Self-published books. Best bets?

[froyd]

Had mediocre sucess with the Kodak Easyshare books and the ones from Picaboo, but I wasn't exactly knocked over by the quality of either, and most importantly I found the layout options too constricting.

What are your recommendations for alternatives? Is there any photobook company that allows free-form layouts?

 

[john_ela]

I was actually happy with mypublisher - you're forced to use their software, but it works on a mac and you can do full-bleed 11.5" x 15". I've used them twice and will again in the future. I've heard mixed results from others, so ymmv. (Note, when I printed a book with them about a year ago, the only option they had for the 11.5x15 book was a hardcover with a cheap-looking cut-out in the middle - very unprofessional looking. I think they may have more options now).

http://www.fastbackbooks.com/ is another online publisher I've used. They accept Adobe PDF so you're essentially free to design whatever you want. The quality of the book itelf was better than mypublisher - much better made. But, I wasn't happy with some glue that had bled on the last page. The photo quality was good, similar to mypublisher.

Of course, no publisher I've used so far comes close to the quality of a print I create on my epson 2200 🙂

 

[mtbbrian]

I have limited experience with this endeavor, but my photography group has just done a book, through blurb.com
The printing is good, I would recommend them.
You can check the book out at Generations By Salt Lake Seven
Good Luck!
Brian

 

[robert blu]

How about www.lulu.com ? I did not try them, but heard positive comments.

 

[smiling gecko]

fishing for publishing...

fishing for publishing...

hello,

anyone else had any experience getting a book of their photographs published?

i'll look into some of the earlier suggestions posted already.

btw, hello robert!! i'll check out the site you suggested. i'm still working on getting my website finished...hope you will still help with the translation into italian when i'm ready. 🙂 ciao!!

my niece suggested i look into www.asuka.com...i did and i didn't catch a glimmer about books.

i've heard of "vanity press" firms and iamgine that's more money than i can afford. the photographs are about the relief efforts i've cobbled together for the victims/survivors of the september 1, 2004 terrorist attack and massacre at middle school number one in beslan, russia.

i'm wondering if there are publishers more inclined towards subjects like this or any that work with non-profit organizations like mine.

i'm a complete rookie at this and a near-total techno-klutz. any and all suggestions are welcome.

gotta get some sleep...zzzzzzzzzzz.

The seeds we plant today are the harvest of today's and tomorrow's children of the world.

kenneth lockerman
never forget beslan
www.neverforgetbeslan.org

 

[dmr]

How about www.lulu.com ? I did not try them, but heard positive comments.

Do a search here for comments about the second version of the RFF book. 🙁

 

[froyd]

PPT > JPGs???

PPT > JPGs???

Researching the issue of free-form layout options, I found somewhere an interesting idea: create a layout in PowerPoint and then convert it (Save As) to JPG. Do that for each page of the book and finally upload each JPG on a separate page with a full bleed layout.

Unfortunately I cannot figure out the exact technique because my exported JPGs from PowerPoint are too low of a resolution to be printed on anything larger than a 4x6 flipbook.


>>edit<<
UPDATE: I found the tip that I mentioned above. It came from a MyPublisher forum user:


"If you can't save the PowerPoint slide as a JPG *and* you own Adobe Acrobat (not Adobe Acrobat Reader, but the full-fledged Acrobat - either Standard or Pro), then you can do this:

From PowerPoint, save the slide as a PDF file. Use the Adobe PDF printer to create the PDF file, using the "Press Quality" settings. Then, once the PDF is created and opened in Acrobat, you can save the JPG."

 

[pellothed1]

my niece suggested i look into www.asuka.com...i did and i didn't catch a glimmer about books.

It's http://www.asukabook.com, they're not inexpensive, but they're good. You might also look at http://www.pikto.com and http://www.blurb.com though I've not been that impressed with Blurb, they're in a different price range than Asuka, Pikto, or Fastback.

 

[yaadetgar]

Hi!

I just finished my photo e-book a few days ago. I don't know if I'd print it.
I used a friend's InDesign (Adobe's software), and I'm publishing it on Lulu.com.
Well, I won't say it's working too much, but I'll see in a couple of days.


Yaad Etgar