FAQ

How do I place an order?
1. Simply fill out our online order form on our pricing page, then click the "Buy Now" button to complete checkout using your credit card or Paypal account. (no Paypal account necessary.) If possible, please use a personal email rather than a corporate email, for better SPAM-friendliness (note also, mac.com or me.com email accounts are fussy, as they often block emails with embedded links and will not notify you or us about it.) 2. Once the checkout process is complete, you will receive an email confirmation. Print this receipt and include it in your shipment to us. 3. That's it! You're done! We handle the rest! Once we scan your books, we will send an email confirmation with your download links, and return ship your books for free (if applicable).

How can I get a price quote?
Our online order form contains an automatic price calculator. Simply enter the total number of pages and the total number of books, and it will display the total cost for you (at the bottom).

What is included in the scanning?
The files are delivered in a ZIP archive. Our standard scanning service (base package) includes the following (per book);
    1. Two (2) editable Word documents (formatted, unformatted)
    2. Two (2) searchable PDF files (high res for printing, reduced-size for mobile reading)
    3. One (1) full color image of the front cover*
*Hardcovers/dust jackets cannot be scanned with Destructive scanning.

What is included in the additional options?
     Kindle: (1) PRC file, (1) HTML file (Unformatted "re-flowable" text. No images.)
     Sony, Nook, iPad: (1) ePub file, (1) HTML file (Unformatted "re-flowable" text. No images.)
     PDF Configured for online Publishers: (1) PDF Configured for Online Publishers
     mp3 Audiobook: Multiple mp3 files, split into 15 minute tracks.
*Word, audiobook, and eReader files are produced directly from OCR, and thus may contain some errors. As such, these are sold for 'personal use only'. If you intend to publish your book, you will want to use the accompanying Word or HTML files as a starting point, to make further edits/proofs prior to submission online.

What is OCR?
OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is the process by which we convert your physical books into an editable text-based file format such as Word, TXT, HTML, etc. (Please note, PDF files are image-based, and thus do not depend on OCR accuracy. However, the PDF files will contain an OCR text layer behind the images to make the text searchable and selectable).

Do I need a Paypal account to complete checkout?
No. You may simply pay by credit card by selecting the option "pay as guest" or "don't have a paypal account", when the shopping cart redirects you Paypal. You will then enter your credit card info (without registering). We accept all major credit cards.

I am concerned about sending my books in the mail.
Although we cannot make guarantees on behalf of mail carriers, we can say that in all our years of business, the occurence of lost of damaged packages have been negligable (less than 0.05% of shipped packages). If the books are packaged well, there should be no concern at all. Blue Leaf is the most respected book scanning business today, and we pride ourselves on the happiness of our customers. Please see our testimonials page for more.

What if there is a problem with the order?
No problem. Just let us know, and we will do our best to resolve the issue, free of charge. We retain the original scans in our archives for about 4 months, and a copy of the final product for up to 1 year. So we can always go back and make changes, or even perform a re-scan if necessary.

Are there limits to what books can be scanned?
Most books in circulation today should scan without a problem, with a few limitations to each (see below). If you feel your book may pose a potential scanning problem, please contact us first before ordering, so that we can review the request.

       Limitations of our Destructive scanning stations:
       Minimum inner margin of 1/4". Maximum page size 8.5"W x 14"H.
       Hardcovers/dust jackets cannot be scanned without additional fee.

       Limitations of our Non-Destructive scanning stations:
       Minimum inner margin 1/2". Maximum page size 8.5"W x 12"H.
       Maximum book thickness of 1.5".

Does Blue Leaf guarantee 100% perfect results?
In an effort to keep our prices low, our staff does not perform manual page-by-page inspection on our scans. To do this would significantly increase our per-page cost. Thus, we do not guarantee perfect results (for example; the Word files may contain a few spelling/formatting errors, or PDF pages may contain a slight skew of a couple degrees, etc.). Due to the limitations of OCR technology today, it should also be assumed that some editing/proofing will be required for customers who intend to publish their works (although our OCR tends to be extremely accurate; 99+%).

Will online publishers accept your files? What about publishing to eBooks?
Yes. Most online publishers (Amazon, Lulu, etc.) accept many different formats, such as Word, HTML, and PDF, but generally prefer text-based formats such as Word (they often handle the eBook conversion on their end as well). We typically recommend using the Word files we provide (the unformatted version) to submit to online publishers. However, please bear in mind that some editing/proofing may be required first before uploading to publishers. Please also note, text-only books (like novels for instance) are ideal for online publishing, since text can be easily edited in the Word file. However, we also offer the option "PDF tailored for online publishers", which will include a separate PDF file configured for the greatest compatibility with online publishers.

What if I want to make changes to the final PDF files?
If the changes are to correct an oversight on our part, we will handle this for you free of charge. However, sometimes customers will want to make additional changes to the final PDF files, such as deleting certain pages, re-ordering, rotating, cropping, splitting, combining, changing the resolution, reducing the file size, etc. All this can be performed using a PDF editor such as Adobe Acrobat Pro or PDFill Tools. PDFill is a free program, and Adobe offers fully functional 30-day trial copy of Acrobat Pro.

Can I have my books sent directly from Amazon or another book vendor?
Certainly. All we ask is when you order the books from the vendor, to please include the BlueLeaf Order# in the shipping address label. (if possible, please include it in the "gift" option as well). This is very important, as it will allow us to process your shipment once it arrives.

Destructive or Non-Destructive? Which should I choose?
If the customer is undecided, we typically will recommend the Destructive service, as it is usually faster and comes out looking a little "cleaner" than Non-Destructive. We advise that you only choose Non-Destructive if you need the books returned in their original condition (such as rare out-of-print books for example).

What is your turn-around time?
About 5-9 business days, depending on size of order and options selected. To see a listed of our estimated lead times of various size orders, please see our list of estimated lead times page.

What languages do you support?
Our OCR can recognize nearly 200 languages. To view a list of supported languages, please click here. Please also bear in mind that selecting multiple languages may decrease the accuracy of the OCR slightly.

How do I properly count my pages?
If your book is like most books in circulation, then all you need to do is flip to the last page to obtain the page count, then add a few additional pages for the Table of Contents, Index, etc. However, please try to be as accurate as possible in your page count. Orders that contain a significant discrepancy in page-count may be marked as low priority, and may not be scanned until the difference has been paid. Please also be sure to enter the total actual pages (not adjusted for the free 50 pages), as our order form automatically calculates the discount.

What if I only need a section of a book scanned?
When a customer sends a book to us, it is assumed that they require the entire book scanned. However, we can set our start-page and end-page at points specified by the customer (please use a post-it note to mark the start/end points), so long as they are relatively close to the ends of the book. But every page between the start-point and end-point must be scanned, and thus counted as a page.

What if the back of each page is blank?
It is important that all pages are counted, including blank pages (even if one side of every page is blank). This is necessary because the time and labor involved in scanning a physical page is the same as if both sides of the page contained content. We can also remove the blank pages for you free of charge.

How do I place an order for loose "Non-Bound" material?
Each stack of loose pages will be treated as one "book". If you do not need the material returned, simply fill in "Destructive" section on our order form. If you need the material returned, you can either fill in the Non-Destructive section instead, or choose the "return unbound books" option (whichever is cheaper for you). Please also be sure the paper in each stack is the same size (ex. all 8.5"x11", or all 6"x9", etc.); no mixing sizes please.

How big will the files be?
The .zip file that we provide will generally be very large, sometimes up to 1 GB or more (depending on size of order). Thus, it is strongly recommended to be on a DSL or Cable connection to download the file. In addition, sometimes older Mac and PC computers may have difficulty unzipping larger .zip files. However, this can be resolved by using a free unzip utility such as 7-zip. Please also be sure that you have enough hard drive space for the files. The PDF files will take up the most space.

Do you accept international orders?
Absolutely. Just be sure to select the "International Return Shipping" option on our order form (in the "Other Options" drop-down menu) if you are ordering Non-Destructive or the DVD option). This fee is to cover the packing, shipping, and processing costs of the return. Please also be sure your shipment to us is pre-paid by the customer.

Does Blue Leaf offer volume discounts?
From time to time, we will offer special coupon codes for customers who sign up for our newsletter. These discounts can sometimes be up to 25%, or sometimes based on quantity ordered. Only subscribers to our newsletter will receive these exclusive offers (please scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). Also, we do have basic discounts built in to our pricing model. For example, our ebook conversion options--such as our Kindle conversion for $12--are a flat one time fee. Thus, the more books that are included in an order, the more the customer will save. For corporate or professional document scanning services, please contact us for a price quote.

I have a large collection of books. What is the best way to proceed?
We do not accept orders of more than 30 books at a time through our online order form. This is necessary to keep overhead costs low and avoid potential complications with shipping large boxes and file delivery. For new customers, we typically recommend placing a small order up front, so that you will know exactly what to expect with subsequent larger orders. If you have a library of books you wish us to scan, please call us at (314)-606-9322. Typically, it is recommended to split the library into 30-book segments.

I own a Mac computer or iPad. Is that a problem?
Not at all. Many of our customers own Apple products. However, sometimes we have heard reports of customers experiencing errors/slowness downloading/unzipping/viewing files on Mac computers. If you experience problems downloading the files on Safari, we recommend trying Internet Explorer or Firefox instead. If you experience issues unzipping files, please try using a free unzip utility called 7-zip (it is availble for mac as well on their website). If you experience slowness/stalling viewing large PDF files on a Mac or iPad, try re-saving the file again from the Mac viewer. Our customers have reported this to be a fix on the Mac system.

How can I make my PDF view faster on iPad/iPhone?
The above fix (re-saving the PDF from the Mac viewer) will also result in faster viewing on any Mac based system.

It has been more than 9 business days. Why haven't I received my scanned files yet?
Some situations may delay the delivery beyond our estimated lead times. If our workload is particularly busy, then we may be delayed by a day or two. However, unreasonably extended delays are usually caused by the following;

      1. Our email was rejected as SPAM by your domain, and they did not bother to notify you or us (typical of mac.com, me.com, and some corporate accounts).
      2. Customer did not include a printed receipt in the shipment. As a result, the package was never tagged for scanning.
      3. The order contains more than 5 books (please see the following page for our estimated lead times)

When will I receive the physical books back in the mail?
After we deliver the electronic files over email, we will then hold the books for an additional few days (~ 4-8 business days) to give the customer a chance to look over the files to make sure everything is in order. If we do not hear from the customer, we will assume there were no issues with the order, and then send the books back.

Do I qualify to use Blue Leaf's services?
In order to use our services, you must agree to our Terms and Conditions and meet at least one of the following;
      -Ownership of Rights - You are the author, you own the rights to the copyrighted material, or you have received permission from the publisher to copy the material.
      -Startup Company or Small Business - For internal and lawful use of business related material.
      -Non-Profit Organization - You are an NPO or CSO and meet at least one of the 501c provisions (1-28)
      -Research or Educational Agency - For internal and lawful use
      -Non-Profit Personal Use - You are an individual interested in our services for personal use

What other limitations are there for using Blue Leaf's services?
While Blue Leaf is happy to make book scanning services more accessible to the consumer, there are certain materials that are in violation of our policy. The following list includes examples of such material (see list below). Please be sure that you understand and comply with this policy before ordering. All material considered to be in violation of our policy will immediately be returned to the customer.
     -any explicit, obscene, libelous material, or material with adult content (ex. "adult fiction")
     -material that promotes/encourages extramarital affairs, prostitution, pornagraphy, or is entirely themed around lust/sex
     -any material that promotes recourse to violence, whether political, fictional, or otherwise
     -any material that promotes the destruction of property (such as a pipe bomb manual)
     -any material that promotes the destruction of human life

What about copyright law?
It is the responsibility of the customer to insure compliance with all copyright laws, as stated in our Terms and Conditions, as Blue Leaf cannot be held liable for any unlawful activity. By placing an order, the customer certifies full compliance with our Terms and Conditions and all applicable copyright law. For information on US copyright law, please contact the US Copyright Office.

What charities does Blue Leaf donate to?
10% of Blue Leaf's profit is donated to charitable organizations. We donate to legit international charities, as well as those who serve the poor and infirm within our nation's borders, such as homeless shelters, organizations for people with mental or physical disabilities, nursing homes, and other charities.

Are you currently offering any promotional discounts?
Yes! For starters, for reading our FAQ to the very bottom, you will receive an instant 5% discount on your order (enter faqdiscount in the coupon code on our order form). For even greater savings, sign up for our newsletter to receive coupon codes up to 25% off. Just for signing up, you will receive an instant 10% savings on your next order.

Get 10% OFF your order. Just sign up for our newsletter to receive the coupon code.* (enter email below)

*We rarely send newletters, so you will hardly be bothered by us. Each newsletter will contain new coupons for even greater savings up to 25% off. Our mailing list is kept private. Your email address is gauranteed safe with us.