On the heels of the Graphicly team hire and the takeover of HP's MagCloud operations, Blurb is creating a complete ecosystem for independent publishing
Blurb, the independent publishing platform, historically known for highly illustrated print and ebooks, today announced support for "reflowable" fiction/non-fiction titles for Amazon's Kindle platform, as well as the ability for Blurb authors to sell these books in Amazon's Kindle store.
In addition to support for Kindle ebooks, Blurb has also entered into an agreement with Ingram Content Group to help authors make their print books (authored in any language) available to tens of thousands of online and offline retailers globally. And for those authors who wish to maximize their profits from print books, Blurb also announces a new line of more competitively priced trade books including 5x8, 6x9, and 8x10 print-on-demand (POD) text-weight paper book formats.
"Authoring isn't just for authors anymore," said Eileen Gittins, founder and CEO of Blurb. "For the past 18 months we have been working behind the scenes to build out support for people who want to publish any kind of book – both print and ebooks – whether highly illustrated, or text-driven or a combination of the two. But "publish" doesn't stop at the point of creation; authors need and want to get the widest possible audience and that means broader distribution and marketing support."
With these releases the Blurb platform allows anyone to become an author, with free design tools and distribution services to publish both books and magazines in digital and print format, then sell via the Blurb Bookstore, Amazon, the iBookstore, or through Ingram's comprehensive distribution channels. Blurb authors now have unprecedented freedom to share and sell their work across platforms and formats.
Blurb's new extended publishing offering includes:
Enhanced creation tools: Blurb extends its support for authors who want to design and publish fiction/non-fiction titles as well as illustrated books by further enhancing its new precision design tool, BookWright, to import Rich Text Files (RTF) as well as output reflowable ebooks via the Kindle Store. Will be available from late July.
Ingram Content Group distribution: Blurb now provides authors in any country who write in any language the potential to make their books available to tens of thousands of online and offline retailers around the world. Ingram Content Group is the world's largest and most trusted distributor of physical and digital content. Will be available from late July.
Competitively priced, new print formats: In an effort to enable indie authors to make more of a profit off their products, Blurb will launch a new more competitively priced Trade & Pocket line, including 5x8, 6x9, and 8x10 print-on-demand (POD) text-weight paper book formats. Will be available from late July.
Using the Blurb platform with the new offerings, authors can now do the following:
Access free book, magazine, and ebook design tools
Use print-on-demand or offset print options to create magazines and print books in multiple hardcover and softcover formats
Make fixed format and reflowable* ebooks
Direct sell their book through Blurb's personal storefront which plugs into personal websites, blogs or Facebook pages
Distribute through Amazon.com, the Kindle store*, the iBookstore and to retailers globally through Ingram's* Global Retail Network
Get access to Blurb's agile fulfillment program (AFP) for short term warehousing and fulfillment
Create customized books as well as truly bespoke books
