Every year, my daughter and I make a book. We do this as a Christmas gift for relatives. We also do it as a way to record her artwork and writing and way of being for another year. In the beginning, this book was a record of her adventures during the year, documented in photographs. As she grew, we added artwork. At first the art was scribbling with a bit of an explanation on the side. For the last three years, she has created a story with multimedia artwork to accompany it. This year’s tome will be a compendium of a number of short stories, combined with artwork from throughout the year.
Over the years, our print run has increased from a single book for her dad to a run of books for grandparents, aunties and uncles, and assorted relatives. She’s now more frequently printed than many an author, I suspect. Last year, we moved into paperback.
We’ve tried a number of different book services. The service that you use helps define your layout, the number of pages in your book, and the cost of your book. If you’re creating a photo book, it’s important to consider the main ways that photo book services differ before you choose a place to create your photo book.
The software is very different from company to company. Some photo book sites have specific, simple layouts, good if you just want a photo and a single paragraph of accompanying text. Others allow you to choose from multiple layouts – perhaps too many!
The backgrounds for layouts also differ. If you like a scrapbooking feel, some sites allow you to choose patterned or colored background. Others stick with more back to basics background colors.
Do you prefer to work online or download software? I find that our computer gets cluttered with software, so I prefer to create an account online and store and work on our book there. Some photo sites allow you to download software onto your computer and store the book on your own computer, uploading it only when you want to purchase it.
While the prices for hardcovers vary, the prices for paperbacks seem to vary even more. There can also be bulk discounts on paperback or hardcover copies, so if you’re creating a single book or multiple books you might choose different companies.
Tomorrow we’ll explore some of the popular photobook companies and look at how they differ.
Image Credit: Mokra