that it does not "give" when there is pressure but on the spine, which is required for hardcover books due to the lever effect of the case on the book block.  PUR is much more elastic than hot glue allowing for a more "stay flat" binding that is closer to what you can get with Smyth sewing.

Working with the manufacturers of binding equipment and our network printers, Blurb pushed new products and processes to the market in our quest to keep improving on our promise of "bookstore quality" products. And we have been very pleased with the process.  A large portion of our books are now bound using PUR technology and we are continuing to expand the usage throughout our network.

There are other benefits of this move, some more obvious than others.  PUR bindings will hold even in extreme temperatures, has better adherence to coated papers, and can withstand a page pull of nearly double that of hot glue. It also allows for some aesthetic changes that we are working on for futre product releases.

The advances made in PUR binding for print-on-demand books is an example of how Blurb is constantly looking to improve our products.  We are excited about the new and improved offerings on track for release in the coming months so keep an eye out for what is next.

Loyalty matters

"Loyalty is what we call it when someone refuses a momentarily better option."  Seth Godin


Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte LLP, was asked in last Sunday's NY Times if he could ask interviewees only a few questions what would they be?  Barry said he would ask "what are the values that are most important to you?" and "How have you demonstrated those values in the past two years?".  Both great questions I think.  Reading this, I thought not only how I would hope those that I interviewed to join the Blurb team would answer but how would I answer this myself.

There are a multitude of values that are positive, but in my mind the one that encapsulates them all is loyalty.  A loyal person is honest.  They are compassionate to those they are loyal to.  They are faithful and fair.  They speak with candor and truth.

We hear a lot about loyal customers, and that is the loyalty that Seth Godin discusses in his blog post quoted above.  But there is also loyalty to each other in business, with your co-workers, bosses, or vendor/partners.

Especially in a rough economy, folks will almost always take a loss to get new business away from others. They know that the hard work has already been done and the cost of goods and services likely includes some re-coup of sunk discovery and development costs.  But taking those "momentarily better options" may very well be the worst thing you can do for your company.

Good business is about a mutual benefit.  And unless you are a huge company with vast resources you need trusted and loyal connections throughout your supply chain to keep you successful.

Staying loyal may not always make you the most popular person with the Finance folks, but in the long run  I've found it pays dividends.  Make loyalty part of your personal brand and you'll be amazed with how it will continue to pay you back.

How I learned to love ink on paper (and the people who print)

From my earliest memories I really loved photography. My mother worked in the local photo lab after WWII so we always had lots of photos and I clearly remember those first color snaps that revolutionized consumer photography at the time.  After high school I first majored in Fine Art with a photography emphasis, but I quickly realized that my mentor, the late Wayne Brannock, had already taught me more about photography then I would ever learn from the artsy folks at Missouri State.  So I changed my major and packed my camera bags for the University of Missouri.  My relationship and love for silver halide lasted through the 80's and 90's, through the advent of digital photography and the fall of Kodak.

My photography always had a commercial bent, be it my time shooting for Columbia Records or working my way though school shooting weddings and portraits on weekends.  But during my time at Corbis, I realized the real action was not in the commercial or professional realm at all, but on the consumer side.

It's still amazing to me the transformation that happened in the late 90's.  Digital color printing had already made it's mark, primarily with "good enough" color on devices like the Canon CLC500.  But digital photography was getting ready to further blur the lines between photographs and offset-style printing.

In 2000 it became clear to me that this transition was the future of how consumers will purchase physical media.  I joined a company that was using wide format ink jet to print maps and historical documents from the Library of Congress but soon became a consultant to the originator of the consumer hard-bound photo book.

Now, thinking about what I really love about what Blurb is doing, I'm really happy that I've been able to maintain relationships with the folks that actually get things done in our business--the print service providers, or PSPs.  Much like my days working in professional photo laboratories, most of these are closely held, often family-owned businesses.  And like photography in the 90's, they are dealing with changes at often lightning speeds, not knowing where the next threat to their existence might come from.  These are the people that write the checks to buy the heavy iron that makes the product you see everyday in an economy that is often  less than friendly.

Blurb has indeed helped to democratize publishing.  But without the people on the front lines what we built would have been but another business presentation for a start-up that couldn't get going.  I'm personally grateful for all of the friends I've made along the way as I transitioned from photo to print, and I see a very bright future for all of us.

Steidl and POD in the same post? Outrageous!?!

If you work at a company like Blurb you really need to love books.  Not just reading them but knowing about them, about the authors, and, if you are like many of us, understanding how they are built. Because of that last point I really enjoyed the NY Times piece in this Sunday's Style Magazine on Gerhard Steidl.  The world of fine art bookmaking is fabulous and Steidl is at the pinnacle of his art.

But is there any real comparison to the painstaking hand work that represents what comes out of Göttingen and what can be expected from a print on demand publisher like Blurb?  A lot more than you think.

First off, when we started Blurb our goal was to find a sweet spot with high-end, "bookstore quality" books and a price point that allowed our customers to sell their books for a profit.  Early on that meant getting our first printing partners to buy into a whole new model of how 4-color books should be priced.  Since then the technology has advanced a bit, allowing us to build more and more process automation into our workflow which allows us to continually improve quality while keeping our prices among the most economical in the marketplace.

Some of the improvements since we first went to market in 2007 are an ever-expanding line of products that include hardcover with dust jacket or custom-printed "ImageWrap" as well as soft cover books; an all-HP Indigo global network tuned to GRACol standards, assuring consistant quality worldwide wherever books are printed; a broadening line of standard and premium papers; and, very soon, new pro-directed options.  Add to that our new standard end sheet that will be moving from white to a thicker medium-grey paper and, in our world, POD does not mean low-grade.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve our products.  Over the past month we have held sessions with design movers and shakers in Berlin, hobnobbed with some of the best photographers in the world at the Palm Springs Photo Festival, and ran various focus groups as we plan our next options.  Our new BookSmart software just released has many upgrades that come directly from the requests of our customers. And we've got some new, native digital products on their way that will reinvent the genre.  We're pretty excited.

As I get ready to head off to New York for the Publishing Business Conference, I'm reminded of how the book business has changed.  But reading the story about how Steidl goes about his craft, it's nice to see some things--like quality--are constant in the minds of those who love books.

Beware the first dropper

At the recent Dscoop6 conference there was a ton of buzz over social media. You've got to be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube...you know the drill.  I've been there and almost certainly you have too.  But I'm gradually pulling away from a lot of the social interaction I've done in the past.  This is due to security and privacy issues surely, but it's also that I'm one of those dreaded "first droppers".

There was a great article on details.com last fall on this phenomena that you might want to consider reading.  But the bottom line to me is that once I feel that my identity has been compromised in any way, or if I just reach that tipping point that participation just isn't fun anymore and feels more like work, I bail.  And I don't think I'm alone.

To me the biggest culprit in the social media sphere is Facebook.  I really don't have a spot for these guys in my day or personal brand any longer.  Sure, I have a FB page but it's really a bit of a placeholder and I use it to repost stuff that my company is putting out there.  I have a very small circle of friends that I allow full access to my account and the rest just see the generic front page.

I like Twitter and use it daily, but it's really just about business.  And if I don't keep up with it on a very regular basis the tweets from the folks I follow get so backed up that I miss a lot.  So if you really want to share something with me that you'll know I'll see it's dangerous to just post it--you've got to DM me.

I've really rediscovered LinkedIn as my primary social media conduit.  It was the first place I started to network on line and I've discovered that for me it is the best.  If you connect your Twitter feed to your LinkedIn page and we are connected then I'll very likely see your tweets there. Plus I get a feeling of security there and it's a good place to try and contact me if we don't know each other.

Also, I'm no spring chicken and this may not sit well with a lot of my contemporaries, but I don't really take advice on social media from anyone over 35.  I'm sure the amount of first droppers increases quickly as age increases so if you are putting a lot of effort into updates and links then you need to concentrate on younger folks and be sure you understand what it is that motivates them to buy your product.  And it changes all of the time.  By the time you realize it you are likely already too late and your audience has abandoned you.

Big disclaimer here...I'm no social media expert.  I'm not even a marketing person.  But I am often an early adopter of technology and as a first dropper I know what works for me.  And being in a company whose average age is around 30, I think I have some pretty good insights on what's going on in that world too.  Bottom line is that you do need to consider what social media can do for your business but it's got to be vital, it's got to be valuable, it's got to be cool.  If not it can be a very consuming waste of time.

Dscoop 6 preview: On-demand production for publishing and photo products in multi-press environments

I've blogged here in the past about the value of Dscoop (Digital Solutions Cooperative, a community of HP Graphic Arts press owners and those associated with them) and I'm pleased to say that for 2011 I have the opportunity to be part of the program.  I'll be moderating what is sure to be a fascinating panel on the subject of "On-demand production for publishing and photo products in multi-press environments". We'll be diving into how some of the biggest Indigo users in the world are using lean manufacturing, process automation and other scalable technologies to create press farms--sometimes with multiple locations--to efficiently produce POD products for the book publishing and the photo marketplace. 

I've recruited a stellar planel to share their expertise on the subject.  Rick Bellamy, CEO of RPI, whose partners represent more than 40% of the total photo products market.  Bob Friend, EVP and GM of District Photo, the largest direct-to-consumer photo fulfillment operation in the world.  Steve Brown, EVP International Operations at Consolidated Graphics, who with five digital supercenters in the US and Europe are the world's largest owners of Indigo presses. And Jan-Paul Vandenhurk, CEO of Paro in The Netherlands, a digital printing powerhouse supporting all of Europe, with forward-thinking process automation engineering a core competence.

This is just one session that is part of an impressive two days of presentations that will touch on issues vital to anyone that makes a buck on putting ink on paper with Indigo presses.  Take a look at the full agenda here and I hope to see you in Orlando!

Unintended victims of the digital photo revolution

I spent a bit of time last week with Blurb's newest employee, photographer extraordinaire and proponent of all things AgX, Dan Milnor.  While the digital revolution has been game changing for companies like Blurb, there are downsides as in all industrial progressions.

To Dan, it's the loss of some of the magic and art that make photography his passion.  To traditional photo labs it was really the end of business as they know it.  The latter is what I'd like to blog about today.

Between high school and college I spent some time in Dallas working for a high-volume photo lab, Snap Shots, Inc.  Snap Shots was a wholesale photo processing company, doing business with drug and grocery stores as well as camera shops.  My first job in the photo business was as a film splicer.

As the new kid, I got the hardest, most undesirable job--110 film splicer.  Back in the 70's the definition of a "compact" camera was one that used 110 film.  This was tiny stuff and was difficult to manage once you got it out of the container.  Oh, did I mention that when you spliced film you had to work in total, complete darkness?  No darkroom red lights like you see in the movies or from your college fine art photography program.  We're talking dark here.

So a splicers job was to batch up hundreds of rolls of 110 film into one big reel so it could be processed on a continuous-feed "cine" film processor.  The name came from a repurposing of the machines used to process motion picture films.  Your roll of Christmas shots was heat-spliced with a bunch of other irreplaceable memories by way of a less-than-one-inch piece of tape.  So if any of these splices failed...well...so long Grandma's house pictures from 1975.

It was stressful, sure.  But I developed skills that I still use today.  When you are in total darkness, just like if you are sight-impaired, your other senses take over, primarily your hearing.  I quickly got to the point that if I dropped a small, rolled-up, unprocessed 110 film on the floor among the menagerie of backing papers (yep,  you had to remove the backing paper for each roll before you spliced and many missed the garbage can), I could hear where it dropped and reach directly for it.  That prowess comes in handy in daily life believe it or not. I'm still really good about finding my way around in the dark.

The folks that were the best at this process were blind or semi-blind.  Any photo processing house worth it's salt had a few sight-impaired people that excelled in these kinds of jobs.  When I moved to Seattle and worked on the pro side, I had a film splicer, Juan,  that was great at his task.  And with weddings and other one-chance events, the level of stress was ratcheted up a few notches.  Juan was not only great for the company, he was great for the community.  Film processing gave him a job that made his lack of sight an asset and the opportunity to work in a creative environment.  I'm afraid that these types of jobs have all but gone by the wayside.

I don't always agree with Dan on the virtues of film.  I actually prefer digital from a pure imaging science standpoint.  But I do mourn a bit for the days of analog photography and the businesses associated with it.  And I do feel sorry for the Juans of this world who have lost an opportunity to participate in a visual medium.

That ultimate marketing moment

I've been really blessed to be involved with a company from it's earliest stages where we had to sell the whole "vision thing" to the present, where we have become a global self-publishing leader.  In our early days we talked a lot about democratizing publishing.  It is the thing that separated us from the others in the nacent POD book marketplace in 2006 and it is still our passion today.

Self publishing can mean a lot of things.  It can be the opportunity to share your interests to an affinity group.  It can mean taking control of your brand as you market yourself in print.  It can be an opportunity to support a cause and raise money. It can be the entryway to the best-seller list.

But this time of year it is very much about that ultimate marketing moment that built Blurb to what we are today.  It is the moment that your mother opens the package and sees her life laid out in a beautifully bound book.  Or when your spouse sees your first year in pictures, captured for perpetuity. Or the memories you share with your friends of the trip you took to Vegas that somehow didn't manage to stay there.

We can spend a lot of money on marketing, buying Google keywords, or going to conferences.  But nothing we do in the year compares with what happens when bits turn to atoms on the pages of a real book that will live on the coffee table for a while before snuggling into a nice spot on the bookshelf.  And when someone sees what is possible, their creative mind begins to slowly consider what can be--what can come from within them.  That is the ultimate Blurb marketing moment.

We hear from a lot of old and new fans this time of year.  It never gets old.  It is our passion.  And we've got some very cool things up our sleeves for 2011 to continue to enable everyday folks as well as creative professionals to find that inspiration and tell that story.

My first days of traveling light

Those of you who follow me on ye olde Twitter know that I'm in an experiment of sorts during my current business trip to The Netherlands, Germany, and France. Today is the first day of Photokina, the biggest photo-products trade show in the world, but that's for another post. This post if about how a frequent traveller like me is managing in an all-mobile-device scenario.

My trusty MacBookPro is idling happily in my Seattle office. In my bag of tricks are: iPhone 4 with iOS 4.1, iPad (desperately waiting for sw upgrade to get to par with iPhone) with LogMeIn sw, small charging devices (no heavy converter, something I didn't think about when shedding pounds), Apple bluetooth keyboard (a very happy discovery, easily packable and creates a whole new level of experience with pared wtih my non-apple case/easel), and Kensington power pack.

The first thing I noticed when packing is that I have a whole bunch of room in my backpack. A good thing because I'll be in four cities in five days so I'm a carry-on-bag road warrior. My unofficial professor of historical fiction novels has given me an assignment of a 600-page book, which fits nicely next to my Bose noise-reduction headphones in the space a power converter usually lives. On the plane from Seattle to Amsterdam, I really realized just how much better my iPad screen is over anything an airline can offer. So I got caught up on Meet The Press before my obligatory Ambien nap.

Once in Europe I was happy to find that more and more town centers now have free wifi. So I found a great outdoor cafe in Eindhoven, ordered up some food and coffee (these Dutch folks put Seattlites to shame with how much caffeine they consume) and was able to get caught up on my Instapaper reading along with making progress on my book. Another shout out to Europeans who know now to spend a Sunday. I had a prime spot in the Square and I was never rushed to move along. Along with train travel, Europeans are so much more civilized than Americans in this manner.

Later my first evening the first mini-crisis occurred. I had made a video (with my iPhone 4 of course, extraordinary) of a piece of printing equipment that I wanted to share with my collegues on Monday morning. For some reason it did not sync with my iPad so I was sunk. But not so! A quick fire up of LogMeIn and within seconds I'm controlling my desktop in Seattle. A simple drop into Dropbox and I had my movie. My first feeling that "hey, this could work!"

Train from Eindhoven to Cologne. Many trains in Europe have WiFi but not the case with ICE. So I'm back to managing my meager 50MB data allotment on my iPhone for the 3-hour trip. I had dumped all of my email onto my iPad so non-critical emails easily managed with my trusty B/T keyboard. By the way, the Europeans really like my iPad but they LOVE my keyboard.

Check into hotel and next probem occurs, the first failure on my part. The wireless coverage in my room is non-existent. They of course have ethernet but, alas, I have only an iPhone and iPad. Note to self--get a mini hot spot to add to my bag. Has to be light though or it doesn't pass the test. It will fit right in the space along with a reasonably-sized book (got that, LZ?). Fortunately the hotel has screaming fast wireless in the lobby, which is where I am now happily typing away and readying for the opening of Photokina. Time for the real work to begin! More on my traveling light series at a later date.

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.

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.

Making the case for iPad book prices - From the NY Times

Another great read..a nice primer on the economics of printed vs e-books from Motoko Rich at the NYTimes.

"All of which raises the question: Just how much does it actually cost to produce a printed book versus a digital one?"