It’s no secret that Blurb bookmakers love to show off their books, and we’re more than happy to help. Along with promotional tools like Announce, Bookmark It and Blurb Badges, Book Preview has always been a popular way to give people a sneak peek at your latest creation. The only drawback with our original PDF-based book preview was that it was (for lack of a better term), very “un-book-like.” After a considerable amount of user feedback (not to mention elbow grease), we’re extremely excited to announce a whole new version of Book Preview.
Along with looking and acting like a real book, the new preview now shows off the first fifteen pages of your book, the front and back cover, and even the inside flaps. It also offers a full screen view, better image quality, and basic zoom (just right click on any book spread and select “Zoom In”). You can also link directly to your book preview if you wish – a unique URL is created when you click preview.
Want to see the new Book Preview in action? Just go to the Blurb Bookstore, find a book that looks interesting, and click on the Book Preview link right under book cover. Keep in mind, not all authors choose to turn on Book Preview for their books – if you don’t see the link, Book Preview is off. So you can always check out some of these recent Staff Picks that caught our fancy:
Lofoten | Union Square Greenmarket, NYC | Little Deiter’s Alphabet Reader
We’re far from finished with this new feature. We’ll continue to improve upon image quality in the coming weeks, and add a couple more bells and whistles. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we want your feedback. What do you think of the new Book Preview? What additional features would you like to see? Let us know by adding a comment below, or by sending us feedback directly.
13 Comments
Just used the new book preview, and it’s WONDERFUL!!! Thanks much to the all the folks at Blurb!!! I’m working on my second book now…. What a great site!!
Susan
This is wonderful. I love how much nicer it looks.
Thanks again, Blurb!
FELL FROM THE SKY is showcased as a bestseller. This is an awesome story coming from a male perspective….I love it.
Thank you, Blurb!
Good work…getting better all the time…
Hugely impressed with this…. I’ve just been catching up on my feeds and read this post with interest, logged into my account and bingo! Great functionality and i think the quality is excellent.
B I G thumbs up!
I just published my second book with Blurb. (The Man without the Fish of a Bone. (Category; humor).
Not only is the published/printed quality BETTER than most Bookstores, but the cool Book Preview you have to offer is incredibly COOL! I love to be able to send friends and family to check out the Book Preview. The Book preview is incredible, but the real print of the book is 10 times better.
BLURB – YOU ROCK!
Thank you!! – EL Stevens, aka Monkey Artz
love the preview feature and the ability to announce the book. BUT, there are some cases where I would like to show MORE then just 15 pages. Maybe even the entire book. Will that be possible?
Hey El Stevens – we agree. Nothing can beat the “real print” of a book!
Kelli – We’re looking into additional author options for the book preview… stay tuned.
I just published my first book with Blurb. For me is like a dream. Take a look and enjoy with the new book preview.
I have published the 4th edition of my autobiography and am extremely pleased with the result. Hope you are, too.
the preview doesn’t work for me (Flock 2.0 browser on the Mac). I just get blank pages.
Hey Tym –
We currently do not support the Flock browser. Here is a list of the browsers that we do support.
Can I put a request in for either more pages or user definable page range? My photo book starts with 11 pages of not-the-photos before getting into the good stuff, so 15 pages of preview just isn’t working for me.