I’ve written two previous entries (Part 1, Part 2) about my experience creating a photo book with Shutterfly and MyPublisher. I chose Shutterfly for various reasons which you can read about in the previous posts and I’ve received the books. My review follows.

I ordered five copies of the book Wednesday. I recieved an email from Shutterfly Thursday night telling me my books were printed and ready to ship. On Monday, all of the books had arrived at their destinations on both coasts (North Carolina and California)! The books arrived in perfect shape. Shutterfly packaged them carefully for shipment. Each one was enclosed in its own resealable plastic bag which was held inside a cardboard insert which was inside the shipping box.

The book itself looks very nice. It is a genuine hardcover book with a real hardcover binding. I ordered the suede cover which is somewhat soft to the touch and very sturdy. The binding is decent and doesn’t feel flimsy. I was prepared for the book to feel cheap; but overall the finish is extremely nice. While the book isn’t substantial (it’s only 32 pages), it is a high-quality product. You never feel as though you should handle the book gingerly for fear of it falling apart. Shutterfly’s books come with a cutout in the front cover that lets you see the image on the first page. I think this is much more impressive than MyPublisher’s method of just slapping a photo onto the cover.

The inside of the cover is black and a black page separates the cover from the first and last pages. The layout of the images and captions on each page looked exactly as they did in the book designer. The captions are crisp and easy to read. The quality of the images is very good but not as good as Shutterfly’s photo prints. The printing process for the books must be different than for their photos. [Update Jan 13, 2005: Bill says they use a halftone process (like a magazine)] The paper is also not quite as heavy as a photo print but is much heavier than standard printer paper. The paper is thick enough that you can’t see images on the opposite side of the page showing through and feels substantial. Color was mostly very accurate although it might have been slightly oversaturated in some cases.

Overall, I’m impressed. It’s a great value for the price and the finished book is of excellent quality. It’s something you can be proud to show to friends and family when they come over for a visit. They also make great gifts — my grandmother sent the most excited email I’ve seen from her in months on the day she received it.