Almost all of us have thought about writing a book in our life time. In fact, according to the Blurberati Blog, “81% of the population feels they have a book in them.” The Blurberati Blog is part of the new site Blurb.com, mentioned in a NY Times article called “Basics; Technology Rewrites the Book” about new and easy to use self publishing software and websites. Even though I’m a writer, I, unfortunately, do not have book in me (a screenplay, perhaps, but not a book). But, if I did and Random House passed on my brilliance, I would most definitely turn to Blurb.com. Their web site is irreverent, fun and very easy to navigate. Although the product definitely seems geared more to the amateur photo journalist than the great American novelist, it churns out professional looking books at $29.95 to $79.95, depending on the number of pages. The software is free because Blurb is counting on making its money from the book printing. Order one, order a dozen or order 100. They offer slight discounts for bulk orders.

According to the NY Times, “The print-on-demand business is gradually moving toward the center of the marketplace. What began as a way for publishers to reduce their inventory and stop wasting paper is becoming a tool for anyone who needs a bound document. Short-run presses can turn out books economically in small quantities or singly, and new software simplifies the process of designing a book.”

The uses for this type of software product are endless. Businesses can use them for presentations, proposals and portfolios. Moms can use them to showcase their children’s or family’s greatest adventures. And, as someone who just celebrated her first wedding anniversary and is still waiting for the expensive wedding book we ordered, I wish I had known about Blurb.com. I certainly could’ve put something together with all the digital photos and CD’s I have of that memorable evening much faster and for much less money than my over-priced photographer.

The article has caused quite a stir over at the Slashdot Blog with 162 comments. Here are a few:

“This on demand thing is, well… not only do you get the control (creative) but you also can actually (sorta) compete with the ‘big boys.’”

“Any professional writer will look at this and say, POD and vanity press stuff does not count as being published. And they will be right. Just because you can gather the scratch needed to print something does not mean you will find yourself on Oprah’s book club.”

“You young ‘uns and your fancy-schmancy ‘Desktop Publishing’ and ‘print on demand’. In my day, we didn’t have this ninny-winny ‘DTP software’ with ‘cookbook templates’. When we wanted to write something, we had to do it all by hand. All we had to write on was a good old-fashioned hillside and our trusty hammer to write it with.”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 31st, 2006 at 4:23 pm and is filed under General, Finds.