I got the trial photo book back from Shutterfly. I had an offer for a free book. I got a hardback 8x8 with the twenty pages offered of a recent scenic float trip of the nearby Ghost River my sons took me on for a Father's Day gift. All I paid for the book was postage. Using Shutterfly's onboard software, the book was a cinch to layout. The turnaround was a matter of days and I had it in hand before I thought much more about it.
I am impressed sufficiently that I doubled the number of pages to forthy and added pictures to flesh out the book in the 12x12 hardback format and ordered half-dozen copies--for which I will pay list price less 20% from a coupon I got in the mail today. These guys are great marketers, but mostly the product is as advertised, an increasingly rare find.
I will gift each of my sons as well as our river guide friend with a copy, keep a copy for my coffee table, and place one on consignment at a country store near the river where kayakers stop. I may also provide a copy with the local library. I will imprint an email and web order URL in the book. This is all part of a continued postcard marketing effort that I first began dabbling in nearly forty years ago. I can surely tell you that it is a much easier prospect today then it was then. There is always a market for good scenic postcards by those who exercise a bit of enterprise making them and selling them wholesale.
Shutterfly's offer worked for them too. I will be ordering more books. I have a good dozen picture books of various photographic themes that I have long had in the making. Their freen photo book offer got me off of dead center and has brought those projects to the forefront so effectively that they are likely to actually get done this summer--likely within the next couple of weeks.