Everyone an author – Telegraph Blogs

Sunday 9 March 2014 | Blog Feed | All feeds

Ceri Radford

Ceri Radford is Assistant Comment Editor of the Telegraph.

Everyone an author

Here's a neat idea: the self-publishing start-up Blurb has launched software which will allow contributors to put together their own book:


Web 2.0 could transform your wedding album

Using Blurb's free desktop BookSmart bookmaking software for Mac or PC, you invite contributors and the content is assembled into one of several suggested book layouts. The software allows you to announce the book to contributors as well. As with other Blurb books, they can be shared, marketed and sold at cost or for profit in Blurb's online bookstore. Blurb authors get to keep 100% of the book's mark-up. There could be various uses for Community Books. For example a corporate retreat book featuring photos and funny anecdotes from the team; a 'wrap party' book made by people on a play or film production; or a wedding book with pictures and stories from hundreds of attending guests (the most likely use I think).

If only this had launched four years ago, the poor sod who put together my graduation yearbook would have been spared months ofÂ thankless drudgery,Â nagging his friends for photos and articles, then fielding complaints that he'd used a picture that made so and so's nose look big or so and so look like a stuffed pig.

I can also see it taking off forÂ creative writing anthologiesÂ - our very own My Telegraph has an active turnout in this department and I can imagine members wanting to preserve theirÂ work for posterity.Â 

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