Holiday Guide: Make a Blurb for the Holidays – 10 Winners

I’ve buzzed about Blurb before. Blurb.com is my number one choice when it comes to publishing photobooks, although the site is capable of so much more. But for me and most moms, we like photobooks. You can go elsewhere, but only Blurb has offered me the professional quality and easy-to-use technology that makes “self-publishing” possible.

The first time I made a Blurb book, I created a 40 page 7 x7  book with hard cover image wrap. That eliminates a bookcover, which would only get ruined by curious hands at my house. The book cost around $24 at the time and shipping was around $8 dollars. This time around I created an 80 page book that showed off my beach and Disney vacation. It was FULL of memories as I customized each page, using either their layouts or modifying my own with their BookSmart program. When it was time to order, it cost me $29 dollars and shipping was around $6. I once again chose the 7 x7 hard cover image wrap book. I was just amazed that I doubled the amount of pages I ordered and the price was only $5 more!

Now, this is the cool part about Blurb. I recently was buzzing about a book called the Butt Book by David Kirsch. When I flipped it over I saw it was self-published at Blurb. That’s because if you have a story in your mind, but have no clue how to get it published, you can do it yourself at Blurb.com. Use their layouts and formatting. Add your words and pictures. It could be a recipe book, s novel, a story book – anything. Once it is done and you hit publish, you can promote and sell it through Blurb.com! You can visit the Blurb bookstore to see what other Blurb users have self-published, it’s amazing! And think of the possibilities.

If you have a family reunion, why not compile all the photos together in a Blurb book? Then the family members can order a copy afterwards. Or upate a book about your child’s first year and you can either give it as a gift to family or they can order it themselves as interested. Best yet, you can publish your blog to Blurb. So if you already keep an online journal, let your family order a book version at the end of the year.

I love Blurb so much, it was on my holiday list for family. Since I already created a book full of memories we cherish, why not give it as a gift for everyone to enjoy? The quality is amazing, it’s easy to use and the turnaround is FAST. You can see the cover of the book I created this year to the right.

BLURB OVERVIEW:

1.      Blurb is a creative book publishing and marketing platform that enables anyone to design, publish, share and sell bookstore-quality books.

2.      To get started on your book, download Blurb’s free BookSmart software at www.blurb.com. It works on a Mac or PC.

3.      Import photos, text, artwork, even your blog. BookSmart has photo and blog slurpers that will automatically “slurp” your content from many of the major photo-sharing and blog platforms into your book.

4.      You have complete creative control. Select from among BookSmart’s hundreds of professionally-designed layouts, or upload your own page designs.

5.      Order, and within 7-10 days, your masterpiece will arrive.

6.      Blurb books are available in four sizes: 7×7”, 10×8”, 8×10” and 13×11”. Blurb also offers the option to publish a text book (for novels, manuscripts, etc) starting at $4.95.

7.      If you’re interested in selling your book, you can make it public in Blurb’s Bookstore (www.blurb.com/bookstore) and set your own price. You keep 100% of the mark-up over the original cost.

8.      Check out Blurb’s Bookstore for inspiration and to discover some amazing books. (www.blurb.com/bookstore)

SHOPPING LIST FAVORITES:

Blurb.com: Book prices range from $5 on up. An 80 page, hard cover, image wrap book can range in price from $15.95 to $29.95.

Ten (10) readers will each receive $29.95 bookmaking codes as part of the contest.

MANDATORY, FIRST ENTRY: What kind of book would you make?

EXTRA ENTRIES:
To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry. But for extra entries, you can do the following – leave a comment for each:

• Add ErinTales to your Twitter and Tweet the contest. Leave your Tweet Link. (1 tweet per day is allowed)
• Blog about the contest – add a link to the Mom Buzz and the Sponsor
• Become a Fan of the Mom Buzz on Facebook!
• Add the Mom Buzz button to your site or add the Mom Buzz to your Blogroll
• Enter the GE appliance give-away – you can do this daily!
• Leave a comment or Enter any other contest on the Mom Buzz Holiday Guide
• Leave a comment or Enter any other contest on As They Grow Ups Hoo-Hoo-Hooliday Guide

Contest ends 11/27/09. Please refer to complete contest rules. The entries listed above are the ONLY entries for this contest. Winners will be notified by e-mail (if supplied in the entry or on profile page), as well as on the Winner’s Wall.

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. Other people may have different experiences with the product. And don’t forget to enter my other hot contests so you can win and try buzzworthy products! The Mom Buzz received a $29 GC to Blurb as a thank you for this review.