Blurb, a POD and digital self-publishing platform, has hired key personnel at Graphicly, a digital publishing platform, including Graphicly co-founder Micah Baldwin. The deal will shut down Graphicly and marks Blurb’s efforts to develop its e-book and graphic publishing capabilities.
A spokesperson for Blurb told PW the deal essentially brings all of Graphicly’s key staff to Blurb but does not include the platform’s technology or products. Originally launched as a platform to distribute digital comics and other visual works, Graphicly has repositioned itself several times over the years.
Founder and former CEO Micah Baldwin, said, "After spending four years working on digital publishing, it became clear that we were telling half the story. Combining the best in class print platform from Blurb, with all the ebook learning the Graphicly team has accrued over the past four years, was just too compelling an opportunity to pass up.”
The deal is the latest in a series of recent announcements by Blurb to expand and enhance its self-publishing services. Blurb will be showing off its platform and previewing those services this week at BookExpo America. Blurb CEO and founder Eileen Gittens said, “This acquisition of incredibly relevant talent will help us advance our vision of 21st century authoring. What self-publishers need now is the ability to focus on the creative aspect of authoring, with output automatically generated for all relevant e-book formats, as well as print output.”
