# Blurb

> Premium 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.

Source: https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/publishing/blurb
Website: https://www.blurb.com
Category: Publishing & Distribution (https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/publishing)
Pricing: freemium — $0
AI-powered: no
Editor's pick: yes
Tags: print-on-demand, photo-books, premium-printing, illustrated-books, art-books
Last verified: 2026-08-27
Best For: Photo books, art portfolios, illustrated children's books, cookbooks, and premium coffee-table editions where image fidelity matters
Distribution Channels: blurb-bookstore, amazon, ingram, barnes-noble
Exclusivity Required: no
Format Support: print
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
Service Type: pod-service

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