Do you guys use Asuka books? Any issues? Which books stand out?

We used them for several years, but switched to using WHCC recently. We never had any problems with the books themselves. We like them a lot. The turnaround time is horrible, and I assume it would be even worse to Trinidad. I believe turnaround is listed as three weeks. That pretty much means, don't expect them to ship even a day before three weeks. Then they are shipped ground. Also, our last order with them was a tiny 5x5 paperback book, that cost us something like $20 something. The shipping and handling ended up being around $18, for ground shipping. It was pretty ridiculous! During the fall and holiday season, the turnaround time expands to 6 to 8 weeks.

Thanks Lynn. I have an address is Miami so shipping to Trinidad isnt too much of an option. A lot of people seem to like the WHCC books. Im using mypublisher but more and more are starting to use it so Im looking for a entry level album company.

Ill look into WHCC as well.

Thanks a mill...

I use asuka, I have used asuka from the start, I love their books but HATE their turnaround time. 4 weeks for a book is a long time. They are great books I have to say. Their customer service kind of stinks, they are hard to get a hold of and them being on the west coast and me being on the east coast, contacting them is kinda annoying. They also always seem to have an issue with their phones. Also say I make a mistake on a single page or cover, basically I have to order a whole new book and cannot have a single page or cover fixed. Being a customer of Capri Album for years I guess I was spoiled when I had that issue.

I hear a lot about these WHCC and wonder exactly how they compare to the Book Bound EX Laminate. Also how they compare in price and in turnaround.

I just always thought the books, with that glue binding, looked like the pages would fall out after a few years. Given that we're selling a wedding album that's supposed to last "forever," I just wouldn't wouldn't sell a wedding book that wasn't stitch bound with thick, durable pages.

I use them all the time (3 years now), specially for parent albums. I have also had clients ask for them for their albums. I have used them soft bound to hard bound, no problems.

The quality has consistently gone up. Their customer service is tops, the best!

They check your files going in and if they find any irregularities, they call you in the phone and work with you to fix it.

Their turn around time is average. not the worst not the best either, just average. I get them normally in about 3 weeks, That is about the same time I get my albums from GraphiStudio.


I love the really small ones. Excellent for promotional material to give to vendors.


I recommend them eyes closed.

I also use WHCC for my engagement books. WHCC's are excellent too, but are a different creature. Their pages are thinner than Asuka and are not laminated. While you could use Asuka for a wedding album I wouldn't use WHCC press books for wedding albums. WHCC are also good for inexpensive senior books, guest books, baby books, etc. Their new photo cover is very nice. They have excellent turn around time. about 7 to 10 days for me via priority mail. That includes production time as well as shipping. Inhouse it is usually 4 to 5 days, add to that between 3 to 5 days for USPS, depending in their mood.

The overall quality of the Asuka is way superior to WHCC ones. But again, it would be an unfair comparison to me because they are both different. Yes, they are both pressbooks, but not all pressbooks are created equal.

I would say which one I use will depends of the use you are going to give it.

Yeah... my very first sample album I ordered from them came complete with falling out pages right out of the shipping box... They said it was just a "bad batch of glue" but first impressions are hard to break...

The new books from WHCC are totally different. You can opt to have a coating put on them. They also have much thicker pages, thicker than Asuka. I would not have used the WHCC ones in the past, but the new lay flat ones from WHCC are very nice.

Turnaround time for WHCC is about two days in lab, then however long it takes to ship to where you live, which is two days for us. I have had one ship same day I ordered it, so turnaround time was three days total.

Lynn, I have to disagree about WHCC pages being thicker than Asuka.

In the first place, both Asuka and WHCC uses the same paper thickness - #100 paper - on their books.

And only the hinged one from WHCC uses thicker paper (they use #110 on those) and can be uv coated. According to their information on Press Products, they don't UV coated (yet) the regular ones (the ones I use).

And UV coating is not the same as lamination or varnish which gives the paper thickness as well as a different feeling and increased durability.

I have an Asuka and a press book from WHCC right in front of me. Asuka pages feel definitely thicker because they are laminated or varnished.

That said, I used them both, but for different purposes. At this moment I would not dare offer a WHHC press book as a wedding album alternative but I do with the Asuka.

I was referring to the new hinged books, I was not referring to the older version, when I said the pages are thicker. I also was referring to the uv coating, which actually does make the pages thicker, as well. You might want to re-read my post, I clearly stated that I was talking about the new books, which are the lay flat ones with hinged pages. We had previously tried the old regular whcc books and I would not offer those, either, which is what I said in my post. I would offer the new ones. I think they actually look nicer than the Asuka ones.

I was a die hard Asuka customer and supporter since before most people had ever heard of them. I ordered my first book from them almost 4 years ago and used them consistently until WHCC came out with their new books a couple of months ago. If Asuka had not more than doubled their turnaround time in the time I have used them, I would still be using them. About 7 months ago we started looking for a different option, and were completely unhappy with everything we tried, including the WHCC regular printed books. I was able to preview the new ones with hinged pages at a photography conference in the beginning of March. I was very impressed with the new books. We have since ordered some with the uv coating and some without. For weddings, I prefer it without the coating because I don't like how shiny it is for wedding stuff. For high school seniors, many of them like the shiny coating.

We do not offer press printed books of any kind as our main albums. We offer them as parent albums, engagement guest books, and as a supplementary album to go with the main album, which is much higher quality than any of the coffee table books out there.

100 gram paper isnt very thick.

Silly Tami, that's 100 pound paper.

adam, its not silly, paper is measured in grams here.

I think Asuka does a great job, they call me and update me, even pulled an order out when completed to see if I needed express shipping, after I made one call on getting and estimated completion time. The quality is always good on the EX laminate I usually order. The prints look better than I expect practically everytime. I even think they throw a little Magic sharp on the files. I have a very acurate computer and monitor but I always feel like someone looked over each page for me. They are my base level album and I wouldn't bother risking another brand for that style of album. I have an eng shoot guest book in varnish on the way and the 7X7 version parent albums are a good deal.

Thanks Steve....This has helped a lot.