Looking for your opinion. . .

I've only had a few photobooks printed, and I've only had them done through Shutterfly, but I was happy with them. They have the option to upload your own pages. I would be interested in hearing feedback, too, because I'm hoping to print some more soon.

 

I believe there are quite a few that let you, you just chose a full page picture page. Best is a matter of argument and cost.

 

I was really impressed with my Photobooks from Inkubook, and the turn-around was reasonable. You can upload a full page image which works perfectly with scrap pages. But you can also mix and match, which is really nice. Plus you can print the front and back covers. They have a 40% off special right now for Mother's Day: https://www.facebook.com/Inkubook

ETA: They don't have 12x12 - they print 11x11 instead. Still looks amazing, and fits better on my shelf!

Plus you can print a very large book. Mine were 120+ pages and 180+pages.

 

I have ordered some through Shutterfly, but maybe I was not going about it correctly, but it was not very easy to figure out if you wanted to upload your own layout. I have also ordered books from Winkflash when they are having their flat rate sale (unlimited pages up to 100) and have been happy with those as well.

there is a post on the daily digi where Steph literally went the process of about 8 different photobook companies and evaluated their process and quality.
http://thedailydigi.com/12-different-photobook-printer-reviews/

 

I have printed from Viovio and My Pic Tales, and I have been pretty pleased with both of them.

 

I had my December Daily 2011 printed at Viovio and was very pleased. I did a softcover 8x8 and had it in my hands abt a week-ish after I ordered it.

 

I've only used Shutterfly, but I will say that if you're new to printing a digital book there... they changed stuff about a year ago and it's darn near impossible to figure out how to do a blank book for digital scrapbook pages. Thankfully I have older books that I can just save as the new one and start over with.

Karah, I didn't know about ebates... that's awesome, thanks!

I'm going to watch this thread too, because I'm always open to trying a new place as long as they do 12x12 and let you do the front and back cover and spine too!

 

I'm kinda looking for what is best/most economical too. I have been printing my pages through persnickety, but I"m rethinking that. I am thinking of doing a book per kid per year - just collecting up all my pages in a folder, and then printing it on their birthday. It seems like it might be more economical than printing all the pages like I do now.

 

Doesn't this make such a nice touch to the book? Inkubook supports this too.

 

Yes - definitely more economical. Here in Canada, the best I could get was $2.50 a print (12x12 at Costco), so my 300+ pages last year (my pages from 2009 and 2010) would have cost around $750 if printed one by one (and that doesn't include page sleeves and books). Instead, I've got 2 nice books (11x11, hardcover bound, both together taking up less than 2 inches shelf space), and with the 2-for-1 introductory price, I think I only paid around $150 plus shipping.

 

Any solution for your pages not fitting in books without reworking them to account for the bleed at the edges? This made me crazy with shutterfly.

 

I now take that into consideration for most pages I scrap, and make sure there is an edge that I don't mind if it gets trimmed a little. But yes, my pages from 2009/2010, I had to rework several, but most I just placed slightly reduced on top of a similarly coloured background, so it looks like just another layer, and it worked beautifully. But a lot of work yes. Hopefully not so much for 2011 and 2012.

 

More important than the edge bleed, was leaving an additional 1/4 - 1/2 inch for the book's bound edge.