Lately, the million dollar question among my readers has been, “What photo company should I use now that MyPublisher is closed?” You’ve been reaching out via e-mail, Facebook comments and Messenger on this subject ever since the announcement was made in February and I’m still getting these messages now – months after the closure came to pass in May. At the outset, I put together a FAQ/Q&A post about the MyPublisher closure, with a lot of info about the transition, so if you haven’t read that post or want a refresher, be sure to take a look.
Among those writing me are folks who didn’t hear about the closure until after the fact and some unfortunately had lots of books in the works. The one thing I can advise is to go ahead an open up the old MyPublisher software. The software resides on your computer so you can still see your books. Not all is lost – while you cannot upload them to MyPublisher any longer and there is no way to print from those files as is, at a minimum you can view your layouts and recreate them in different software with a different company (or do the layouts again on your own purchased software and then print them anywhere you like). I know it’s not the most expeditious solution, but at least you don’t have to redesign it.
As some of you may have been following, I had promised to follow up by making a photo book with Shutterfly to see how close I could get to the specs of my former MyPublisher books. Apologies if I didn’t specifically answer your inquiry – I’ve been focusing on getting this post up so I could point you all here. So, here we are!
A PRICE COMPARISON BETWEEN SHUTTERFLY AND MY PUBLISHER PHOTO BOOKS
Which Company Has the Better Price?
Every one has their own preferences when making photo books. Below is a screenshot of one of the last orders I placed with MyPublisher. Note that this order was for a quantity of two books, so divide the cost in half for an apples to apples comparison.
MyPublisher is the first photo book company I tried back in 2005. Since then I’ve made countless books with them. I’ve almost always maxed out my photo books at 100 pages since I love to take lots of photos and have a hard time leaving so many out. Normally I would wait for a free extra pages deal or 60% off discount before ordering. Later when new options became available, I would always choose the lay flat upgrade as well as the thicker premium satin pages. The latter was only a few dollar upcharge so that was a no brainer for me. I would also choose the matte cover and standard end sheets which were included in the price. So, each 100 page book cost about $52.00 after discounts, inclusive of shipping and taxes. That’s a great price for a large lay flat photo book.
A number of commenters mourned the loss of the beloved free extra pages deal. Yes, that deal was probably the best deal MyPublisher would offer to readers and one that I often requested from my contacts at MyPublisher for our Photobookgirl.com fans. I had never seen Shutterfly offer the same deal, and I even wrote about that in my February FAQ post, but lo and behold this past July, Shutterfly offered the free extra pages on their site and of course I had to jump on it!
PHOTO BOOK GIRL TIP: Shutterfly has its own unique pricing structure and it’s one of the few companies that allows you to STACK coupon codes. That means whatever codes you can get your hands on, you should try them all and see what happens. Keep trying different combinations until you get the lowest price. In your shopping cart, even if a code is initially kicked out, be sure to click on the ‘Details’ heading as well as the “See Saved Offers” – sometimes codes that are initially rejected are accepted after I go to take a look at the details. Don’t ask me how – it just happens sometimes. I usually get at least two codes to work on every order and lots of folks have said the same. Below is a screenshot from the order for this book:
You can have a total of 110 pages in a Shutterfly photo book, that’s 10 pages more than with MyPublisher. So if you’re getting free extra pages, you should definitely go for the max! Shutterfly breaks down its options differently so some things which were included with MyPublisher are add-ons in Shutterfly. Also note that I added a dust jacket for this order, which I don’t normally do for MyPublisher, but I thought for those of you that like dust jackets, I’ll order one so I can review it here.
The base price for the MyPublisher book for one 100 page book with the specs I detailed was $146.20 before discounts. A similar book at 110 pages with Shutterfly is $219.67. All in, after discounts and adding shipping and tax, the MyPublisher book ended up being $52.66. The Shutterfly book in this case was $49.38. As you can see in the savings detail for Shutterfly, I also had a free 8 x 8 photo book promo valued at $29.99 (btw you’ll find a similar freebie for new customers on my deals page) so I was able to apply that credit to my larger 8 x 11 book and I got the free extra pages. I also got free shipping (normally $8.99 for the first book) so that contributed to the huge discount in the end. So even with 10 extra pages and the dust jacket, the Shutterfly book was cheaper.
Keep in mind though, whether or not the free extra pages deal will come around as often for Shutterfly as it did for MyPublisher remains to be seen. The base price before discounts on the Shutterfly books is considerably higher, but remember to stack those deals when you can. I hope that we see the free extra pages deal come around more often. If I see it you know I will post it on my super duper deals page. More realistically I have seen the offers get to 50% off. If you can stack that with a free photo book credit or Groupon, then you can knock the price down considerably.
By the way, you may also note two freebies were also part of my order. I got the freebie coupons from the store – they printed out along with my grocery receipt. Shutterfly is really good at advertising to its target demographic at various stores where moms shop – grocery, Target, maternity stores etc. I’ve gotten so many free photo book or $20 offers I often forget about them. Normally I wouldn’t want to pay for shipping for freebie items unless I really wanted them or had a specific use in mind, but since I was going to get free shipping anyway because of the book I was ordering, this was the perfect time to tack on these other items at no extra charge. I love saving money!
PRINT QUALITY AND BOOK CONSTRUCTION
Which Book is Better?
Let’s take a look at the two books side by side.
Binding and Overall Book Construction
I can’t recall exactly when, but at some point Shutterfly adopted MyPublisher’s lay flat binding. Shutterfly calls it “Standard lay flat” to differentiate it from their Deluxe lay flat which is seamless (meaning there is no split in between the center of a two page spread) and printed on much heavier stock paper. The standard layflat is also a cheaper upgrade at $25.00 versus $50.00 for the Deluxe seamless upgrade (for the 8 x 11 size). Overall both books feel and look very similar although the binding on the MyPublisher book seems bound a little tighter. When I open the MyPublisher book the binding is so tight, the book cover wants to spring shut, whereas the Shutterfly book lays open. This might not be a great photo to illustrate this, but you may be able to tell that MyPublisher’s cover doesn’t lay all the way flat. It’s kind of suspended mid air. Also there’s more of the binding showing in the Shutterfly one, so that’s probably why it lays flatter. In each of the photos below, the Shutterfly book is on the top and the MyPublisher book is on the bottom.
Does it matter? Perhaps not. As long as the binding holds well and the pages stay bound together neatly, then no. Some may argue that you want the book to lay as flat as possible. I could probably get the MyPublisher book to flatten all the way down, but I’m one of those people who likes their books to stay as pristine as possible so I haven’t wanted to force the binding. Also as you can see in the photos here, the MyPublisher pages when viewed from the side look neater and better aligned whereas the Shutterfly one is not as uniform.
Additionally it looks like the Shutterfly pages are a bit jagged (I’m referring to the diagonal, slightly raised ridges) – perhaps the cutting machine could have used some sharpening?
Another detail – with the Shutterfly book the cover photo does not run all the way to the edge. The binding is black, whereas on the MyPublisher book, the cover photo runs all the way to the edge. Overall for binding and generally the way its put together, I prefer the MyPublisher book, but none of these things are a deal breaker for me.
Paper and Print Quality
The paper differs between the two companies but not greatly. The MyPublisher one is an upgrade, while this paper comes standard with Shutterfly. I honestly had a pretty hard time trying to discern a difference in feel between the two papers – any difference is pretty minimal. I’d say that the Shutterfly paper has slightly more texture and a bit more reflective, while the MyPublisher paper has a smoother satiny finish overall, but it’s very, very close. In comparing the Shutterfly paper in this book with an earlier Shutterfly photo book (standard paper but not with the standard lay flat binding), the paper has definitely changed. The current paper feels stiffer and thicker than what Shutterfly used to use. That’s a plus. So, if you made a Shutterfly photo book in the past and didn’t like the paper, you may want to give them another try.
For me the most important thing in picking a photo book company is how well my photos are reproduced in the book. I’m especially looking for that punch of color – that vibrance that makes my photos stand out on the page. The printed page cannot reproduce the luminosity of our computer screens, but there should still be proper exposure. The color should be true to the original, correctly reproduced and the image should be sharp and clear. Print quality was definitely something that I thought MyPublisher did really well and consistently well too. Not to say that I didn’t have occasion to ask for reprints over the years (which they promptly reprinted), but I could be pretty confident that the images would print out the way I wanted them to. I have to say, I was most concerned that Shutterfly would not be able to match MyPublisher in this category, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Side by side my photos printed out very similarly in both books. I’m very happy with how the colors reproduced, the sharpness of the printing and the proper punch was evident.
Here’s a few more shots of the books. Sorry about the glare. I took this pics with my iPhone 6. Again Shutterfly is at the top and MyPublisher is at the bottom.
They look pretty identical don’t they? That’s a huge plus.
Here’s a shot of the dust jacket. I’m not a big fan of dust jackets and I don’t think there was any way to customize the inside flaps. If you could I might be more inclined to order them. Dust jackets end up just getting put aside in my house as they’re always falling off my kids storybooks. But if you like them this is what they look like.
MAKING THE PHOTO BOOK
For those who follow my site, you’ve probably heard me say that I use my own software to make my photo books. For general info on the pros and cons of buying your own photo book design software check out this post – I will tell you that I find very little cons except for cost and even that I don’t find to be prohibitive if you make more than a few photo books per year. I personally use LumaPix FotoFusion which is a program that works offline – I don’t have to be connected to the Internet to use it. That’s what many of you liked about MyPublisher, a feature which Shutterfly does not have. I also like FotoFusion cause I have the ability to add shadows to make elements or photos stand out more, as well as the option to have photos with rounded corners (rather than square corners). These things are not crucial, but for me, they would be features I would miss because of my particular design style. For more about FotoFusion see my post (updated as of 2017).
For this book, since I was doing a comparison post, it made sense to take some of the layouts I made for my final MyPublisher books and use them again for my Shutterfly “test” book. I went into the FotoFusion program and I entered new page dimensions so the layouts would work in the smaller sized Shutterfly book. With one click, it automatically resized all my layouts from the non-standard 8.75 x 11.25″ page size of MyPublisher to the more standard 8 x 11″ photo book and I didn’t need to make any tweaks after doing so. You see that they turned out virtually the same despite the change in page size. If you also like to use your own software and are looking for specs for the page sizes, Shutterfly has a page on its site with actual dimensions of its photo books so you can plug them into your own design software. Information can be quite hard to find on the Shutterfly site so hopefully this is helpful if you’ve been wondering. Personally I don’t fiddle too much with exact dimensions. I usually just do a test layout and then check the preview to see if I’m losing any of the image. I’m relying heavily on the preview so it’s important that the preview be accurate. So far no problems.
Interestingly, while doing this post, I realized my Shutterfly book measures bigger than the stated 8 x 11″. It’s just about 8.75 x 11.75″ which makes the book larger overall than the MyPublisher book. It’s not unusual for book sizes to be advertised in round measurements, but it’s almost an inch bigger on each side. Shutterfly’s interior pages measure 8.5 x 11″. In contrast MyPublisher’s exterior measurements are as stated: 8.75 x 11.25″ and the interior pages are 8.25 x 10.5″. The whole time I thought that Shutterfly books were smaller but in fact that’s not the case. I have seen photo book companies make changes and tweaks over the years, so I’m not sure if this was a more recent change? I can try to find an old book to compare. Perhaps it’s the binding that accounts for the change. The measurements are not significantly different. For those who liked the MyPublisher’s Deluxe 11.5 x 15″, Shutterfly closest book measures 11 x 14″.
As a side note for some folks who were dismayed that their new books would not look uniform on their bookshelves along side their old MyPublisher books – well because they are both 8.75″ in height – guess what? They look the same size from the front! Good news for those who make Year in Review books or those who like a consistent look.
So, to get back to making the book, because I have my own software which is very full featured, I didn’t really have any strong feelings on either MyPublisher or Shutterfly’s software. I found both to be limiting in their own ways. Shutterfly’s flow is a little odd as any major editing of layouts requires the user to click on “advanced editing” which toggles to a different mode. You then have to exit this mode to go back to constructing your book, so there’s quite a bit of switching back and forth when making your book. I have however heard several compliments for Shutterfly’s Storyboard function where you can quickly drop photos onto certain layouts from a single master page. Keep in mind that I am probably pickier than the occasional photo book maker so Shutterfly’s software might work great for you. It has vastly improved since I started making books with them over a decade ago.
SUMMARY
It’s hard to move on from a product you love and something you’ve become accustomed to, but as a photo book lover, there’s no way I could or would stop preserving my family’s memories. So of course I would have to figure out a replacement going forward. Although I probably made the most photo books with MyPublisher, it isn’t the only company I used on a consistent basis. MyPublisher happened to be my go-to for my vacation photo books however.
I’m glad that I sat down and finally had the time to finish this comparison post (with all of your encouragement of course)! Although I’ve been swamped with a toddler and a soon to be first grader (with a million summer activities), I think in part I was kind of procrastinating cause I didn’t think I would like Shutterfly’s version of my favorite MyPublisher photo book and honestly I didn’t want to face the disappointment. I’m not a stranger to Shutterfly. Shutterfly’s Deluxe seamless lay flat is my go-to for the books I make for my kids because the pages are so thick and durable, but I wasn’t that interested in trying the hinged lay flat until now. It makes sense that Shutterfly would try to win over as many old MyPublisher fans as possible and I can honestly say that I’m going to use them in future for this type of book. I was surprised to see how close the two books were to each other.
I think it’s going to come down to price. If Shutterfly consistently offers the free extra pages deal, or some similar discount – I’m ordering! Find all current Shutterfly deals here.
I know for those of you who don’t want online photo book software, it’s going to be rough. There’s only two companies I can think of that have downloadable software and that’s Blurb and Photobook America. Blurb doesn’t have lay flat photo books though. Photobook America does and I’ve reviewed their seamless lay flat books here. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other offline options out there, but I’m just not familiar or haven’t reviewed them yet. For another option, if you would be willing to buy your own software then that opens up a whole world of possibilities. If keeping your photo book designs is important to you, then I really think having your own software is crucial. Writing this blog for over 7 years now, many companies have come and gone and I’ve gotten too many messages from folks crushed at losing the books into which they’ve put so much thought and care.
I hope this post will help answer some of those questions you may have had. If not please feel free to comment below rather than emailing me as it will be more efficient and I’d like the discussion to be of benefit to others.
As always Happy Photobooking!
The post above contains affiliate links. If you click from my site and make a purchase, I may receive a referral fee. As always I give my honest opinion on these products regardless of affiliation.
Wow, thank you so much for the review!! I am one of the countless mourners of My Publisher and after reading your review I think I’ll give Shutterfly a try. I will work on getting the book ready so that I can order when/if they offer the free extra pages. I am bummed about the dust jacket inside lack of personalization, though. That’s where we wrote messages for our daughter and about the year in question. I have to start thinking of alternatives or start writing to Shutterfly and ask them to include that feature!
Yes, maybe if there’s sufficient demand they will add that as an option! I had a lot of things on my wish list over the years, and eventually most got added. I don’t think it was because of me, but chances are if you want that option there’s plenty of others who want it as well! 🙂
Have you found an album with the sleekness and look of mu publisher. SHutterfly is not as nice 🙁
Wow!! Thank you!! I was one of the ones anxiously awaiting for a review. And expecting to be very disappointed with Shutterfly. I may be willing to try it out now though!
Just to be perfectly clear, the printing was standard and not comparing MyPublisher’s super-gloss pages, correct?
Thanks!!
Yes it’s the standard paper. I’m glad you found the review helpful!
Thanks for the extensive review. I will miss MyPublisher very much. I have a few additional questions that maybe you can answer. Did they offer a supergloss option like MyPublisher? I also design my own pages using Photoshop Elements. Was there an option to upload a two page design so you could design layouts that go across two pages? By the way, thank you for posting the link to their templates. I called and the agent, even after talking to a manager, said they did not have that information at Shutterfly. It was a very disappointing call.
Hi Mike,
There is a glossy option, but I’m not 100% sure it’s exactly the same as the supergloss from MyPublisher. They don’t do supergloss in the lay flat books however. Yes, there is a two page spread layout so you can upload a full spread as a single jpeg. No problem about the templates – I recalled that you asked in one of the FB posts about that so when I came across it, I made sure to include that in my post. Regardless of their specs however, I’d recommend doing one spread first as a test, upload it and then check the preview to be sure. Glad you found my post helpful!
I miss MyPublisher a lot 🙁 I bought my books from Shutterfly and I’m so upset. The paper quality, the printing, the sizing, the cover, nothing is close to my old books from MyPublisher, not to mention the great dust case…. I wonder where could I find the same quality as MyPublisher??
I went to the Shutterfly website and found that they only offer 65 pound paper even in their Premium quality books. Is this correct. I liked the look and feel of MyPublisher paper and don’t want to go backwards in quality. I noticed you said the paper felt the same. Is it in fact the 65 pound paper that feels good or 100 pound paper that is good.
Hi Kent,
Good question. Paper specs can be a bit tricky. It’s hard sometimes to know when you are comparing apples to apples and more often than not, the companies don’t make it very easy to find the info. Over the years several photo book companies have changed their papers and sometimes changed manufacturers so it can be hard to keep up. Texture also probably plays a big role as to how a paper feels and performs.
In this case Shutterfly states it is using 65 lb. cover paper. Key word here is “cover”. Cover paper is heftier than standard text paper. Note, when a company is using text paper a lot of times they don’t say “text” as that is more standard. While if they are using cover paper they will say “cover”. So, a 65 lb. cover paper may be very similar to a 100+ lb. text paper both in objective specs, and in the more subjective “feel” test. Now I don’t have calipers so I can’t give an exact measurement, but the 65 lb. cover felt very similar to the upgraded MyPublisher paper. I can probably add more of this info up in the post as it clarifies things a bit more. Further, this post about paper and printing in general that I found online can clarify more: http://www.cutpasteandprint.com/paper-types-text-vs-cover/ Hope this is useful!
Thanks, I find your blog very helpful. Keep up the good work.
I use Costco to do photo books. I have a 60-page book of my nature photography, and the price is $30. I used their online easy to use software to create the book. Sometimes they offer $5.00 off of the $30 on two books. My only disappointment is that they don’t offer volume discounts for large volume purchases.
I haven’t used Costco before. Maybe my local store needs to get a better sample. the one they show has cracked binding and is not in good shape. Granted I’m sure it’s getting handled A LOT, but it turns me off from trying. It is probably super convenient though to have it at a local store to pick up 🙂
I so miss My Publisher, but unfortunately, we have to move on. I loved the lay flat and super gloss printing. I am looking for a company that does BOTH Especially in the larger format.
I have sent emails to every company I could find, but am still at a loss.
Loved your review, and I hope you might have an idea on who we could go with that has the large format, super gloss printing, excellent paper and lay flat binding.
I think the super gloss is the hard find. I think MP was really the only one doing it in such a high gloss look. If you aren’t super wedded to the super gloss it would be easier to find a replacement company. I’ll be on the lookout though!
Thank you, the gloss look with My Publisher made the photos pop off the page. There are other companies that do high gloss but they don’t look as nice. Hopefully, someone will step up!!!
Thats funny… i have begged shutterfly and a few other companies to bring the high gloss , best quality of my publisher too. there is no place to go…. i miss my publisher , so many books to make… this is crazy nobody is stepping up… any way we can find out the printing company that my publisher used?
here is an idea, since so manypeople are grieving the loss of my publisher… lets get together sign a petition and send it to shutter fly… saying we want our old product back… you know they can do it… if they want us back… they cn sell their cheap version to their loyal customers and create a second option , obviously mor pricy for us my publisher clients… it s worth a try… i am tierd of looking , and not finding a solution… i raher make nothing then work hours and getting a cheap taky book… sorry… i am spoiled on my beautiful my publisher books
Please let me know if you figured out something, I WANT MyPublisher quality books so badly! gennakendall7@gmail.com
Shutterfly does have glossy paper, but I don’t know if it’s as glossy as the super gloss which was a very different type of paper.
Thank you for this review! I appreciate all the in depth details! I have made well over 50 photo books with My Publisher for about 11 years. I don’t just use them for me, but for my clients. I was so sad when they closed because I had always been so pleased with their print quality. After they closed I decided to give Shutterfly a try, so I made two books and ordered each one with different options (paper, lay flat, glossy/matte, etc…). I was terribly disappointed in the final product! The paper and finish were fine, however the coloring on their printing was so off! The skin tones on my kid’s pictures were orange! Thankfully these weren’t books for clients, but I decided then and there that I had to find a better option. I’m still on the look out, so please let us know if something comes on the scene. I’m a professional photographer and know what good printing and colors are supposed to be and theirs were WAY off in both books. If you care to see any of my photography work you can visit my site at http://www.joyful-jane.com.
I was glad to see that you recommended an off line design software as I have just purchased Fundy to try out. It was expensive but if it makes the photo book process easier then I think it will be worth the money. I was able to get it during a sale also, so that helps.
Yes, it’s sad about MyPublisher, but I know I’m still going to make photo books! As you see from this post, I was pleasantly surprised by Shutterfly. I do feel they are a good equivalent to what I was making before – as long as they run similar sales. They did just do another free pages promo (this past Tuesday) with a 40% off on top, so that was a great deal. Sorry to hear you had a bad recent experience. Did you have them reprint? With every company I’ve tried over the years, I’ve definitely had to ask for a reprint from at least each company once or twice and they were great to redo it every single time I asked – and they have no idea who I am or that write a photo book blog. I will continue to do reviews and look for new companies and try new products so yes, please stay tuned. I’ll have to check out Fundy. I haven’t heard of them before. I use Fotofusion.
I tried Foto Fusion and had a hard time finding a template similar to what MyPublisher had. Most are digital scrapbooks or for uploading class lists. Why too many photos per page and too much “cutsie” bells and whitles. Is there a simple template in Foto Fusion you like that is similar to My Publisher? It needs text boxes and a few photo boxes.
Hi Kent, I make my own very simple templates and then copy and reuse them all the time. Just stick to a grid with each box lining up on the left, right and top and bottom margins. If you look at this recent post where I show 5 of my layouts, you’ll see what I mean. https://www.photobookgirl.com/blog/photo-book-obstacle-1-i-have-so-many-photos-i-dont-know-where-to-start-overcoming-the-photo-abyss/ More layouts: https://www.photobookgirl.com/blog/photo-book-girls-top-6-travel-photo-book-design-tips/ Hope that’s helpful! To copy each layout you can just hit the duplicate page icon the bottom left and it will duplicate the layout. Then I just replace the photos on that page with new ones. I frequently go back and duplicate other pages throughout my book and then add them randomly so that it doesn’t get boring. So maybe in a 100 page book I might have 10 basic layouts that I just reuse and tweak.
I’m another one who used MyPublisher for years and who appreciated being able to build a book on your own computer and uploading only the result. I particularly appreciated that they didn’t fiddle with the photos (brightening them, changing contrast, balancing colors, etc.) but printed them the exact way I made them. I’m interested in astrophotography, where the photos are so out of the norm, I wouldn’t want any automatic compensations of colors or exposure based on the usual assumptions for daylight photography.
My question to you deals with the use of a layout package. Let’s say you lay out a 100-page book inside the package. How is this exported from the layout package on your local machine and imported into the online photobook? At the time of MyPublisher’s demise they were working on a scheme to accept PDF’s from users–do other photobook companies accept PDF’s? Or do you have a create a full-page-sized JPG and copy each page laboriously into the company’s online book-creator software? I wouldn’t care to do that 100 times. Presumably each layout package has its own proprietary file format–can any of those be uploaded? Or is there a “universal” file format for layouts that can be uploaded? Said another way, is there any way to upload the layout of an entire book directly and avoid the photobook publisher’s software altogether?
Hi Robert,
Yes, I hear you on your point that it can be tedious to have to drag and drop 100 pages, but that’s what I do when I make my separate pages for uploading to most companies. For me, I don’t mind as I look at the end benefit of keeping my designs. Also, most if not all of the companies have a double page spread, so that ends up being only 50 pages. But there are companies that take PDF files so you don’t have to do that which addresses the last part of your comment – the one I can think off the top of my head is Blurb. I would just be sure to check the preview to make sure the pages are facing the right side. Best!
Thank you very much for this review. I’ve never made a photo book before and I am enjoying your posts to help me get started. One question though, you mentioned you liked using MP for your vacation books, what site do you like for other books like a family yearbook? I am wanting to create an annual photo book of my family. Is shutterfly the way to go or do you have another company you like?
Hi Tamara, I do use Shutterfly a lot for my family books as well. What I like is that you can upgrade to the deluxe layflat (the seamless layflat) with the thick pages that can’t be creased – my kids are still little so having the really durable pages is a big plus for me. In fact, I probably wouldn’t let them touch one of the books otherwise.
Thanks for the review! Have you found anywhere that does lay-flat pages with the size of the MP Deluxe books?
Many of the photo book companies have special sizes because they want to be different or stand out from the other companies, so it’s hard to find exact sizes when comparing company to company. Shutterfly has an 11 x 14 that seems closest to the Deluxe, but it is smaller. Photobook America has a layflat that is 17.5 x 12″ so that would be bigger than MP’s deluxe.
Hi, I was a big fan of my publisher for over 10 years, made about 30 books during this time… I am desperate… I dont know where to go now for the quality … I dont think shutterfly is good… I know they uprgraded a few things, like the lay flat… but i want to find a place the offers the heavier glossy paper, allowes 100 pages… and has some background choices, or allows me to create my own background… i still have the sofeware for my publisher, anyone have a clue who their printing company was???? I am falling behind on the bookmaking…. anyone have any answers, it would be greatly appreciated!!!1
Sorry I don’t know who actually did the end printing for MyPublisher. I would like to know myself!
Hi there! I’m DISMAYED that Shutterfly has limited their text amounts in the text boxes. I have a blog for my kids that I take off and make into books for them at the end of the year, that has the blog posts plus TONS of photos from the year. Now that Shutterfly limits the amount of text in a text box, it totally screws with my plan. Instead of a simple copy and paste into the box from my blog, it is now near impossible to move a page of writing over without it taking a ton of time to break up the page into 8 different text boxes and try to figure out where it randomly cut off the sentence to put into the next box etc. Their advice is to “screen shot it and make it a jpeg” Eyeroll, that’s a terrible option.
Is there another service like Shutterfly that is as good, and will let me do a full page text box? I’m making 12×12 books, but I suppose I could go to a different size if necessary. I’ve made so many books through Shutterfly I’m annoyed they are not giving my numerous complaints about the change any thought.
I’m not sure I’ve encountered the issue that you’ve been having. Have you tried to resize the box? They have a “customize” mode that will allow you to resize the boxes. It’s kind of an odd thing about their software that you have to switch between what I will call design mode where you’re dragging and dropping photos in, to edit mode where you can alter the boxes on the page. That said, there are companies which are more friendly to text. Blurb is one that comes to mind.
Thanks for the review. I’m looking to make three photo books (big landscape, layflat) with Shutterfly, moving from MyPublisher. It looks in your pictures as if the standard Shutterfly layflat doesn’t quite line up when you have a spread over two pages? MyPublisher has a small gap, but Shutterfly looks like you miss a bit of the picture? Can you confirm whether that’s accurate?
I think I’d probably prefer the Standard layflat over Deluxe, but not if some of the picture is missing!
Thanks.
I just looked over the book again because you mentioned it. I don’t see any of the picture missing. Maybe it’s just the way I photographed the book? They look like my MyPublisher books. If you don’t want there to be any gap at all, then Deluxe is the way to go but it is pricier.
Thanks for your comparison. I would try the Shutterfly standard layflat option for our next book if the pages were high gloss, but they are not.
We used Mypublisher for years and always went for the layflat super gloss books. Our books really had that wow factor, the pictures popped right out of the page. We were asked many times if we used a professional photographer and most people could not believe we made these books ourselves.
This year we made a Shutterfly deluxe layflat book and we were disappointed with the matte finish. It looks bland, and does not compare to Mypublisher high gloss finish. We also made a regular (not layflat) glossy pages book, which was ok, but the pages bulged up so much in the middle, you could not see part of some the pictures.
Next we tried making a book with Mixbook. We tried the regular semi-gloss book. The pages are thin and look a little cheap. However, because the paper is so thin, the pages lay quite flat, which is nice. Unfortunately, the colours look faded and the pictures just don’t look sharp. The images in our book do not match the pictures we sent in. We have contacted Mixbook with our concerns, hopefully they can fix the issues.
I think we’ll try Adoramapix next.
We used to be quite excited when we made our books with Mypublisher and usually finished our books within 1 week of coming back from our vacations. Our experiences this year with Shutterfly and Mixbook have sucked the fun right out of making these books. Hopefully Adoramapix will do a better job.
If so many people want hinged layflat high gloss photobooks, why is this option not available? Until this option is available, I think we have come to the point where we probably will stop making photobooks.
Each company puts their own spin on photo books to offer something unique, so yes it can be hard to find another company doing something in the same way. The super gloss of mypublisher unfortunately was not offered anywhere else to my knowledge. Personally I prefer a more matte finish so I have been happy with the closest equivalent at Shutterfly. I’ve also made a lot of books on the seamless lay flat because I like my kids to be able to look at them without fear of my books getting creased or torn. Maybe the glossy paper option at AdoramaPix might be closer? While there are more objective criteria such as photo clarity and color reproduction, there are a fair number of subjective qualities such as paper type so one size does not fit all. Regardless I hope you don’t give up on photobooks! Hang in there! I plan to try other new companies as well and I’ll continue to write reviews as I do.
I’ve heard other people comment that they prefer the matte finish. It made us think that maybe we are too set in our ways. We don’t really care if the book is seamless layflat or hinged with a gutter. The Shutterfly books were nice and the colours were vibrant, so maybe we were being too picky.
So we decided to put our Shutterfly books (layflat with matte finish, and glossy not layflat) side by side with some of our Mypublisher books and let other people tell us what they think. Not a very scientific method, I know, but the results are pretty clear. So far the score is 34 – 0. People don’t even hesitate. Without exception, everybody agrees that the Mypublisher books are far superior to both kinds of Shutterfly book.
Mixbook emailed me something about about their enhancement software and told me they are sending a reprint. We’ll see what happens.
I will definitely try AdoramaPix next.
Well everyone has their own preferences and that’s okay. You like what you like! That’s why I try to give the pros and cons of each company when I do the reviews. You never know what someone else’s preference may be. I’ve had readers say they loved “X” feature and I didn’t like X at all. I do miss MyPublisher, but I know that I’m not going to stop making books. So it’s going to be a bit painful for everyone to find a replacement but I feel that you will find something that works for you. I love photo books too much to stop!
Have you tried Adoramapix yet? I’m in the same dilemma – love the super gloss layflat of My Publisher.
Thanks for the review, most helpful. I loved MyPublisher, and like many, was annoyed when they decided to shut down. I was able to download PDFs of my books, but now I would like to reprint copies directly from the PDF. Is there any way to do this? So far I haven’t found a book publisher who does this. Any suggestions?
Hi Dave, the PDFs were meant more as an archive, but unfortunately they aren’t of sufficient resolution for print. At a minimum you could recreate the layouts – which is a pain to do, but at least you have a visual reference. Hope that helps.
Hello, is there anyway I can download MyPublisher projects now they’re closed? Or even if I could just view it I could remember the layout to replicate? I the software is still on my computer so was wonton I could find it on my computer somewhere.
Thank you
I’m on a Mac and I can still open all my past projects. So just try opening it and see. Don’t know if it’s different on a windows based computer. Hope that works!
I’ve been trying for almost two years to find something comparable to MyPublisher. I need glossy, lay flat, large size (at least 14×11 but MyPublisher’s larger size would be better) with at least 100 pages, but have not found this combination. I now have a backlog of at least 10 books to do. I finally gave up and made a book with Shutterfly. The glossy pages are acceptable but not as good as MyPublisher’s. The size is slightly smaller. I could live with those deficiencies, but really also want lay flat. If the weight of the paper is the same (65 lb) for glossy and non-glossy why can’t Shutterfly do glossy lay flat? In addition, the photo cover seemed washed out and dull and does not go all the way to edges. Editing is a bit annoying, but MyPublisher had its own (different) editing quirks.
I’m thinking of trying Mixbook. How does their semigloss compare with MyPublishers super gloss? Mixbook does seem to at least allow enough pages and a size like Shutterfly, but may be a bit pricey. Has anyone tried Mixbook?
Are you planning to update this blog? I am still trapped in my sorrow over My Publisher and have ceased all album making ever since! Many of the products and companies you reference are no longer as described and I am wondering if you have any recent feedback to provide.
More reviews are in the works. I have a new one of Photobook America here: https://www.photobookgirl.com/blog/photo-book-girl-turns-10-today-celebrate-with-me-enter-my-photobook-america-giveaway-ends-3-8-20/