Blurb, Inc.

Blurb is an American self-publishing platform that allowing users to create, self-publish, promote, share, and sell their own print and ebooks. It also offers digital software for laying out books.

Blurb Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustrySelf-publishing
FoundedIncorporated 2005
HeadquartersSan Francisco, CA, USA
Key people
Rix Kramlich
(CEO)
Eileen Gittins
(Founder & Chairman)
ProductsBookWright, Blurb Bookify, Blurb plug-in for Adobe InDesign, Blurb Add-in for Microsoft Word, Blurb book module in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 & 5
Number of employees
120
Websitewww.blurb.com

History

The company was founded in 2005 by Eileen Gittins[1] and funded by Canaan Partners and Anthem Venture Partners. Blurb's headquarters are in San Francisco, California. Since its inception, Blurb has delivered more than 14 million books created by more than a half million customers. Blurb’s website is translated into 6 languages and the company ships to more than 70 countries and territories.

Time Magazine named Blurb one of 2006's "50 Coolest Web Sites".[2]

The company has taken in $21.6 million[3] in venture capital funding, and generates nearly $100 million[4] in revenues per year.

Blurb announced a partnership with Amazon[5] in April 2014. The deal allows Blurb-designed books to be sold and distributed on the Amazon platform. The partnership enables self publishing on the platform with a 15% cut on Blurb books—a discount from previous fees of up to 45%.[6] Amazon has agreed to the fee to access to Blurb’s nearly two-million authors, who have produced 8 million[7] books since 2006.

In May 2014 Blurb acquired MagCloud,[8] a self-publishing platform for magazines, under a licensing agreement from HP. In the deal, Blurb has taken over the company’s technology and operations, and nearly 10,000 customers. Blurb will offer warehousing and fulfillment services to customers, acting as a one-stop-shop for boutique and niche publishing.

Services

Blurb’s book-making tools include BookWright (a downloadable tool), Bookify (an online tool), and Blurb’s plug-in for Adobe InDesign which allows book makers to design and upload their book’s PDF files from within InDesign itself. Adobe’s Lightroom 4 & 5 has a built-in Book module that Lightroom users can use to create and upload their books directly to Blurb for printing or for creation in ebook form.

Blurb authors can promote and share their books (including ebooks) using Blurb’s free on-line marketing tools. They can also set their price and sell their books and ebooks in Blurb’s online bookstore. Authors retain 100% of their markup with printed books and 80% of their selling cost with ebooks. Blurb’s print-on-demand technology enables authors to print just as many books are ordered. Blurb offers seven book sizes, hardcover and softcover options, and a range of premium and professional-grade papers and end sheets. Blurb e-books are fixed format, enabling them to retain the same image and text placement when viewed on the Apple iPad as in the printed book version.

Software

Blurb provides different software packages for bookmaking.[9]

  • BookWright[10] (isupersedes and differs from BookSmart, which is still available for use[11])
  • Adobe InDesign Plug-In[12]

Awards
  • In April 2008, Blurb was nominated for A 2008 Webby Award.[13]
  • In August 2010, Blurb was announced as 2010 AOP Open Award Winner.[14]
  • Blurb was an Inc 500 #1 media company in 2010.[15]

References
  1. "9 Realisations on Anxiety, Persistence, Challenges & More". 12 May 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  2. "Web Search and Services". Time. 2006-08-03. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  3. "Blurb". Crunchbase. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  4. "All Entrepreneurs Need to Tell These 6 Stories". Inc.com. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  5. Burgett, Gannon (22 April 2014). "Blurb Announces Partnership with Amazon to Simplify Self-Publishing Photo Books". PetaPixel. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-11. Retrieved 2014-11-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Company Profile". Blurb. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  8. Griffith, Erin (6 May 2014). "Blurb acquires HP's MagCloud, aims to dominate long-tail publishing". Fortune. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  9. "Book layout software". www.blurb.com. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  10. "BookWright: Book publishing software". www.blurb.com. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  11. BookSmart: Free & easy to use book making tool | Blurb, accessed 2019-05-25
  12. "Adobe InDesign plug-in for books, ebooks & magazines". www.blurb.com. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  13. 12TH ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS NOMINEES & WINNERS Archived April 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  14. "2010 Open Award Winners are Announced & Exhibition is Launched". Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  15. "America's Fastest-Growing Media Company". Inc.com. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
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