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lulu.com

kjsphoto

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Anyone ever use lulu.com for a self published book? If so how is the reproduction quality? And can you order small or do you have to order large volumes?

Thanks,

Kev
 
I think Sam Portera's book is a lulu. From what I understand quality has improved for B&W.
 
Contact blaze-on. i just talked to him about some books he printed. I've done a calendar with them and it wasn't great quality; streaks in the printing. You can't contact them via telephone. I did see a book from mypublisher.com that looked fantastic for color work. sharedink.com is another option

vinny
 
Lulu is ok, but I wouldn't print anything bigger than maybe 5x7 image size on a page because I'm pretty sure you'd see banding. I only use it for proof books 4-6 images up per page) for the occasional wedding or fundraiser I do.

Michael Gordon and Frank Petronio on the LF forum have both used Shared Ink and have said the quality is very good. If you're thinking of doing a book for selling, I would not use Lulu. My 2 1/4¢
 
I was looking at the site called Blurb that publishes your book for you but I went and read the terms and this seem a bit weird. I am not an attorney but is seems you give your right away for them to do as they will if you use the Book Preview function. Is this normal?

I put the part that was weird to me in bold.
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Book Preview

The following additional terms and conditions shall apply only to your use of the ”Book Preview“ feature that Blurb might offer as part of the Blurb
Bookstore:

By signing up for the Book Preview function of the Blurb Bookstore, you authorize Blurb to display your Book in a digital format to users of the Blurb Bookstore. Accordingly, your hereby grant Blurb a non-exclusive, worldwide, fully-paid and royalty-free right and license to create digital copies of your Books and reproduce, distribute and publicly display such digital copies, in addition to any licenses that you have granted to Blurb under the Terms and Conditions for the Blurb Services.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Then the next section does not make sense to me either;
---------------------------------------------------------------
8.1 Your Content. For purposes of this Agreement, “Content” means any and all postings, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, works of authorship, feedback, bug reports, or other material. Blurb does not claim ownership in any Content that you publish, display, submit, upload or otherwise transfer (“post”) to the Service, including Content that you include in Books that you submit to Blurb for print services (“Book Content”). You hereby grant to Blurb (a) a non-exclusive, worldwide, fully-paid and royalty-free license to reproduce and distribute Book Content for the purpose of printing the Books that you order or that you authorize for purchase by others and any other purpose you authorize, pursuant to this Agreement; and (b) an unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty free license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to publicly display, create derivative works of, and otherwise use in any and all media (now known or later developed) throughout the world any other Content that you post to the Service. You represent and warrant that: (i) you own or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth in this section for the Content (including Book Content) that you post on the Service, or for our print services to have them printed in a Book, and (ii) your Content does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyright rights, or other rights of any person or entity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

They first state you have the ownership of what you upload, which is fine, then that you give them the right to publish your book for you or for whom you authorize, which is also fine, but then it goes on and states that you give them an unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty free license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to publicly display, create derivative works of, and otherwise use in any and all media (now known or later developed) throughout the world any other Content that you post to the Service.

So does this mean that if I uploaded an image to their service they have the right to do what ever they wish with it forever unconditionally?

What does "create derivative works of" mean?

Does this makes sense or not?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
kjsphoto said:
What does "create derivative works of" mean?
Does this makes sense or not?
Click to expand...

Dear Kevin,

'Derivative works' are normally condensations and re-orderings of existing material to create the (usually unconvincing) illusion of new material.

As far as I could see, the Blurb contract was an attempt at legalese written by either a non-lawyer or a not very good lawyer -- and I do have a law degree. To me, it does not make a lot of sense.

At Focus on Imaging I saw some Lulu books produced for Chris Dickie (who later gave a talk on the subject, though unfortunately I had left by then) and was far more impressed than I expected. The colour repro was as good as a mid-range 'real' book. The mono is still pretty indifferent for image repro, though, according to Chris.

Cheers,

R.
 
I bought Sam's book a while back and am constantly amazed by the excellent production quality.
 
It's been a good while since I've practiced entertainment law, but I have to agree with Roger - the Blurb terms don't seem to make any sense.

I also purchased one of Sam's books and found the reproduction better than I had expected. They're not as good as prints, of course, but better than some commercially produced photography books I have.
juan
 
Thank you all for the feedback. After looking over these different options I think I will look into sharedink because I like the fact there is a phone number where I can contact someone if anything should run amuck. I think it is bad for business these days to not have any way to contact someone except for email. Anytime I see a company that only offers support vai email even if it is less cost I avoid them.

Thank you again,

Kevin
 

I am not a lawyer, but I have some experience with publishing contracts, and how they are used to screw artists, though even the cheapskate publishers I used to work for were never this bad. These clauses do appear to be an attempt by Blurb to get the rights to use your material and sell it to others without any money getting back to you. The technical term for clauses like this is "unacceptable." (Or at least that was the word I would hear from agents.) I would agree with the lawyers here that phrases like "unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual," make no sense in this context. They call it "legalese," but that doesn't make it legal or enforceable. Unfortunately, these sorts of pseudo-contracts seem to be common in the POD/vanity press world.

Also, like photographs, contracts should be analog: on paper, signed in ink.
 
Sorry I found this late.

I can share my tidbits I learned while doing my book.

The main problem I had with lulu was that their idea of color profiling is for you to order a book, then ajust your monitor, order another book, ajust your monitor etc.

It took me some time, and the images are still not quite as I would like but I was pleased.

I am about to order my fourth batch of the book and have noticed some variation between batches. The colors were warmer on the second batch, the first was the best.

All and all I have been happy with the project, but shared ink may be a better alternative for you, I looked into that when I was starting out but I forget why I went with lulu.

Goodluck and please keep us posted one how your book turns out!
 
I just bought a copy of Sam's book, After the Water, from Lulu, my first time as a Lulu book buyer. Sam voices some misgivings but I must say that the reproductions look gorgeous, on a par with the reproductions in Lenswork quarterly. Impressive portfolio, impressively presented.

Sanders.
 
another site I would look at is http://asukabook.com/

my friend uses them for some of his brides they are really nice books.

I suggest checking them out.

-R
 
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