Blurb - got my first book - not blown away by it?

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As title, my first blurb book has just arrived; 10x8 landscape, hardcover with dust jacket, premium paper, 44 pages.

Most pages are to the standard I would expect, but some have very noticeable banding on the images from the print process. Is this normal? The premium paper feels lovely but is the print quality better on normal paper?

Aside from the design and paper weight, a few pages look like the photobox book I had done years ago i.e. disappointing.
 
DDP said:
some have very noticeable banding on the images from the print process. Is this normal?
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No as pro printing is NOT printed as we do; it is Photographic paper that is exposed and developed, so banding will not be there.
 
Are you saying this is a duff book, like a one-off mistake or that Blurb's printing has limitations and to get a better job done, I need to get it through a different company?

Having heard nothing but good things about Blurb I was hoping I could use them as coffee table style wedding albums, but if this one is anything to go by, I can't :(
 
They are great for what they are. How much are the coffee style wedding albums you are comparing them to?

s
 
Maybe that's thing artona - perhaps Blurb make the best "photobooks" but actually what I need is a notch or two above that in terms of quality.

Albums are new territory for me so I have very little knowledge about suppliers, the blurb book was a test to see if it's a worthy proposition for 2010 weddings. I think I'll have to do some research and try other suppliers. Time to go back through the pile of leaflets and brochures I picked up at Focus last year.
 
I've had a couple of books done and so has my Dad and not noticed any banding and all of ours are on the premium paper.
 
I doubt they would have stayed in business very long if they sent out many books with banding on the photos.

I'd suggest this is a quality control issue, and your first step should have been to contact them to complain and ask for a replacement with the promise of photographs to follow,or the book returned, whichever they thought fit.
 
I've only had the book 4 hours so still plenty of time to take the first step!

I'll raise a query it with Blurb and see what happens next. Certainly sounds like a bit of a one-off problem as no-one else mentions encountering this problem.

It's a fair way off the quality of the books they displayed at Focus that's for sure.
 
Probably a little late now, but mypublisher are offering buy one get one free for new customers.

I've just received mine today and I'm totally amazed at the quality of it, it took 6 days from upload to delivery, and that ain't bad from New York!!

Darren
 
i got my first book from blurb and i noticed some small black marks on my book about the size of a finger print of a few of the pages. i emailed them about it and they sent me a new book which arrived within a few days. i thought the second book was great their was no marks etc... :)
 
get in touch with Blurb, they are very good at correcting issues, but only if you actually ask them to do it.
 
I've seen several blurb books recently and I feel disappointed by the quality that I've seen so far. I don't know what their printing process is but it's not as good as I've been expecting. I'm holding off on getting a portfolio printed into a blurb book until I find somewhere else.
 
I would be interested to learn if anyone that has had a Blurb book has also had an Apple book done also. In my opinion, the Apple book sets the standard to beat but I am sure that others will have a differing opinion - I have only bothered with Blurb the once (+ one reprint).

Chris
 
Come on guys - these suppliers are the cheap and cheerful end of the market. If you want a quality album you have to invest in something like Loxley, Queenborough, Mario Ascerboni or one of the storybook type such as Graphistudio.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for.
 
Thanks for the recommendations. Will take a look.
 
im surprised that you have had a problem kayjay, ive got 3 examples of blurb books here and they are all really good, I will ask them what they do, if they have different levels of book print quality
 
point of interest, Blurb printing use the same HP Indigo presses to print that apple do, so there should be no difference in print qualtiy, it would be down to the paper used.
 
Thanks for the input everyone, will take some pics of the affected pages and email them to blurb.

Sounds like mine is a rogue error and that they are generally much better.
 
I emailed Blurb this morning and attached a picture of one of the affected pages.

Nine minutes later I had a reply apologising for the problem, and giving me an order number for the replacement book that had been ordered for me.

Now that's what I call customer service!! Fingers crossed the quality is better on the next one.
 
DDP said:
I emailed Blurb this morning and attached a picture of one of the affected pages.

Nine minutes later I had a reply apologising for the problem, and giving me an order number for the replacement book that had been ordered for me.

Now that's what I call customer service!! Fingers crossed the quality is better on the next one.
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Now that's good service! Bet you're glad you didn't write them off as just being poor quality!
Although obviously the next copy needs to be better quality!
 
Absolutely - it was always my plan to query it with Blurb, and useful to have the opinions of people on here before I did that. The samples I saw on the Blurb stand at Focus were miles better than my book.

I really hope the replacement is a good 'un, if it is, it'll become a wedding album option for my clients in 2010.
 
DDP said:
I emailed Blurb this morning and attached a picture of one of the affected pages.

Nine minutes later I had a reply apologising for the problem, and giving me an order number for the replacement book that had been ordered for me.

Now that's what I call customer service!! Fingers crossed the quality is better on the next one.
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To be honest, checking them before they send them out would be good customer service. But I concede that sorting out the problem in an expedient way is going quite some way to repair the damage caused.

Graham
 
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