Your experience with "on demand" photo book printing services?

I tried Shutterfly once, about ten years ago...
I had a "Groupon" for an 8x8" hardbound, glossy cover book for $10, so why not?
I was happy with the binding, and the reproduction was "ok", but the paper was definitely not photo-book quality.
Ten years on, the edges of the pages are yellowing.
I got my $10 worth, but I'd recommend doing research into paper longevity for a serious project.

I've made two books through Blurb. The printing quality has been acceptable- better than I'd expected. I expect that achieving better printing quality (from anyone) will come at a significant cost increase. That said, I look forward to reading of other people's experiences.

I used Blurb to print my B&W Photobook a year ago. I'm overall satisfied, and compared to some of the big and expensive photobooks that I own it has nothing to envy them. But I printed black & white... I can't provide feedback on colour print.
For my book I went with hardcover option and chose their "Luxurious" :-) Mohawk Superfine Eggshell paper. I like it and will recommend it for photo books. I then print one copy on their Premium Luster but found it not as good as the Eggshell paper.

Next I'm going to print a small photo book (magazine?) on my own using the Canon Pro-1000 and double sided Moab Entrada Bright 300 paper. I use Adobe InDesign for design the layout.

I have used Blurb and their subsidiary Magcloud for a couple of projects with mixed results. If your project is black and white it will be printed CMYK. That can be tricky--images can become tinted quite easily and vary in tint if the balance is not right on. Although not print-on-demand, I have had better back and white quality from Bookmobile. They have a minimum quantity that is pretty reasonable and they actually send proof pages for approval before the press run.

The problem is expectation

And venders change constantly

Do a test

I've had a couple books printed by Printique (Adorama). Pricey but I've been happy with the quality.

So, what I gather from this thread is that Blurb is the best option, considering price and quality? I've been thinking of doing photo annuals for my kids, so this could be useful.

I have made 3 Blurb photo books and been involved with 2 of their magazines. I have used their software to assemble the books and found it quite intuitive. These were all paper covers and used as show catalogs. I have been very pleased with both color and black and white rendition. On a reorder of one of these the cover colors were messed up. Initially Blurb faulted me but after an email exchange made it right by letting me keep the faulty cover books and issuing a credit for more the the original order…quite generous. When factoring in the cost of the printing and the gallery share for selling something these are about break even for an artist. That said it it pretty great to make a nice publication and be able to order 1 or 50.

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Originally Posted by Tin Can

The problem is expectation

And venders change constantly

Do a test

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My experience with Magcloud was they printed a small booklet (8x8, 20 pages if I recall) that came out fine. Then, with the same file plus some new ones, they printed the same booklet (now 40 pages) and it was considerably lighter. I complained, sent them side-by-side photos, they said it was within the range of acceptability for the (not for me!) but offered to reprint. It turns out they have several facilities with different standards and possibly different equipment.
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Originally Posted by jprofita

I have made 3 Blurb photo books and been involved with 2 of their magazines. I have used their software to assemble the books and found it quite intuitive. These were all paper covers and used as show catalogs. I have been very pleased with both color and black and white rendition. On a reorder of one of these the cover colors were messed up. Initially Blurb faulted me but after an email exchange made it right by letting me keep the faulty cover books and issuing a credit for more the the original order…quite generous. When factoring in the cost of the printing and the gallery share for selling something these are about break even for an artist. That said it it pretty great to make a nice publication and be able to order 1 or 50.

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I had similar thing with Blurb when the photos came out too dark. But they let me change it for nothing and get a second printing.

Does anyone have experience with longevity with Blurb papers?

They have a special right now with a deep discount if anyone is looking to do something currently.

I've bought and sold a few books on blurb, never had a problem. I have Emil Schildt's book from 2012 and it looks like the day it was printed, Denise Ross' too

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Originally Posted by Alan Klein

I had similar thing with Blurb when the photos came out too dark. But they let me change it for nothing and get a second printing.

Does anyone have experience with longevity with Blurb papers?

They have a special right now with a deep discount if anyone is looking to do something currently.

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Most commercial printing paper will yellow with age unless the book is kept in dim light.

Have done some in the past with Blurb - is OK if you have modest expectations and OK with variety in printing quality from one order to the next. Also used Lulu but the best is Edition One in San Francisco. Real quality operation.

I’ve used Blurb for a number of photo books, going back over a dozen years. No fading or yellowing so far. I used their ICC profile and their software, and if I put some effort into targeting for their machines the results were decent and satisfying.

But their prices are too high to make selling to others a reasonable option, compared to the traditional large batch. But it’s a lot less risky.

Rick “no need to sell books or shuffle off this mortal coil with 175 boxes of unsold books in the garage” Denney

Good to know

I trust Rick

and I think Blurb is best for my small edition

I used them at least a decade ago for 2 carry books for a pencil artist

He made a lot money on his hobby!

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Originally Posted by rdenney

I’ve used Blurb for a number of photo books, going back over a dozen years. No fading or yellowing so far. I used their ICC profile and their software, and if I put some effort into targeting for their machines the results were decent and satisfying.

But their prices are too high to make selling to others a reasonable option, compared to the traditional large batch. But it’s a lot less risky.

Rick “no need to sell books or shuffle off this mortal coil with 175 boxes of unsold books in the garage” Denney

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I've used Blurb and SAAL Digital and like SAAL better. Excellent results if you do your part.

I see a lot of people have used Blurb. I've found them to be pretty good and have tons of options. I guess it just depends on what your needs are. If you want a fairly good quality photo book at a good price, then Blurb works great. You can even publish with them and they print on demand for ecommerce, which is neat. There are other great options that I've tried as well and have had great experiences. I think most modern print labs do pretty well. The best thing I think you could do is order some samples if they provide them. If you have a business of some sort there are more options opened up to you. Here are some other options that I've tried and they are very good quality.

https://www.whcc.com/ - WHCC is a professional print shop that has tons of options and does a great job, as well as pretty quick turnaround and shipping.

https://www.millerslab.com/home - Miller's is probably an obvious one. Professional print shop thats pretty well known. Their consumer facing site is going to be mPix I believe.

https://bayphoto.com/ - Bay Photo is also a really good option for all kinds of prints. Pretty much compares with the previous two.

https://www.saal-digital.com/ - As others have already mentioned, SAAL Digital is also a great option. I've had some photo albums printed with them and they are great. Keep an eye out for their Instagram as they often offer huge sales, discounts, and sometimes free trial options. I got a photo album from them for free that I otherwise would have had to shell out $150 for. So keep them in mind.

I probably have chimed in here about Blurb. OK quality for color, a bit of hit-and-miss for black and white, since they print on digital CMYK presses and the slightest imbalance can give B&W a tint. Which can be livable except that tint can vary from signature to signature, giving a variety of tints among the book pages. What I do like is if you opt for e-commerce, they post an online e-book that can be paged through so prospective buyers can see the book. I made a number of Blurb books for a painter a while back, and he sends the Blurb link to prospects to show his work instead of having a website (something beyond his technical and economical abilities at this point). However, if you can afford to print several hundred copies of a black and white book, I would go with someone like Bookmobile. They even provide a set of unbound proofs prior to printing, so changes can be made and there are no surprises when the books show up.

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Originally Posted by Pieter

I probably have chimed in here about Blurb. OK quality for color, a bit of hit-and-miss for black and white, since they print on digital CMYK presses and the slightest imbalance can give B&W a tint. Which can be livable except that tint can vary from signature to signature, giving a variety of tints among the book pages. What I do like is if you opt for e-commerce, they post an online e-book that can be paged through so prospective buyers can see the book. I made a number of Blurb books for a painter a while back, and he sends the Blurb link to prospects to show his work instead of having a website (something beyond his technical and economical abilities at this point). I have a strange relationship with books. I once needed to read about greek mythology, but I was too lazy to look for a paper book. That time https://papersowl.com/examples/greek-mythology/ helped me deal with it. But I’m now making a new shelf for my photo books. However, if you can afford to print several hundred copies of a black and white book, I would go with someone like Bookmobile. They even provide a set of unbound proofs prior to printing, so changes can be made and there are no surprises when the books show up.

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I also used Blurb for creating books. I liked their paper quality, which holds up over time. I had a similar situation with a photo book from another company where the edges of the pages started to yellow after a few years. I haven't seen this issue with Blurb, and the books I've made with them still look brand new

Don't order any books without first signing up for their mailing lists. I get promotions from Blurb twice a month (not around Father's Day/Mother's Day or Christmas). Wait for Black Friday if you can. The discounts can be 50%. I have had good experiences with Blurb and MagCloud.

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Originally Posted by retropetro

I also used Blurb for creating books. I liked their paper quality, which holds up over time. I had a similar situation with a photo book from another company where the edges of the pages started to yellow after a few years. I haven't seen this issue with Blurb, and the books I've made with them still look brand new

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I also have a number of offset and gravure, commercially-printed art-quality (read: expensive) photo books where the edges of the pages have yellowed over the years. No sure what causes this, some of the books have been shelved, not exposed to bright light or anything like that.