Lots of Links and Reviews Part 6: Blurb

Part 5: Galleray Review
Part 4: Society6 Review
Part 3: Hire An Illustrator Review
Part 2: Illustrationmundo Review
Part 1: FoundFolios Review

Blurb is a self-publishing book service that I've been trying out and I'm pretty pleased with it! Society6 is my favourite site for selling prints and t-shirts, Blurb is my favourite site for selling books (at least, so far!). Thanks to new technologies, Print-On-Demand self-publishers have really flourished. I even did an illustration for Alternatives Journal about how all these cool new advancements are changing the publishing world.

There are many, many Print-On-Demand sites out there. I chose Blurb because they offered lots of options for paper thicknesses, finishes, and bindings, their browser interface meant I didn't have to install any software on my pc, they have quick-start templates (they also provide guidelines for designing your book as a pdf if you don't want to use their layout program), they have an active support community, and other illustrators use it, too!

I'm not a fan of their payment schedule, however. You have to make a certain amount of profit (I think it's $25 or so) before they will pay it out. If you come up short they will roll it over to the next pay period and keep doing that indefinitely so it's not that big an issue, but I wish they were a bit more flexible in that regard. They will pay directly into your PayPal account, which is nice and convenient.

I have two books for sale so far and I've ordered copies of each. I'm quite pleased with the quality of the printing -- another cool thing about their layout program is that it won't let you place images that aren't of a high enough resolution (although I'm sure there is a way to get away with low-resolution images somehow, it's not 100% foolproof). I haven't sold many books but I'm glad I set this up for myself in case I want to really dive into producing my own art books in the future!

-- Julia
Portfolio site