So, you know how I buy My Publisher daily deals when they come around?
Well, a few months ago one came out, and I did my usual thing….buy the voucher (usually two) and then promptly do absolutely nothing about getting a photo book done until the due date approaches, at which point I frantically make a book and then breathe a sigh of relief when I send it off to get published.
(I always swear that I will make a book a few pages at a time, as I take pictures, and then I’ll have one all ready to go when a daily deal comes out. How many times has that happened? Zero.)
(That’s my pal Sarah, right there, in case you were wondering when I started wearing glasses and curly hair.)
I’ve known that this daily deal has been sitting in my inbox, waiting for me, and after Christmas, I finally felt pressed enough to push this to the top of my to-do list.
I made one book and sent it off (cue sigh of relief) and then started on another one.
I got all the photos in and was working on backgrounds and text when the software crashed (the new version of the software seems to be a bit prone to crashing.)
When it had crashed on my first book, I only lost the last few edits I’d made, so when this last crash happened, I was just annoyed.
But when I rebooted the software this time, my whole entire book was gone. I mean, the book was there, but nothing was saved.
Cue crabby Kristen.
Soooo, I re-did the whole book, obsessively hitting save the whole time, went to submit it, and only at that point did I realize that I had bought one daily deal, not two!
(Presumably to save me from the pressure of producing two books on a deadline. I’m so thoughtful of my future self.)
Then I felt kind of dumb.
But hey, the upside is that I now have a completely finished book, just waiting for a My Publisher deal to come out.
I bought a Picaboo photo book deal around the same time that I bought the My Publisher deal but that one doesn’t expire until February 11th.
Which means I will probably start making that book around February 9th.
(even though right now I could swear up and down that I’ll start working on it right away.)
P.S. There’s a printable coupon available for free Suave body wash when you buy two Suave Professionals (my go-to conditioner). More on that from me right here.
April
Friday 10th of January 2014
I LOVE My Publisher's photo books. I never save money there though. I order super gloss (spill proof) and lay-flat pages. And I've yet to make a book less than 65 pages. Eeeks. The one I'm doing now will hit the limit of 100 pages. I do wait for their free extra pages sales. I usually order 2 or more copies of each book, and last night it asked me if I wanted a third copy for $35. :) With my huge books, that's a good deal!
I can't figure out how I'd ever have a time to use a 20 page book. ;) I'm going to order the deal you linked to though. I will force myself to make a few 20 page books. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. lol
I've heard Blurb and MPix books are also great (high quality printing).
I've used Shutterfly a number of times too. The print quality is not the same, but the books are super cute. I'd use them again too.
Kristen
Friday 10th of January 2014
I just put in pictures until I reach the 20 page limit and then order! I figure I will always have more 20 page books to do. : )
Amanda
Monday 30th of December 2013
After seeing your post today, I decided to check out My Publisher. (I've used Snapfish and Shutterfly in the past.) I popup box immediately came up and asked for my email address in exchange for a code for a free book. I happily gave it to them, and now I have a promo code good for the next month sitting in my inbox. I'm definitely trying them out now. I wanted to put this out there in case any of your other readers wanted to try making a My Publisher book for free. (The popup said returning customers would also get a special offer for entering their email address, but I don't know what that is since I'm new. It could be worth checking out since you already have a book made.)
Amanda
Monday 30th of December 2013
I just reread the coupon I got, and it's buy one get one free. I have a few albums I want two copies of, so I still think I'll give it a try. :)
Lili@creativesavv
Monday 30th of December 2013
These will be such lovely keepsakes to pass down to your children. The big advantage that I see, to photo books, over traditional scrapbooks, is all the photos remain in place (none go missing over the years).
Are there any photo books that you've thought to make multiple copies of, so each child could have one of their own, someday?
Kristen
Monday 30th of December 2013
I'd love to have done that with their baby books, but those are all done the traditional way, so I can't really copy them easily!
Wendy
Monday 30th of December 2013
My husband's a self published author, and he uses Createspace for his printinghouse. So when we went to make our photobook this year (the first time I've done one), they were a natural choice for us. You didn't mention how much you paid for your books, but ours were only $3.65 each plus shipping. No coupons needed. Of course, they were paperback, not hardback like yours, but they're still beautiful.
I did a post on them here: http://craftsbywendy.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/family-yearbook/
Kristen
Monday 30th of December 2013
Whoa, $3.65 is a great price! The daily deals are usually $10 and then you have to pay shipping on top of that.
Lori
Monday 30th of December 2013
These are so pretty! I think we've settled on doing photo books as presents for our parents next year, because we never get actual physical copies of pictures of the kids and neither set of grandparents is that great at dealing with digital images. Now we just have to remember to actually take pictures during the year so we'll have something to do into the books...
Kristen
Monday 30th of December 2013
My problem definitely doesn't lie in the realm of not having photos! =P
I'll try to do a comparison post once I try Picaboo (and I also see Aldi offers photo books, so of course I have to try that out too!)