Blurb
Pick 7 of 11Premium POD specialist for visually rich books — photo books, portfolios, art books, illustrated titles. Print only; ebooks were discontinued. Photo books reach Amazon.com, plain trade books reach Ingram's retail network.
Best for: Photo books, art portfolios, illustrated children's books, cookbooks, and premium coffee-table editions where image fidelity matters
Details
- Service Type
- Pod Service
- Format Support
- Distribution Channels
- Blurb Bookstore, Amazon, Ingram, Barnes Noble
- Royalty Rate
- Authors set list price above Blurb's print cost and keep the markup. Blurb Bookstore takes 0% commission; the Amazon channel costs $1.35/book + 15% of list price; Ingram costs a 22–55% wholesale discount off list (Blurb recommends 55%). $25 minimum payout threshold
- Exclusivity Required
- No
Blurb is the gold standard for image-heavy POD — the platform photographers, illustrators, and cookbook authors choose when print quality matters more than per-unit cost. The catch is that Blurb's distribution splits by format, and the premium formats are the restricted ones: only plain 5x8/6x9/8x10 trade books reach Ingram's retail network, photo books can go to Amazon.com only, and Layflat books sell nowhere but blurb.com.
- Best for: Photographers, illustrators, cookbook authors, and creators of premium coffee-table books
- Key features: Top-tier paper stocks (Mohawk Superfine, proPhoto Pearl) and binding options, free BookWright desktop/browser software plus Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Lightroom plugins and a PDF uploader, no account or setup fees, free ISBN on trade books, volume discounts from 10 copies (10–25% off)
- Pricing: Free account; per-unit print costs start at $3.99 for a 5x8 trade paperback, $13.99 for an ImageWrap hardcover, $15.99 for linen-with-dust-jacket, $12 for a softcover photo book, $32 for a hardcover photo book, and $60–$159+ for Layflat
- Limitations: No ebooks at all — Blurb stopped creating, converting and distributing them (Instant PDF is the only digital option, and no audiobook support exists). Photo books are excluded from the Ingram Global Retail Network and can only be sold on Amazon.com — not international Amazon sites. Layflat is blurb.com-only. Trade books cap at 480 pages. High unit costs make Blurb impractical for mass-market fiction
- Why authors love it: Print quality on photo and art books is consistently rated above Lulu, KDP Print, and IngramSpark
More Publishing & Distribution Tools
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Veteran POD platform with the broadest trim-size catalog plus Lulu Direct storefront integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix.
Also offers Print On Demand
- Royalty Rate:
- ~80% of profit on Lulu Bookstore direct sales; retail royalty after 55% wholesale discount + 20% Lulu cut; one-time $4.99 global distribution activation
- Exclusivity Required:
- false
Bookvault
UK-based POD platform for direct-to-reader sales with premium finishes — foiling, sprayed edges, custom endpapers — plus Shopify and WooCommerce integrations.
Also offers Print On Demand
- Royalty Rate:
- 100% of your set price minus print/shipping cost on direct sales (Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Payhip); on The Great British Book Shop and the new Bookvault Shop marketplace, Bookvault deducts a ~5% distribution fee, a 5-15% retailer fee, and production cost from RRP — no single published royalty percentage exists for these channels, so use Bookvault's own quote/royalty calculator per title
- Exclusivity Required:
- false
Bookmundo
European POD and ebook platform reaching Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, Waterstones, WHSmith, Fnac, Thalia, and bookshops across the UK, NL, BE, FR, ES, PT, DE, and DK — free to publish.
Also offers Print On Demand
- Royalty Rate:
- ~38% of retail price on direct webshop/author-shop sales; bookshops and online retailers take ~45% of the sale price; free to publish with no upfront royalty share
- Exclusivity Required:
- false
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