Thursday, April 25, 2013

117 The unexpected power of Blurb

As I mentioned in an earlier post I recently published a collection of paintings and woodcuts with the on-demand publisher Blurb (see preview below). I felt such a book would be an excellent gift for collectors as well as a compelling way to tell my story in a gallery setting.


I've since had the pleasure of giving it to two collectors. The gift has been well received and I derived the satisfaction of giving back to those who make my career possible. The Southam Gallery displayed the book at a recent opening and I had the best one night sales I've had in many years. I attribute at least some of that success to the excellent printing and presentation of the Blurb book.

These benefits were hoped for but not unexpected. What I didn't expect was the influx of blog readers via the Blurb site. Apparently Blurb attracts a lot of readers of fine art books. Blurb is my top traffic source this month and, amazingly, is currently the third most frequent traffic source in the history of my blog. The increase in readership due to publishing with Blurb was a complete surprise. I'm not naive enough to believe the trend will continue nor that traffic stats are the sole measure of value. But in the weird world of the internet numbers are often the difference between nominal success and wild success.

I pass these observations along to those who might be contemplating doing a book with Blurb but have yet to determine if it would be worthwhile. From my experience I highly recommend it. In fact, I plan on doing a new book whenever the volume of paintings warrants a new publication.

Click this link to begin your own book and get $20 off. Let me know if you experience similar results.


8 comments:

  1. Was it something in particular you did with blurb that resulted in the increase in traffic? That's awesome that you have garnered new blog readers and hopefully new potential clients!

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    1. Not sure really. I did put a link to this blog in my author description so that is the probable entry point. That was what was so unexpected about it. If people just searched for my name it would come in under the Google entry. I would love to know if other book makers have had a similar experience.

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  2. Your book and work are gorgeous! Have my Blurb book half prepared but you've inspired me to get it done.

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    1. It took me a while to get mine done too. Steve Doherty actually suggested Blurb about seven years ago and it took me that long to finally do it! One thing that really helped me finally cross the finish line was Blurb's InDesign plugin. If you know InDesign the plugin is fantastic. You can fully customize your book which adds to the individuality, and therefore the identity, of your project.

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  3. I also published an art book on blurb that had images for a show that I was in. I made it several years ago when I didn't know how to use Photoshop to correct images and did not have my great digital camera. I have been writing/illustrating children's books about science that I published on blurb. Several art books are in the works, as well, which is exciting since I have learned so much since I published my first art book. I think that blurb gives artists countless ways to publish [soft and hard cover, pamphlet, magazine and numerous sizes] that it is a great tool. I have had people tell me that they bought my book because they love my paintings but cannot afford an original. I have purchased several blurb created books from other artists, as well.

    Jan Stommes

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  4. That's cool Jan. I checked out your name on blurb and found several books. Very nice! I think the magazine format would be great for doing a portfolio to drop off at galleries. There is a book about cooking that has some great paintings. Is that yours as well?

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  5. Love your work and book Brad! I have been thinking about getting a book done for a while now.I hope to get started later in the year...thanks for sharing your info!

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    1. Thank you Karen! It was a fun project. I highly recommend it.

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Thanks for your comments!

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