MyPublisher: The Process, The Results

[Jason Dunn]

I used MyPublisher to create a coffee table hardcover book of photos - the first part of this Quick Look examines the act of creating the book, the second part looks at the end result (the book).



The first thing I had to do was download and install the software, called BookMaker. It's a fast 1 MB download, and the software installs easily. For manually intensive tasks such as this (creating a book), I'm in favour of client-side applications rather than doing it all in the browser. After installing the software, I imported my 200+ photos, and much to my delight it didn't mess with the order of the images. The interface of the program is quite good - although the images were in a rough order, I had to do about an hour of fine-tuning. The software tries to lay out the pages in the best way, but because my images were scans and unusual in resolution, I wasn't surprised to see that the software got a little confused. I tried it with some recent digital pictures, and it was nearly perfect.

The software allows you to do turn your images into B&W, or auto-adjust them, with a single click. There are also several different page layouts you can choose from - I found this particularly powerful, as it allowed me to put more emphasis on certain photos. Moving photos around is accomplished by dragging and dropping, and while the program felt a little sluggish at times, it was relatively fast and simple to create the page layouts I wanted.


Figure 1: The cover that could be better.

About two weeks after ordering the book, it arrived in the mail. On a scale of one to ten, I'd say my level of satisfaction is about an eight. The quality of the printing is superb - images look excellent. The binding is top quality, and the page layouts exactly match what I saw on the screen using their software. My own two criticisms are the thin pages - they feel cheap - and the cover. The cover looks cheesy compared to the quality of the rest of the book. You're only given a few choices for font style, and the layout options are practically nil. The cover is basically a piece of paper glued to the front. I would have preferred to have nothing on the cover at all compared to what I was offered, but that didn't seem to be an option. I'd prefer to see a cutaway cover that would show the photo on the first page, or perhaps a monogrammed cover. Pretty much anything other than what they have now. ;-)


Figure 2: The final result - impressive! Click the image above for a full-resolution image.

Those minor complaints aside, I'm pleased with the book and I know my grandmother will love it. It wasn't cheap at over $60 USD, but this is something my grandmother will treasure forever.

[Jason Dunn]

I used MyPublisher to create a coffee table hardcover book of photos - the first part of this Quick Look examines the act of creating the book, the second part looks at the end result (the book).



The first thing I had to do was download and install the software, called BookMaker. It's a fast 1 MB download, and the software installs easily. For manually intensive tasks such as this (creating a book), I'm in favour of client-side applications rather than doing it all in the browser. After installing the software, I imported my 200+ photos, and much to my delight it didn't mess with the order of the images. The interface of the program is quite good - although the images were in a rough order, I had to do about an hour of fine-tuning. The software tries to lay out the pages in the best way, but because my images were scans and unusual in resolution, I wasn't surprised to see that the software got a little confused. I tried it with some recent digital pictures, and it was nearly perfect.

The software allows you to do turn your images into B&W, or auto-adjust them, with a single click. There are also several different page layouts you can choose from - I found this particularly powerful, as it allowed me to put more emphasis on certain photos. Moving photos around is accomplished by dragging and dropping, and while the program felt a little sluggish at times, it was relatively fast and simple to create the page layouts I wanted.


Figure 1: The cover that could be better.

About two weeks after ordering the book, it arrived in the mail. On a scale of one to ten, I'd say my level of satisfaction is about an eight. The quality of the printing is superb - images look excellent. The binding is top quality, and the page layouts exactly match what I saw on the screen using their software. My own two criticisms are the thin pages - they feel cheap - and the cover. The cover looks cheesy compared to the quality of the rest of the book. You're only given a few choices for font style, and the layout options are practically nil. The cover is basically a piece of paper glued to the front. I would have preferred to have nothing on the cover at all compared to what I was offered, but that didn't seem to be an option. I'd prefer to see a cutaway cover that would show the photo on the first page, or perhaps a monogrammed cover. Pretty much anything other than what they have now. ;-)


Figure 2: The final result - impressive! Click the image above for a full-resolution image.

Those minor complaints aside, I'm pleased with the book and I know my grandmother will love it. It wasn't cheap at over $60 USD, but this is something my grandmother will treasure forever.

[Doug Johnson]

I've been looking for something kind of like this....

Could you post a picture or two of the end result? Or possibly a screenshot of the software?

Thanks!

[Schade]

Jason,

Have you tried the PhotoBooks at Shutterfly? They have the cutouts on the front and offer different materials for the cover. They also have smaller PhotoBooks (5.5"x7.5"). These are not Snapbooks, although they still have those too.

I don't know about the quality of the pages, I haven't ordered one yet. I was thinking about doing some of these for Christmas gifts. I have created one of the small books, but haven't purchased it yet. There's no client-side app, but building it in the browser was very easy. A lot of customization available.

For comparison's sake, they're US$30 for the first 20 pages and $1 per additional page. The little books are US$13 for 20 pages and $0.50 per additional page.

Actually, I'm going to order that thing right now, I'll just budget it for next month!

[mrwickham]

The smaller version book from My Publisher uses the cutout feature and is certainly cheaper. I would agree with Jason's cover opinion it was a bit of a let down. However - the overall quality of the hardback book is very high and certainly very impressive to all who view it. I have created several books from My Publisher especially when they have a $10 off sale and would highly recommend them.

Two notes about layouts - depending on which style you choose you have a certain set of page layouts. I wish you could mix the page layouts from all the different styles. The other option is to use PowerPoint, which means you now have unlimited options for page layouts. There is a plugin for PowerPoint. This is the next feature I will try. I have been too scared in the past (dpi numbers, quality of pages, etc.) but having a 2 month old boy and a 4yr old girl I'm sure I will be able to create something in the near future.

[David Horn]

Please could you post a picture of the cover?

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by djdj

Could you post a picture or two of the end result? Or possibly a screenshot of the software?

Pictures added, and there's a hyperlink in the review that shows the interface.

[ctmagnus]

8O At first glance, I thought that cover said Jean Parekh.

But otherwise, 8).

[socrates63]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

On a scale of one to ten, I'd say my level of satisfaction is about an eight...<snip>...Those minor complaints aside, I'm pleased with the book and I know my grandmother will love it. It wasn't cheap at over $60 USD, but this is something my grandmother will treasure forever.

Considering the cost of the book (I paid over $60 as well...probably closer to $80), I'd say my satisfaction level is 1, and I would not describe the cheesy cover as a "minor" complaint. The cover and finish reminded me of my high school year book. That's not a good thing and definitely not coffee table book quality.

A few months ago, I ordered a book from MyPublisher and Shutterfly at the same time. It's not a scientific or a technical comparision, but I posted my feelings on the two services on photo.net a couple of months ago. Suffice it to say that I will not order from MyPublisher again. Here's a copy-paste of my post on photo.net:

I haven't heard of Shared Ink, but I've ordered hardbacks from both MyPublisher and Shutterfly a couple of months ago. The quality of MyPublisher's hardback stinks big time and I was extremely disappointed. To my knowledge, MyPublisher was the first to offer book printing service and I had high hopes. Stay away from this one. They advertise their hardbacks as being comparable to coffee table books, but I beg to differ. The quality of the book itself and the photos reminded me of my high school year books.
1. The title and photo on the cover of the book was glued onto the book itself. This alone gives the book a very cheesy appearance and amateurish feel.

2. I wasn't expecting a lot in phto quality but photos printed on my 4 year old HP 930c inkjet look better. Shutterfly's hardback had much better looking photos.

3. I ordered leather which is an extra cost but it doesn't look very "leathery." The leather is very thin and doesn't feel like leather in any way.

4. When you look at the front or back of the book closed, there are bubbles along the spine. I've seen this in other hardbacks but it doesn't lend to giving the book a very professional high quality look.

On points 1, 3 and 4, Shutterfly's hardback wins convincingly over MyPublisher's book. Shutterfly's book looks very professional, has impeccable appearance (there is a cutout on the cover to reveal a photo which is printed on the book's title page), great binding, and superior photo quality (although the photos still do not look as good as regular prints).

Costwise, Shutterfly and MyPublisher are comparable but in terms of overall quality, Shutterfly is wwwaaayyyy better. The only plus for MyPublisher is that you have layout options which you can choose through a software tool provided by MyPublisher. Shutterfly does not give you layout options, and it's strictly one photo per page. [Note: Shutterfly now offers multiple layout options]