Books via Blurb

[Alan Maughan]

I made an 80 page 10x8 using beta, it was easy and the book arrived in first class condition, I was very pleased.

I then made a 160 page 13x11 - it arrived with layout faults. Some of the images that should have been full bleed were instead pushed over to one side top corner of the page, printing guide marks were clearly visible on the unused white areas of the page. Other pages where the image was full bleed centered they again would be forced over to one side with guide marks apparent, these faults appeared on about 12 pages and all within the middle section of the book.

Blurb were cool, they asked for photographs of the faulted pages. The next day they agreed to reprint the book for me, 7 days later it arrived with the same problems on the same pages.

Ive now complained again, attached the same pictures and now they have agreed to reprint again and have refunded me the initial purchase price. I cannot complain about how Blurb are dealing with me from a reprinting or refund point of view but all I want is a book that's right, not a refund.

Has anyone else experienced any problems using the book module? I cannot tell whether its a Blurb or beta problem. It would be very unfair of me to give them a hard time if the problem lies in Beta or would it?

 

[johnbeardy]

Alan

When LR sends a book to Blurb, it is generating a PDF which you don't normally see. So export your book as a PDF and review those pages to see if the errors are occurring at that stage (and I recommend this for any book).

It might be best if you shared the photos here, so we can assess where we think the problem lies, and perhaps at http://forums.adobe.com/community/labs/lightroom4?view=discussions .

Good to hear Blurb seem to be reasonable in how they're handling your complaints.

John

 

[Alan Maughan]

Thanks for your thoughts John, I have now checked the book in PDF format and the faults do not appear.

Here are examples of pages which should be full bleed pushed over into a corner at, also you can see the print guide lines in the corner.

 

[johnbeardy]

So on the top picture, those two photos should fill the entire page? Just checking I understand you use of "full bleed".

Can you go to the page in LR and identify which page layout you're using? You need to say something like in the single page templates, it's the 5th one down on the right. Maybe a screenshot will help me replicate the problem.

John

 

[Alan Maughan]

Yes John you understand correctly - I used the appropriate full bleed page within LR which is the single photo option and 1st on the left where the whole page is greyed out.

 

[johnbeardy]

OK, I'll see if I can replicate the problem tomorrow.

 

[johnbeardy]

I've repeated the process, Alan, and can't see the problem either in the PDF or when I upload it to Blurb and preview it online (have you checked this too?). So I don't see how Lightroom can be to blame here?

Is there anything odd about the pictures? Are they too small to print full-bleed? I'm clutching at straws though!

John

 

[Alan Maughan]

I've repeated the process, Alan, and can't see the problem either in the PDF or when I upload it to Blurb and preview it online (have you checked this too?). So I don't see how Lightroom can be to blame here?

Is there anything odd about the pictures? Are they too small to print full-bleed? I'm clutching at straws though!

John

Ive never checked them on the Blurb preview because it takes forever to get to the pages they are on as the book doesn't load or change pages very quickly. The images are all 18mp un-cropped so should go to full page easily and again LR didn't warn me they fell below 200dpi. Customer support at Blurb said that they had checked my upload and it was fine, they seem to blame it on the production facility, that is why they ask for the pictures for evidence. I guess Ive just got to wait for the 3rd book to arrive and see if its cured. The frustrating and worrying thing is my client is wanting to order 12 copies. Even if this one is OK I cant risk telling the client untill I have another order this time of 12 books safely in my possession. The problem of course is giving the client a delivery date because Im not sure Blub will be so happy reprinting by the dozen if there are problems. The whole thing ultimately makes me look bad because I cant just quote a sensible delivery date.

Thanks for trying to help, its much appreciated. What is really frustrating is Blurbs absolute reluctance to discuss anything by telephone and sometimes having to wait 2 days for an email to be replied to, again often inconclusively.

 

[Stanley J]

This poor response by Blurb is not comforting. I have used another publisher of photo books and have been completely satisfied with their product and email support. The inclusion of a book making module into LR 4 has been one of the reasons I would consider upgrading. Hopefully this is not reflective of their company as a whole. If others have had a satisfactory/or non-satisfactory experience with Blub might they please post, so that we can get a better picture of this company's attitude toward their customers.

 

[Alan Maughan]

I received a different 13x11 80 page book order today from Blurb, again made in LR4, this one was fine. I expect to have my problem book again in about a week, I will keep you informed of the situation.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

If the problem book still shows the problem, email me the PDF and the photos you sent to Blurb to show them the problem, and I'll run the past the engineers. It could be something in the PDF that we can't see.

 

[Alan Maughan]

Hi Victoria,

I have arrived home today to find the 3rd copy was delivered to me last week, again the exact same faults on the same pages etc. I will email this to you.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hey Alan, just to say I haven't seen the file yet.

 

[Alan Maughan]

Hi Victoria,

Sorry for the delay in replying. My problem has been passed back to the Blurb guys in San Francisco and they seem to highlight an issue at the PDF stage which I can now see myself. I am running the original beta version I downloaded about a month ago, is there a latest beta release?

 

[johnbeardy]

"which I can now see myself."

So Alan, going back to message 3 in this thread, was your earlier reply mistaken? What issue at the PDF stage do you now see?

I had a great meeting with Blurb's London office last Friday and will be doing a presentation for them next week. I know they're very keen to get going with LR4.

John

 

[Alan Maughan]

"which I can now see myself."

So Alan, going back to message 3 in this thread, was your earlier reply mistaken? What issue at the PDF stage do you now see?

I had a great meeting with Blurb's London office last Friday and will be doing a presentation for them next week. I know they're very keen to get going with LR4.

John

Hi John,

It was more a case of the problem being somewhat hidden within the PDF - only when it was viewed in two-up continuous were the faults apparent.

I reviewed the PDF in single page continuous view and using the contact sheet view, in both instances the faults do not appear, apparently this fooled the guys at Blurb for a long time to so I don't feel so daft. Now I can see the faults in the PDF the pages just look smaller as if from a different size of landscape layout. The book is 13x11 but it seems to have 10x8 pages mixed in.

If I download beta again will I be getting the latest revised version and if so will it automatically overwrite the old one or do I need to uninstall first?

 

[johnbeardy]

There's only one public beta, Alan, so no point downloading again.

I'll try again and see if I've overlooked the problem.

John

 

[Victoria Bampton]

I'll leave you guys discussing it then, if that's good with you. I'm a little distracted with my own book issues right now Hope you get it sorted! If you need to use my server, feel free and I can pass it on.

 

[Alan Maughan]

The saga continues!

I have remade the original book as per instructions from Blurb. I have checked the exported PDF and it appears fault free. Now I cannot upload it to Blub!!!!

I start the upload in the usual manner, a 160 page book takes me about 5hrs to upload at my standard upload speed of 0.37 Mbps, after about 2hrs I get the following error message, this has now happened twice!

There was an error talking to the Blurb server
Error code: xslt-parse-error; Server Response:

<h1>Gateway Timeout</h1>

I have the completed PDF for the front cover and book, I have asked the guys in San Francisco if I can now forward the PDF to them to see if they can set the book up for me.

What a nightmare this is turning out to be.

 

[Alan Maughan]

Book now uploaded, fingers crossed!

 

[johnbeardy]

Keep us informed!

 

[Alan Maughan]

The latest offering arrived today, no errors in the formatting. I haven't seen the book myself as Im away from home until Saturday, I will report back on the overall quality when Ive seen it. I uploaded the images on the 23rd at 11pm, the book arrived today from the Netherlands. Excellent production and delivery times, 5 day turn around is superb.

 

[johnbeardy]

Thanks Alan. I'm doing a presentation with Blurb this Friday and I'll make sure I pass that on. Hopefully you'll be equally happy with the quality.