I nominate, without reservation,
Adoramapix.
I have printed over a dozen books with them [as the supplier/printer], and their quality is unmatched as it pertains to print quality.
The pages are C-prints, which sets them high above the usual offset printing the most other printers offer.
In terms of the layout process, it occurs on their on-line program, which is competent though not very complex, like, say, Adobe inDesign. And nor should it be. You can use your own layout programs and send in a pdf, though I have not done that for any of my books.
For give-aways, I suggest you design and layout an eight inch by eight inch, ten page book, and wait for their sporadic sales, which usually have 8"x8", 10 pages for about $16USD, excluding shipping. I'm in Canada, so shipping is what it is, though your being based in the US means shipping is much more affordable.
I have seen MyPublisher [used by my sister, for one of her wedding assignments], and Blurb [by another professional photog], and the Apple related book publishing service. Adoramapix is by far the best for print quality, and the books are "lay-flat".
Summary:
Good points:
- superb print quality
- great colour accuracy [check colour-space: sRGB]
- books are "lay-flat": great for images bigger that a page
- front and back covers are fully printed
Not-so-good points:
- Design tool is decent, though 'basic' compared to full layout program
- when their servers are busy or under heavy use, your design process slows down
Neutral points:
- be cautious of storage space
- for best quality, TIFF is better than JPEG at larger sizes
- can make book layout
partially public, to show particular people or clients
Here is an example of what I published with Adorampix:
http://www.adoramapix.com/app/showbook/Pascalf/book/Folio07-Chroma-Flora/or
http://www.adoramapix.com/app/showbook/Pascalf/book/MontRoyal2013-MATG/- for both books, the colour accuracy and density is spot on and what I expect. No 'dot spread', no obvious colour or gamut shift.
Message me privately to links to other books, though you get the idea of the colour and density range I require for some books.
I like
Adoramapix quite a lot, in case you can't tell. I have been using them as a publisher for many [about eight] years.
Regards
Pascal