So, you’ve probably heard we’re changing to per-page pricing. In short, we think it makes things a lot easier for you – and in most cases, also less expensive. Read on to find out more:
Q: Wait, what’s happening?
A: Blurb is switching to a simple, per-page pricing model. This means that every book size has a starting price for 20 pages, just like before, but now each additional page has a price. Say you make a 24-page, Standard Landscape book:
Starting price with 20 pages= $19.99 USD/CAD
4 Standard Paper pages at $0.20= $0.80 USD/CAD
Total book cost= $20.79 USD/CAD
The new pricing chart with per-page prices for each book type
Q: What the heck was it before?
Previously we used 20-page ranges (or “bands”) to determine the price, meaning you paid the same thing if your book was 21 pages or 40 pages. Then your book went up in price when you hit the next range of pages, 41 to 60, then 61 to 80, etc. Here’s how the same book was priced with our old method:
Starting price with 20 pages: $19.95 USD/CAD
4 Standard Paper pages in the 21-40 page price band: $3.00 USD/CAD
Total book cost: $22.95 USD/CAD
Our old pricing for page bands
Q: Why the change?
A: It was confusing, particularly because there were spike-y jumps in price between bands. In the old way, simply by adding two pages outside your band, your price could increase by $4 (instead of, say, $0.40). Additionally we heard from lots of customers that they only wanted to pay for the pages they actually used vs. pay for all the pages in a band.
Q: What does that mean for the price of my book?
A: In most cases – for more than 80% of our most popular book combinations (books with Premium and Standard papers up to 240 pages) – prices will either be going down or staying the same. But, averaging out those odd page bands among single-page prices means that some books may see a price increase. Those using ProLine papers are more likely to see an increase.
Q: What if my book’s price goes up?
A: If your purchased book is publicly available in the bookstore, your book’s price will stay the same (just note that if you make any changes to your book, it will count as a new book, and you’ll lose that benefit). If your book isn’t publicly available (or you’re still working on it), we’ll honor the previous price for 30 days – just contact our Customer Support Team for a price adjustment.
Q: OK, so what if my price goes down and my book is for sale using Set Your Price?
A: The amount you originally set under “Your Profit” will stay the same, but since your “Base Price” goes down, your “Store Price” will also go down. You have the option to change your “Store Price” back to the previous amount, or leave it as is and pass the savings on to your customer (just change “Your Profit” under the “Sell” tab on your book’s details page).
More upcoming improvements on the pricing front
In the coming weeks we’ll be launching per-title volume discounts: So your book will earn discounts based on the number of copies you sell, even if you sell them separately, several months apart – stay tuned for details on that. And, for our friends in Europe who pay VAT, we’re also going to begin factoring that in to the prices you see on our pricing page., so you won’t have to calculate those percentages.
See how it all works over on the Blurb pricing page. Have general questions? Let us know in the comment section below. Have more specific questions about your particular book? Our Support Team will be glad to help.
57 Comments
It would be really helpful to have a cost calculator on the page — so as before you could set the size, pages, paper type etc and get a final price easily.
Thanks for the feedback! We’ll look into this for sure.
I loved Blurb’s cost calculator. Now it’s gone and Blurb has the complicated table as most polygraphies have. Even more complex.
Better add more detailed views of your paper — would be much more helpful for those who can’t decide.
Hey Vitali,
Thanks for letting us know! It’s helpful feedback for us. I’ll make sure to send it on to our team.
best
Kent
I am patiently waiting for you to put a journal, recipe book and day planner on that has ringed binding so it can be folded back. I’d love to have little boxes for pictures for birthdates, favorite recipe and the overall page to personalize it. I’ve highly recommended your site and have two more books almost ready to send for publishing. Thanks Marlene
Your offer by 20 pages was what made you “different and attractive” on the market. Another argument was the combined offer of e-books, whose prices unfortunately increased a lot … Concurrents however are generally offering more interesting promotions – probably because of the profit when working on a page by page adding offer. This was one of your weaknesses. But in fine, it is not important when you know and use well the system. I hope you will keep very good prices. This is very important on this market.
Hey Isabelle,
We know it seems like quite a change for us (and our customers), but it’s one we hope makes more sense when you make your book. We really appreciate this feedback.
Thank you for making your books with us,
Kent
Hello Marlene,
Thanks for your input! I’m passing it along to our book team.
best
Kent
Will this be reflected in the Adobe Lightroom Book module?
This is truly unfortunate! This was one of the main reasons I choose to use your company. The pricing was different, better, made more sense. I sent everyone here with that as a selling point. Why would you change to make yourselves more like everyone else and not keep one of your biggest selling points?! I wish you would reconsider, as now I think I will have to reconsider and really look at some other publishers to see if your cost is still the best now.
hey Aimee,
I think you’ll find that we’re really competitive. And it should be easier to compare prices directly now. I understand the attachment to our band pricing. We’ll definitely keep this feedback into account.
best
Kent
I am looking at this pricing page. I don’t understand how you say it is less complicated. Your grouped pages feature was one of your most attractive features for making large books. Now you’re just like the other guys. So now I need a calculator to sit and try to figure out what a 350 page book would cost me? I don’t get it. How do I easily “see” how much a book will cost me BEFORE I make the book? For example, a 320 page book, or a 280 page book, 8×10? Looking forward to your reply. There’s basically no information on the pricing chart. Just the base price…..and the price for 4 pages added.
Looks like for me the price of my book went up almost $10 under this system. I’m not sure how thats possible but if thats the case I will have to start looking for an alternative.
Hey Frank,
Was your book public? If so, the price should not have changed over what it was last month. Let our Support Team know if something looks wrong to you:
http://blur.by/YdcjqC
best,
Kent
Hey Jan,
Check out our pricing page. You’ll see that every book has a starting price for 20 pages. If you’re making a 350 page book, you’ll need 330 additional pages. Just multiple that times the page price (i.e. 15 cents per page) and add it to the base price:
http://www.blurb.com/pricing
We’re getting feedback that people miss the pricing calculator. We’ll see what we can do to make it easier for people to figure out.
best
Kent
How about lowering the absolutely ridiculous shipping prices? $7.50 for ONE 100-page standard paperback? And that’s the minimum price! Completely outrageous.
I too, liked your page brackets, i.e, 21-40, 41-60, etc. I would make sure that my pages fell within the max number to get the best value. It also made me very careful in my editing. Like many others, that was a big selling point when I recommended you to other authors. As long as the additional pages are reasonably priced, I will continue using your company.
Hey Phoebe,
Thanks for the comments and the feedback! We definitely want to see how this is affecting the bookmaking experience. I think you’ll find that our prices are still really competitive though. I hope you continue with us for a long time.
best
Kent
Hey Daniel,
Thanks for the feedback – I will send it on to the team. I understand that shipping seems high compared to online retailers that sell standardized products. We don’t make any money on our shipping. To discount it would mean raising book prices across the board, which we don’t want to do. Still, we are always looking for ways to make it cheaper.
best,
Kent
Hey Anne,
Yes, there’s no need to do anything. The pricing will be reflected in the book module.
best
Kent
Hi, guys,
new pricing aside, I would like to ask you to create/introduce a new size for us, photographers. In your square format you have either 7×7 or 12×12” and NOTHING in between! Could you make, say, 81/2×81/2, so that photographs would look bigger and better, and the book would look more “coffee-table” like and substantial? (I actually gave once a dummy to Eileen personally at the party at Aperture gallery in Manhattan).
Thank you,
Alex
Hey Alex,
We’re starting to see more requests like this. Just to get a bit more info, would 10×10 also be a good size? We’ve also had people ask for a large portrait book (13×11). I’ll be sure to add your feedback. It’d be fun to be able to put out another photographer-friendly size.
best
Kent
Thank you, Kent, for your reply.
Strangely enough, 10×10 is too big. 81/4×81/4 or 81/2×81/2 is almost perfect! And it should be slightly vertical – your 7×7 (soft cover) is actually 63/4 length and 61/2 height, which makes it look horizontal. Slight vertical orientation is important for photographers! My wife and I are children’s book designers and we deal with sizes every day. I am, of course, also a photographer and has made 7 (10 more are planned) books with Blurb.
Thank you again for taking my proposal into account.
Best,
Alex
have just calculated cost of 100 page image wrap standard landscape with premium paper. cost of previous books £37.59 + p&p. new cost now £46.74 + p&p!!!! Seems new pricing is to suit smaller books 20 -40 pages or so. larger books appear to be paying a hefty increase. have to think now of looking elsewhere
as long as we have a base price for 20 pages and a clear price for extra pages depending on type of paper, etc. it shouldn’t be hard at all to figure the price. however, I haven’t tried it yet. I didn’t mind the group page pricing though as that was very easy. I have found other sites VERY confusing. hope this one stays simple.
Hey Bob,
We’d hate to lose you. It looks like the new price would be just around £37, and the old price around 35.50. So it did go up a smidge when we averaged the price band out. (If you’re not seeing the same price in one of our tools, make sure you don’t have the Custom Logo Upgrade selected as that would definitely get you up in that neighborhood).
Thanks for the advice about the custom logo – very pleased that prices are not too different. Love the whole blurb experience & very happy to stay with it.
Thanks, Bob! We’ll work on getting a calculator back to make this all easier.
best
Kent
Hey Milly,
It looks like we will be bringing a calculator back to our pricing page in the near future. We’ll do our best to keep it simple.
best
Kent
I’m looking to this new pricing page.
But I have a doubt (maybe I don’t found the information).
Ok for the base-price, ok for the cost of every added page, but I don’t see the difference of cost for the other quality paper.
How much is the cost with the premium or proline papers?
It is the same that with the standard paper?
And I agree: a price-calculator that takes into account all the variables would be great!
Thanks
Raffaella
Hi, talking about sizes, I would love a smaller landscape size, for instance 15cmx22cm. Thanks, Ann. PS. haven’t tried the new page pricing yet, but was very happy about the old clear system, so hope it is as good and easy!
Hello. My question is as follow. You have Pocket books and Trade. I publish my stories on the Pocket books. Will you have a smaller size in the near future?
Hey Norma,
I don’t know if we will. What size are you looking for?
best
Kent
Hey Ann,
Thanks for the feedback on book size. I’ll make sure to let our team know.
best
Kent
Hey Raffaella,
You’ll find this information if you click “information for paper upgrades” under the main chart on our pricing page. We will be adding a price calculator soon to make it easier.
best
Kent
Thanks, Kent!
Maybe it is not so immediate to find…
Ciao,
Raffaella
It all seemed well and good until I noticed the hike in price to add a custom logo. Whatever money could have been saved by charging for the pages used rather than bands goes right back to paying for the custom logo. Having it at a standard price was a lot better for us but this 25% of the total price is really not a good change. Really not happy about this.
I’m happy with the current size. I was just wondering if the size would decrease one day. Thanks for your reply.
Hey Tosin,
Thanks for commenting. Our Custom Logo Upgrade percentage actually didn’t change. In fact you should see it a bit less expensive since we’re taking it off the starting price and not the per-page price. If you’re seeing something different, however, please let us know.
best
Kent
I would also love if Blurb included in the books lineup a new square format of around 8.5 x 8.5 inches (21,5 x 21×5 cm). It would be a great addition. It’s a size that fits perfectly in your hand, still allowing for big photos.
Hey Pedro,
Thanks! I will add this to my list.
best
Kent
Not welcomed, but ok the price increased …
Terrible the new pricing calculator… it was great before because it was very easy to quote my clients and keep the price simple. Now I can’t do it anymore without massively overpricing my books. made me consider looking into a different printer.
And now I have just noted that…. 25% of the price to remove your logo??? I am just plainly outraged…why is that exactly? The bigger the book, the better the paper, the bigger the book (the more I spend) and… more money you want to remove the same logo? What’s the excuse?
I think this is goodbye from me!
Hey E,
We’d hate to see you go! We really tried to keep all the prices down, but unfortunately, some did go up when we broke down the old page bands. But I think when you compare us, you’ll still find we’re a better value. The logo upgrade has actually always been that percentage. But the way it works now is that it’s off the “starting at 20 pages” price, instead of the whole price. So it should come out cheaper for you.
We hear you about the pricing calculator, and we are brining it back. So stay tuned.
Thank you for making your books with us. I hope you continue to.
best
Kent
Not only is your pricing page impossible to figure out, but your answer to my question just put me back on that page. YOU DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION!! THE PAGE ONLY LISTS 20 PAGE BOOKS. . . .
Hey Charles,
You’ll be happy (I hope) to know that we’re bringing back the pricing calculator. In the meantime, you’ll see that each book has a “starting at” price for 20 pages, and then a price for each additional page. So, if your book is 24 pages, you’ll need 4 extra pages. Multiply the additional page price by those four pages and add it to the “starting at price.”
cheers,
Kent
I think its ridiculous that Blurb is taking away the cost calculator.
I’m NOT going to start making a book with Blurb until I know how much it will cost me and I will design the number of pages according to the price. Now i have to open excel and try to figure out pricing?!?
Why would you take away a tool that kept your pricing more transparent? ONLY if you are trying to confuse clients more and not be as transparent about pricing. I’m a professional photographer and I offered my clients Blurb books but I won’t if you make me feel like you are trying to not be upfront with me about pricing. I’m very disappointed blurb.
Hey Ari,
I’m sorry the new system isn’t quite to your liking. We’d hoped it’d be simpler and more transparent to let people know how much each page cost while providing the base price. We’ve definitely heard that people want the pricing calculator and it will be coming back. And we hope you’ll be coming back to make your books with us.
best
Kent
I got so confused.After four books I need to look around.
Also disappointed in this change, everything was easy to find and figure out before, there is no way to figure out what anything costs without getting out a calculater and I also don’t see any actual per page prices for the paper upgrades, am I missing something? If you add a calculator or price chart back that would be very helpful… if you needed to raise prices and thought this would seem like you were not doing that this is a pretty frustrating way to do it, I wish you had just kept the same chart and raised your prices a little. I use blurb for tons of books per year (pro photog) and I don’t want to look for a different company, I feel you are the best, but this is a disappointment I must say. Hope to see some sort of calculator there on the website so one can use it to calculate costs before opening the software and creating a book.
Hey Sarah,
Thanks for the feedback. We love that you’ve made your books with us. We are bringing a pricing calculator back to the pricing page. We realize it was a little confusing without it. The price change was really about making sure that everyone was being charged for exactly the book they wanted to make, so a lot of prices actually went down.
Until we get the pricing calculator up and running, you’ll find per page prices for our other papers by clicking the “Pricing for paper upgrades” tab below the chart.
best
Kent
Hey Joseph,
We’re sorry for the confusion. We’ll be bringing back a pricing calculator in a couple of weeks. Thanks for hanging in there.
best
Kent
This used to be my favorite website for making photo books! Now it is no different from all the others! Instead if never shopping around, I will now always especially with your new system. You had something special, I really think you have lost a lot of customers due to this change. Just change the prices don’t try to hind the raise of cost! Very disappointed!!!
I’ve been working on a cookbook for months and used Blurb because the cost was attractive for my book of 80 pages. Now that I’m ready to download, I see where you’ve changed your pricing. Now my book will cost me an additional $12.00 This makes it a pretty expensive cookbook for family and friends who had wanted to order it. I’m sure no one will spend almost $50 per book. I’m very disappointed.
Hey Patti,
I understand why you’re upset, and I’ll send your feedback on to our team. Unfortunately, our old system just stopped making sense. Since, it actually made prices drop for a lot of books, I’d suggest dropping a line to our Support Team to make sure everything’s coming out right: http://blur.by/SPPRT
best
Kent
Hey Kris,
I know, changes to pricing are never popular, and I’ll certianly pass your feedback on to our team. We had to change to per-page pricing because inn the old way, some people paid more for just a few extra pages. A lot of prices actually went down with this, but a few prices, those at the upper end of the page bands went up.
I think you’ll still find us really competitive though. I hope you’ll stick around.
best
Kent
I just published my third book with Blurb. The book I published here last year was 256 pages long and sold in softcover for $12.13. The book I published last week was 233 pages long and is now listed for $33.77 in softcover!! Almost tripled in price!! I can’t sell my books for that amount! What was once a great experiance, (Blurb), is now a heartache for anyone who wants to sell their books. I love to write, but I need to publish elsewhere now……Charles
Hey Charles,
I see that your previous books were printed in black and white on cream colored paper, and the more recent one as color on white paper. The cream colored paper is certainly less expensive – you might want to try that option to see how the prices compare.
best
Kent