Where do you print your books?

I use Blurb. They have coupons too.. The last offer I had ended last wednesday the 17th.. it was a 40% off coupon.. I had a 75 page book with the premium paper, hard cover wrap image with 11x13 and it was $130 US dollars (as I also got a PDF of the book) and with the 40% off coupon with shipping it cost me $86 .. I have had several books printed by them and I love them. I am currently making another 2 books for me at 12 x 12 and that is a great size as well as I have also done this size in the past too with Blurb.

A lot of people print with Shutterfly or Persnickety but I have only used Blurb and love them so I will not be switching. Perhaps someone who lives in Australia will have insight where they print so it will be more cost affective for you.

 

I had used Publisher and loved them, but sadly they are closing. I have used shutterfly but their quality wasn't as good. I have hear good things about Blurb.......

 

I've used Shutterfly, Snapfish, and Winkflash until someone in a forum said she printed with Blurb because she used the layout style with a border so there is no bleed or trim issues. I printed two 12x12 books around 80-90 pages each with this style, and I loved them. I also like that they can hold over 400 pages.

 

Hi Lynn - so, you didn't have any trim issues with your Blurb books?? I am thinking of using Blurb for my next go-round. My last few books from Shutterfly have had really uneven, unpredictable trimming. I'm not an up-to-the-edge scrapper, and I was amazed by how unevenly and randomly things got cut off.
Is there a PSD file somewhere that will show the "danger zone" with Blurb?

 

I've used Blurb before and have been happy with them. I usually print with a white border so that I don't have to worry about my pages being trimmed.

I've been happy with my Shutterfly lay flat books. But they are pricier and I don't think you can get that many pages in one.

 

I do like Liz does and print with a border around each page so that nothing is trimmed. I just select that layout style for the entire book, and I'm ready to go. I had chosen what I thought was black, but it ended up being a dark brown border and cover. It may not look as nice as having the layout right to the edge, but not having to worry about what is going to get cut off is worth it to me. Also, I like that when I'm holding open the book, my fingers are touching the border and not the printed area. I haven't printed a book with them any other way yet.

 

re the cut off trim etc WendyZine has some actions that auto shrink for various printing sites. I know she has had tutorials at various places - on her blog etc for Photobooks called Toolkits. I also think that if you look at the instructions on the front of her actions you can see what they do and consider if you want to/can do it yourself. It's not that hard.

A funny note...after a couple of years buying her actions, it finally clicked with me that her name was Wendy Zine and that had nothing to do with a 'zine which were very popular in the earlier days of the net.

 

Hi @Amson, I think we should start an Aussie petition to get Adoramapix to ship their photobooks to Australia again Oh my, I miss their photo quality. Expensive but I don't really feel motivated to print photobooks since trying another company which wasn't as good. I have one sitting in the cart with Artifact Uprising - just waiting for the Aussie dollar to improve I haven't used them before but clutching at straws. I admire your photography so I'd be really interested to hear who you go with, and what your opinion is!

 

For my books with more than 20 pages (like a my P52 books), I print with Presto Photo. For 20 or less pages, I just use my free codes that I get every now and then with Shutterfly.

 

I put the ruler lines on my blank page if an inch around.. I just make sure I put nothing important in that space.. the full page in a blurb book 12x12 is just gorgeous as is the 11x13 also. I finished my book in the 16th and it already shipped on the 20th and I used the cheapest shipping so I should get any day. Working on another book now with blurb

 

Here is the place in blurb... they also have templates too.. i do not use templates.. I made my own with the 1 inch rulers but here is how the pages would look with the bleed:

 

It looks like blurb have an Aussie site now - when i looked a few years back, as they were one of the nly 100+ page photo book companies, they were only US based with only shipping to Canada - i can't see a shipping price on the aussie blurb site

i've been using Shutterfly - my last one was about 112 pages think and yes they trim so the white border is an option but the international shipping is a flat rate from memory- my only gripe is that it takes forever and comes from all over - the post mark always says some country not on the way to Syd like Zurich which leads me to believe they outsource international printing depending on the currency conversion - i did get one post marked from NZ - i have probably a dozen books with them over the years and it always takes over a month to get here even via NZ!

 

i should also say i would sign your Adorama Pix petition

I have used local Snapfish 2 or 3 times and it has such low quality paper and print quality in comparison that's why i went back to shutterfly - i think i did one with InkUbook and looking at it right now i can't be sure - there's no comany stamp or logo anywhere but it has a nice 'book bound' faux leather cover with photo inset and fabric spine and black fly pages but it still absolutely stinks (and it's pages about my son and the most recent page was dated Apr 2012 so the book is at least a 4 or 5 years old and still smells - that may have been what stopped me using it again...) Otherwise i think they were one of the first Aust-shipping companies to do 10x10

 

I wanted to give Mixbook a chance yesterday to order a coffee table book for Father's Day; but their site to load photos was seriously taking HOURS and the template I chose to use to try and get the book done quicker so I wouldn't miss out on the save up to 50% off plus an additional 10% off promo ran out...needless to say I aborted the whole mission; maybe I'll try again when I have more patience.

They have lay-flat books that have an almost boardbook type thick page...the admin of a FB group I'm in for PL did a review on it and I was shocked at how thick the pages were and if I remember correctly it was a 50 page book.

 

I adore Blurb books! Like Liz, I leave a white border around my layouts so the bleed doesn't affect anything near the edges. They seem to always get things nicely centered, where Shutterfly has had unpredictable centering in the last couple of "free" books I've ordered from them.

The best thing about Blurb for me is that the Book module in Lightroom integrates with their service. I build my books in Lightroom as I scrap pages, and then when I'm ready to print I just have to check page order and margins, then upload! It's pretty awesome.

 

I used to use Shutterfly exclusively, but for my last book I decided to give Blurb a try and I loved them. SO much cheaper and the quality is great too. I do 12x12 size though, so I don't know about their other sizes.