Based on your experience please offer any tips as to a good publisher/printer of good quality photo book. My goal is to have one done that looks nice and not overly expensive, so that it would appeal and be affordable to a wide range of folks.
Thanks in advance
Soul Dr.
Loc: Beautiful Shenandoah Valley
You might check out Adorama Camera's web site. They offer different sizes and kinds of photo books.
will
I saw a ad on Facebook for saal digital for a $150 voucher. Got a killer 12x8 book with thick pages only paid 9 or 10 bucks for the shipping. I want to say it was 16 or 18 pages.
billnikon
Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
islandboy4147 wrote:
Based on your experience please offer any tips as to a good publisher/printer of good quality photo book. My goal is to have one done that looks nice and not overly expensive, so that it would appeal and be affordable to a wide range of folks.
Thanks in advance
Shutterfly. What I do is build my book, then save it to my projects, but not order it until they have one of their numerous sales.
Costco, Blurb, and Shutterfly have all done well for me.
sb
Loc: Florida's East Coast
Shutterfly can produce a really high-quality book, but not at a cost that would allow you to turn around and sell it at a profit, in my opinion. I have had them make four for my family, all between 30 and 40 pages. They cost, as I recall, around $80 or 90 each, using the high quality options for paper and cover.
billnikon
Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
sb wrote:
Shutterfly can produce a really high-quality book, but not at a cost that would allow you to turn around and sell it at a profit, in my opinion. I have had them make four for my family, all between 30 and 40 pages. They cost, as I recall, around $80 or 90 each, using the high quality options for paper and cover.
If you wait for a sale you will do fine with Shutterfly, I got 50% off and no charge for extra pages. I printed a 111 photo book, one shot per page for $23.00 each. Yes, you will have to wait for this sale, they have it about 4 times a year.
I have used Blurb and Saal Digital. I had them produce lay-flat books for landscapes. The Blurb books failed at the spine after being manipulated with the pages separating. Saal did a larger lay-flat with an acrylic cover. Overall good presentation, except a copy of pages had streaking like the print head clogged. They redid the book. In general, an inspection of the finished product should be done before it is mailed out but that is not always the case.
I print my own and then make my own photo books for casual browsing.
Print size A4 makes 2 prints roughly 6 x 4 per page. (reduce size slightly - leaves room for holes drilled on a stationery punch. Invest in thick printer paper. Purchase A5 ring binders and re-inforcing self stick rings.
Change pics whenever. If you like the idea you can build a library of photo books very cheaply.
Agreed: Mixbook. I'm working on one right now. Mixes photos and text nicely (plenty of fonts and type sizes to choose from), full of available page layout templates that are all completely customizable, and the cost is reasonable.
islandboy4147 wrote:
Based on your experience please offer any tips as to a good publisher/printer of good quality photo book. My goal is to have one done that looks nice and not overly expensive, so that it would appeal and be affordable to a wide range of folks.
Thanks in advance
My personal experience for 4 different books, has been with Blurb only.
I am more than happy with the finished books, and so were the recipients:
One was a wedding photo-book for our granddaughter, another one my sister-in-law's 80th birthday party;
a vacation in Jamaica for another sister-in-law, and then one more wedding, of my niece.
As you can see: varying stories, photos taken under very different circumstances; all the photos as well as the text I put between the photos, came out very well.
Right now I am working on my own "life story" and sorting photos to go with it, and when I am finished with that, without hesitation, I will send it to Blurb again, this time to have 5 copies of the same book printed: One for each of our four boys and their families, and one for ourselves.
tomad
Loc: North Carolina
I used Shutterfly. If you catch a sale, which they have frequently the books are pretty cheap and are very good quality. I got a hard back that opens flat so you can print some large photos across two pages.
billnikon wrote:
If you wait for a sale you will do fine with Shutterfly, I got 50% off and no charge for extra pages. I printed a 111 photo book, one shot per page for $23.00 each. Yes, you will have to wait for this sale, they have it about 4 times a year.
We do the same thing. And once you have bought from them, you get unadvertised sales through email. Maybe not 50% off, but often 30-40% plus free shipping. We have done one for each of our trips for our personal use, but I think the results would be saleable if that was the intention.
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