Saturday, February 25, 2012

'Even the bad books are awesome': Meet the woman behind $45m empire that allows anyone to become a published author (talented or not)

MailOnline 24 February, 2012
Most people harbour a secret desire to be a singer, an actor or a novelist but aspiring writers and artists looking to publish their material need no longer dream.

Thanks to Eileen Gittins, the founder and CEO of Blurb, creative types can see their work in print for as little as $3 by filling out a simple template and printing the requisite copies.

In search of a 'cathartic, creative outlet' herself, the former Kodak executive and technology start-up guru launched the business after discovering there was no way to print a book of photography on which she had been working in her spare time.
Blurb: Eileen Gittins, the CEO of blurb.com launched the company after failing to find a way of printing her own book of photography
 Eileen Gittins, the CEO of blurb.com launched the company after failing to find a way of printing her own book of photography
Speaking to the Huffington Post she recalled her surprise that such a service did not already exist: 'I could see it - desktop publishing in some incarnation for people like me who are not book designers.

'I kept thinking "Why is that not there? Why is this so hard?" After carping about this to my husband countless times, finally he said, "Why don’t you do it?"'So, as a woman who had built up two companies, she convinced investors to back her move from digital to print - an unusual request for these times - and succeeded, thus establishing an online publishing empire.
Last year Blurb shipped two million books to 70 countries. Customers include anyone from visual arts enthusiasts who want to create their own coffee table book to wannabe authors for whom getting published via traditional methods is challenging.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2105948/Even-bad-books-awesome-Meet-woman-45m-empire-allows-published-author-talented-not.html#ixzz1nLNVWxz


No comments:

Post a Comment