I received an email from a fellow church parishioner requesting advice in creating a "picture book" for her only grandson who was graduating from high school, in just two short weeks. I was a bit apprehensive to get involved due to the fact that I hadn't created a book in about three years; the time-line was very short; and she described herself as "I just don't move as fast as I used to (I'm 76) and time is scarce". I thought this email could lead to one of those "feel good" experiences or more than likely be the "book from hell". The good news is I decided to help and she turned out to be a very nice and capable person that was an energetic ball of energy which made this project a lot of fun. My decision turned out to be a rare "I FEEL GREAT" experience, which prompted me to create my own book and share my thoughts.
I've been publishing my photography online for a few years and didn't consider creating a book until I found Mixbook.com through online reviews. My new friend needed a fast and easy way to create a book and during my research it took me only about ten minutes to create a free account, a project, upload some images, start making a book, and get a very good understanding of the workflow. The process was straight forward and understandable. I was able to teach my senior friend so effectively that she was able to make the book for her grandson herself. I only made minor modifications and provided some simple advice when she had questions.
After helping her make the book I decided to use my images and create a custom book of my own, "Through My Eyes". The total time from creation to order was about six hours, with the majority of time spent on finding and uploading images (high resolution), and researching captions for the pages. Here are the functions I liked about the online application:
There were some things that would help the program, but did not have any effect on my book or my positive experience:
Mixbook.com is a very good book making website. I received my book one day earlier than I expected and am very pleased with the quality of the binding, images, and paper. The book arrived via US Mail and was professionally packaged to avoid damage. Also to my surprise, the book was shrink-wrapped for additional protection in the package. If you're interested in seeing the book I'm providing the link below. Mixbook.com does have an Affiliate Program which I'm attaching to the link to see how the program works.
Have you created a photography book, I'd like to hear about it.
Enjoy and remember,
"Moments in time are lived once. Images of those moments live forever."
Ed H.
As a follow-up I sent my senior friend an email asking her if she received the book and if the book met her expectations. Below is her unedited response with the exception that identifications have been removed: "Ed, Sorry you got ahead of me, I've been thinking of you, wanting to thank you big time...just haven't had the time to get a thank you card...I want a special one...THANK YOU Ed for all the help, I could have not done it without your help and guidance... My family loved it, my grandson was so happy he told me several times how much he loved it, I knew he would love it... I don't know if I had mentioned to you that when I sent them a greeting card, I paste photo of them (my family) all over the greeting card, making it something like a collage of photo...my grandson loves getting them, so those my granddaughter. I said to Kevin...."this you'll take with you to college so that you can reminisce from time to time"....and he said "you right Nani, this comes with me" my granddaughter, Lauren, said..."Nani I want one"
The people at Mixbook are AWESOME, I must have drove them crazy with emails regarding the 'delivery' date...etc.
I received the package Friday about 8:00am, I left them a message at the door for UPS to leave the package at my neighbor's apt. Mixbook called me that Friday as I was waiting in line to sit for the graduation at Nova University, I told them that the package had arrived and after the Graduation on my way to the luncheon I was going to get it.
I sent an E-mail to Mixbook complementing them all for their service and patience with me, I told them that I was more then please,
THANK YOU AGAIN, MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS, |