Video Archives

Blurb, Inc.

Product Name

Blurb BookSmart™

Market Segment

Consumer service

Funding

$2.05 million Series A led by Canaan Partners and Anthem Venture Capital.

Competitors

No direct competitors. Secondary competitors include Lulu and MyPublisher.

Product Description

Blurb BookSmart™ puts a professional press and global distribution in the hands of every blogger, marketer, traveler, chef, photographer, consultant, family historian, online community — in fact, everyone. Blurb democratizes publishing with BookSmart, a platform that features professional authoring templates plus a print-on-demand engine, community content library and online marketplace. Blurb gives individuals and groups the ability to create, publish and market bookstore-quality books affordably, in quantities ranging from one to thousands.

Market Opportunity

In 2004, the U.S. book publishing industry totaled $23.7 billion, according to the Association of American Publishers. The market for user-generated books was at $5.4 billion for 2003, including the $2.9 billion self-publishing industry (Publisher's Marketing Association) and the $2.5 billion scrap booking/photo album industry (Hobby Industry Association of America).

Demo Says

Our constant exposure to media sets a high bar for consumer-generated content. Blurb lets individuals create books that are every bit as professional looking as those produced by major publishing companies. But beyond book production, Blurb provides a marketplace so that individual publishers reap the rewards of their creations.