As part of my summer blogging break, I was planning to share 1 week of re-posts in June, July, and August… however, I’m switching things up for the month of August.
Instead of sharing a week of reposts, I’m sharing a week of “compilation posts” where I compile all the information I’ve shared on a specific topic into one post for easy reference.
Today, I’m sharing everything I’ve posted about my digital photo books for the past 8 years!
The main focus of my blog is (and always has been) simplifying, organizing, de-stressing, and “un-buysing” the daily in’s and out’s of real life for real families.
That said, the number of questions, comments, and requests I’ve gotten regarding my digital photo books is CRAZY!
Every day (or at least multiple times a week) I get emails with questions, comments, inquiries, inspiration, and testimonials from those of you who want to get started making digital photo books, from those of you in the process of making your own books, and from those of you who have successfully finished your first book (or many books) and just want to share your excitement with someone!
I get it – the books are awesome!
But it still just baffles me how many conversations have been generated over the past 8+ years just because of my very simple digital photo books!
So, in honor of the fact that James’ 2-year photo book just arrived, hot-off-the-press, and the fact that my photo book posts are some of the most-visited posts, I’m compiling all the information I have on my blog, to-date, in one concise post!
First… a Bit of Background Information:
I started making digital photo books in the fall of 2006, right after Dave and I got married. A lady from my first job brought her books in to work and I was immediately amazed at how awesome they were. I asked her a few questions, and started my own book weeks later!
THE PROGRAM I USE:
I use the online program Blurb, and (obviously) I’m SUPER happy with their services. There are most definitely other photo book programs that are as good as Blurb, probably a bunch that are even better. However, I got hooked on Blurb in the beginning because I didn’t need the internet to work on my books (we didn’t have internet at home back then). I could simply download the program to my computer and work off-line until it was time to upload my finished book.
Now, 12 years later, I continue to use Blurb because it’s what I know and what I’m comfortable with. There are a few things I would like to see changed (namely the fact that I can no longer upload photos directly from Flickr — SO annoying) but I’m sticking with Blurb for now.
COST OF THE BOOKS:
The books can be pricy — especially because I always order the Hard Cover Image Wrap books (which are more expensive than softcover, but also more durable).
The prices are based on the size of the book and the quantity of pages. There are also several up-charges if you want special paper, super thick pages, a special spine, etc. but I never get any of those options.
I ALWAYS wait to upload my finished books until I have a 40% off or 45% off coupon code, but even then, the kid’s books are usually around $25-$30 and our family books are closer to $60.
I know there are much cheaper options, but as I mentioned above, I’m really impressed with the quality of our Blurb books and I just generally like using their program to create my books. It’s less than $200 a year for all 5 of our books (1 family, 4 kids) and right now, that’s a yearly expense I’m willing to pay!
THE PROCESS:
I talk more about this in the list of posts below — but in general, I spend roughly 30-45 minutes at the beginning of each new month to update our family book for the previous month. I do this fairly faithfully every month and then print our family book as soon as I get a coupon code after the 1st of the New Year.
I don’t work on the kids’ books all year long because they are super quick to make. I wait until after their birthday and any “late” birthday parties, then I literally create their entire book in one afternoon/evening. It takes me 2-4 hours of working on it (usually broken up by dinner, naps, kids needing things, etc.) and then I’m finished!
I save it for a couple days, then go back and look over everything to make sure I didn’t double-up pictures or mis-spell words (Blurb has a spell check feature!) Then I wait for my coupon code and order the book when I get one.
HOW WE STORE OUR BOOKS:
Yes, we are amassing quite the collection of photo books… and we’ll keep getting 5 more every year!
I have thought about switching to softcover books once the kids are older and “gentler” with their things — the soft cover books would take up much less space, but I do love the look and feel of a nice hard cover book.
We currently have all our photo books stored on a shelf in our game/puzzle closet. This way the kids can easily reach the books as they absolutely LOVE looking through them on a very regular basis!
More Posts About Our Digital Photo Books
- How I Made Nora’s Personalized Alphabet Book (the kids still love looking at this book!)
- A few Questions and Answers about my photo books (this post is from 2013, so I do some things differently now)
- How I Organize my Digital Photos with Flickr
- 3 Steps To Organize Digital Photos (it’s helpful to have your photos organized before starting the album)
- My Monthly Photo Checklist (a simple way I ensure I have enough photos for our books each month)
- How I Use Templates to Simplify my Photos Books
- Tips for those of you wondering where to start
- ALL my posts about photo organization
NOTE: If you don’t want to scan all your photos in on your own, consider hiring this out to another company like Legacy Box.
We’ve used them twice, as a gift for my parents and for Dave’s parents, and were very happy with the services both time.
They do more than just photos too — they will digitize slides, video, photo negatives, and almost any other outdated form of media!
Whew… I think that covers (almost) everything for now!
I’m certain I will continue to have more and more and more to write regarding our digital photo books… but if there’s one piece of information I’d love for you to take away from today’s compilation post, it’s this:
Just get started!
Even if you have 6, 16, or 60 years worth of old photos you want to eventually go through, don’t let that stop you from starting NOW. Seriously, just start with 2018 and move forward.
Make a photo book this year and see how you like it. If you hate it, stop! If you like it, make another book next year… and in the process, work back and do a book for last year too.
Even if you never go all the way back to digitize your older photos into books, or even if you don’t have as many photo books for your older children as you do for your younger children, you’ll still have the books you started now!
Oh, and one more tip… don’t worry about perfection!
My books are very nice, but they are also very simple. I don’t include any text in the kids’ books and only a short paragraph for each month in our family books. I don’t narrate vacations, I don’t write down funny things the kids said, I don’t record very many written memories at all, I don’t scan in all our Christmas cards, I don’t include pictures of ALL their artwork, and I don’t include even close to all the cute photos I have of them — simply because I don’t want to invest extra time into these books right now.
In the future, I might do more — but not now.
I’ve forgotten to add certain pictures, I’ve accidentally duplicated pictures (once on the same page! whoops!) and there are certain things I would do differently now that I’ve made so many books and know how to work the program better… but that’s OK.
My books are DONE for my family to enjoy… and as I always say, “DONE is better than PERFECT”!
If you have any desire to try digital books, don’t worry about perfection… just get started!
Amy says
Hi Andrea, I’m wondering, have you had much of an issue with pictures in your digital photo books getting fingerprints on them, or pages tearing? I have three littles here and am getting ready to order my first digital photo book. My kids LOVE to look at our old-school photo albums and I just got to thinking/wondering if this has been a problem for you Thank you for your time!!
Andrea says
we have not — fortunately!
with ALLLLLLL our many books, we’ve only had 1 partially ripped page so far (knock on wood!) and fingerprints have not been an issue either.
The one thing to keep in mind is that you always have the option of reprinting your books IF something major happened (like a flood or fire). Of course, that would be an additional expense, but there’s always that “safety net” that the photos will never be totally gone forever!
Amy says
Thank you Andrea! I hope we have the same luck here!
And I love the safety net aspect!
Belinda says
Thank you for putting everything in one convenient spot! Do you start your books with their birthday or end the book with their birthday? So the last pictures in the book are the 2 year old pictures or the first pictures in the book are the 2 year old birthday pictures. Thank you!
Andrea says
you’re welcome — and I do both.
I start with their birthday AND end with their birthday — so the birthdays end up in 2 books, but I like starting and ending that way.
However, don’t feel the need to copy me — just do your own thing!
Belinda says
That makes sense! Thanks!! I’m making this my school year project this year. I’m weeding through current photos and working on this year’s album and working backwards from there. Thanks for all your tips!!
Andrea says
yes, a great school year project!! Good luck!
Babs says
Hi, have a 2 yr old GrandOne now so really want to focus on His Books. Wish you would….
Organize the steps in an easy to copy printable-
1.- gather and put all photos into one place( how tod do), etc.
A printable would be SO much easier to follow and would be easier to use for quick reference for those of us at varying stages of experience.
You can DO this! Lol!
Samantha says
What a helpful post! After years of sharing almost all pictures on social media, I am trying to get away from that, but need another way to preserve my pictures besides having them sit on my phone. So many great ideas for photo books!
Andrea says
awesome — glad to help!
I know photo books aren’t for everyone, but they sure are a fantastic way for me to get my pictures off my phone and computer and enjoy them in our home (without lots of extra clutter!)
Susan says
Have never tried this but I will!! Have 3 grans an pictures pictures pictures
Thanks so much for telling how you saved yours!!!!!!
Andrea says
give it a try… they are SO fun to look back on!
Gabriela says
I’ve been wanting to work on my photos for years now – using your tips. Now I am reading a great book about procrastination and also seeing how my hubby started working on projects 10 min a day I feel I have a chance to actually get it done. 10 min a day….I can do that!!! 🙂
Andrea says
Definitely! You can do 10 minutes a day, no problem!
Ann says
I started doing books (because I have followed you for a few years) when we retired. They are done in December and show all our travels and fun. I have used Shutterfly with codes/coupons. You are never to old to start. We sometimes refer to the books when we can’t remember what year we went to a certain place. They are fun for our Grandkids to look at too to see how many times they are in Grandma & Grandpas books.
Andrea says
yay!!! Glad to serve as a little motivation and inspiration for you to do your own books! And yes, we love looking back at our books too. They help us remember so many fun memories!
Meghan says
Our family photos are a huge source of angst for me. I never print them, never do anything with them except text them to family and look at them on my phone occasionally. I’ve made four photo books and enjoy it! I’ve even said it could be my hobby, but I never make the time. You are right – I need to not worry about the last 15 years and just start. I’m thinking about doing one for this summer because we’ve done a ton of fun stuff.
Andrea says
yes, just do an album for this summer — that sound like a great place to start!
Pixie508 says
I’ve used shutterfly for all of ours. I’ve found that by hopping on once a month, and doing my 2pg spread for the month before, I minimize my feeling of chaos and being overwhelmed trying to do it all at once. I like the changes that Shutterfly has made over the last few years, making them more customizable. And, I almost always get some codes for free books towards the end of the year, so that’s awesome 🙂 I also do this for our family calendar – I take pics from the same month (so at the end of the month, I’ll make next August’s calendar page) – it’s fun to look back at what we were doing last August when I look at the calendar that hangs in our kitchen (and I’ve never paid more than shipping, because Shutterfly always gives out free calendar codes, and I usually do one for my parents too, and don’t pay for that either)
I do tend to put a caption or 2 on each month for our kid’s books (less than a sentence, but for events we might want to remember what they are. For instance, from this summer, there’s a pic of us in the trunk of our car and the caption simply says “Drive-in Movies – Cars 3” – it only takes me a second, and it will just make it easier to remember what things are in 10yrs. We don’t label things that are obvious (like kdg graduation, where he’s wearing a cap and gown), or just random photos from typical things we do. So, this takes me less than 2 extra min per month :). As for storing them, they each have them on their bookshelves in their rooms. They love to pull them out and look at them!
Andrea says
That’s exactly what I do — in terms of filling my 4-6 pages of the previous month right at the beginning of the next month. It’s SO MUCH LESS overwhelming for me that way! It only takes me 20 minutes to do a month’s worth of photos and them I’m done again for another month!