Comments on: Adorama, Blurb & Lulu – Book Printing Review

By: Corina Kellam

Corina Kellam — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:22:11 +0000

I have two book-based businesses serving Europe and the U.S. (www.LifeHistoryBooks.com and www.CustomBabyBooks.co.uk)

CEWE completely ruined a dozen books, even including cover background colour (inexcusable). Paper is crap, using their software means inconsistent, wobbly margins. Customer service was snail slow and incompetent. It took a week to upload four photobooks because their online uploader couldn't handle more than two at once (which they didn't know).

I use Blurb for my printing, and I've been ecstatic. I use premium paper, PDF-to-book with CMYK color. It's spot-on. I once had a black and white come out a smidge green, but it was a very old photo and I might have tweaked it using shoddy software. The only downside is how slow the order-to-delivery time is.

By: Ruth C. Schonder Taylor

Ruth C. Schonder Taylor — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:39:54 +0000

I was wondering why all books you had made only had a photo on one side of the paper and not both sides?

By: bhavish

bhavish — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:41:43 +0000

very nice information on printing oriented..thanks for sharing

By: jordanblue

jordanblue — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:27:04 +0000

I had a really terrible experience with LuLu. My book looked as though they printed it and didn’t even review ONE book. It was filled with white spots (from a dirty printer), and every page was printed 1 page off! They do not allow you to contact them by phone… so you have to WAIT a long time for them to respond to your email. Instead of them being concerned they ask you to send images of your problems… It has been 10 days and they still have not responded.
LuLu Printing has TERRIBLE SERVICE. I recommend a printing company that actually lets you CALL them!

By: Catharine Anderson

Catharine Anderson — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:16:34 +0000

I just uploaded a project on Lulu. My book consists of over 100 B&W photographs. The photos were originally captured on film and later scanned. I uploaded a pdf version of the book and had it printed two ways. First as Paperback using standard B&W stock. Second as Paperback using standard full color stock. The B&W stock is out of the question. Alot of detail is lost and the photos look like they were done on a photo copier, Not the way to go. The second option is amazing. The detail is there and the book looks like a real book. I am very pleased.

You take a look here (not that it gives you any idea how it looks printed)
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/eclypso-photography-by-catharine-j-anderson/8459063?showPreview

By: Mikey Leung

Mikey Leung — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:54:39 +0000

Thanks for this blog. I've been browsing around as well and was also a bit dismayed by the resulting print quality reviews, especially as a semi-professional author/photographer.

For me, there's really no point in having a sub-par product printed out and marketed. After following the links from this blog I'm more convinced that Asukabook is a way to go. But they also use Indigo printers — the same as Blurb! So if anybody else out there has reviews of Asuka I'd love to see that here.

By: audreyt1947

audreyt1947 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:21:17 +0000

Smilebooks by CEWE has the best photobook color, paper quality, easy and flexible software and prices (with nearly constant SIZEABLE coupon specials). The only downside is that it's based in Europe and has no rush order capabilities that I've been able to find. Also, there is seemingly no way to contact them with questions. I had a couple during book creation, found I couldn't get an answer, and proceeded to figure it out myself, so I guess there really was no need to have a contact number. I've tried mPix (awful, despite the positive online reviews) and while their rush capabilities were impressive, the rest of my experience was not, ranging from their incredibly non-intuitive and quirky software to the lack of choice in papers with, incredibly, NO gloss/semi-gloss option (like a coffee table book)! Adoramapix fared little better in the software department and I can't tell you whether the book quaility is any better, since I spent hours online fighting the software to eventually come up with a 26-page masterpiece, only to encounter “Web page cannot be displayed” error message every time I hit “Proceed to Checkout” (day after day). Calling their phone number to order didn't work either, as I waited on hold for almost an hour. I used that time to convert my Adoramapix book to the Smilebooks software and ordered my book from them, which I should have done in the first place. I never did find out if Adoramapix would have taken me off hold and allowed me to order, since, having placed my order with Smilebooks, I hung up on them! Holding my Smilebooks order as I type this, and I'm telling you, you can't go wrong with this company.

By: audreyt1947

audreyt1947 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:21:17 +0000

By: cerraeh laykin

cerraeh laykin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:03:45 +0000

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING ALL THIS!
i just got my blurb book in and i'm very disappointed. i have one also from memoryescape which has better hardcover binding and paper, but less options and really lame glossy cover.
ASUKA is supposed to be great, but pricier. i'm going to test them out anyway.
i'm also trying MYCAVAS ( offered through smugmug)

have a look into those.

hope that helps too

By: artford333

artford333 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:23:50 +0000

I've used WHCC to print out a photo book and I was pretty impressed with their quality. They offer several different paper options and I've always been pleased with their customer service. They are very consistent and I don't hesitate to recommend them to other photographers.

(I am not affiliated with WHCC in any way - just a happy customer of theirs).

For what it's worth, they are also having a 25% off sale this week on their press printed books.

For more information on their books, you can check out http://www.whcc.com/products/press-printed-books/.

Cheers,

AJ