Hey there OSP!

I'm just wondering who your top albums company picks are...if you mark "other," please post your fav here for us.

Thanks a bunch!

A

I am not sure why you put Zookbooks under the more affordable option, since they are comparable to all the ones you have on the top. Were you meaning the Zookbinders Photobook? It is a more affordable option, but the Zookbook certainly isn't.

We offer the Zookbinders matted albums and the Zookbooks. I love them both. We sell about 1/2 and 1/2 of each.

Curious...how is VisionArt considered both High and Affordable?

It wouldn't let me vote (probably because I only offer one type of album and didn't want to answer the last question), so my answer is Vision Art. It doesn't matter to me whether other people see them as high end or not -- it's a high quality product that I'm 100% happy and comfortable offering my clients.

+1

I use Zookbinders Zookbooks for my flush mount album option. I'm not sure what you mean by "high-end" or "affordable" though. I offer a digital flush mount and a coffee table book. If you're equating the flushmount to mean high end than Zookbinders it is, and then my "affordable" option would be an Asukabook coffee table book.

My 'bargain' book used to be Asukabook. But I never sell those. Now I basically use it as a way to get folks to invest in a better quality book for very little price difference.

My mid-level book is through Laguna Albums (these guys are fantastic!). Sell these all the time. I'd use Kiss, but I prefer the options available through Laguna.

I have three High-end books. Those are La Vie, Jorgensen Art Album (matted) and one that will remain a secret for now. The Jorgensen is the leader in my higher end pack. I have yet to have anyone order a La Vie. The secret one is a new offering for 2008... I have a few clients interested in that one.

I tried Zookbinders... hated those books, they felt cheap and the ordering process... don't get me started.
I also tried LC - love the books, hated the ordering process.

We went with a simple setup for our albums. Any 10x10 is the same price - asuka, Tuscany, or Legend. We price them all out as our highest album cost (Tuscany, about $400) and let it go from there.

As far as "bargain" albums, we do offer a low priced album for things such as proof books and guest books - just Millers / MPix albums. It's extremely obvious that they aren't in the same league as our "albums", so rarely do people go with just those.

I'd offer more asukas, but the ordering process is crazy and they take so freaking long! I'm so spoiled by Candid2000 - a week is a long turnaround for me anymore! LOL

Shan

i only offer once option 10x10 leather craftsmen 3500 series. easy for me, clients love them

Sorry about that! obviously, I don't use either so I didn mix them up. I'm sorry. I wish I could ahve remembered/posted all of the options. I really am curious to see/hear what everyone uses!Some people use them as their primary high-end albums. Others (like us) use the smaller versions for guest sign-in books and parent albums. However, some of our higher-end clients actually prefer them to the Graphi option. So, I figured that they're both.+1I've never heard of Jorgenson--gonna check it out! Can't wait to hear about the secret option... How do you like the Tuscany?Another one that I missed. Sorry about that!

did you get a chance to check out ASABooks yet?

Don't forget picto books, white wedding album, jorgensen, kingston (albums unlimited) . . .

I only use Zookbooks, nothing else. Makes it easier on me, and they have enough options to make people happy.

Don't forget KISS!!!! They make great books with INCREDIBLE leather and the whole process is EASY!!!

I offer several albums:
La-Vie (only the ones with the flip out pages)
Leather Craftsmen (matted only - 700 and 800 series)
ZookBinders (Zook Book)
Picto (the signature style I believe it's called)
and I offer Asuka (hardcover only) and Zook Photo Books as guest books, brag books and portrait session books only - I don't offer them as an option for a bridal album as I don't believe they are of that caliber and I've never had anyone ask for one. I am also offering a WHCC book as a cheaper alternative for a guest book for one of my brides this year... I haven't seen one in person yet though.

I contemplated for a long time about the number of offerings but, after getting feedback from clients, decided the more options the better. They each have something different about them that appeals to me and they all have different price points. I find that even with all the options, my clients have never had an issue deciding which style/company they want.... All but two of my clients last year wanted the ZookBook - one wanted Picto... I have a few clients from 2006 and one from 2007 who haven't ordered yet, but are going with one of my old offerings - a cheapo Renaissance Library Edition matted album. I have 2 couples this year who are interested in the LC and most drool over La-Vie but don't want to spend the money for one. My others for this year are looking at Picto.

Hey, I "forgot" a lot, but I didn't miss KISS--see the higher end options! Sorry about "missing" so many albums guys...I guess I was just interested to know who uses albums that we seem to talk about frequently here on OSP and at our PUG, etc.. I know that there are a plethora of options, but I just picked a few that I could think of off the top of my head for the survey. If anyone wants to make an exhaustive survey, please do it! Seriously--I would love to see all the options (and who's picking them) in one place! This is great info Autumn. Thanks for sharing!

In my humble opinion, you need to make a much longer list for better/more accurate results.

And then have the list be the same top and bottom.... ;-)

We only use the 3500 series from Leather Craftsmen. I think they are some of the best in the business ... the quality is amazing and our clients love them.

::sigh:: I was hoping I could avoid doing lots of research. Apparently not.

I will work on a new survey to post next week...in the meantime, I need all of you who checked "other" to tell me who your "others" are. Thanks!

I like the Tuscany. It's fast, the cut between the pages is really small, and they have lots of options.

I've used Renaissance, Graphi, Millers, Kingston, Candid2000's Tuscany, Asuka, and several others. The Tuscany is on par with any of them, and they have thicker pages than the Graphi books, and the cover is really nice. (I was dissapointed with Graphi & Miller's covers, especially the spines - they looked like the spine was added as an afterthought). The rounded corners on the Millers were way too big, the Tuscany is nice and tight.

Are you going to be at WPPI? You can put your hands on them there - really helps!

Shan

I think I scared Airika away from Tuscany already when we showed them a few samples.

Our first one was ok, but here's the 2nd album:

as you can see page was off printed, and the rest is pretty self explanatory.






They replaced it, but it wasn't much better and they didn't enclose a packing slip for the 1st like they said they would. As you can see the gilding is just gross and is sticky.







not exactly lay flat either.

Anyone use Kambara? I LOVE their covers- the acrylic glass...

I've been using mostly Graphi but I think I'm going to phase them out and primarily offer Albums Unlimited's Kingston album. It's quality is far better and it's more elegant.

I think I'm going to start offering LaVie as well for my top package or as an ala carte option.

Man, that looked like my renissance books. It seemed like every one of those came back warped, and those that weren't, warped in a year. My Graphi book looks like a wave pool.

The Kingston has a similar spine, it won't lay flat like a graphi with a soft spine will either.

Was that from Candid? We had one that was bad, but they replaced it quick. I'm not sure if they sent me a call tag either, but if they're not fussed, neither am I.

I'll get some pics of my Graphi sample book we got. Less than a year old, and it makes that one look perfect. (We always kept it in the suitcase too).

Shan

I offer 4 sizes of Leather Craftsmen 3500 Series albums only. Nothing else comes close in quality (IMHO). I'm not a fan of having "lower cost" options. If they'd like a smaller album with fewer pages, that's fine, but I'd rather not provide a lower quality option for the sake of cost.

We use Asuka for budget, kiss for mid range & queensberry for high end.

Very very happy with all!

it's a shame that Laguna wasn't put at the top of that list. you should check out lagunaalbums.com. Jared, the owner, is a super great guy and very easy to work with. albums are AMAZING!

-bones