So you’re thinking about making a Print-On-Demand book but you don’t know which company to use, or whether it’s going to be worth the money. Well ASMP has done the groundwork for you. Their great idea was to try eighteen different companies and invite people to review and rate the results. About 100 people showed up to studio 385 and here’s how it averaged out (on a scale from 1 to 10. The results are listed from the least expensive to the most):


Printer Overall Rating
MagCloud 6
Create Space 4.8
Comix Press 4.7
LuLu 5.7
Apple 7.4
Adorama 7.5
My Publisher 6.7
Blurb 6.7
Pikto 6.3
Shared Ink 7
White House 7
Mpix 7.1
Bay Photo 7.4
A & I 8.2
Embassy 6.3
Fastback 6.9
Paper Chase 7.3
Asuka 7.9

People were asked to rate these categories on a scale of 1 to 10: color, detail, binding and cover, spread (gutter), paper, bang for the buck, overall. There was a handout with other information, including notes on each interface, turn-around information, brand mark and cost. All books were the same amount of pages and used the same photos. If anyone is interested in more of this information, email me and ask and I will get it to you.

Every photographer I talk to wants someone to publish a book of his or her work. But book publishing is falling apart like every other part of the publishing world, and POD can give you the power to make something happen for yourself. That’s a very good thing. But it’s up to you to take control and make the book what you want to have.

More and more photographers are using print-on-demand for their portfolios, to promote projects and create leave behinds for photo editors and art buyers. From people I’ve talked to, and from my own experience, the response is pretty much positive across the board. POD gives photographers options that didn’t exist before.

Now I know many photographers bitch about printing quality and consistency, and if you’ve got a story to tell, tell it here. But there’s more to print-on-demand than that--editing and sequencing are as much if not more important.

If the images in your book aren’t the best representation of your work, and the flow of the book doesn’t work then I don’t care how perfect the color match is. In all the debate about POD, quality and color match are all I hear photographers talk about. Having been a photo editor for many years, it seems that editing and sequencing are the least valued factors in creating a print-on-demand book.

You have to put the book together thinking about the people that are going to see it. Don’t get so wrapped up in your own work that you can’t see it clearly. From my point of view print-on-demand gives you the flexibility to put your work together for all kinds of different audiences. But if you aren’t thinking from their point of view your book won’t create the kind of success you’re looking for.

This is my inaugural blog for ASMP and I want to know what you want to hear about. Send me your comments, your ideas, your suggestions, and if necessary, your criticisms, and I'll let you know what I think.

Here are the links:
http://magcloud.com/
https://www.createspace.com/
http://www.comixpress.com/
http://www.lulu.com/
http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/print-products.html
http://www.adoramapix.com/PhotoBooks.aspx
http://www.mypublisher.com/
http://www.blurb.com/
http://www.pikto.ca/books/
http://www.sharedink.com/
http://www.whcc.com/
http://www.mpix.com/
http://www.bayphoto.com/catalog/pp_books.htm
http://www.aandibooks.com/
http://www.embassyprobooks.com/
http://fastbackbooks.com/
http://www.paperchase.net/
http://asukabook.com/

People were asked to rate these categories on a scale of 1 to 10:
color, detail, binding and cover, spread (gutter), paper, bang for the buck, overall. There was a handout with other information, including notes on each interface, turn-around information, and cost. All books were the same amount of pages and used the same photos.



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Labels: a and i adorama apple ashuka asmp bay photo blurb comix press create space embassy fastback lulu mag cloud mpix my publisher paper chase pikto print on demand shared ink white house
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  1. my favorite is still magcloud bang for buck end of things, only thing i wish it had was a hardcover option for better longterm life and storage but i guess that defeats its purpose. After looking at most of the books we had i noticed that it is very important to have an image on the front and ideally printing on the spine to make it more identifiable once its on a bookshelf. We got some great feedback at the event but please post more here so we can all learn from this!

    ReplyDelete

  2. Great event Steve, and the blog looks terrific.

    Stella, I can't find A&I listed anywhere. Could you post links for these companies?

    Thanks. and congrats!

    ReplyDelete

  3. Stella's article is really a bit rubbish... it misses the point and is a cheap sell at her consulting services..

    here's why... yes we need to make our presented work flow and to have unity etc.... but what has that got to do with POD...? nothing, it's a completely seperate issue about editing your work.

    Yes we bitch about print quality and paper and colour matching because it's the same no matter what medium we choose to show our work, an old monster 11x14 or a POD, it all needs to be 'just so' or why are we bothering...? again a totally irrelevant point to make when the article is about POD and NOT photo editing...

    I asked two very very prminent photo editors their views generally about portfolio's and in particular POD's. They both said that some POD's the paper is too thin and POD's are a great way to show your range by giving art buyers and editors a small book on a personal project. However the mantra is still the same, whatever way you present your work do it very well.

    If you have worked with a POD company like I have, chances are you will have seen them make temendous avances in colour management in the last two years, several POD's do allow you to use a better paper.

    Stella could have mentioned these relevant facts instead of turning it into a personal plug to get her to edit your work..

    Great event as people have said... pity about this silly blog part..

    ReplyDelete

  4. Great blog, and impressive results for Adorama; the only book publisher to beat us for quality (by just 0.4) was also by far the most expensive.
    I think that your survey showed that for competitive pricing combined with high quality, AdoramaPix is hard to beat!
    BTW, we are always open to customer suggestions as to how we can improve the service we offer - at AdoramaPix, and Adorama Camera - so do get in touch with me if you have an idea; we'd love to hear from you.

    Sincerely

    Helen Oster
    Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

    helen.oster@adoramacamera.com
    www.adorama.com

    ReplyDelete

  5. For those of us who were not present, can you reveal the question(s) asked of the participants who scored the products? Was there a single question (such as Rate this POD book on the 1-10 scale, where 1 is 'ugly' and 10 is 'amazingly beautiful')? Or were there several dimensions to the rating? And did you print the same book at all the printers - comparing "apples to apples"? Or did you choose a variety of different books printed by the various companies? (If we wanted to replicate the event in another locale, we'd hope a similar group of professional and advanced photographers would rank similarly, but only if they had the same or similar books to view and the same ranking criteria.)

    I understand and appreciate the comment about editing. For those of us who come to this exercise as intermediate amateur photographers creating "leave behind"s for special occasions or family events, it's an apt reminder.

    Still, it would still help to interpret the ratings if we know how the ratings were determined.

    ReplyDelete

  6. This event has just been confirmed as one of the events at Photo Plus at the Javits center in oct- if you missed us in june please join us then. Please be advised this is not a free event and unfortunately we don't have the ability to discount asmp members. We are looking into getting vender coupons if you come to the event- stay tuned! If you have any requests please post them here!

    ReplyDelete

  7. I've been printing a book of mine through Blurb -- which didn't get a particularly high rating in this test, I see -- and I have to say I am EXTREMELY pleased with the results. I didn't even choose the highest quality paper, and the results are still absolutely stellar. I checked out A&I and Adorama, your two top winners: A*I doesn't even have an 8 x 10 size, and their 8.5 x 11 only comes in hardback, so it's VERY pricey. Adorama doesn't say, at least immediately, whether they're offering a softback or a hardback 8 x 10, but whatever they're offering is $8 a copy more than blurb. So I'm not sure what people were judging on, or if they were fully taking price into consideration.

    Having been through a few rounds of this, I have to say your remarks about the importance of editing are spot on: though some of the challenges I've encountered have to do with the software Blurb provides (it's extremely hard to tell where the final paper cuts will fall) it has definitely been my editing, not their production, that has proven to be the biggest problem -- and I have some 20 years of editing experience in my background. You just have to be very very attentive to the work, and that's not always easy when you're working under deadline.

    ReplyDelete

  8. AdoramaPix 8 x 10 books are indeed hardcover, and are printed on Fujifilm Crystal Archive Album photo paper, so they are not press printed, and as you are aware, this makes them very, very different from all the press books.

    We took this decision as we discovered that with press books, there were frequently issues with color variations, which we wanted to avoid.
    AdoramaPix books are basically digital c-prints bound in a book, with 100% lay-flat bindings.

    These factors could very well be the reason why our books are not as cheap as other books of a similar kind.
    However, we do feel that we are giving our customers an exceptionally high-quality book for the additional $8.

    We do appreciate that this is a relatively new medium, and we are learning more effective methods all the time; however, the only other book in the test that scored higher than AdoramaPix overall was nearly triple the price and took 2 weeks to produce.

    We are careful to ensure that we have no issues of color shift with books printed at different times on different machines. We also have ICC profiles available for download on our website (at no extra charge!) for the maximum control over your images and finished book.

    There are undoubtedly improvements that we could make and we are always keen to learn from our customers where there are issues or problems that we need to resolve.

    Please don't hesitate to contact me directly, if we can provide any additional help, advice or support.

    Sincerely

    Helen Oster
    Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

    helen.oster@adoramacamera.com
    www.adorama.com

    ReplyDelete

  9. I agree with Helen from Adorama that their books are very very different. I know some of my colleagues at the event did not like that but I was very impressed with the image quality plus the fact that virtually no other company produced a neutral black and white image anywhere close to Adorama's (which I thought was spot-on).

    ReplyDelete

  10. I agree with Stephen, MagCloud is the best I have tried. But I think it is mainly because it is not a hardcover book. A magcloud is a great promo, but a blurb book is kind of a cheap book. All in all, the information here is very helpful. Thanks Stella!

    ReplyDelete

  11. Stella, is there a way to break the results out further? The overall rating is interesting but I would love to know the results of the specifics like "Color Accuracy," "Detail," "Paper Quality," "Binding" etc since it can be difficult to know WHY Apple and Adorama are only 0/1 pt apart even though the products are so different.

    ReplyDelete

  12. We at Great Circle Books are very pleased that the outcome of this test shows A&I in Los Angeles at the top of the heap -- but not surprised. As publishers of fine art photography books for the past few years, we have used A&I exclusively as our print services provider.

    What sets them apart is the fact that A&I has a long history as a high-end photographic lab (as opposed to simply a printshop), with a reputation for meeting the most demanding requirements for such artists as the late Herb Ritts and Helmut Newton, among many others.

    Because A&I applies the same high standards in photographic imaging to digital book printing, using HP Indigo technology, the artists we have published have all been very happy with the results.

    But once you have your book, then what? For more information on how we help photographers move beyond the printing stage of the book publishing process, to market and publicize their work, please see visit us at:
    www.greatcirclebooks.net

    ReplyDelete

  13. I've been using A&I for all of my promotional material, film & digital services, AND book publishing. Hands down, best quality, and best customer service. I love that if I have a question, I get a real live person to answer me, not some generic email response. This may have something to do with A&I also being a custom lab. A&I is used to delivering a quality product, and customer service, as demanded by me, and other industry professionals that they cater to. A&I does offer soft cover for 8.5x11, check their site, or just call them. A&I is also consistent with their high quality. You can take a chance elsewhere hoping to be "EXTREMELY pleased," but chances are they can't match it a second time around, I'm not taking a chance on my reputation to save $2. Some of these companies actually outsource jobs, losing all control of their product. Questions not covered in the test are: Who does their books in house? Who outsources? Who can you call, and speak to a person with answers? Who only has email, with generic answers? I want a leg up on my competition when printing promotional material, I want to make an impression for the right reasons, I only want the best, and the best is A&I. Thank you ASMP.

    Astor Morgan
    www.AstorMorgan.com

    ReplyDelete

  14. I've been using A&I for all of my promotional material, film & digital services, AND book publishing. Hands down, best quality, and best customer service. I love that if I have a question, I get a real live person to answer me, not some generic email response. This may have something to do with A&I also being a custom lab. A&I is used to delivering a quality product, and customer service, as demanded by me, and other industry professionals that they cater to. A&I does offer soft cover for 8.5x11, check their site, or just call them. A&I is also consistent with their high quality. You can take a chance elsewhere hoping to be "EXTREMELY pleased," but chances are they can't match it a second time around, I'm not taking a chance on my reputation to save $2. Some of these companies actually outsource jobs, losing all control of their product. Questions not covered in the test are: Who does their books in house? Who outsources? Who can you call, and speak to a person with answers? Who only has email, with generic answers? I want a leg up on my competition when printing promotional material, I want to make an impression for the right reasons, I only want the best, and the best is A&I. Thank you ASMP.

    www.AstorMorgan.com

    ReplyDelete

  15. "Stella, is there a way to break the results out further? The overall rating is interesting but I would love to know the results of the specifics"

    YES!

    I'm helping a friend make her art portfolio, and seeing as she may weigh things more subjectively, I'm interested to know how each is rated.

    ReplyDelete

  16. Really great information thanks for share it.
    I like this idea and really helpful for me.

    Stickers printing

    ReplyDelete

  18. Nice to be visiting your blog again, it has been months for me. Well this article that i've been waited for so long. I need this article to complete my assignment in the college, and it has same topic with your article. Thanks, great share.



    Resume Writing Service

    ReplyDelete

  19. Thank you for the review and thank you to all the additional commenters. You have all been very helpful.

    How about a more current review since POD has made huge leaps in quality and price in the last few years? How about a company that does wholesale pricing?

    It seems that the editorial and the marketing departments have been cut out of the publishing equation but the prices have not dropped. The author is left with no support and four times the work.

    These companies should at least be paying the authors a marketing fee (or dropping their prices) because the author is doing all the work AND generating revenue for the printing company.

    ReplyDelete

  20. I am happy to find this post very useful for me, as it contains lot of information. I always prefer to read the quality content and this thing I found in you post. Thanks for sharing
    I liked the posts and cool layout you have here! I would like to thank you for sharing your experience and the time it took to post!! Two Thumbs up!

    ReplyDelete

  22. Brilliant ideas I got from this blog.Very informative and useful tips especially to those in the area of photography.
    Thanks for sharing wish to read more tips from you. Keep up the good work.

    A webmaster of press printed photo books

    ReplyDelete
(A wonderful perspective and advice for our community.)

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

It’s Just Business

Several recent threads on ASMP’s on-line forums have dealt with photographers’ frustration with client negotiations.
We would like to ask you help us support a former ASMPNY President in this election. As many of you know, Thomas Werner was central to the rebuilding the of New York Chapter, helping to create the strong and vital chapter that you know today.
As a reviewer for the 3rd year in a row I remembered how fast-paced the reviews can be. How stressful it is for the person getting reviewed. It reminds me of what speed-dating must be like.
Tuesday, Feb 7th is the annual Fine Art Portfolio Reviews, are you ready to show your stuff?

6:45-9pm

***Only prints will be reviewed (no iPads or laptops) unless the work is meant to be exhibited in a museum or gallery hooked up to a computer.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012

7-9pm

How do you stand out in a crowded market? Not by spending the most and yelling the loudest — that’s a sucker’s game (and boy, do those suckers get annoying, fast.) The secret to gaining attention in a noisy world lies in making yourself irresistible at all turns:
Focus on Sales: Sandler Sales Training Level One

Tuesdays, this fall! Sandler Sales Training is back ! Why should you take this course?

Do you want to learn how to uncover a prospect's budget? Did you ever hear, "I'm interested, but call me back after the holidays"? Then you never heard back from
Must give a major shout out to Stella Kramer who edited and published this blog for the past few years- keeping it chocked full of information and writings based on the contemporary photography world, commercially and in fine art. It must be noted that she posted everything before August 2011.
Most of us miss the smell of a darkroom and the potent chemicals that seep through our hands and clothes back in the day when the darkroom was king.
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I've been in the art and photography industry for 15 years as a photographer, curator and art consultant. I've been fortunate to work with ASMPNY as a portfolio reviewer as well as a panelist for photography events here in the city. Earlier this year my exhibition, "Hotter Than July" was reviewed by senior art critic of New York Magazine, Jerry Saltz. In the past I founded veaux.org, a site for emerging creatives with a gallery space in Chelsea as well as curator/consultant of exhibitions for the Hipstamatic iphone app. Currently I'm working on a project documenting the New York art world while curating exhibitions around the city.
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