Blurb, the creative publishing platform that allows anyone to design, publish, market and sell bookstore-quality books, and Twestival, a global series of events organised by volunteers, will publish the first-ever Twestival Global Event book, featuring the stories of the 150 participating cities and their event organisers. Each event will have a two-page spread in the book to tell their story and showcase their official Twestival charity. The book will be available for purchase in the Blurb Bookstore at http://www.blurb.com/twestival, and Blurb will donate $1 per book sold to a Twestival-approved non-profit organisation.

Blurb Press Release

Blurb(R) and Twestival to Publish Twestival Global Event Book Featuring Images and Stories From Events in 150+ Cities Worldwide

Blurb Will Donate $1 per Book Sold to Local Charity

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 4 /PRNewswire/—Blurb, the creative publishing platform that allows anyone to design, publish, market and sell bookstore-quality books, has partnered with Twestival, a global series of events organized by volunteers, to bring people together for a great cause. Blurb and Twestival will publish the first-ever Twestival Global Event book, featuring the stories of the 150 participating cities and their event organizers. Each event will have a two-page spread in the book to tell their story and showcase their official Twestival charity.

The book will be available for purchase in the Blurb Bookstore at http://www.blurb.com/twestival, and Blurb will donate $1 per book sold to a Twestival-approved non-profit.

Furthering the collaboration between Twestival and Blurb, designers are invited to design their own cover for the book. Winning designs will be chosen, and books will be available with a variety of user-created covers. Blurb is also enabling anyone who orders the book to create a personal cover featuring their own photograph for a cover image in place of the various covers offered.

“Twestival wanted to enable participants and fans to visually experience this global event in a totally new way,” said Amanda Rose, founder, Twestival. “‘Social media meets social responsibility, and by sharing the stories of how teams are working with the causes, we hope to inspire others to give back. Blurb’s publishing platform enabled us to share these stories, and allows our community to add their own personal touch to the cover. Tweet. Meet. Give. And then order the book!”

“We love working with creative, passionate communities and organizations,” said Teresa Pereira, Director of EU Market Development, Blurb. “Twestival’s impact both locally and globally is massive, and we’re thrilled be able to extend this impact by publishing a book, raising even more money and awareness for the organizations involved.”

Blurb recently announced two major upgrades to its platform. Blurb BookSmart 2.0 includes many new features that give creative professionals full control in the customization of their book layouts, down to the pixel. PDF to Book workflow gives creative professionals complete creative control to design books using the application of their choice, save the file as a PDF, and upload it directly to Blurb. PDF to Book and Blurb BookSmart 2.0 elevate the bookmaking experience and offer extended flexibility for advanced users and consumers alike.

About Blurb

Blurb is a creative publishing and marketing platform that unleashes the creative genius inside everyone. Blurb’s platform makes it easy to design, publish, market and sell professional-quality books, using Blurb’s free, award-winning BookSmart software, or via the design tool of your choice. Use Blurb’s bookstore and online marketing tools to market and sell your books, and keep 100% of your profit. Use Blurb’s social and community features to create and share Blurb books with your friends and colleagues with ease.

Blurb was founded by Eileen Gittins in 2005, and includes a team of design, Internet and media veterans who share a passion for helping people bring their stories to life. Blurb is based in San Francisco with offices in London, and is funded by Canaan Partners and Anthem Venture Partners. For more info, visit http://www.blurb.com/.

About Twestival

A Twestival or Twitter-Festival is a global series of events organized by volunteers around the world under short timescales, which bring people offline for a great cause. Twestival is run 100% by volunteers and independently from any not-for-profit; although the organizing teams do work closely to outline an achievable and measurable fundraising target. Twestival Local takes place in cities around the world : 10-13 September 2009. The first Twestival Global was launched with a tweet on 8 January 2009 and barely a month later on 12 February, there were 202 cities around the world hosting events to benefit charity: water.

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