Once upon a time, publishing your family history book was a monstrous
task. There was a time when we were regulated to a local print shop, where costs were high and having to stock and sell a book was a major
investment. For many, the idea of printing a family history book was out of the question. Times have changed and technology has revolutionized the printing industry. There are numerous options
available to the family historian today. No longer do authors require a large layout of
cash or are forced into managing and selling a large inventory of books. Now we can print
only what we need or not at all, allowing individual family members the ability
to buy a book right from your on-demand publisher.
I get asked all the
time what company I would suggest for publishing a family history book. I have
my favourites, but I thought I would take a look at what I consider the top
three; Lulu.com, Blurb.com and Shutterfly.com.
In order to provide a good comparison, I created a family
history book and walked through the process with each company to compare their
costs and policies. Remember, this book is a private family history book. Most of
you asking me for my opinion are not looking to sell the books to the general
public, but instead, you are looking for an on-demand publishing company that
will do a professional job, in a reasonable cost effective manner for your private book.
This chart is not for those of you who wish to sell the book via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple
etc. for commercial distribution. If you’re
looking for commercial publishing that would require a completely different chart with different parameters for such a project.
The book we chose to create was a 12 x 12 square photo book with image
wrap cover, 100 pages, standard paper and placing an order for 60 books to
distribute to family and looking at the cost of each family member purchasing
their own directly. I would normally not choose a 12 x 12 square, I prefer
landscape but this was the only size consistent across all three companies. Each
company offers a variety of sizes but for this comparison we will choose a
consistent size. Don't be miss lead by photo book, you are capable to adding as much text as you like. Here’s how the companies compare, and below my chart you’ll see
some notes and thoughts on this comparison.
Base price (20 pages)
12 x 12 landscape
|
44.99
|
50.99
|
32.99
|
Cover
|
Casewrap
|
Imagewrap
|
Standard*
|
Additional Pages
|
.60 each
|
.45 each
|
.83 each
|
Total cost per book
|
$92.99
|
$86.99
|
$99.39
|
Bulk Discounts for 60 books
|
$83.69
|
$69.59
|
$79.55 (U.S. only) **
|
Shipping Cost for 60 books
|
$121.04
|
$99.00
|
Unavailable U.S. Only ***
|
1 Book Shipped standard
|
$10.49
|
$8.99
|
$15.98
|
Shipping Time
(Includes production time)
|
9 to 14 business days
|
7 to 11 business days
|
7 to 11 business days
|
Bulk Savings
|
3% discount starts at 15 books
|
15% discount starts at 20 books
|
20% discount starts with 10 books
|
Privacy and Permissions
|
Private access
|
Private access
|
Private access
|
Software
|
Online
|
Offline
|
Online
|
*Shutterfly does not
provide imagewrap cover design.
**Shutterfly does not provide bulk discounts to orders shipped
outside of the United States and therefore a cost was not available to me.
***This is for standard shipping; some companies provide
faster delivery options for an added cost
Notes and Thoughts
1. Quotes - First, let me start my saying in the case of
Lulu and Shutterfly, I had to create a book and in some cases take the order right
to the checkout stage to get all the costs involved. With Blurb I was able to
get quotes for the book and shipping without actually having to create a book.
2. Cover- I was disappointed to find out that Shutterfly
did not provide Imagewrap covers. Imagewrap covers, allow you to fill the cover
with an image from edge to edge and lay your book title over top.
3. Pricing - The difference in pricing really enters into how
many pages you require and the number of books you will be ordering. Don’t base your
decision on the base price alone. Once you start adding pages, various covers
and premium paper the pricing starts to change. Take the time to figure out the
pricing right down to the shipping before you begin. Give yourself a budget and
work within that budget to avoid adding pages and creating a book way outside
of your price range. Keep in mind there will be shipping and taxes in some instances.
4.
Privacy and Permissions – after investigating
each of these companies, they all provide privacy and permission settings so that
you can restrict who can see your book and who can order it. With living
members in some family history books, some readers are concerned with material being widely accessible online. This doesn’t seem to be a problem. They all
have the ability to restrict access to the book and remove the book from your
account once you are done ordering.
5.
Offline vs. Online Software– With Shutterfly and
Lulu, you create your book online at their respective websites, while Blurb allows you to
download the software and create the book on your own computer without requiring
internet access. I found this to be an advantage, however, with the online
software you can work from any computer, which may be preferable to those who work from multiple computers. Blurb also has software that works
with Adobe InDesign and Lightroom.
6.
Shipping Costs – Shutterfly was the only company
that could not provide a bulk discount to Canada, if you’re within U.S. you are
fine. Both Blurb and Lulu recognized
that I was a Canadian customer and directed me to their Canadian site.
Shutterfly considers Canada to be a International customer and charges shipping
rates accordingly.
Hope this helps you next time you’re ready to print your
family history book.
Do you have a company you would like to see in this comparison. Let me know in comments.