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Image of blurb book

Recently, I wrote about how I used Blurb and Booksmart software to create a photobook of the pictures from our ColorMetrix Color Conversations Live ’11 event. As you can see from the picture with this post I have received the book and it’s sparked an idea for a photobook marketing campaign.

Why you want to continue reading this post

At the end of this post I’ll explain the simple contest that could score your $75 to jump start your photobook marketing campaign! The rules and entry are quite simple and you can skip ahead if you must. I’d suggest taking a few minutes to review my idea as it could spark a more creative entry with a better chance of winning.

Photobook Marketing Is About The Story

The tendency with photobooks is to forget that they tell a story. This feeling hit me particularly hard as I reviewed the Color Conversations Live ’11 book I created with Blurb. This was the second time I’d created a book with Blurb, so I believe the organization of the book was done subconsciously. First, I shared images and captions about the conference portion of the event in pretty much chronological order. My focus was the people and companies represented and what they discussed.

The second half of the book was about our evening social event. I wish we’d had more pictures from the conference but I had to work with the images I had. Adding the captions brought the pictures to life even if you didn’t get the chance to join us for the event. The cool thing was that as I reviewed the printed version of the book I found myself wanting to get started on planning the Fall event we’ve been thinking about having.

So, the plan is to make a few edits to the book with the BookSmart software provided by Blurb. Then, I’m going to get a modest quantity of the Color Conversations Live ’11 books printed. We’ll have copies of the book at trade shows and conferences so people can get a feel for the event. We’ve posted all the pictures in the book on our Facebook page but that’s just not the same as flipping through a book with images and captions on each and every page.

Copies of the revised book will be shared with the event sponsors as well. The key is to keep the energy of the day the event occurred alive and fresh in all the attendees minds. Also, a photo book in a market where most of our customers are printers just can’t be a bad thing.

How To Enter To Win $75 from Blurb To Start Your Photobook Marketing Plan

Okay, I promised this would be simple. Leave a comment on this post about the Blurb book you would make. What story would you tell? What would you marketing purpose be. You don’t have to go crazy with you answer but know that I’ll be looking for creativity in the answered. At 5pm CST on Friday June 17 I’ll close the contest and announce a winner. Couldn’t be much simpler right?

For now you can get started on your Blurb book (affiliate link), because you won’t need to coupon code until it’s time to order. It’s completely free to signup for Blurb and give the BookSmart software a try. You only pay when and if you decided to have a book printed.

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Continue Reading 11 comments }Marketer

Blurb.com and Booksmart software

by JimRaffel on June 7, 2011

image of looking at a blurb book

Several years ago, I used Blurb and their BookSmart software to produce a book of family memories containing pictures and words for our father on the occasion of his 84th birthday. “Blurb – New Media Meets Old Media” discusses the process of creating that book three years ago. “Blurb Books and Why I Still Love Print” shares the unveiling of the book to my dad on his birthday. That was then, this is now and Blurb’s BookSmart software has come a long way.

BookSmart software today

Blurb and the book creation process impressed me three years ago; so when I found out they now have an affiliate program I signed up immediately. One of the perks of that signup was a coupon code to produce a free book. I decided to create a book of the pictures we collected at the Color Conversations Live ’11 event we held earlier this year in Las Vegas.

I started by signing up for a new Blurb account. Since I now use a Mac (I was running on a PC three years ago), I downloaded and installed the Mac version of BookSmart. Next, I started BookSmart up and selected the size and type of book I wanted to create. This process, along with the selection of a template, seems to have been streamlined over the last three years. I was impressed that in about two hours I had created a 20-page book of pictures and captions.

BookSmart even warned me when pictures I selected needed to be resized to be properly reproduced in print. Overall, the book creation process was extremely smooth and trouble free. Three years ago BookSmart crashed on me several times; with no data loss thanks to their ingenious auto-save technology. This time around, I didn’t experience a single crash.

Waiting for the book

I’ve submitted the order for my book and now it’s just a matter of waiting for it to arrive. Of course, once it does I’ll let you know how the final product turns out; but I have no concerns based upon my past experience with Blurb.

An offer for you

As a new Blurb affiliate I can offer you the “NEWBLURB” coupon code that will save you 20 percent on your first book when you sign up for a new Blurb account. With that coupon code, you can create a small softcover picture book for around $16. It’s not too steep an investment to put some ink on paper and I love ink on paper! If you do try Blurb out, please come back and share your impression in the comments.

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Continue Reading 3 comments }new media, Stuff I Like

Trust as Currency

March 10, 2010

Today I experienced first hand what if feels like to hold the currency that is the trust of another human being. Early in the day I learned that a new customer has chosen to go with my proposal based upon the recommendation of “Fred,” a customer I wrote about in my Regaining Trust post. Later [...]

9 Books That Inspire Me

February 7, 2010

I assembled this list of nine books to provide a sense of the sources of inspiration that have led me to write about real, authentic and sustainable living. One book is queued up and ready to be read. Two are in various states of being read at the same time which has led to several [...]