the finished article

My book arrived from Photobox this week and I am very pleased with it!  The idea was to get as small a book as possible and measuring 7cm by 9.5cm it is pretty small.  The print quality looks good, which was a relief after having a disappointing result with a different publisher previously.

I have included here some images of the finished book, the focus is a little off in a couple but holding the book didn't leave me free to focus the camera!

In the end I decided not to make my own book too.  I have the bound printed book by Photobox and the individually mounted pictures in the green presentation box, plus the attempt I made at making my own was (to my mind at least) shockingly bad.  I thought it best to quit while I was ahead!

Book styles and printing options

As the finished product from this assignment has to be presented in book form I have spent some time looking at different companies offering the 'photo book' product.  Having had a bad experience with Blurb I am keen to try someone else, and as I had a very nice book made last year by Cewe (via Jessops) I included them in my research.  I also looked at the likes of Bob Books, Lulu, Pixum, and Photobox.

As the project is all about scale I want to produce a small book, the smaller the better, so that was my first criteria.  Obviously price has to be considered, the number of minimum pages (as I am planning on having no more than 15-20 final images), as well as total production and dispatch times.

For each company I noted each of the aforementioned criteria and the basic list I have compiled reads :

Jessops  smallest book is 14x13cm, soft cover photo booklet.  Minimum of 26 pages, from £6.  Smallest hardcover is 15x19cm, from 26 pages again, from £19.  Free delivery is available to your local store and the advised total time from the start of production to delivery is 5-7 working days.

http://photo.jessops.com/cewe-photobooks-small-photobook.html

Bob books smallest book is 19x15cm, hardback is £21.99 and paperback £14.99, minimum of 26 pages again.  Delivery is £4.50 and takes 7-10 working days.

http://www.bobbooks.co.uk/photobooks/prices/hardback.html

Lulu's smallest book is a whopping 23x18cm, hardback costs £13.81, paperback £7.25 with 20 pages.  There is no easy answer for shipping cost or delivery times etc..

http://www.lulu.com/publish/photo_books/9x7_landscape_photo_book/?motif=photo_books&cid=gb_phb_photo_books_lnd

Pixum offers a 19x15cm option also, with hardback costing £17.99, paperback £15.99, and booklet £9.99.  Once more a minimum of 26 pages, with postage costing £3.99 and production taking approx. 5 working days.

http://www.pixum.co.uk/photobook/easybook_small_landscape

Photobox's smallest book is just 9x7cm, with a soft cover at £5.99.  It does have a minimum of 31 pages though.  They also have a small softcover book at 18x14cm, again minimum of 26 pages and costing £14.99.  Delivery is £1.99 and production to delivery takes approx. 4-7 working days.

http://www.photobox.co.uk/shop/photo-books

Of the options I have looked at I will be choosing Photobox as the finished product looks perfect for the project.  I will keep you posted on how it goes!