I have 8,635,825 photos on my computer that never get looked at, so I want to start doing photo books. Just wondering which site you use, and what you do and do not like about it. I'm in Canada if that makes any difference.
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I'm in Canada also and use Mixbook...the site is easy to use, low shipping to canada, and they usually have a special or two on.
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I have made LOTS of books with lots of different companies and here is my opinion of the most common ones (not sure if they are all available in canada):
Snapfish/Shutterfly- same basic quality and price. Not worth it unless it is your only option. The print quality is not excellent, the pages are thin and yellow within 3 years, the pages are super thin, and the binding is weak.
My Publisher- slightly better than snapfish/shutterfly, but again-- not worth your time to build for low quality pics
Blurb- my recommendation if price is an issue. Better print and bind quality, higher quality paper available, lots of sizes of books, and still relatively good prices (especially with coupons that pop up sometimes).
Adoramapix- definitely the best quality, they use real photo paper which means much thicker pages, lay flat designs, great binding, great print quality-- but it is more expensive and you can't make books more than 76 pages long.
Personally for yearly photo books I like to do the 7x7 blurb books and make them really thick and chunky (my 2012 one was like 200 pages and I thought it turned out really cute!)
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I used My Publisher for photo books for the grandmas for Christmas, and we're going to make some so that our memories are not entirely digital. I may try a different site, though. The "glossy" paper is simple photo paper. The bookbinding was very nice, though.
Wherever you try, absolutely scour the internet or "sign-up" on their site for coupons. The mark-up on these things are ridiculous. -
@Mae: interesting about Shutterfly. I made our wedding guest book on there. It stills looks good 4+ years later.
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@Mae: awesome, thanks! I'll check whether these are available in Canada/what shipping is like. I was going to go with shutterfly so I'm glad you responded!
@char54: how's the quality?
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@Mae: thanks for all that info!
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I just started making photo books and I love pinhole press. They are expensive but they come out beautifully.
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@Mae: what kind of paper do you use on blurb?
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I like picaboo and they frequently have groupons. Easy to use and the quality is good. They ship out of Canada, so it is not too bad. I've also used mixbook and it was easy to use but I didn't like the quality quite as much.
I've done a couple this year and I'm going to start on my next and then I'll order it when I can get a groupon. Usually for about $12.
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@Mae: I don't like blurb, less options for page layouts. And I think it is pricer then Shutterfly.
I yet Shutterfly and have never had any issues.
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@NurseMommy: I am from Canada and I used mypublisher - they always have great sales and we did our wedding albums through there. People are always blown away when they see our books. I have tried many other photo book companies and have been very pleased with mypublisher.
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I'm in Sweden and use Shutterfly. They have/had another free promo where you only pay for shipping (came out to 13.99USD). I'm working on another book now since I got a promo from a local Swedish site that's offering free extra 90 pages (total of 120 pages). I'm going nuts just trying to sort out LO's pictures. It's not going to be pretty (4 pics to a page) and I don't have time for frills, but at least they'll all be printed and in one book.
I'm on page 20 right now and it's only month 1! What have I gotten myself into!
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@cascademom: really? You are lucky! I also used it as a guest book for my wedding, and it has never spent any time in the sunlight (kept in a book shelf) and the pages are horribly yellowed around the edges! I noticed it starting at about 2 years.
@NurseMommy: My fav is the Premium Lustre paper. I've gotten a book with the proline and I don't think the difference in quality justifies the price.
@Smurfette: It is definitely pricier than shutter fly, but i think the difference in quality justifies it.
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I've yet to get around to making our wedding album, but our photographer highly recommended Pinhole Press.
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Super happy with blurb over here
I like that the page layouts are simple. I did 0-3 month, 3-6, Etc books so I didn't want to spend forever on them. I just wanted to document the timePlus I do high res photos with a dslr often and I want them to look good
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Awesome, thanks everyone for the recommendations! Think I'll look into blurb and pinhole press.
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I really like mypublisher because you upload the whole book at the end, not every picture from the start. It makes it a lot less daunting to dive in, for me.
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I adore the quality and customer service with MyPublisher. If you build your book and wait to purchase with a coupon you can get a hundred page book for only $40.
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@Mae: I've been trying to make our wedding album on adoramapix and even though I have 204 photos in my album, it won't upload more than 100 to my project gallery. Have you ever encountered this issue? I have a question in to customer service but they're not responding...
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@NurseMommy: I have not had that issue at all! I've made books with well over 100 pics in them. Where did you ask your question? I have found that Adoramapix is most responsive to questions posted to their fb page. They usually get back to you and help within a few hours max when you post it there.
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@Mae: thanks.
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I've used AdoramaPix, and love them!
I like shutterfly for parent books. The quality isn't great, but I love that there are promotions for Free 8x8 books all the time!
For those that do photobooks that are yearbook style (reflection of the past year or growth books for your LO's), what size do you like best?
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I have used a few different sites because I tend to use what has the best deal. I have used shutterfly, blurb and mypublisher and liked them all. Mypublisher was my least favorite, but I had a free credit. Blurb is really fun because it is more like scrapbooking, I enjoyed using the program a lot.
Shutterfly was better quality than I anticipated and every once in awhile (maybe once a year?) they send out a coupon for a free photo book (up to $30). So I paid $7 (S&H) total for one book.I know one mom who uses mypublisher exclusively and loves it. She says she buys two copies; one for safekeeping and one to keep out, and let her LO look at.
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I do the free books on shutterfly. I should keep my eye out for one so I can do LO's first year! Our wedding book is blurb and it is beautiful.
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I love Shutterfly!
@Alivoo01: I do the Standard size which is 11x14 I think? I did that for our wedding album so all the rest will be the same size! -
Adoramapix by far.... i do think their book applet is a little buggy but the quality of their books is amazing plus lay flat pages!
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I'm super picky and Adoramapix is the best I have used. They have lay-flat pages included, so if you want to put a ton of photos per page that would be a good addition.
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@Chillybear: @pui: I'm going to reiterate what I asked Mae because I haven't heard back from Adoramapix yet on FB or email (I'm antsy!):
I've been trying to make our wedding album on adoramapix and even though I have 204 photos in my album, it won't upload more than 100 to my project gallery. Have you ever encountered this issue?
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@NurseMommy: I don't have much experience with Adoramapix's online editor, because I usually design the layouts myself in InDesign (more control and as a graphic designer I'm very particular lol). That means I normally only upload a few images (my completed spreads) to Adoramapix... sorry I am not more helpful!
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@NurseMommy: In the past i've had to make multiple galleries/albums in order to finish a photobook for some reason the applet just doesnt take to uploading lots of photos at 1 time or for uploading some and going back and uploading more into the same album i think on more than 1 occasion i had to make a new album for it to show up in my photobook... like i said i found it buggy but i managed to find work arounds
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another option might be in import from an external service ie flicker, facebook
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I make one big photo book a year with all the good pictures in it. I use Adoramapix because I like the thick paper, the lay flat pages for panoramic photo spreads and just their overall quality (which i find to be very good). They are fairly expensive ( I paid $250 ish for a 50-60 page 12x12 leather bound book) but they look pretty on the bookshelf in our formal living room so I would say its worth the price!
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@NurseMommy: that's really strange it won't upload the pics! I'm working on my 2013 album and I've uploaded over 200 pics for it the other day. I've sometimes found it to be a bit slow or weird uploading or even some days working on the book but usually I take a break and when I go back its working fine.
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I actually have no problem with Shutterfly's quality. I have books from 2008 and they still look great.
I pretty much wait for the free codes or $20-30 off codes and then order when I have one of those. They have them several times a year so I have never paid more than $8-15 for each book including shipping.
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@Chillybear: this is what I ended up doing. Thanks!
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I stick with Shutterfly, it's the easiest for me!
I like that the page layouts are simple. I did 0-3 month, 3-6, Etc books so I didn't want to spend forever on them. I just wanted to document the timeReply
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36 comments