bcharrison

Your photos are wonderful! What publishing company did you use? How are you marketing your work?

AlexS Loc: Minnesota

If you have poems to go along with the photos you may want to look at poetry chapbook publishers. There are some that look for hybrid work. There are also quite a few self publishing options in the poetry world.

http://greybordersbooks.jigsy.com/alex-stolis

This isn’t self published and they used one of my photos for the cover.

Good luck!

I also may want to get someone to help edit and proof. It’s easy to miss the small things!

bcharrison

My main theme of the book is photos. I don't know how appropriate it would be to use a poetry publisher.

jjanovy Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Barb - I have self-published a LOT of books, although mainly text but with my own cover designs. The first rule is to never pay for anything you can do yourself. The second rule is to decide what you want to have happen with these books - reading for enjoyment, giving them to relatives, etc. That second rule decision should probably dictate what you spend, how you spend it, and what kind of materials you want in that book. In general, the self-publishing industry is not all that great for high quality materials. I've also dealt with major publishing houses on some of my past books, and have ended up doing quite a bit of marketing (along with their help). My web site is www.johnjanovy.com; if you have any specific questions, send me an e-mail. But the first rule is really the most important one, in my view. Good luck!

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

i have used Shutterfly on several occasions..i find that if i watch them they will have sales a couple time a year where you can get a discount plus unlimited pages...i did their largest book with hundreds of travel photos...the book cost about 40 dollars each...it would have been over $200 at regular price...and the quality is really good...

Wilderness Images Loc: Apache Junction, AZ.

Thanks suntouched, the book has the quality that I was looking for but I wish I could get the same quality for a lower price. I'm selling the book for $25 so there's not much margin to work with. My knees are improving almost daily, my hiking activity isn't quite back to what I was accustomed to prior to the surgery but the pain is gone, thanks for asking.

Wilderness Images Loc: Apache Junction, AZ.

Thanks for the kind comment bcharrison, the publishing was all done through Costco, when I need more, I just go online, access my account and order more. Marketing is a big problem as my area of interest (Superstition Mountain) is too small to interest the Amazon's and other large volume publishers.

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

Use Blurb. The quality is fantastic. You can choose the paper, cover - hard or soft. I've done several with beautiful linen covers and high quality satin paper. You won't be sorry.

bcharrison

Having trouble getting on your website. Would you use Blurb or Mixbook? I am very overwhelmed trying to figure out this whole industry.

bcharrison

Deb, How did you find ease of use to create the book? Did you find is expensive to create a book? Did you sell your books? I understand that they put an ISBN number on the book? Is that problematic if you want to consign to a number of stores besides Amazon? Were they helpful when there was a problem?

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

I made 3 wedding books and a family history book going back about 50 years, plus a book of landscapes that I designed as a gift. I sold 13 copies of the family history - to family, of course. I had done some designing before doing the book - things like artists' business cards. I found Blurb's own book building tool to be very easy to use. If you're an InDesign user, you can also build your book on that. You can sell you books on Blurb too. I didn't put the ISBN number on because I wasn't selling my books publicly. If you have a problem, they do help. If you go their website, you can preview many books of various subject matter. Also, you can request a sample pack of the papers from which you can choose.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've made a few with Adoramapix. Good service and quality, and they often have sales. Their "paper" is heavyweight, and the books open flat and stay flat. I always use the DIY formatting. I start with a blank page and do what I want with it.

Jerry Coupe Loc: Kent, WA

I have used Costco, Shutterfly and Blurb and previously My Publisher (now purchased by Shutterfly). One thing I like about Blurb is that if you opt to add a fly leaf, you can enter text on the inside of the fly leaf, information about the book on the front and about the author on the back. It gives the book a very professional feel to it. I just completed my 10th book. Once you are familiar with the program, the process can be a lot of fun to develop your style of book.

One other note that I just recently discovered is that in both Shutterfly and Blurb books, you can drag and drop images without using the specific templates. This is not a big deal if you are only using one image per page but is really handy because the multi-image templates may not always fit landscape and portrait formats of your images. Also, all the companies I have used, enable adding text boxes, so it would be relatively easy to have a page with a poem on it and then a facing image to go with.

Both Blurb and Shutterfly offer frequent 40-50% discounts. You can get a book ready and then wait for a discount to come in an e-mail.

Give it a go and have a new adventure.

Stanmckinney

Use Blurb. Great quality. You can get an ISBN and sell through Amazon if you wish. There are often discount coupons and the price per book decreases as you order more.

MikWar Loc: Chicago, Western Suburbs

I have created several books on Shutterfly and have had good results. Lots of options. Although not obvious, they do have a bulk printing option - reduced price, free printing. Poke around their website for it. You have to sign a "contract" for a certain number of books. You can also call Vince Romero there at 877-655-6452 Ext 7653. Good luck!