Forget the mug, the t-shirt, or the custom made calendar with photos, we’ve discovered a gift that will blow them away. Blurb offers free downloadable software that allows you to design a photo book, portfolio, business book or wedding book. The software is really simple to work with and is surprisingly intuitive. You can choose from themes to work with, as well as a myriad of choices for photo and text page layouts. The software is limited, and is no replacement for In Design or Quark Xpress but it gets the job done really well. The result is a really professional book. I just got my first Blurb book in the mail today and I am really impressed with the print quality. I ordered a 8×11 hard cover book which took about 2 weeks to arrive from the time i uploaded it using the Blurb Booksmart software. There are many sizes and formats you can choose from, including 7×7, 13×11 and soft cover books as well. I showed it off and almost fooled people in to thinking that I had published something.
Are there other services like Blurb? Yes. But after my really satisfying experience with Blurb, I don’t see why I’d go anywhere else. And aside from using Blurb books for gifts, Blurb even has the option for you to sell your masterpiece online and they’ll do all the dirty work for you (printing, shipping, and credit card processing), similar to CafePress to Lulu.