Now that both of my parents are gone, I want to put together some history books for nieces and nephews, plus their children, so that the stories are not lost. Though I find it easy to make photo books online, I'd like to be able to add text. The last book I made on Picaboo. I used one of their templates, and I still had to do a lot of maneuvering. I had a discount and it was expensive! I probably need to make 6 books and they won't be thin! Anyone attempted a similar project? Any site you liked over others? I appreciate all of your knowledgeable feedback!
Hi Danette, I do not know, if this helps: but probalby you could check "PDF Book Printing". Here the focus is not on photography, but writing. And you "just" create a pdf by yourself and this will be printed.
I did with a Swiss book factory (who does also Photobook Printing) a PDF-to-Book project, for my fathers art, paintings and stories of his childhood memories. And a couple of other smaller projects. Maybe you have something similar in your region too.
I've used Blurb - http://www.blurb.com/ - for my end-of-year 365 books which are a mixture of photos and text. Their templates are very flexible. I usually use the BookSmart app on my computer and then upload the book when it's finished. You can print the book or get a PDF version or both.
I think you can also send links to people to buy their own copy of you choose, but I've never done that so can't comment further.
I'm happy to recommend them. They have the odd colour management issue with some photos, but I've generally been happy with the results - and there's always a discount voucher floating around if you Google before you pay. I've never paid full price yet. ;)
@humphreyhippo You answered several of my unasked questions! I would much prefer to work offline so that I can work in parts. Hard to cover 80 or so years quickly! Thanks for the input.
@danette I'm so delighted you asked for help! I've made any number of books through several well-known companies, and I seldom use their templates! What I do is make my own template the size of the book page and leave a margin all around of 1/2" or more. Then using your type tool, write your text! You can easily see the size, your choice of fonts, color,...anything you want! (It's the same technique I use when I send, for example, a birthday card to a friend. I can easily make the greeting a large and fancy font and my letter text something plain and simple.) To go further, you can design every page with photos in this same fashion. You can refer to them easily, alter them as necessary, ass captions if you wish...once again...anything you wish, and when it comes time to upload it, it does so quite fast, fills the page and you're on to the next one!
I've been delighted with Shutterfly, Snapfish, & Picaboo but have had nothing but disagreeableness from Photobook America. Once I was sent >someone else's books and twice, severely damaged packages that took 6 weeks to arrive! They were impossible to deal with, and only when I turned to Pay Pay did they get my money back. I had two unused vouchers when I decided I'd rather lose those than deal with them again! They have a nice product, but they don't seem to be nice people...
I see, above, that you'd like to work offline, and this is exactly why I like this technique that I use! Wishing you the best! It's a beautiful gesture!
@danette Well, thanks for the compliment, and, truly, if you want to chat by phone or skype, I'd love to try to help you. Several years ago up here I helped a friend make a large book about his father for his 90th birthday. I suppose that was 10 years ago as he's about to turn 100! Just let me know if you need any help and we'll make the connection. (You'll be busy for awhile scanning all the pictures, and make them a 300dpi resolution to start.)
♥
I have also used Blurb for many projects that include text and photos. You can create your own templates with them or use theirs. After my father died I did put together a book of his life, with his photos and scanned in some documents of his. I used My Publisher who are no longer around though, so I can't even show you the link. They were bought out by Shutterfly, who I've heard are also good.
@Weezilou I have actually scanned most of the photos over the last 4 years. Today, I set up an export folder from Lightroom to hold all the photos as I fix them. At least, they will all be in one spot and I can choose them or not. I've just gone through the two easiest decades! I'm sure you can give me some input as I go along. Would be delighted to connect with you at some point.
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I did with a Swiss book factory (who does also Photobook Printing) a PDF-to-Book project, for my fathers art, paintings and stories of his childhood memories. And a couple of other smaller projects. Maybe you have something similar in your region too.
I think you can also send links to people to buy their own copy of you choose, but I've never done that so can't comment further.
I'm happy to recommend them. They have the odd colour management issue with some photos, but I've generally been happy with the results - and there's always a discount voucher floating around if you Google before you pay. I've never paid full price yet. ;)
I've been delighted with Shutterfly, Snapfish, & Picaboo but have had nothing but disagreeableness from Photobook America. Once I was sent >someone else's books and twice, severely damaged packages that took 6 weeks to arrive! They were impossible to deal with, and only when I turned to Pay Pay did they get my money back. I had two unused vouchers when I decided I'd rather lose those than deal with them again! They have a nice product, but they don't seem to be nice people...
I see, above, that you'd like to work offline, and this is exactly why I like this technique that I use! Wishing you the best! It's a beautiful gesture!
♥