Before You Commit Your Work to a Book, Get this Swatch Kit

Theresa Stone

A lot of creative pros use services to print short runs of books for clients’ wedding albums, portfolio leave-behinds, and so on. It can be a little nerve-wracking to send out your work without more control over the printing process. Now online book printer Blurb has taken away a little bit of that guesswork with its Swatch Kit.
For $7.95, you receive samples of all of the Standard, Premium (matte and lustre), and ProLine (uncoated and pearl photo) paper choices, including all five end sheets and cover linens. To help you visualize how your work will reproduce on the inside pages, Blurb has printed identical color and black-and-white photos on each of those samples.

While some people might consider $7.95 a fair price for the Swatch Kit, Blurb lets you apply the cost toward an order with the company.
By the way, for even more control over the printing process, check out Blurb’s Color Management Resource Center, which includes a downloadable ICC profile and print and video tutorials.