Blurb gives snappers a share of profits

Ever fancied putting your photos into your own coffee table book? And ever dreamed of profiting from your hobby? Blurb.com can help you do both

Photographers who want to see their work on the printed page - and perhaps make some cash too - have a new outlet as US custom book publishing service Blurb has extended its Set Your Price programme into Europe.

UK authors and photographers can already design their own Blurb books using the free Blurb BookSmart software and order bound copies to keep or sell on, but Set Your Price lets them add the books to an online catalogue and market them through their websites or blogs.

No books are produced until the buyer places their order, and all the profit goes to the author themselves. The price is set by the author so they can decide how much or how little profit they want to make. Prices - before the author has added their own profit margin - start at $12.95 (£6.50), although shipping costs to the UK start at $7.90 (£4).

International sales account for more than 20% of Blurb's revenue and the introduction of Set Your Price in Europe reflects the programme's sucess in the US.

“Our international customers made Blurb a global company overnight when we launched in May 2006,” said Eileen Gittins, Blurb’s founder and CEO.

“With international sales now exceeding 20% of our business, Blurb looks to accelerate that growth by enabling all of our international customers to set a retail price for their books and keep 100% of the markup. This model has proven hugely popular in the U.S. where the average bookmaker earns between $8-10 USD on each book they sell for a profit.”

For more information, visit Blurb.com

04/03/08

Blurb.com catalogue page

Photographers can design their own books and sell them through Blurb.com's catalogue or through their own websites and blogs