Own illustrated book at Blurb

As a bibliophile nerd with a strong passion for photography, it was only a matter of time before I reached the point where I absolutely needed a truly beautiful photo book of my own images. Not just any run-of-the-mill photo book, but something genuinely elegant and high-quality—something that could stand proudly on the shelf alongside my other coffee-table photography books.

I’ve tested quite a few photo book providers, but I quickly landed on Blurb. It’s the only service I’ve found so far that allows you to create truly premium, professional-quality photo books with a linen cover. Price-wise, Blurb is on the higher end—but the results are worth every cent. I’ve already made six photo books there, some real heavyweights with more than 400 pages. It’s pure joy to sit on the couch and flip through high-quality prints of my travel photos from recent years, holding a substantial, beautifully crafted book in my hands.

Advertisement: I’m labeling this post as advertising, even though I haven’t received anything for it and don’t benefit from it in any way. But since there’s so much fuss online about labeling such things—better safe than sorry. In any case, I genuinely like Blurb’s books; they’re top-notch. So yes, this post is technically an advertisement for their photo books.

As a collection of my favorite photos, which I also showcase online, I created a photo book with Blurb—a “Best Of,” so to speak. On Blurb, you can also sell your books as print-on-demand, which I’ve done with this one. However, the base price is fairly high, so there’s little demand (which is fine, since I primarily made the book for myself). Blurb also lets you create eBooks, assign ISBNs, and distribute them via Amazon and other platforms. That might be interesting for some, but for me, the appeal is in making photo books—just for myself.

For the cover style, I’ve always chosen the linen hardcover with a dust jacket. It simply looks the most elegant and refined. There are three color options: standard black linen, ProLine linen in light beige, or anthracite. Most of my books are light beige, which I personally find the most beautiful:

When it comes to paper, you’re spoiled for choice. For a while, you could order paper and cover samples, but unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be possible anymore. Most of my photo books use the standard paper, since higher-end options are only available for books under 240 pages—and mine almost always exceed 400 pages. Still, I’m very happy with the standard paper. For my portfolio photo book, I chose the ProLine Pearl Photo paper, which is especially worth it for black-and-white photography. The paper has a subtle shimmer in the light, and at 190 grams, it looks and feels wonderfully luxurious.

As for the software, I’ve so far exclusively used Booksmart. For eBooks, magazines, and other formats, there’s BookWright, which I haven’t tried yet. For Adobe InDesign and Lightroom users, there are plugins that integrate Blurb directly into the workflow. I’ve had very good experiences with Booksmart. Usually, with online printing services, the software is the weak point—but with Blurb, it works really well, and even a 400-page book can be assembled, captioned, and laid out quite comfortably.

And here’s another impression—notice the lovely shimmer of the ProLine Premium Pearl Photo Paper:

For anyone who loves traveling or takes lots of family photos, I can wholeheartedly recommend Blurb’s photo books. The print quality is outstanding, the books look better than many commercial photography publications, and they’re excellently made—sturdy enough to withstand countless page turns. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about: whenever my wanderlust hits (which happens now and then), I pull my photo books off the shelf and indulge in memories.

By the way, this isn’t a sponsored post—I don’t receive anything for it. It’s just an honest recommendation. I actually had to pay for the books myself. I must be doing something wrong… ;)

Blurb: http://www.blurb.de
My photo book on Blurb (available for purchase): http://www.blurb.de/b/3946756-photography-of-tobias-zeising