My Publisher Photo Books

[dwdallam]

Has anyone any experience with the site www.mypublisher.com and their photo books?

Their largest book is 1.5 x 15 full bleed.

I'm just wondering about quality.

[Kenneth Sky]

I've used them for travel albums. They impress my family and friends but for the critical eye they're not up to standard.

[picnic]

Has anyone any experience with the site www.mypublisher.com and their photo books?

Their largest book is 1.5 x 15 full bleed.

I'm just wondering about quality.
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I don't but have 3 more names for you that were mentioned on several other forums.  The poster was looking for publishers that could do books that opened flat and these were mentioned.  
[a href=\"http://www.viovio.com/]http://www.viovio.com/[/url]
http://www.blurb.com/home/1/
http://www.lulu.com/en/products/photo_books/  

My interest has been in doing handmade books with my own prints but I'm limited a great deal by paper weight and I'm considering trying these--but I would also like to find some way to bind my own prints.  There is also the self publisher mentioned here on this site but considerably more to print and really more geared to multiples. http://www.my100books.com/

I'm still exploring this issue and may just try one and see the results for myself.  There's an old thread on photo.net about Lulu (2006) saying their matte paper was not great (this could have changed and I understand they have a forum) and the gloss paper was better--if this is any help.

Just found this and you might find it worthwhile--about sharedink.com
http://www.naturephotographers.net/article...5/mh0405-1.html


Diane

[ericaro]

I have used my publisher and the quality is appalling. First, they use an "auto-enhancer" for each file you submit to them. I assume it is some kind of auto level they put the files through before printing, thereby modifying your own work.
 All the files with large color blocks like skies had macro and microbanding. They offered to reprint and the second book came back identical. Horrible.
             I have sent the same files to other bookmakers and the best so far is blurb. They don't modify the files and print them as such. The prints show no banding at all. I just wish they had more templates though.
           If you want to do your own printing look up Hanemuhle' s books. High end paper, nice binding, varous sizes but expensive.
                     Louis bouillon

[ericaro]

Also look up the following link. Expensive looking but interesting:
         http://www.booksmartstudio.com/store/index...x&cPath=720_722

                Louis Bouillon

[pindman]

  My experience with MyPublisher.com has been very good.  I have years of darkroom experience, and now print digital in a calibrated workflow, and I'm fussy.  I've used MyPublisher for several books in color, carefully following their instructions for file preparation, and the results were very good.  

I just did a book of black and white infrared photos, and thought I'd try Blurb for a change.  In a nutshell, the printing was fine, but the paper was awful.  I will not use blurb until they get better paper.   I sent the same book to MyPublisher and the results are excellent.  Also, they are inexpensive, giving 40% off orders more than $100.  This is good, because people are going crazy over the book, and I have to keep ordering them.

I'd love to find a real professional quality printer at a reasonable price, but until I do I'm sticking with MyPublisher.  
Paul

[dwdallam]

Thanks for all who replied.

[troonly]

Thanks for all who replied.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=178788\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I've also had good experience with mypublisher, although recently full-bleed pages have suffered from poor quality control and show white at the bottom edge.  Mypublisher have reprinted free of charge, but not fully resolved.  This is only at their larger size - all A4 books have been excellent.  I'm now looking to try blurb.

[usathyan]

I havent used mypublisher, but have used blurb.
Read my blog post for my experience with it - http://www.8thcross.com/blog/?p=257

In summary - Very happy with quality of the book!

[dwdallam]

I havent used mypublisher, but have used blurb.
Read my blog post for my experience with it - http://www.8thcross.com/blog/?p=257

In summary - Very happy with quality of the book!
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=179690\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I'm putting together a PDF for VioVio now. Everyone seems really impressed with their quality. However, their method of getting you from prepress to press is very, very wanting.

I'll have a look at blurb too.

One thing about VioVio is that they are REALLY cheap. About half the price for their 14x11 lay flat 120# silk paper than MyPublisher. And they print full bleed on the cover and back, if you want.

Keep us informed on how Blurb goes.

[usathyan]

Very interested on your feedback on Viovio...let us know your experience with it.

[Chris_T]

You are probably publishing your best work and sending the publishers high resolution files.

Do any of the services tell you how they would protect your high resolution files, during the process and after a book is published? IOW, should these files fall into the wrong hands, can you hold them accountable?

If you are not concerned, why not?

[picnic]

You are probably publishing your best work and sending the publishers high resolution files.

Do any of the services tell you how they would protect your high resolution files, during the process and after a book is published? IOW, should these files fall into the wrong hands, can you hold them accountable?

If you are not concerned, why not?
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Here's what Viovio offers
[a href=\"http://www.viovio.com/shop/336]http://www.viovio.com/shop/336[/url]

[dwdallam]

Very interested on your feedback on Viovio...let us know your experience with it.
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Their work flow to get your images processed like you want them is cumbersome and very hard to understand. They really need to get their shit together in that department. If I can;t get an effective answer I'm going to write them a letter saying I'd love to try their service, but I can't understand how to use it. Their replies start out ok and get more convoluted as they go.

Here is a reply and an email inquiry I shot them a few days ago:

If I want to create a 14x11 book using PSC3 and Adobe 8.1, will this work?

1. Create a 14.25x11.25 template in Photoshop, with the background color I want, at 300ppi.

2. Process my images and paste them as layers into the template, one layer per real book page.

3. Create a PDF using the images I created using the template.

There reply:

Doug, greetings from Viovio and thank you for your interest.

Hmmm,  I'm not an expert with PSC3.  However, I would say yes, if you save your work out to a 14.25x11.25 PDF (flattened) and make sure you embed all fonts (full font family) you will be fine.

When you upload a PDF our system will automatically select the book trim size that most closely matches your PDF size.  I would make the PDF 11x8.5 instead of 8.5x11.

As a caution, when uploading PDF's with the cover included with the file. Covers and interiors are printed separately. When the front cover is removed from your uploaded file, the pages will be offset.  So  if you have 2-page spreads make sure they will layout the way you plan after a page has been removed.

NOTE:  The best way to Upload a PDF
login,
go to your my account page (link to that page is in the upper right of the screen)
select upload PDF (under the products column)
give your product a title
For the Interior PDF File browse to get the PDF from your PC
Pick the correct action for Front Cover and Back Cover fields
Select the upload pdf button

Here are a few links to some of our pages on PDFs
[a href=\"http://www.viovio.com/wiki/PDF+Upload+Wizard]http://www.viovio.com/wiki/PDF+Upload+Wizard[/url]
http://www.viovio.com/wiki/PDF+Creation+FAQ
http://www.viovio.com/wiki/PDF+Creation+Specifications
http://www.viovio.com/wiki/Cropping+And+Bleed

I would read each carefully some of the information may apply to you and some may not.

Also we power a site that has a very active forum and the creators are knowledgeable about PDFs. Check it out at http://www.photoshopcreativeelements.com

Hope this helps and please let us know if you have any more questions!

Grace
Viovio Support
http://www.viovio.com/support

And if you use their online system, the way you get images on the poages like you want them is a numbering scheme:


Doug,  greetings from Viovio and thank you for your interest.

Yes, I think if I understand your question then the answer is yes.

The EASIEST way to order your images and determine number of images per page is to use our "image order" feature.
Edit your gallery and select the "image order" icon. While in the image order section you number your images so they fall within the book in the order you prefer. If you would like one image on a page you do not add an extention to that image. If you want 2 images to a page you will have an extension on the image that you want to fall as 2 to a page. Here is an example 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 (3 images on page 1) 2 (one image on page 2) 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 (five images on page 3) You can have any number of images per page from 1 up to 48 images. If you set it up to display 48 images on a page they would be very small

REMEMBER to save when you finish numbering  Also, you will need to select "gallery image order" as your "Images Per Page" option during the book maker process.

I understand the image numbering of course, but i can't make heads or tails of what the Fxxx they have going on. It's like trying to figure out a Open Source program written for Linux by programmers before 1990.

It doesn't seem like they have any way to preview your book AS it will print. It's kinda like "Here is a method, and it should be ok." They have a really good idea, but I think their business is run by techs and not intermediary organizational and graphics administrators. They need a lead developer skilled in Human Interface Methodology.