Thanks Blurb for sponsoring this post.

I was first introduced to the art of picture taking at the age of 7 or 8 when I received my first film camera for kids, a blue Fisher Price Kodak pocket camera, which took 110 sized film cartridges.  When my husband and I first started dating, one of his first gifts to me was a Pentax Compact Point & Shoot camera and a couple of years after we got married he bought me a Nikon CoolPix for my birthday.  In 2014, I decided to upgrade to a Nikon D5100, for our first trip to Paris.  I always had a love for photography and I mostly took pictures for fun (I still do), but this time it developed into a deeper passion.

The idea of developing a book didn't come to me until two years ago.  I had this idea of creating a visual journal of life in Paris.  Sure I have my online gallery of Paris photos on Instagram (@ruemargaux), but to me there is nothing like the feel and smell of something tangible like a book.  The only thing that stopped me from creating was that I didn't know how or where to start until I was approached by Blurb.  For those of you who are not familiar with Blurb, they are an independent book-making/self-publishing platform that makes the process of designing and selling print or digital photo books and magazines really easy.

I started out by thinking about the type of book I wanted to create.  A good photograph is worth a thousand words so I knew I wanted a coffee table book with few words.  The next step was to choose the format of my book.  I didn't want a grand sized book as I felt it would be too overwhelming so I chose standard portrait size in 8x10 with a hardcover image wrap.  The quality of a book's paper and texture is everything to me so I ordered a swatch kit to see samples of all of Blurb's paper options.  After careful thought and consideration, I chose the ProLine Pearl Photo paper.  It has a semi-gloss feel and slightly heavier than the other papers.  It has the perfect amount of sheen and since majority of my photos are in color this particular paper brings out every detail.

The design process was simple.  There are a variety of creative & layout tools to choose from like BookWright, Blurb's free desktop publishing software; Adobe Lightroom, Adobe InDesign Plug-In, or the PDF Uploader.  I created my book using Adobe InDesign and then I utilized Blurb's PDF Uploader to set up my book for print.

It felt like Christmas when the book arrived!  The joyous feeling of seeing your work in print, holding the finished product in your hands, and flipping through the pages is priceless.  I unveiled the finished 132-page product to my family and a family-friend and they were simply amazed at how beautiful it all came out.  The pages were smooth to the touch, the hardcover image wrap was perfectly done, and the colors of the photos were printed flawlessly.  There is a richness to each photo that is absolutely sublime.  This is definitely not your ordinary coffee table book!

Et toi?  Have you ever created a photo book before or thought of creating a photo book to sell?  What kind of book would you create?

If you want to get a copy in your hands or gift one to someone who loves Paris, I am accepting pre-orders at a discounted rate ($89.95 + shipping, however, sales tax is included in the price!) until November 30th.  And as a bonus for pre-ordering I will include a free autographed fine art print (5x7).  Printing starts November 30th and shipping worldwide in December 2018.  The pre-order discounted rate will no longer be available starting December 1, 2018 and will be priced at the regular listing rate of $124.99 plus tax + shipping.  So get your copy now by clicking HERE.