Your books, on almost any device
If you’ve ordered a printed copy of one of your books recently, you’ve probably noticed we now offer a cool little add-on: A PDF version of your book. Now, any book, made with any of our tools, can also be converted to a convenient PDF. For those keeping score at home, Blurb now offers printed books, ebooks for the iPad, and PDFs for, well, just about every device.
Here’s why we think it’s so cool:
1) Instantly yours: Order the PDF version along with your printed book and you’ll have something to enjoy while your book is printed and shipped to you.
2) Nearly everywhere: Pretty much every device is configured to handle PDFs: computers, tablets, smart phones, and ereaders (like the Kindle 2).
3) Saveable, shareable: Once you purchase your PDF, you can show it off on your tablet, share it with a cloud-based storage service (like Dropbox), put it on a flash drive, even make it downloadable from your website (great for business white papers).
Don’t want the PDF copy? That’s ok. Just remove it from your cart. You can always order it later. Keep in mind that these aren’t “soft proofs,” meaning they won’t contain crop marks and they’re only in screen resolution.
Want a PDF of a book you’ve already made? Just go to your bookstore page, select a book, and order the PDF. Once you do that you can sell your book as a PDF alongside your print book – just enable this in the sellers options on your Book Details page.
48 Comments
Sorry, can’t see where to order a PDF copy. Went to my last published book, only shows make an ebook. Also, is there a charge for this?
cheers, Roz
ps, as you have a relationship with Red Bubble, would it not be an idea to have links on our RB sites to your books?
I can’t seem to download my .pdf file I have adobe 9. when I download the file it seems to be functioning but nothing arrives at my destination.
Hey Tim,
That’s odd. It’s probably best if you contact our Support Team. They can help you figure it out.
best
Kent
Hey Roz,
You’ll find the ability to Download the PDF in the “Order Summary” panel on our “Customize Your Book” page. All you’ll need to do is select the book you want to order in PDF form, then choose to order 0 printed copies and make sure that the PDF option is selected.
best
Kent
Would like to know pricing of a PDF-ed book, even an estimate, BEFORE ordering.
Hey T Lux,
The PDF version is $4.99 right now. You’ll see the option for it in your shopping cart.
Best
Kent
Is there a demo of your pdf generation of a book. It would be nice to see it. I’d like to know how you do the cover pdf conversion and what it looks like in a pdf.
Thx
KD
I would like you to explain why you charge such outrageous prices for my books. I really enjoy using Booksmart to create my book, as it allows me total control, but the one thing I don’t like is the very high prices you ask. After all, you do no editing, no proofing, no nothing except just printing. I realize most all of our products are specialty ones, not mass market material, but still, don’t you think you could charge more resaonable prices? A lot of people, a lot, have remarked to me about the exorbitant prices they would have to pay for a copy of one of my books. Can you please look at this and reduce the cost to a more affordable level?
Can you give us an idea of how large the file size is for a PDF photo book of 40 or 60 pages is? It would be good to know since some downloads are limited to 2GB’s.
Please give detailed instructions on how to add a PDF copy to my books so I can sell that version also.
This is pretty cool. I’ve downloaded two of my photo books, and they look nice and crisp. The thing is, I design the books with a two-page spread in mind. The single pages look odd or worse alone. I can’t figure out how to get Adobe Reader to show me spreads. Is that possible?. Also, the cover of my book is cropped, cutting off part of the title and subtitle. I would not want to offer it for sale. Can you fix that?
Does the PDF file have a Blurb watermark?
Seems like a great idea. However, I would never order a PDF book of a book I have created for print, since the photos need to be processed lighter for print than for viewing on the average viewer’s monitor, which is uncalibrated and probably set on the bright side, if not actually overly bright.
But for doing a separate version for pdf, or just a pdf version, I like the idea
My book, Playing Pool by the Numbers, listed under, billiard instruction , is well researched and thought out. It just sits here month after month. What steps need to be taken to get this material in the hands of Pool Players nation wide?
Is book purchase required or can you purchase the PDF only?
Thanks
€ 4,99 to get ONLY a PDF version???
It thought it was free!!!!!!!
:-(((((
I can’t find the “customize your book” link. The book is already published using Booksmart – how do I get a PDF version?
Hey Rich,
Just go in as if you were ordering another copy of your book – make sure to de-select the print copy though when you select the PDF – unless you need another print copy.
best
Kent
Hey Marco,
No, it’s something we charge for in this form. Perhaps you were thinking of ebooks? Right now you can make a free ebook of your printed book.
best
Kent
Hey Darcy,
You will need to have purchased a printed copy at one point. But if you’ve already bought that printed copy, you can just get the PDF version. Just remember to de-select the printed copy when you checkout.
best
Kent
Hey Rick,
A lot of what goes into promoting a self-published book involves getting your book out to those communities. Try bulletin boards, Facebook pages, and discussion groups. It also helps to establish yourself via blogs and social media. We wrote a blog post on promoting your self published book that you might find useful: https://blog.blurb.com/three-smart-steps-to-promoting-your-self-published-book/
best of luck!
Kent
Hey David,
I think a lot of people will be happy with the PDF output as it is, but that’s good feedback. I’m not sure if differently calibrated PDFs is something we’ll offer, but I’ll mention it.
best
Kent
Hey Mark,
It does not have a watermark. But keep in mind that it’s designed for reading on screens and isn’t print quality.
best
Kent
Hello Kalpit,
We don’t have a demo right now, but it may be something we can offer. I’ll ask.
best
Kent
If the book has bleeds, will the pdf come with standard bleed settings of .125? Does it come in spreads or single pages?
Hello Clyman
I’m glad you like BookSmart, but I understand your frustration. There actually are a lot of costs to us even beyond printing (like employing the awesome people who make and continually update BookSmart). Having said that, I understand pricing can be a hinderance to sellers, so it’s something we’re looking at. Thank you for the feedback.
best
Kent
Hello Clyman,
First, you’ll need to order a PDF copy for yourself. Once you do that, you’ll configure it for sale like any other book format, under the “Sell” tab on your book’s details page.
best
Kent
Hey Tony,
Thanks, we think it’s pretty cool too. There are some ways to configure Adobe Reader to show two-page spreads accurately:
Unfortunately, Adobe Reader will show a gap or dotted-line between pages. As to the cropping, I don’t know what’s causing that, but I invited you to contact our Support Team, and they can look at the files and help you out.
Thank you for all the feedback!
Best,
Kent
Hey Heather,
There are no bleeds, it’s designed to look like the page in your printed book. The sheets are single, but you can set your reader to view them as a single-page or double-spread.
Hey Bob,
I just spoke to our PDF expert and he said that there are so many variables that it’d be hard to really pin down a number. I can tell you that my 44-page, Trade book, with a combination of two-page full bleed spreads and single images, came in at 10.9 megabytes.
best
Kent
Hi Kent – Few days ago I ordered a PDF of two of my books. Unfortunately there was an error at the Blurb conversion and support said “engineers” were working on it. Blurb refunded my payment because they could not give a time-frame on the fix. Can you give me an update because Blurb is still offering to do PDFs for me. Perhaps it was just the conversion with my books and not other people’s??
Thanks.
Hey Thos,
We’re still working on a fix for this – it seems a small number of books just aren’t converting properly. I’d suggest replying back to your Support Ticket next week and our team can give you an update
Thanks for hanging in there,
Kent
LOVE the new PDF option! Finally!
Hey Judy, Happy to hear it! I’ll let our product geniuses know that you’re liking it.
best
Kent
I have a 250+ page book that I’m almost ready to upload for print (in final editing stage). I’ve spoken to family, friends and colleagues and they are not willing to buy my book at the costs you have listed. They expect a book like this to run them around $25-$35 tops. How can I sell my book on your site with your high costs? For me to make a tiny profit, each book would be $130, at least. What are you people thinking?!!!!! It’s very sad that you are doing this to your customers. You aren’t doing any of the work…it’s taken more than a year for me to prepare my book…and all you’re doing is printing it. Why can’t you print at reasonable costs? You should charge me $15 each. I tack on $10 profit and we’re in business. I would sell so many copies and we would both profit from the volume of sales. If you don’t care about your customers, they will not stay with Blurb. At these prices, I’ll have to buy 2 books and give them as gifts and close shop. That’s all I can do. No one will buy my book and I’ll be disappointed that I even began with Blurb in the first place. I wish you could do something about this soon. Increase your profit margin by increasing your customer base….by lowering your prices and increasing the volume of book sales.
Hey Joanne,
I understand that cost can be a big frustration and I’ll forward your feedback on to our product team. Unfortunately, we can’t offer the same kinds of price cuts on individually printed books that Amazon can offer on mass-produced books. We try to keep our prices low, but there are expenses beyond printing (like all the technology that makes print on demand possible). But thank you for letting us know how you feel and, again, I’ll make sure your voice is heard.
Best
Kent
Love the pdf feature, but it doesn’t seem to work for double-page spreads – even after setting up my pdf viewer to show 2 pages at once. Because the cover is included, all the double-pages are one page off (instead of page 1&2, 3&4, you see Cover&1, 2&3 etc). Any thoughts on whether this could be fixed?
Of course, as soon as I commented, I figured out the setting in acrobat to fix this, so you can disregard my comment. (turn ON show cover page in two page up, in case anyone reading this wants to know). (Still, it would be nice if I didn’t have to send my non-computer literate family detailed instructions on how to configure their pdf viewer before they can look at the book!)
Glad you got it sorted out. Just so you know, one reason we chose to make everything a single page was to make books easier to read on ereaders. But, of course, that doesn’t help viewing photo books on computers. I’ll pass on your feedback to our Product team.
best
Kent
I can create a book. I can now create a PDF. However, I can’t share this PDF. Why can I not email the PDF I bought? If Ido it is just corrupt. It works on my iPad but it will not email.
Hey Jason,
I’m not sure. The PDF can be rather large and your Internet service provider may have limitations. You might try zipping it before sending it. If you’re still having trouble though, contact our Support Team and they can take a look: http://blur.by/KDIgDA
best
Kent
I ordered a PDF version of my new book but it will not download. I keep getting Aw Snap! and need help getting through the suggested resolves. Can’ find most of them
Hey Dominic
We’re sorry you got the “aw snap!” Please contact our Support Team and they can help you out: http://blur.by/KDIgDA
best
Kent
great idea having the pdf copy available. Blurb linkedin to user requirements. great to know costs are being considered too.
i can’t figure out how to make the PDF file available for sale to people who don’t have and iPad or an iPhone. I’ve already purchased a PDF file yesterday. Shouldn’t I be able to make that available for sale, or do I have re-purchase it to sell it?
It’s so frustrating how much time I have spent stuck on this. Pedraic of blurb wrote, “You can make the PDF file available for sale for people who don’t have iPhones or an iPad” — but that’s all he says. Wouldn’t it make sense to add a sentence explaining how to do this? Have spent two hours trying to figure it out.
Hey Christine,
I’m sorry you’ve had trouble. You’ll find the option to sell your PDF in the Seller Options on your book’s setting page – exactly where you set up the sale of your printed book.
best
Kent
i found the download button – thanks – but how do i get the .pdf to my ipad?
Hey Mark,
It should open itself, but if it isn’t, drop a line to our Support Team and they can help you out: http://blur.by/SPPRT
best
Kent