Do you mean coffee-table books? Depends on the client and price range. For truly high-end, Asuka. For pretty much everything else, Pikto. Pikto uses the same prepackaged layout software that MPIX uses for their press books, but Pikto's quality and options are much better.
No problem. If I were a better graphic designer and could lay out my own pages from scratch, I would use WHCC for the lower-end stuff. But I can't, and for the prices I can charge for basic books, I need a system with page templates and the like so I can do it myself, quickly. The one from Pikto is not bad.
I'm going to make one book thru iPhoto and another through pikto.ca. I will let you know my opinions on how they compare.
Have any SmugMuggers out there tried the MyCanvas photo book service? I've also had MyPublisher.com recommended to me. Anybody have opinions on that company?
I've had 4 books under MyPublisher and 1 book under Blurb.com
MYPublisher sells thru Costco on line. They ran a Xmas special of 20% off. After ordering they emailed me directly and offered 2 for the price of one. Depending on the size and cover, this is a great deal. The Blurb.com has better pricing approx 40 pages of largest book Blurb allows you to sell your books on line. You pick the price after your cost. They have over 2000 books on line. They also have more options for designs, colors, templates, really neat stuff. Always pick the highest grade of paper.
MyPublisher is awesome quality and a bit larger landscape book.
I just got back from the Mac Show in SF, I have at least 4 other companies, that sell books. Budget wise, Blurb is the best.
I found Blurb being the best Quality/Price trade-off. Service is really good. I used Pikto despite quality was good, price was too high. Of course, if price is no object, I heard good thing about Asuka book.
All of the above-mentioned companies do a good job, but none of them provide the thick, flat, matte page books. Anyone know where to have those done? They are hinged pages, a bit like a child's board book and they look MUCH better...just dont' know where to find them?
I have had a few done thru Blurb and they are great.....one arrived with a slight crease in the dust cover, they promptly reprinted the whole book and cover again, and sent it express to Australia for no charge, and let me keep the first copy!
You can't beat that!
cheers Andrew
I have used MyPublisher for three sets of albums and two different sets of calendars. I am very happy with what I have. I had the albums printed on a buy-one get-one-free deal. MyPublisher has page templates and it is easy to learn. On a couple of occasions when I had technical questions about sizing photos, I got very quick replies. I used Picaboo on an earlier occasion. MyPublisher is much nicer.
