Blurb problem print

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
June 1, 2020
3 replies
1625 views

I do not know if members are aware but when you send a book file to Blurb from LR Classic and then order a pdf or review in the Blurb Preview screen all you are seeing is your uploaded pdf. They have done nothing to it! I just discovered this when a book I had reviewed in Preview and ordered had a much darker background color than what I showed on my screen. In fact it was so dark the type was almost unreadable as a black type on a dark background will get lost.

After they got back to me was when I learned this and I also learned that they make a color selection if the color we selected in LR is outside of the color gamut they have but do not notify you of that change. There is also no warning of this problem either in LR or from Blurb - you just get sent and expensive books that will not meet your expectations.

Problem or error

This topic has been closed for replies.

Todd Shaner

Legend

"It's not possible to soft proof the book in Lightroom, but usually Lightroom users are aware of out of gamut colors and they use Photoshop to soft proof colors with our color profile."

Try soft proof in PS using the Blurb.icc profile here:

https://www.blurb.com/downloads/Blurb_ICC_Profile.icc

Instructions for installing the profile:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/35640247

EDIT- You'll need to use 'Export Book to JPEG' in the Book module with sRGB color profile. That's what is used in the PDF uploaded to Blurb.

Then open the page(s) JPEG with the issue and use PS soft proof with the Blurb.icc profile. You can then determine what font and/or background color provides better readability.

https://www.redrivercatalog.com/infocenter/tips/soft-proofing-explained.html

Todd Shaner

Legend

It sounds like a prinitng error on Blurb's end. Can you post a screeshot of the page with the issue? Out of gamut colors when printed should be very subtle, but we need to see it to determine if that may be the cause.

J

jakher1927Author

Known Participant

Todd thank you for trying to help me. I have included one of the many communications we have had with Blurb on this matter and direct your attention to note number 3 in which they confirm that the pdf we sent to Blurb and we are asked to review is not what is sent to the printer nor what the book will look like.

So if you read this communications what you learn is that Blurb recommends that we soft proof before sending to Blurb but LR Classic only allows you to soft proof a single photo in the Develop module and nothing is available to soft proof in the Book Module. Further they do recommend that you make the book in their BookWright program where you can soft proof the entire book. I am not sure we like that option as when we are in LR we sometimes go back and forth between the Develop and Book modules to make changes that will enhance a photo. It will become much more cumbersome having to go back in forth between programs and I would never do that.

What I do not understand is why Adobe cannot offer a soft proofing capability in the Book module just as they do in the Develop module.

Thank you for your time and interests.

Herman Jakubowski

Zoé S. ( Blurb Support)

Jun 2, 2020, 5:14:47 AM PDT

Hello Herman,

I'm sorry that I haven't addressed all of your questions.

1. As requested, I have removed your books with ISBN 9781714920686 and 9781714920662 from Amazon distribution. You can now login to your account to delete the books from your account or update the visibility settings for sale on Blurb.com.

2. You can soft proof an entire book in BookWright. For this, open BookWright then go to BookWright>Preferences>Show Soft Proof, check the box next to it, then click "Apply". Once Show Soft Proof is applied, any out of gamut colors will display as the nearest printable color*.

Use this method to identify any out of gamut colors in your book. Note that soft proofing in this manner doesn't actually change the colors in your book. It simply displays the potential color shift that may occur in print.

It's not possible to soft proof the book in Lightroom, but usually Lightroom users are aware of out of gamut colors and they use Photoshop to soft proof colors with our color profile.

If you have access to Photoshop you can also follow the soft proofing steps found in our color management section (http://www.blurb.com/color-management), which makes use of Photoshop and Blurb's ICC profile*.

You can bookmark the following article for future reference:
https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/207792736?

3. The PDF version of your book is just a digital version of your book, it is not what is sent to our printer. I'm sorry that it's not clear enough. I passed on that feedback to my colleagues.

4. I was only offering you to reprint the 6 books from order 7821301 because you only sent me pictures from that order. What are the other orders you are not satisfied with? Are they Blurb orders?

You sent me a list of Amazon orders. We can't replace Amazon orders with codes. If someone orders a book on Amazon and they are not happy with it, they need to contact us from their Amazon account. It's really important that they contact us from their Amazon account because we need to follow the Amazon return process, which is different than the Blurb one.

Regarding Blurb orders, if there are other Blurb orders that you're not happy with, please send me pictures showing the problem in the printed books from these orders.

The problem with out of gamut colors is that we don't know how they will print, as they can't be reproduced by CMYK presses. They may not always print in the same way. It's not because they printed darker in your order 7821301, that they did in the other orders. That's why I need to see pictures from each order before we decide to replace an order or not.

5. Our printer will not provide another PDF showing how your book will print, as using Photoshop or BookWright should be enough to soft proof your book.

Also, please always order a single proof copy before placing a large order or selling a book. If you place a large order without ordering a proof copy and you're not satisfied with the large order, we can't help you to replace the full order. We have a warning on our website remaining our customers to order a proof copy. That warning should not be ignored to avoid any disappointment.

If you have more questions, please let me know.

Best regards,

Zoé
Blurb Customer Support