Here's my report of my first photo book experience (after MyPublisher went out of business)...
I was creating a new book, not using a PDF from an existing book, so I was starting from scratch. My subject matter was birds/nature.
First, I considered but decided not to use the following:
- Apple Photos. Pros: Desktop software allows access to my personal fonts; offers a wide 11 x 8.5" landscape size ideal for 35mm aspect ratio. Cons: No discount offers; very limited text page options (e.g., can’t add or resize text blocks). I like to customize my text layouts, so this was a deal breaker for me.
- Mixbook. Pros: Offers a wide 11 x 8.5" landscape size; frequent discount codes. Cons: Online book builder tool can't access my personal fonts; lacks auto pagination functionality (minor complaint).
- Presto Photo. Pros: Offers a wide 11 x 8.5" landscape size. Cons: Online book builder tool can't access my personal fonts; no discounts.
- Shutterfly. Pros: Offers a wide 11 x 8.5" landscape size; frequent discount offers. Cons: Online book builder tool can't access my personal fonts; lacks the ability to italicize words within a sentence/text block. Because I include animal species names in my text, this was a deal breaker.
Not having access to my personal fonts is frustrating since I have a preferred font for book cover text that isn't available in online tools. The workaround is to create a separate cover image in Photoshop with the text in the image, but I wanted to avoid that workaround if possible so that I could play around with text placement after seeing the actual trim lines.
I decided to go with
Blurb. I chose an 10 x 8 inch hardcover image wrap book with premium luster gloss paper. This size is smaller than the MyPublisher size I had been used to (11.25 x 8.75") and isn't ideal for 35mm aspect ratio or wide landscape photography, but in the end I decided it was not a deal breaker for bird photos. I simply cropped my photos to suit the page. The main reason I chose Blurb was because of its excellent desktop software (BookWright). Not only does it allow access to my personal fonts, but it is easy to use, is smartly designed, and is very customizable (you can save custom text / photo layouts for reuse). It also has auto pagination, which saves time. And it never crashed while I was using it. I did spend a lot of time creating my custom layouts, though, since the default layouts didn't suit my needs. The 40% discount code was a nice bonus.
I ordered my books on June 28 and they arrived today July 5 -- extremely fast service -- and I'm happy to report that the book quality is very good. The image wrap cover has a nice matte finish. (I decided to forgo the dust jacket; while a dust jacket likely would have been more vibrant, it adds labor to the book creation process and is an annoyance for readers.)
Interior page quality is very good. I was concerned that the 100# premium luster gloss paper would not be as good as MyPublisher's 120# satin paper, but I need not have been concerned. Color fidelity is excellent and the weight and texture are just fine.
I didn't choose an ISBN/publishing option, but it's nice to know that Blurb offers that service.
In short, I'm very happy with the Blurb book.
Having said that... If I were making a book of images with wider aspect ratios/crops (e.g., 12x8) that I didn't want to alter, and I wanted to maximize the amount of image on the page with little wasted space, Blurb would not be completely satisfying. But I might decide to accept the tradeoff if I can have personal font access and better layout flexibility.