Getting the best photo book for your money

Making a photo album can be so much fun! As you can see how I took a long break from HubPages. I like to share my experience with all of you. Maybe this will help you to narrow down to a few companies to work with. I have ordered a few photo books from different companies. To my surprise, I find that the quality of the books and the customer service is so different from one to another.

Here is the breakdown of my satisfactions:

Shutterfly- I at first loved it because they have some promotion going for 30% and free shipping. I think. I ordered two books at first. One was for my friend. The other was for one of my sisters. I had them shipped the big book to my friend. The other one was sent to me for my sister. The one that I received was not great as far as the quality. However, the one that my friend received was nice. I later found out that there was a picture that was not placed right. They gave me another one with me paying the shipping. I thought that was really nice of them. With the other book that I got, I thought it was just my own pictures which were not clear enough. I contacted the Customer Service a few times for various reason and they quickly responded. However, I find that their reply is so unfriendly and pre-texted. I don’t care for that. Half of my questions were not answered. Shutterfly has a lot of good things going with their company.

Pros: For example, you upload your pictures to the website. Everything is web based included the making of the photo album. It seems to be the easiest program that I use so far! They also offer free websites. There is a lot of fun stuff you can do and you can mark your calendar with reminders for different occasions.

Cons: No chat line. When they have a promotion, it is usually a couple weeks or less time. It would be a rush to make an album but you can always use the auto-fill. I like to customize it myself.

Then I discovered:

MyPublisher-I ordered a couple photos books for my friends and a couple for my sister. They had a buy one, get a second copy for free. How can I pass that? They turned out so nice that I just fell in love with the company! I continued to order a few more books. Once I received the photo book which I made for my youngest daughter and there was a couple big splash spot on one of the pages. I chatted online with the Customer Service Representative .They immediately give me a coupon for a free book with free shipping of your choice. If you want the 2 days express service, they will ship it to you for free! They constantly have promotions. On top of that, they have gift certificate sale at 40% or 50% off sometimes. In fact, they have the 40% the gift certificate till June 20, tomorrow. You might want to stock up on that.

I saw a promotion of $20 per Classic book for 8X11 with unlimited pages at one point. How can you beat that? Although I have to say, I was sad to miss the sale! I got the $25 a book instead a bit later. When you purchase the certificate at a discount price, you can use it for the promotion as well! This is such an awesome company! They answer my email quickly on Facebook too.

Pros: Exceptional customer service, 24/7 email and chat line. They give you a lot of time to make your photo albums when they have a promotion. It is usually a few weeks. I like that because I don’t want to rush and make a mistake.

Cons: You have to download the program to make the album offline. I have to say I was a little frustrated at first to learn the system. Once you get the hang of it, it is a piece of cake. Remember, they have the chat line to help 24/7.

There is Inkubook which had a free 5X7 soft cover book at the time. I paid $4.97 for shipping. I can tell that the program they use is a bit different. I like the little brag book, however, I need to play with the program a little more before I will order a book again. I did not like the paper quality that well. Maybe it is just a little brag book and it is different from the big ones.

Pros: I have to say that I like the free book. At least I can try it out before I buy it. I also like the fact that you can add some decal on the page such as a Daisy or a Butterfly. That was really cute! You have a lot of ways to navigate and control the templates.

Con: I think their program is harder to use for a beginner like me.

After reading my hub, I hope you have some idea of where to start a photo album and have fun! Don't take my words for it, explore and experience it yourself.

Disclaimers: This is solely based on my own experience; I am not affiliated with any of these companies or have accepted anything from them for writing this hub.