How the book industry is being reinvented

Kristin Karaoglu · December 11, 2013 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/33b9

Blurb tops 8 million self-published books, can process 1.2M book orders per second

Traditional publishers are the VCs for authors, said Eileen Gittins, founder and CEO of Blurb, a self-publishing platform, backed by Canaan Partners. But if individuals could publish their own books, the economic would change and her company Blurb is hoping to change that. Gittins spoke at Amplify, hosted by Vator, Girls in Tech and Thomson Reuters this past fall.

Not only did she talk about how Blurb is helping to reinvent the book industry, she also gave some stats on her company's traction.

Blurb has printed and shipped more than eight million books, with over two million processed in 2012 alone. More than 50% of revenue comes from repeat customers. Blurb has paid out more than $3 million to authors to date and can process - at peak - 1.2 million books ordered per second. Blurb is also shipping to 70 countries.

Kristin Karaoglu

Woman of many skills: Database System Engineer; SplashX event producer; Author of Startup Teams

All author posts

Support VatorNews by Donating

Donation Amount

DUOS expands AI capabilities to help seniors apply for assistance programs

It will complete and submit forms, and integrate with state benefit systems

House introduces bipartisan bill on AI in banking and housing

The bill would require a report on how these industries use AI to valuate homes and underwrite loans

Artists invited to test OpenAI's Sora leak it in protest

The artists wrote an open letter accusing OpenAI of misleading and using them

Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs

Blurb

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on March 6, 2008

Blurb is a company and a community that believes passionately in the joy of books – reading them, making them, sharing them, and selling them.

Holding a finished book with your name on the cover is a truly amazing feeling; it’s one of those experiences everyone should have. As software people, designers, and publishing professionals at the top of our game, we realized something both incredible and obvious:

there’s no good reason why it should take tons of time, technical skills, big bucks, or friends in high places to publish a book. Or a zillion books, for that matter.

So we put our minds together, and developed a creative publishing service simple and smart enough to make anyone an author – every blogger, cook, photographer, parent, traveler, poet, pet owner, marketer, everyone. (This means you.)

Eileen Gittins