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

[jnantz]

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

[Pieter]

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.

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

[GG12]

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.

[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

[Tin Can]

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!

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

[HughC]

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

[J.Chris]

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.

[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). 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.