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Comparion of Blurb Photobook Software: BookSmart vs BookWright
posted Monday, 28 September 2015, 21:36 (+0800), by Martin
Blurb BookWright vs BookSmart

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Two Applications that do the Same Thing?

Blurb's BookSmart software for creating photobooks was first released in 2007, while BookWright was released in 2014 as a beta, and publicly released in February 2015. BookWright can import photobooks in several other formats, including Blurb's BookSmart format and Blurb's Bookify format.

According to Blurb, "Because BookWright is brand new, we have new technology available to us to make the app run smoother and faster, refresh the overall look and feel, and to incorporate new features."

It sounds like a no-brainer - BookWright should be the default choice when deciding which software to use to create a photobook for printing by Blurb. After using BookWright to create a photobook, I believe it's not a simple choice. Read on for details.


Lessons Learnt from Using BookWright

I have previously used BookSmart to create several photobooks - you can read about my experiences here.
I used BookWright to create a photobook with photos from a mission-related trip to West Timor in September last year, as an opportunity to try out BookWright, and compare it to BookSmart.

While using BookWright, I encountered a number of limitations and issues:
  • Can't update saved custom page layouts
    After you have saved custom page layout in BookWright, you cannot update it. You can only save custom page layouts as a new layout. BookSmart allows you to over-write previously created page layouts.
  • Can't delete saved custom page layouts
    After a custom page layout has been saved in BookWright, you cannot delete it.
    BookSmart allows you to delete previously created page layouts.
  • Can't view a single page
    BookWright only allows you to view a two-page spread, and doesn't allow you to zoom in on a single page. If you have a large, high-resolution screen, this may not be an issue, but if you're using BookWright on a computer or laptop with a smaller screen, this is a limitation.
    BookSmart allows you to switch between a single-page view and a two-page spread.
  • Can't view or edit the last page (logo page)
    BookWright doesn't allow you to view the very last page of a book when editing or previewing it. Because this page isn't visible when previewing a book, you may not realise the colour is inconsistent with the rest of your book.
    BookSmart allows you to see the last page, add content to both sides of it, and displays the last page when previewing your book. Any page background colour also applies to this last page.
    I recently created a book in BookWright, and set the page background to black. However, my book was printed and delivered with a last page (logo page) that was white, which completely spoiled the book for me.
    After contacting Blurb support, they indicated there's an option that needs to be specified when uploading the book for printing (called "Blurb Logo Page"), to determine the colour of the final page. This is non-intuitive, and not obvious.
    However, despite Blurb indicating the issue was my fault, they were good enough to provide a new discount coupon so I could get the book re-printed with the correct colour logo page (the coupon covered the printing costs, but not the shipping costs).
    white logo page in a book with all black pages
    white logo page in a book with all black pages (the end pages are grey)
    When uploading a book for printing from BookWright, you need to ensure you specify the appropriate colour for the logo page, as shown in the screenshot below:
    specifying the colour of the logo page when uploading a book
    specifying the colour of the logo page when uploading a book

  • Can't add content to the last page (logo page)
    BookWright doesn't allow you to add any content (photos and/or text) to the very last page. The last page is referred to as the "logo page" by Blurb, and you can optionally pay extra to remove the logo from this page.
    BookSmart allows you to add photos and/or text to both sides of the logo page.

    adding content to the logo page in BookSmart
    BookSmart allows you to add content to both sides of the logo page
    (page 93 is the front of the logo page, and page 94 is the back of the logo page)
  • Auto-Updater isn't user-friendly
    When you launch BookWright on your computer, it will automatically check if a new version is available, and will immediately start downloading the new version. It doesn't prompt you that there's a new version available, and ask you if you want to download it.
    This is annoying, because it means you need to wait for the download to complete, and the installation of the update to complete before you can use BookWright. Not everyone has a fast internet connection, and not everyone has an unmetered internet connection.
    I have also observed that BookWright would sometimes report that a new version was available, download it, claim to have installed it, but the version number didn't change.
    Note that you can disable the auto-updates on the Help->About screen.

Should You Use BookSmart or BookWright?

Blurb's support website identifies several features that are available in BookSmart but not in BookWright, and recommends that "you should use BookSmart if you want:
  • Planner or notebook formats
  • To import blog content or a Word document
  • To import from online sources like Flickr or Smugmug
  • Page ornaments
  • Decorative/patterned backgrounds
  • Borders around images"
BookWright has been available since last year - initially as a beta, and publicly available since February 2015. I do not believe BookWright is a suitable replacement for BookSmart yet - Blurb will need to add a lot more functionality and many more features before it will be able to replace BookSmart.
There are various discussion threads on Blurb's forums that echo this sentiment (for example, this thread).

I hope Blurb didn't decide to create BookWright as a complete re-write of BookSmart, because the software industry typically sees that as bad idea!

I will continue to use BookSmart while I can, as I prefer the functionality and the user experience that it provides.


Are you going to be creating your own photo books through Blurb?
Check my Blurb discount coupons for a discount code to save some money when ordering a book through Blurb.


Versions

Most of these observations were based on my experiences creating a photo book using BookWright version 1.0.67. At the time of writing, the latest version is now 1.1.104. All issues mentioned above still exist in BookWright version 1.1.104.

The version of BookSmart I am currently using is version 3.4.7.34818.
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Comments:
Melissa wrote at 2015-12-02 06:59

Thanks for this. I have created several books in BookSmart and just tried to start abook in BookWright. I got so frustrated that I went online to look to see if anyone else thought BookSmart was better, too... and I wasn't just a luddite!

EDWIN wrote at 2015-12-29 06:59

Custom layouts can be deleted outside the programm in folder called "MyLayouts"

Jane DA wrote at 2016-01-25 02:12

I totally agree with these comments as I have attempted to create a book with BookWright and became very frustrated it is no where near as intuitive or as user friendly as BookSmart. I do hope that Blurb keeps BookSmart otherwise I will be looking else where to have my books printed

Ruth Lathlean wrote at 2016-03-10 11:16

I completely agree with your comments about the poor nature of BookWright and I can add some more e.g. no 'duplicate' function when needing several boxes the same, very flaky settings for fonts and sizes as it often has to be reset whem adding text, no frames possible around images. I'm struggling to complete my first book using it and then will return to BookSmart which I have succesfully used for 12 books. The only good thing about BW is the ability to line up boxes on adjscent pages. Why couldn't this be added to BookSmart and it would be excellent.

Jen wrote at 2016-04-05 05:28

Thank you for this!!! I am just about to start a new large book (I do a "Family Yearbook" of sorts, every year). I have used BookSmart in the past, and was worried that Blurb might discontinue allowing BookSmart books to be uploaded and published, so I checked out BookWright - after reading what you wrote you confirmed for me that I will stick with BookSmart. I just hope they don't discontinue it like I mentioned above, when it takes me almost a year to get my huge book all put together in the software! Also - I didn't know you could put anything on the Logo page at the end! I will have to try that! I just assumed it had to be blank!

Marilyn Lee wrote at 2016-04-05 07:37

I totally agree. I have trouble getting BookWright even to launch. I don't like that it has no borders. Finally, I can't get it to automatically swap photos if I want to change one for another on the same page. The only thing it does is provide lines to line up photos and that's not enough to compensate for the other issues.

fmonk wrote at 2016-05-02 05:53

Totally agree! I have published over 20 books with Booksmart... and saved several custom templates. I used BookWright yesterday for the first time and really found it frustrating to use. Many options from BookSmart are not included and it took me a couple of hours to complete the first 20 pages. I just downloaded the latest Book Smart and will not use BWright again. I thought it was just me resisting change. Glad to hear others are having the same problems.

LDF wrote at 2016-07-01 23:12

Thanks so much for this article! I'm new to Blurb, and have made two very simple books in BookWright. Now I'm trying something a little more involved.

I was shocked at how hard it is in BW to place an image on a page in its own aspect ratio. If you choose the layout first, the page may look nice but the photograph will be imported to fill the container. Apparently in BS, at least you can make the photo FIT the container (rather than fill it) with a single click. That's still not the same as automatically making the container fit the photo, but it's a great deal better than what I've got to do now.

If I can keep my aspect ratios (and hence my own carefully cropped pictures) in BS, then it will be bye-bye to BW for me!

liza wrote at 2016-07-05 13:25

I have been using booksmart for years. I believe it just needs a bit of tweaking to be a very powerful software. For instance, allowing to choose template by number of photos. Ability to access all your saved templates in all book templates so it will be easier to tweak by size. Applying the alignment tool when making new layouts.

I was concerned when I was about make a new book and checked the website to see if there was an update to booksmart. And I was surprised that booksmart is not on their site anymore. (I did find a link for an update via help site) I gave bookwright a shot and even downloaded templates. I can't believe they are pushing this software. In terms of making photobooks, it is simply in the dark ages. Its like doing everything from scratch.

Change is good but not when change is taking a huge leap backwards. I am in hunt still for a better platform and am thinking whether I should sacrifice a few hours of making new layouts for a 13X11 or to give snapfish or mix books a shot.

Joan B wrote at 2016-09-15 07:56

I cannot get BookWright to accept my Blurb password, even though Blurb does. So, I am unable to upload my 46 page book which I've spent the greater part of a week putting together.

Martin wrote at 2016-09-15 19:06

@Joan: I think your best option is to contact Blurb support about that.

Kenneth Parker wrote at 2016-12-23 22:13

I made the following complaint to the Blurb staff: "From the latest Windows 10 update, about 12/10/16, an open Booksmart project automatically closes whenever Windows goes to sleep, and I can't re-open Booksmart until I restart my computer. I wonder if the Windows update has caused this misbehavior and Blurb needs to update Booksmart to accommodate?"

I got this reply: "Padraic
Padraic ( Blurb Support)
Dec 21, 5:05 PM EST

Hi there,

Your support request has been escalated to me and I'm sorry to hear of the trouble you're having with BookSmart after the most recent Windows 10 update. I haven't heard of this behavior from other users but I've asked that our engineers look into this. In the meantime you may want to disable sleep mode on your computer to prevent this from occurring or try using our latest book creation tool BookWright, as we are no longer devoting resources towards improvements to the BookSmart software.

Best,

Padraic
Blurb Technical Support"

I hope this doesn't mean that Booksmart is soon going away!

Robyn Leeder wrote at 2017-01-02 10:10

Thanks. This is all most helpful. I've made about 10 photo books using Blurb and recommended it to many friends. Till today I've used BookSmart which I find easy to use. I've just started a new book in BookWright and got so frustrated, I googled to see if anyone else had issues. Clearly I'm not the only one! So I'll ditch my BookWright draft and go back to BookSmart.

Keith Towers wrote at 2017-01-07 01:22

I have just completed my e-book in Blurb's Book Wright software and had a big shock coming to me. It took me ages to get the formatting right, taking the book 3 months to put together. The download worked fine but what the e-book conversion did was destroy my months of careful formatting, replacing my 1.5 line spacing with single spacing. The print version is fine, but formatting for e-book is crap because there are no choices even though you are led to believe that what you see is what you get. My whole experience has been a nightmare with this software. I don't think I will be using it again. I would rather reformat for free flow in MS Word than ever use Blurb for fixed layout again. Too much time wasted with them. My advice - don't use this company. It isn't as good as it once was and my experience has cost me money and time. Disgusted!

Larry Erickson wrote at 2017-07-09 07:26

After making books with BookSmart, I tried BookWright. It was a disaster. It lacks flexibility that is available on BookSmart. To finish the book and not abandon the work already completed, I created each page in my photo editing software and inserted them into the BookWrite start. I won't use BookWright again.

David Blackburn wrote at 2018-01-31 00:32

The blog slurping function has been removed from Booksmart and does not work properly in Bookwright. Support's suggestion? Download each post (there are hundreds) individually. Thanks for nothing! Here's a clue Blurb people - when you bring out something that's new and improved it had better be new AND IMPROVED. Otherwise you lose customers in a hurry.

Bob Curtis wrote at 2018-10-13 01:57

I have used BookSmart for several travel books and thought I would try BookWright. I found Bookwright very confusing and not at all user friendly. Hopefully BookSmart will continue because I recommend it.

Brian Astbury wrote at 2018-10-27 23:11

I've just finished doing a 168-page book using the Magazine format. It is mostly photos with some text. On the plus side, you can now put a border around an image. If you want to do the same with text you have to draw a Shape, which you CAN put a border around, and then place the text inside it, and put the text layer to the front. However, the process has been filled with frustration, shared with many above. If I had read this blog before I started, I would have tried to do it in BookSmart (is that still an option?). As it is, it's too late now... My latest frustration is that, when I tried to upload, I found that it was larger than the 2Gb limit.
A friend (who sticks pins in a doll of me each night because I introduced him to BookWright) finally managed to get his book published (e-book on Kindle) when he had the same problem, through compressing the file in BW. He says there was no loss of quality, but I am producing a print book, and I'm not sure that there wouldn't be a loss. Has anyone had the same problem.

Finally, my MAJOR frustration with BW is that, when I'm out and about and working on my MacBook Pro, when I click on Preview I immediately get a full screen preview. On my PC at home, however, I have to drag and enlarge the window, which is ENORMOUSLY frustrating. Blurb Support, who have been very helpful on other issues, sent me this reply: "Thanks for reaching out in regards to the Preview mode in BookWright. I do know which screen you're referring to, and I certainly understand how having a way to keep that window maximized could be useful.
At this time I'm not aware of any specific plans by our engineers to include a full-screen preview mode in BookWright, but I will definitely pass your suggestion along to my team for their consideration in future releases. It's feedback like this that helps us to improve our products and services, and I appreciate you taking the time to send your thoughts."

I replied with this: "Thanks, Jeffrey. Although I don't quite understand why it automatically does this on the Mac, but not on Windows."

To this I received no reply...

Martin wrote at 2018-10-27 23:16

@Brian: thanks for your feedback.
I haven't hit the 2GB limit yet, despite creating numerous photo books with plenty of high-res photos - but have plenty of other frustrations with BookWright.

I know exactly what you mean about the preview window not staying at the previous size, not being able to be maximised, and requiring you to manually resize it EVERY TIME. I find it just as frustrating as you do.

Maureen S wrote at 2018-11-08 05:49

I have been using Booksmart for years and decided to try Bookwright tonight. I too have found it very frustrating to use. It does include some interesting features, like shapes and ruler, but lost some features like 'find and replace' which is a saviour if I find I've misspelt a name. Please Blurb, let us continue to use Booksmart. It is wonderful and I've recommended it to so many people.

DOUGLAS PETERSON wrote at 2019-06-16 23:01

I am a long time BookSmart user and have done a dozen travel books in large format averaging over 50 pages. I started last year converting from booksmart to bookwright to assure better color control- especially with controlling "out of gamut" issues. I am writing now since I have just finished reading threads that are several years old in which two particular issues are raised.... How to look at a single page and how to preview at full size in BookWright. I appreciate that one can make a pretend pdf, but the resolution is not the same as the final and one can not make saved changes to a pdf. At the prices that you charge.... how can you continue to ignore these incredibly simple and constantly raised issues? I really don't know what I will do with the next book. Start in BookWright or BookSmart. Changing these two issues would likely do more to promote your new BookWright tool than anything else.

Edie Meissner wrote at 2019-07-09 05:23

I have done about 18 books with Blurb but Bookwright is doing me in, and ability to get any customer service makes it worse. I made a book in paperback and ordered it before I ordered hard cover, only to find that I can make no changes to the format ..yes I edited it but missed a few things. Sitting with my head in my hands trying to figure out what next. Any advice gladly accepted.

Martin wrote at 2019-07-09 07:44

@Edie: I have always found Blurb customer support to be very responsive and helpful - so if you haven't yet done so, contact them, explain the issues, and let them help.

Serena Woodcock wrote at 2020-09-04 06:57

I've just downloaded BookWright after using BookSmart several times in the past and I just can't use it. It is very frustrating and not being able to edit one of two pages for layouts or copying pages is very time consuming and not very flexible. I will be going back to BookSmart while it's still there..

Sona Anderson wrote at 2021-03-19 08:30

Have used BookSmart for years and had no trouble until I downloaded the new Apple OS Big Sur. BookSmart keeps crashing on me. Blurb Support has not been able to fix the problem, seems to be something with "Fix" on photos. They transferred my book to BookWright and it is just not suitable and not user friendly. went back to BookSmart file and am surffering through the crashes after adding a photo. Hope they find a fix for BookSmart. BookWright is NOT a substitute for BookSmart.

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