[Zaz]

Someone told me about viovio.com and I'm really interested. They seem less expensive, appear to be customer service oriented and have high quality products. They don't currently do 12 x 12, but they are looking into it. I was more excited about the fact that they do books in 8.5 x 8.5 and 10 x 10. I have one project that I'm going to need lots of copies and they also do bulk discounts.

But I really wanted to hear from the experts I trust - you guys. Has ANYONE used them?

Thanks!
~Zaz

[tpaley]

I ordered a 38 page 8.5x8.5 hard cover, sewn in binding priced at $33.48 plus $1.99 cheap shipping. (They do have bulk discounts) Comparing it to Shutterfly 8x8. Like the 8.5 x 8.5 size way better. The Shutterfly pages inside really measure 7.75 Viovio measures a full 8.5. Shutterfly's first white paper page has a nice texture to it compared to the flat Viovio paper. The printed pages on Shutterfly were slightly slicker. The heaviness was about equal. Printing quality I have to say was darn close to identical. The books that I am comparing are of different subject matter. So I am not comparing apples to apples. The Viovio books do take about 3 to 4 weeks to receive. One really nice thing with the Viovio is that once you complete your book on line Viovio turns it into a PDF file which you can than email to friends and family. Customer service at Viovio was great! But I have been equally pleased with Shutterfly. I wish they would hurry up and get a 12x12 size. I don't believe that the 10x10 is not a hard cover. I would use them again. Price, quality and size Viovio will get my business.

[Zaz]

Thank you so much for your response! I did check and they do have hard cover 10 x 10 books. Also, I am planning on using the silk paper if I go with them on my project - it's supposed to be more durable. I've heard great things about Shutterfly as well, but for what I'm planning to do, they are expensive. Glad to know these guys might just be my solution!

Thanks again!
~Zaz

[KBT]

Wow- great info! I am going to print out about a billion (well maybe not that many ) books for Christmas, so I will def. look into this now!

[jennk]

Thanks for the info. I hadn't heard of them. I will bookmark them for when I finally get a whole book done :-)

[Becca]

Thanks for passing this on, Zaz!

I've been very satisfied with my Shutterfly album, but Shutterfly doesn't offer 10X10. I've been trying to find a place that did and now I have!

[Wags]

I did a head to head comparison between Viovio and Shutterfly at the first of the year, using the same layouts. No noticiable difference in quaility, but there is a huge difference in price! (A 100 page hardcover from Shutterfly would be $70 more.) Vivoio also offers a softcover option in the 8.5x8.5 size. When I had my daughter's baby book printed I also ordered softcover copies for both sets of grandparents. I've done a few dozen books with them over the past couple of years and have always gotten great service, and quick answers to questions. Plus when I went to upload the 100+ page babybook they set up and FTP account for me to make the process easier.

If you click on the "Scrap Books" tab at the top of their home page - they have a new section for scrappers with info on how to design your layouts so that they come out looking good in bound books. (Some of my layouts were used as examples.) Remembering to leave enough margin is the biggest thing. Once you start scrapping with that in mind, it becomes second nature. (99% of my layouts end up in a bound book)

There are a few things that I have found to make the process easier. Number all your pages 01,02, 03, 10, 15, 23, 47, 99 etc before uploading - that way they will automatically appear in your gallery in the order you want them to appear in your book. If you select your cover page as your "gallery favorite" it will automatically appear as your cover in the book maker. If you are going to have a seperate back cover (instead of a full wrap cover) wait to upload it until you get to that part of the book maker.

Also if you are doing an 8.5 size book, you can resize your jpegs to 9x9 before hand and that will reduce your upload time as well. (I batch convert my files from psd to jpeg and change the size all at once).




Kodak Z712IS - $240
40 page softcover book filled with pictures of the grandkids - $15 from Viovio
Mother-in-law who thinks I'm wonderful - priceless!

[nichole]

I've ordered a few books from Viovio and they rock! Their prices are outstanding and I thought the quality was great! The first book I ordered wasn't cropped correctly so I emailed them and they reprinted another one. AND, let me keep the mistake book. (wasn't a big deal...just had some blue borders on the bottom of the pages...who cares!) The website says that they take 3-4 weeks to complete but in my experience, I HAD my book in my hands in 2 weeks. Yes, it took them less than 2 weeks to print and ship it to me. Uploading is kind of a hassle because it takes FOREVER. I'm still trying to learn how to do the whole FTP thing, but I think it's my internet connection that is causing problems. I have satellite internet and it is somewhere between dial up and DSL. I just re-researched the binding services out there and hands down, Viovio is the cheapest. So, because of their awesome quality, wonderful customer service, and even better prices...I'm hooked!

[Zaz]

Wow! So glad I asked! Thanks so much for the info, Girls!

~Zaz

[Burnsie]

Thanks for the great detailed info! I'll be checking into them!

[Mommymosier]

What great information. I'm going to do my next project through them.
Another question: Has anyone ordered the smaller books, 5x7 and smaller so that you get multiple books in the order? Am I correct thinking they are soft covers? I was thinking this would be good for my girls to have a book about a trip to the zoo so they could look through it often. It wouldn't be my archived book. Any thoughts?

[Digital Addict]

I am SO glad you posted this thread Zaz!!! I've been researching all the different online providers for hardbound books and kept running into VioVio as a often recommended source. Had the same questions as you, just didn't think to post them...duh!

I REALLY appreciate Wags, Tpaley, and Nicole's experiences and comments! I feel more prepared now and as I finally have a book ready to go will definitely be using VioVio! Scrap Girls members ROCK!!!

[disneymom]

Great thread! Thanks for all the detailed info ladies.

[Wags]

I have done a 9x7 but not one of the smaller books yet. I'm working on creating layouts for the smallest size - talk about a challenge!! I'm going to give those to the grandma's for the holidays. Something they can carry around in their purse to whip out and impress their friends with when its time to shar pix of the grandkids.

[DeaBrok]

I have just finished uploading a couple of books for Viovio. During the process I became confused by the different information on the site.

The page on "Book Binding Specifications" says upload 9x9 for the 8.5” book and 10.25x10.25 for the 10” book and there will be 1/4" cut all around. It also says not to put anything important within 3/4 inch of the edge.

The "Scrapbook Printing" section says that the trim is 1/4" and to keep anything important 1/2" away from the edge. This section does not say anything about the need to upload an image size larger than your desired page size.

The "Bookmaker FAQ" does not say anything about the need to upload an image size larger than the desired page size.

The section on "Cropping and Bleed" says the trim area is 1/8" but to keep everything 3/8" away from the edge for "caution". It also did not say anything about the need to upload a larger image.

So... I e-mailed Viovio Support and was told that:

For a 10x10 book you should upload 10.25x10.25 images.
For a 8.5x8.5 boox you should upload 8.75x8.75 images for softcover and 9x9 images for hardcover.
The trim on each side could be 1/4 inch so at least keep everything that far from the edge but 1/2 inch was better.

My images were flattened as I am re-printing a couple old Christmas albums and I couldn't adjust the elements near the edge of the layouts. Fortunately the background papers were only three different colors so I resized my pages to 9.25 and pasted them in the middle of a 10.25 paper leaving a 1/2 margin on all sides.

I am hoping everything comes out okay. I am feeing a bit nervous.

[Wags]

The first book or two I did I just uploaded my 12x12 layouts without resizing. Then I learned how to do batch resizing and started changing them to 9x9 (PSE only does 1 inch increments). Never had any problems with doing it that way.

I think the "bigger than you need" is really for PDF's.

[tpaley]

Deabrok
If you previewed the book and were happy with the results than you will be fine. I just compared my actual book to the PDF file that they prepared and it was almost identical. I think top and bottom was right on the money, left to right they printed a tiny bit more than what appeared in the PDF file. I was going to use Shutterfly so all my pages were created 11.95 x 11.95 (I had downloaded templates from Shutterfly and used their grids and it worked fine.) I waited on the cover until I had everything uploaded and then I used the size that they told me to. It was difficult to center by eye but it came our great.

[Digital Addict]

My business partner and I just got our first VioVio printed, hardbound, book back and it's fantastic! It's a 10x10 and the printing quality and interior papers are wonderful. As it was our first run with VioVio we had some confusion on getting a full-bleed printed cover...ended up with a linen cover that has our 'cover design' printed on a 4"x4" label (which they applied just a wee-bit crocked, but passable) ... that wasn't what we expected and would certainly have designed the 'cover' much differently had we known it was a 4"x4" lable...

BUT ...

the company actually printed the 'cover design' on it's own page right inside the front. When we saw that we panicked...worried that it would through all the rest of the pages off (since they were designed as LeftHand/RightHand layouts ... NOT TO WORRY! They must have just decided to insert the one page, single sided ...

so ...

the rest of the book is in perfect order AND we have a full size print of the cover design...yay!

We are very happy with the quality and the PRICE can't be beat! Thanks to everyone HERE for sharing this company's info with us! We are confident that our next order with go without a hitch...it took a bit to get around their site, but we have good notes to go from now.

[nichole]

that's great! I know that their terminology is kind of confusing...cropping, bleeding...blah! I really struggled with that myself. But fortunately, their customer service people are great! Glad the book turned out ok!!!

[Wags]

Glad you are happy with your book!

The create your own cover option is not available in the 10x10 size. (I personally would like to see the create your own cover in the 10x10 size but there are technical details to be worked out for that to happen) And if you upload a cover page and don't check (or maybe its uncheck) the box that says print the cover page inside the book it will show up there. They also will sometimes print that page if they realize you were setting things up for double page layouts and forgot that the first page is always a single right facing page.

The scrapping section of Viovio's site is undergoing some remodeling and a "new & improved" version is expected out in the next few weeks. Hopefully the instructions there will make perfect sense.

[revchick]

Has anyone used http://www.sbtoshare.com/?

Thanks,
Nancy

[Kara]

Yes, I have used Scrapbooks to Share for printing individual layouts. They were okay ... the second batch I ordered arrived all bent up and to their credit, they reprinted and reshipped at no cost.

[Wags]

FYI - The remodel of Viovio's scrapping section looks like it is complete now and I think it makes more sense now. And it appears the home page got a make-over too, so maybe their whole site is undergoing a spruce up.

Oh and I just got back the mini-brag books I ordered and they are just so cute!

[meyamama81]

this is some really great info. Thank You all so much.

[Wags]

Viovio just announced today that they are going to be carrying 12x12 books now! Plus they are adding some other square format sizes.

The square format options are: 12x12, 10x10, 8.5x8.5, 7x7, 5x5 and 3.5x3.5. (The two smaller sizes are soft cover multi-packs)

You only have to upload 12x12's and then choose the size you want on checkout and it will automatically resize everything for you. So you for example you could order a 12x12 for yourself and a 8.5"x8.5" for the someone else all on the same order.

Oh and for those that scrap in 8.5x11 they have a dust jacket option now too.

[faerywings]

There is a good review of Viovio on the digiscrapinfo.com blog.
And a new post about Lulu's books.
HTH!

[~Lauren~]

Wags, if we upload a 12 x 12, how far should we keep elements and text from the edge of the page?

[Wags]

~Lauren~, on Feb 1 2008, 07:30 PM, said:

Wags, if we upload a 12 x 12, how far should we keep elements and text from the edge of the page?

The rule of the thumb stays the same - keep anything important at least a 1/2" away from the edge of the page and everything should be fine. I offered to "beta test" the 7x7 hardcover with dustjacket and am eagerly awaiting it's arrival.

[Wags]

I just got word on the pricing for the new 12x12 books at Viovio. Base price is $14.99 and each page is .75 So a 20 page 12x12 book would be $29.99!

[Uncle Dannie]

Well, I just sent my order off to Viovio. Their pricing plan is not quite what they lead you to believe. My 12X12 book was 42 pages for a quoted price of $36.49. Great price, so I pressed the ORDER button. Then I must choose a binding option. This costs an additional $10.00, on top of the original price quoted. You have no option on this if you want a 12X12 book, so the book now costs $46.49. Next page is shipping, which has options that run up to $76.00. Wow!. They have one option that starts at $3.00, via China and Argentina (joking) that takes up to 4 to 6 weeks. The next option up in price is USPS Media Mail for about $6.00. Takes 3-4 weeks. The third option is FedEx Home Ground at $13, 3-7 day delivery. This is one dollar cheaper than UPS Ground. Then you get the really exotic prices for 3 day and overnight and courier.

I ordered the minimums I could, so my final costs was $60. My really nice price has risen about $25. I wanted a full-wrap exterior as a book cover, but I have now found out that they don't offer that option for a 12X12. You can only get one style, hardback with a cut-out in the center. You can, of course, get it in several colors and even leather. The full wrap isn't offered on any book (even the 10X10) until you get down to the 8X11 size.

I now have to wait until the book arrives to determine the speed of printing (they said about 7 days) to the speed of delivery (I paid for 3-7 days). I should have my book to inspect within 14 days. They were very polite, but informed me that if there were any error of judgment on my part, there would be no refund. So, the first book is bought on blind faith.

I will keep everyone updated if and when I get the book. True, I could have gotten the book cheaper by about $10 if I had used their cheapest shipping method, but I'll donate $10 to speed up the test.