Is there a photobook printing company that you would recommend - besides Shutterfly? I have been a loyal and very satisfied Shutterfly customer for YEARS for so many reasons. However, they have made some "improvements" to their page, and now I can't do ANYTHING. Every time I go in to edit my photo book, a new copy of it is created, so now I have multiple copies of the same book (so I have to keep going in and deleting the extras). Also, it will no longer allow me to apply layouts to my pages. The one thing I CAN do is upload photos. However, I can't actually drag and drop the photos onto a page - presumably because the page does not have a layout applied to it (because, like I said, it won't allow me to apply layouts). I seriously don't have the time or patience to mess around and be frustrated with a cumbersome process that doesn't accomplish what I need it to... especially when there are other printing options. I've contacted CS @ Shutterfly... if some major adjustments aren't made available, I will definitely be finding a new printing option. Any suggestions for prints you've loved in the past??
I've had three Christmas albums printed with PrestoPhoto and been very happy with them. I get 8.5 x 8.5 softcover books made there.
I'm not happy with the Shutterfly changes either :-/ my last few orders from them have been a mess so I'm looking forward to other's suggestions also.
I use Blurb and LOVE them, but I use Lightroom's Book module to build my books to print and they are automatically uploaded to Blurb from there. I don't ever have to use their proprietary software, so I can't speak to its usability one way or the other. I actually just received a book from them today! They had a 35% off coupon last week, so I ordered some layouts that my mom has been wanting a copy of.
I did two 8x6 books of just photos at Mixbook because I liked the size. They were photos of her trips to London/Paris and one to Alaska with dh. Plus once you order one you seem to get coupons every week. Ditto with Blurb. I've yet to do a 12x12 book anywhere but Shutterfly and that was quite some time ago. London/Paris Book
I've had good experiences with Adoramapix. I love their lay flat albums. So cool. The print quality is amazing and even with the exchange rate their prices are pretty good. They have sales on all the time too, so bonus!
I've done all my scrapbooks with Mixbook. They are always having sales and deals. Great customer service! Originally I designed all my layouts directly in Mixbook. Then got PSE in January now I just upload my layouts and drop them on the pages.
I loved Adoramapix. Printed a number of books with them due to the layflat pages and beautiful photo quality. But alas, last year they stopped shipping internationally. I almost cried. I now get my photobooks from another company in America that does 12x12 layflat but the photo quality just isn't the same, so I'm confident recommending Adoramapix.
Oh geez! I'm really bummed to hear this about Shutterfly. I have used them to print all my scrapbooks for the last 10 years! I know there have been other times where they've upgraded or made "improvements" that screws everything up for digi-scrappers and they've always fixed it, but I can't understand why they don't test these things before they release them. That's just sloppy! I'd love to hear what you end up trying @RebeccaH and what you hear from Shutterfly CS.
I've been wanting to try out Blurb, but just hated to make the break with Shutterfly. I've had a few issues with them lately (printing, not website)... but I'm in a little deep with them so I hate to move all of my printing away from them. I'm hosting a trunk show for Shutterfly at my house on Monday (pilot program they're testing this month), so I do have a direct, in company contact to work with and they have been good to me through this pilot process. But it still doesn't mean that the issues aren't frustrating. I might move one of my projects to Blurb for next year to try them out, while keeping some projects at Shutterfly.
For those that have ordered from Blurb before... what paper did you use? The standard or did you upgrade?
Mine was a small blurb book of my cat photos which I gave to our pet sitter and I just used standard. Looked fine to me.
I've ordered both the Standard and the Premium (with the Lustre finish) and was honestly very happy with both. Their standard is 80 lb. paper, Premium and Proline Uncoated are 100 lb., and Proline Pearl Photo is 140 lb. Shutterfly says that their pages are 65 lb. on their web site, but I've found review sites that say they are 100 lb., so I am not sure which is true (I think that the 100 lb. may be only for their lay-flat book option). Shutterfly makes it so confusing to find information on their site!
@tkradtke Same here.... I've been all-in with Shutterfly forever, and I've always worked through their weird little adjustments as they've come up. I've not heard anything back from CS yet, but have been poking around in their web site - tutorial videos (not helping) and such. I've come to wonder if my issue is so difficult because I have an in-process project at the time of conversion. I'm going to TRY making a new book from scratch to see if that alleviates any of the frustration. If not, I guess I may have to give Blurb a try. I just reallllllly don't want to leave Shutterfly.
I am in London for probably more relevant for European members. I love Albelli. They do these layflat books in 12X12 format, I love their quality and customer service - always helpful with a listening ear to frantic customers like me who realise they made a mistake whilst placing the order. LOL!!! I'm on book 9 right now. They also do great coupons so very, very reasonable if you ask me
This is great information Shivani - I just checked the Albelli website and they do layflat, 12x12, and ship internationally. So excited - I might give them a try next!