A while ago, I tried out Blurb to make a book. This was when they just had dust jackets, but now they  have image wraps.  Their novel idea is to not charge per page, so they charge one price for 0-40 and another for 41-80 (and more, but I can’t see any of my books having more pages than that).  This book that I made has 61 pages, because I wasn’t paying per page.

I’m not a huge fan of the dust cover, but it does look nice. (Provided no one rips it). If I try another Blurb book, it will definitely be their image wrap.  Underneath the dust cover, the cover is plain black.  I had no idea what to write for the inside of the dust cover, so I just babbled about Maylie there.

Their templates with words are a bit more geared towards and actual book that is about something, not really for a photo album with captions.  And the layout wasn’t the best for what I wanted it for, but that was my own fault, I certainly could’ve designed my own pages.

The pages are definitely thinner than Shutterfly or Winkflash, but it’s an acceptable thickness.  The binding looks like it’s stitched instead of glued, and the cover easily opens all the way, so I don’t foresee it coming apart.

As you can see, the layout is kind of so-so for showing off your pictures.  At least with the amount of text I wanted to write in the book.  (I got the idea to write stories about the child in the book, anecdotes and things they’ve said, as well as milestones…)

The print quality for the photos is ok.  I’d say it’s on par with Shutterfly and Winkflash.  The text in the book is crisp and clear, but I didn’t have any full page spreads that I created, all the text was typed into their editor.  I’d say it’s an OK book.  I didn’t have problems creating it, and it’s put together fine.  I would order from them again (at least now that they have a custom cover instead of the dust cover).

Pricing (10×8 hardcover): (dust jacket) 0-40 pages - $29.95,  (imagewrap) $31.95. 41-80 pages (dust jacket) - $35.95, (imagewrap) $37.95.  I think they give you a good bang for the buck there.   I do like the size of shutterfly’s books better (it’s a little bit bigger and longer), but an 80 page book for less than $40 is pretty good.