I saw last week on Mpix's blog that they were in the finishing stages of custom covers for their books.
I went to their site today, and they were there!!! (I thought they would have let me know ahead of time, but I just happened to see it on their site tonight, and I'm excited!)
All you high-enders may turn your nose up at this, but I'm gonna give it a whirl & see what the quality is like. I talked to them about the quality of the binding, and they said they're working on improving it. I don't know if that's included in this latest upgrade/improvement, but we'll see!!!

Carrie,

Did you see they're doing standout mounting as well? Looks really nice.

I'm quite glad they're offering the custom covers! Those books are great giveaway books!

Shan

innnnnteresting.

i'd been looking at the little 5x5 hard covers with linen paper as potential vendor books (and then doing nicer books for just select vendors).

for that use...I'm not sure if i would swing the extra $15 - $20, but i know my clients will be happy to have the option for their personal printing!

ps - for anyone considering buying the books, i tried out a few....
linen paper looks soooo much nicer than the stock paper.
hard cover looks soooo much nicer than the softcover.
if you're getting a softcover, perhaps don't get the linen, cause the paper is too thick and it won't close.
these are really cute and fast. i wouldn't personally sell them, but they are fun little giveaways for vendors or whatever.

Oh yeah! Those look nice! I especially like their new full-page ads for those standouts!
~Carey


EXACTAMOONDO! .... great minds....

you just think you're something special don't you???



oh wait you ARE!!!

She is! I saw their ad for the standouts in Shutterbug last night and I thought - "Hmm, that looks a lot like Carey's portraits. Beach, kid being thrown in the air, etc." And then I saw the credit! Congratulations Carey!

i'll have to give mpix another chance for books with another type of paper. I had one made with pearl paper, and it looked a bit cheap and construction papery lol

is linen or plain paper any better than pearl?

oh man.... I look like a prick again....
great.

I've just been BUGGING THEM TO DEATH about this for YEARS (literally). At every trade show (before & after they were my sponsor), I would beg beg beg beg for custom covers. I thought they'd be happy to tell me I can SHUT UP now, that's all.
I guess maybe I'm not as annoying as I thought!

Carey, I'm just curious. Why do you use Mpix instead of Millers? Is it just because they are less expensive or is there something else?

Just wondering if I'm missing something....

My (one) experience with these is that the cover was nice, but the printing left something to be desired. I used the plain paper, so maybe I need to try the linen. My husband said the same thing as some of the others here...."these will be good as giveaways, but I wouldn't sell them".

So sounds like you're on the right track.

I don't need all the fancy schmantsy stuff that Millers offers.
If my clients order from me, I get them from Mpix. They're printed on the same machines as the Millers orders, too.
AND, the Mpix dudes told me that they're getting really close to "WHITE BOX, brandless" shipping! woo hoo!
I tell my clients to go to Mpix, too, and they can't get Miller's accounts.
Mpix ROES is super easy, too.
Less expensive, same quality, easy ordering, no need for the fancy Millers finishes, brandless shipping coming...
easy decision for me & my business.

I can't answer for Carey, but I use them because Millers doesn't offer square books yet.

Or custom covers. :-)

The linen is nice and heavy, and the texture adds a nice touch. (Although I have noticed the blacks do have some almost white flecks with the texture - very subtle though).

Hope this helps!
Shan

haahaha...no i knew what you meant you actually do have a relationship with them. (remember, i hugged john last year for you at wppi?...LOL)

I remember asking you to bug him about custom covers, too, if my memory is intact

Maybe I'll have to give their books another try -- I did one in linen paper last year (hard cover) and didn't care for it, but they're not terribly expensive so it doesn't hurt to try again!

Leann

how they are better than the originals, I ordered one with the linen paper, I can't tell you how bad it was. They sent a replacement with the normal paper and it was better, but man, that was the worst thing I've ever seen printed.