Released on: January 18, 2008, 9:50 am

Press Release Author: BLURB

Industry: Internet & Online

Press Release Summary: Blurb leverages online communities, print-on-demand
technology, and shifts in consumer behaviour to drive changes in the traditional
publishing industry

Press Release Body: Blurb, the creative book publishing service, is reporting
explosive growth in 2007. People have more digital images and online content to
feature in books, and are more engaged in communities in which they can share this
content. These trends in consumer behavior, coupled with the economics of
print-on-demand technology, are driving industry-wide growth in self-publishing.
Companies like Blurb are changing traditional publishing by providing the tools to
help people create and publish books on their own terms.

Blurb makes it possible for anyone to become a published author and share, market,
or sell those books to a wider audience. Blurb produced nearly 80,000 unique titles
in 2007. To put this in perspective, Simon & Schuster publishes approximately 1,800
titles annually, and Random House, with more than 100 editorially independent
imprints worldwide, published 9,000 new titles in 2006. Blurb's title output is
nearly 8x the combined number of titles released by these traditional publishing
houses, and as a result, the company doubled in size every three months in 2007.
Compared to traditional publishing, custom print-on-demand books are more personal,
economical, green, and profitable for the "everyday" authors who make them.

The self-publishing explosion is being driven by a dramatic increase in digital
camera sales, which in 2007 grew twice as fast as the industry expected. 2.1 million
DSLR units shipped in the U.S. last year - up 37% over 2006. (Source: InfoTrends).
As a result, creative professionals and consumers have enormous libraries of digital
images ready for bookmaking.

Flickr, the popular photo sharing website, just celebrated its two-billionth
uploaded photo in November of 2007, and according to Technorati, 120,000 new blogs
are being created worldwide each day. People are writing and photographing like
never before and this fosters an increased desire to create real, tangible things
like books.

"Although consumers are still new to the opportunities of self publishing, the tools
are now in place to help them create high quality books using their own content,"
said InfoTrends' analyst Mette Eriksen. "InfoTrends estimates that the photo book
market grew by 166% in 2007. This market will continue to grow as more consumers
become aware of the opportunities that companies like Blurb offer. Blurb's
end-to-end platform that offers consumers ease of use combined with a high quality
finished product is one of the drivers for market adoption."

"Blurb is redefining how success is measured in publishing," said Eileen Gittins,
Blurb's founder and CEO. "For some, success is creating a book that helps raise
money for a foundation, for others it might be selling 25 copies of one's own book,
and for still others it might be a marketing piece like an event book or portfolio.
Unlike traditional publishers whose economics drive a focus on the best-seller,
Blurb is expanding the book market to include books for millions of very small,
niche markets."

To create and publish a Blurb book, users start by downloading Blurb BookSmartT
software from the Blurb Web site. Blurb's BookSmart software is free, runs on a Mac
or PC, and offers a wide variety of book layouts created by professional book
designers. The software enables anyone to affordably make, share, and market
beautiful, bookstore-quality books. Prices start at £6.95 and authors can order only
one book or many.

About Blurb
Blurb is a company and a community that believes passionately in the power of books:
making, reading, sharing, and selling them. Blurb's creative publishing service is
simple and smart enough to make anyone an author - every blogger, artist, marketer,
photographer, traveller, entrepreneur, poet, everyone. Additionally, Blurb's
bookstore and online marketing tools let Blurb authors sell and promote their books,
and keep 100% of the author's markup. Blurb's community features - designed to
encourage collaboration and communication - are defining social print media. Founded
by Eileen Gittins in 2004 and funded by Canaan Partners and Anthem Venture Partners,
Blurb is bringing book publishing to the masses. Blurb BookSmartT software is free
for Mac or PC; users pay only when they publish their books. The software is
available for download at www.blurb.com .


Web Site: http://www.blurb.com

Contact Details: paris welton
paris@connectedpr.eu
tel - 07810474383