P: Ability to create custom book templates/sizes from scratch

To have A4 portrait and landscape page sizes would allow scaling up or down for the international paper sizes.   Adobe , please implement this.

Agree.  Adobe will you please fix this!

Since years, the community searches for workarounds of the limitations of the book module. Many professional photographers are not using Blurb for their client photobooks. Especially in Europe, we have different page rations for landscape books.

The book module of Lightroom is an awesome tool to speed the personal workflow (especially of professional wedding photographers) massively up with the only limitation, it can't be used due to the Blurb limitation.

Please Adobe, we are asking since more than 5 years for an enhancement of the book module with the ability to create custom book sizes and templates. This update would increase the value of Lightroom in a professional environment a lot!

Why will Adobe not release the ability to create custom size templates within Lightroom?

There are many photo editors out here who need to prepare custom layout books for export to pdf.

I remember that promise.  Sad to promise publicly on a website and not honour it.  

At the same time, I believe an external template editor would be of limited use, as in reality we wish to adjust the objects in the page we are editing, not its template.

I tried out Affinity Design beta to-day on Windows and was impressed. I am seriously looking forward to their release of Affinity Publish.

Yes! When launched, the promise was at least for a standalone book template editor. That would be incredibly helpful, for custom printing and for services like Blurb's acquisition of MagCloud!

Also disappointed that now 4 years of this string and there's not update for custom book sizes.  I sat here about the entire day playing with the functionality of the print module only to find that I can't create a custom size.  Wish I ran across that issue right from the beginning.  Was very surprised. Very disappointing.  

Lightroom needs badly to revamp the Book Module.  Walk away from Blurp and give us a Book Module that is more versitile.

I share your frustration with the Book Module. It forced me to simply use Photoshop and after a short time that process became fairly effective.
Photoshop now has many new and improved tools and its Guides functionality is very helpful. You can create books by creating a new page 300dpi and whatever size a 2 page spread will be. Then position guides in the middle and the safety zones on all sides. I just use file Explorer to view thumbnails of my 'Selects' and simply drag them onto the layout where they come in as smart objects. I generally do a layer style on one and copy in a heartbeat to others. Using the move tool as one's principal tool, the images can be re-sized, re-positioned individually or in groups, similarly angled if desired ...to create the layout you want. Another image can be imported similarly to use as a background and if needed ...text layers can be added where appropriate.
As you go you can simply save that as a PSD and make a copy of it and bring that in as start of the next 2 page spread. Because the images are smart objects the 'object' can be replaced. I usually replace one to keep the layer style and then delete all the other (perhaps keeping the background image) and then slide the next batch in, copy the layer styles to them and then size and reposition using the move tool and making use of the intelligent guides to properly space them. As you make different 2 page spreads and save them as PSD's, you are effectively building a library of templates or 'starting points' for other spreads. I was surprised at how easy it is.

Once all of them are done I import them into LR, select all and make virtual copies, I crop the first as a left page and the second as a right page ...repeat for all and export as jpgs ready to send to the printer. I generally make them 0.5% wider so that on the printer's software I can slide them sideways enough to perfectly line up across two pages for a perfect 'lay flat' book (unless that supplier can take the 2 page spreads,. Some don't).

If you make a collection of those spreads they can be made into a book in book module, and screenshots of them can be used for online viewing. I'll attattach an example of a 24x12 inch spread.
Do just one book like that and you will teach yourself so much and learn so much about PS that you really won't need the book module. I've even tried Fundy and prefer the control of doing it in PS. and the satisfaction of having done it myself.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Fundy or with Pixellu or even the on-line album making programs, but if you enjoy sharpening your own creativity and learning to make the most of what you already have, you may get some satisfaction from doing it in PS.

Dream on......

Adobe appear to have forgotten about or abandoned the Book module.  I have started making handmade books, which suits my volume and demand for quality,  avoiding the Adobe / Blurb connection completely.

If Adobe every do make this a proper book module I will use the module for paper based archives of certain projects, where I can automate the process .... until then I have abandoned Adobe's flawed Book module.

My high quality books are now handmade.  Interesting to learn the craft of bookbinding with traditional materials, but producing the pages / leafs on fine art media of  my choice. Thanks to Adobe for pushing me in this direction.