Can I just say, I've used Asuka books a bit, and I feel (in Australia at least) they are overpriced for what they are and turnaround is way too long.
Now it may be different where you are but I've found a better soloution.

Viovio Website
I know many people don't like to use album producers that are available to the general public, but I have decided this is the way to go with a particular provider giving me what I need, virtually equivilant to askuka, but much cheaper.

Viovio offer some of the best prices around. Now at this stage they don't offer the 10 x 10 as a hardcover (image wrap) but do offer that as a 12 x 12. The 10 x 10s are leather or suede with inset cover. You can get all different styles and sizes.


I do all my proof albums through them now and the results have been fantastic. I do US Letter soft cover portrait style, and print the contact sheets to PDF from Lightroom, and add a cover design and inset pages. You can see an example here:
Proof Book - Viovio



Ok - quality comparison.

I've done this extensively.

Asuka is slightly higher in quality with the inside pages - I mean you can tell when you take a magnifying glass to it, and the differences are very slight.

Cover - for hardcover wraps are virtually the same in quality. No noticable difference.

Page material. Asuka page material is higher sheen. The silk finish of Viovio is more of a matt finish.

I haven't yet recieved the Black Suede 10 x 10 I ordered recently, so I can update you when that comes, in about a week.

Try them out. At least for proof books to start with. These are fantastic options.

Couple of other points.

Price difference is Viovio around $35 for a 40pp leather/suede book. Auska (for me) with leather/suede $450 or so.

Even the Hard cover Asuka's for me are around $250.

On the Viovio you can remove their logo, either by paying a $10 fee or buying professional membership.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Karen, thank for info. Are they US based?

Yea, seriously, thanks! I'll be looking into them for sure.

Very cool. Do you have paper weight choices on the magazine product? Also, when you set up your PDF/pages, do you find you have to adjust much for the perfect binding?

And when they say ".25/page" are they referring to "one-side equals a page" or "one-sheet equals a page"...as a former printer, I'm used to spreads and signatures, everyone else does these differently. Just curious...thanks for sharing too!

Karen, one more question... do fingerprints show on the paper and covers?

Their website has this information:

"Viovio, Inc. has operation facilities in North Carolina and Oregon. We have product manufacturing and fulfillment hubs around the country."

No paperweight choices on the magzine products, but the are pretty sturdy 150gsm or 170gsm I'd say from an estimate.The great thing with Viovio is leave enough margin allowance, and even if you are out by a few millimetres with ratio, it is fit to the appriate size, you can then view a PDF of the interior prior to buying. I early on sent a book that had the wrong page layout - ie - there should have been a front right page, prior to the first front left page. I was notified by Grace from Viovio and we sorted it out. They made sure it was correct, just from veiwing my book design and realising that the pages didn't work. Great customer service in that regard.One side is .25cents.On the covers, yes a bit, but can be wiped of resonably easily. On the interior pages, because it is more a satin like finish, it is not as much of an issue.

Karen,
Thanks so much for the review. I had looked at them before and they looked nice. Question - would you recommend this as a signature guest book? Will the inks smudge?
Jennifer

wow thanks! this is exactly the type of photobooks i was looking for.

I've used Viovio many times with good results - it's hard to beat their prices. They only offer case wrap materials for the 10x10 and 12x12 sizes. Although the 12x12 has a die-cut cover and the 10x10 has a sticker on the front - so there is a small image.

They also offer archival prints in sizes up to 12x12.

Yep, I think the 10 x 10 is tacky, just got it, actually they forgot to put my image on the front, and had some standard one stuck there! So they are replacing it, I'm asking if they can replace it with a 12 x 12 as the inset covers are hopefully better.

I'm thinking for cheap albums they are ok, but I'm leaning towards a new provider for fine art albums, that provider seeming to be reasonable with prices - around $300 - $400 mark for a variety of albums including acrylic photo covers, leather, photo wrap etc. The price mentioned includes colour correction, and printing and delivering the album fully finished. Extra spreads (yes 2 pages) are around $16 each. This is the pages with the photos affixed (magazine style). They are similar to Albums Australia in "the look" but cheaper. They are based in Bangkok but just opened a melbourne office (in Australia).
They may wish to distribute over there too. I can ask. JCPHOTO is the company, no real website yet.

With Viovio. Proof albums are still ace, just got some more back. Guest books would be another good option and perhaps engagement albums. Just not sure I can justify the $1000 for the album with design with the quality that is being presented.

Oh but the book I just wrote will be done through Viovio 8.5 x 8.5 hard cover and soft cover version - on "Capturing the Light".

Any idea how long they take to get in the US? Do they put their logo on the books? The price is incredible, almost too good, but they maybe a good option for guest books...doubt I would use them for anything else.

Well considering it takes just over a week to get to Australia from the US, I'd say fairly quickly! They do put their logo on the books but you can pay extra ato have it removed or by a professional membership and have it removed.