Photobooks

[NicolaB]

Hi

I have my first 'shoot' a the weekend - eeeek but yah! They know I am training - BUT

IF I get enough nice images I would like to offer the option of a photo book. If you are a portrait photographer;

1. Do you offer photobooks? If not why

2. If you do, who do you use to print?

3. What is your most popular product - do you know why?

4. What is your most cost effective product? (To you that is.)

Thanks

[NicolaB]

OK so too many questions.

Do you offer photobooks in your portfolio?

If not are they too time consuming and therefore not cost effective?

Pretty please :-)

[oldwolf]

Photobooks are nice but we only offer them for weddings since they are time consuming and there's a high markup. I know of people that offer them for things other than weddings like for boudoir sessions.

The thing with photobooks is that you need to have samples with you to sell them. This gives the client an idea of what is being offered vs. ordering a product blindly. It's easy to order prints blindly but a photobook is a big investment that most clients would want to see a sample of.

That's just what we do.

[NicoleScraps]

I am actually considering the idea of giving the proofs in a 5x7 photobook. I can make up page templates ahead of time and could probably put a book together in an hour (after editing).
The little ones are pretty cheap and if I built that into my original price, it wouldn't be bad at all.
I think people might like it.
I don't know though. I am in the process of trying to come up with a solid structure of how I do everything and this is just one idea that I had.
I have had lots of photobook printed for myself personally. I love inkubook for this. The always have a good promotion going.
But I was looking around, comparing prices and Kodak has a 14 page 5x5.5 or a 5x7 for $9.99, 29 cents per extra page and only $1.99 shipping. I plan to order a test book to see how the quality is.

[kirbinster]

I just made one this morning on snapfish. It is leather bound 8"x11" with 30 pages. I think it was about $45 before a discount of roughly 27% by using code merry2010. The code gives you 35% off the base book, not the extra pages.

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

I just made one this morning on snapfish. It is leather bound 8"x11" with 30 pages. I think it was about $45 before a discount of roughly 27% by using code merry2010. The code gives you 35% off the base book, not the extra pages.

Can you please let me know how it looks when it arrives? I ordered one from them about 4 years ago and it was very grainy. I was extemely disappointed with it. But I am wondering if they have improved their process since. They do have some great deals from time to time that I would love to take advantage of.

[kirbinster]

Originally Posted by NicoleScraps

Can you please let me know how it looks when it arrives? I ordered one from them about 4 years ago and it was very grainy. I was extemely disappointed with it. But I am wondering if they have improved their process since. They do have some great deals from time to time that I would love to take advantage of.

I'll try to remember, but you might want to remind me in a week or two. I was kind of surprised that there were no warnings or suggestions on maximum size based on number of pixels in the image. They do offer a 110% guarantee of satisfaction.

[NicolaB]

Thank you, you three. :-)

I really like the idea of coffee table books otherwise prints just stay in a drawer. I am concerned that they may be too time consuming to be profitable. I was thinking if there was a great pro provider, their program should be intuitive and easy to design saving time.

Any other insights would be great.

[kuvahmagh]

I have a book from Blurb from a friend of mine here, it is pretty good. I tried to play with their software once and after a while I just decided it wasn't worth it.

I think that trying to market them to portrait sessions will be difficult for the reasons mentioned though I think it really depends on the client, if they are looking for really high end it might be worth it, the goal with Photobooks IMHO is to try and sell multiple copies, that's why something like a wedding can be more worth it since there is the possibility of others buying them.

[kirbinster]

Just got mine yesterday. Turned out very well. I was a little concerned as there was no warning like some sites have as to the minimum resolution you need for a given size print, but everything came out sharp. I thought the pages were a little thinner than I would have liked, but other than that I was quite impressed. Showed it to my wife and she thought it was simply amazing.

BTW I got a code in the mail today that is good until Dec.17th for 50% off, it is 1211MERRY.