Proud of your home? Would you love to have a coffee table book of your home in your home? Check out Blurb.com, a self-publishing website where users can create their own hard-cover, linen-bound, dust jacketed books full of their own content - be it photos of your home, a collection of favorite recipes, or anything else...
Hard cover books are available in 4 sizes, from a stylish little 7"x7" square to a larger 11"x13" portfolio. Prices begin ridiculously low - $23. And that's for just one copy - no large quantities required here, folks! We're almost in disbelief and a friend is trying out the quality with a test run of his portfolio. We'll post again when the results are back (that's 7 to 10 business day - again, almost too good to believe). Get your great home photos ready and dream up your own coffee table book.
Jonya & Brad's Modern A–Frame 
Quick Cleaning Tip: Keep Baseboards Cleaner With Fabric Softner
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Essence Wine Glasse...
Mac and Cheese: The Secret to Making It Rich and Creamy
Summer Recipe: No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
Comments (13)
We are in the process of making a wedding album using Blurb. I couldn't believe the prices, either.
Wonderful tip! I will be awaiting your review of the quality in person, this could be really great for up-and-coming artists as well.
isn't having a coffee table book of your home IN your home somewhat like wearing an 8" x 10" glossy head shot of yourself around your neck?
I made one of these with the Blurb software of my photos from Italy. It turned out great! I was really impressed with the quality and the price. You can import your flickr photos to the software which I loved too. I would highly recommend them.
My only complaint is that the black dust jacket gets really fingerprinty.
jeffnyc--that's hilarious.
Hmm, I may have to do my own guide to my hometown and make a book out of it.
I have published my 2 hardcover photography books with them this year, great service, prices and of course amazing quality.
Where can I find the page that is advertised for this post? I love those lanterns!
I love this! I wanna make me one.
What are those lanterns in the sample book?
I make all my photo albums using coffee table books these days. These are absolutely wonderful to have. They're easy to make, and they're a lot of fun to have around the house to show to guests (and to give as gifts). I'm constantly finding new excuses to make coffee table books (I've seen them done as cookbooks, baby books, wedding albums, portfolios, etc. Love the idea of a guide to your hometown!). I've tried Blurb as well as pretty much all the other services out there. There are a ton of fairly inexpensive options -- MyPublisher, Shutterfly, SharedInk, Kodak, Imagestation, etc. I like Blurb's prices, but I think the best quality of the low-end books is MyPublisher (I'm not affiliated with them in any way). There are also higher-end options for professionals like Asukabook & SharedInk's photographer program. These are much more expensive but are far better quality.
Is everybody sure that your book doesn't automatically become available for sale in their 'bookstore'? I couldn't find the answer to this on their site. Can they sell your book to others??
For those looking for the lanterns featured in this post, it is located on the main page of the blurb.com website, in the 'photo books' section (at the bottom) and it is the last album in the series, titled "Summer in Sayulita" (its the last photo in that album)
There's also Lulu, which is a bit cheaper than Blurb and offers a few hardcover options. It has many different paperback options, though. I've used Lulu before, and the print quality is fine, though not what I would call 'coffeetable book' quality. I'd be interested in a comparion between Lulu and Blurb, or any others.