Mark-up on albums?

[kiwinvan]

I have a bunch of questions about albums....
I am going to begin offering albums to clients this year. I'm heading towards Asuka books as I really like the magazine style.
What albums or books do you prefer and why? (Asuka or others)
How long does it take to put them together?
What software do you use?
How much do you charge for them? (I realise that it takes time and skill to make them, and I want to make sure I do come out of it with some profit)
Any album advice?
Thanks!

[newgenphoto]

I have a bunch of questions about albums....
I am going to begin offering albums to clients this year. I'm heading towards Asuka books as I really like the magazine style.
What albums or books do you prefer and why? (Asuka or others)
How long does it take to put them together?
What software do you use?
How much do you charge for them? (I realise that it takes time and skill to make them, and I want to make sure I do come out of it with some profit)
Any album advice?
Thanks!

Asuka is great as is my vendor.. Laguna Albums
Time frame for my albums range from 3 months to 9 months depending on client
My preferred software choice is Lumapix Fotofusion (studio version)
My 5x5 parent albums are 250.00 - my 8x8 parent albums are 350.00 - not sure about my actual breakdown cost for my 12x12's that come with my packages. It's all inclusive at that point.
Alum advice: look at hundreds of other designs and create a style that works for you. Some people like them super artsy and some people prefer plain and simple.

Another album tip for EVERYONE - if you don't have time to spen doing your own design then check out this company. The chicks are super cool and do amazing work!! www.albumesque.com

[jessiper]

Thanks for the tips, Jasen. Do you, or anyone else, still do the "older" albums where you just print up different sizes of images and put them in those thick pages you slide into the book? Does that make sense? My wedding album (from a film photographer) is a Renaissance, and we chose the pics to put in a 12-page, 24-side album. We had a mix of larger and smaller, etc. I just don't like the albums made digitally, where there is a pic in the background, them some smaller pics on top, and stuff like that. I prefer it to look more simple. Hope that makes sense. Thanks!

[newgenphoto]

It makes perfect sense Jess. A lot of people still enjoy that type of album and Renaissance makes some of the nicest albums in the industry. Even on the digital side with their SOHO collection. I personally do not use them any longer as I have gone fully digital with my albums. If a bride requested it though I would for sure supply it. Great question by the way!

[twinsrus]

We offer both. People still like to hold snapshots in their hands. But the albums are the new WOW factor.

We just got a 10x10 from Laguna Albums for a demo. Also a duplicate 5x5 parent album. Sent them the pics and they arranged it using a concept we told them we wanted to try. Worked out great. You can see the album before printing online. Waiting for it to come is the hardest part. Turnaround is about six weeks. I would recommend them to anyone who wants to try but isn't quite sure how.

[newgenphoto]

Hey Dick, just out of pure curiosity, was your demo album from Laguna Brown with the white gliding??

Jared is the coolest! He helps me out sooooo much!

[kiwinvan]

Anyone care to offer thoughts on mark-up as a percentage?

[twinsrus]

Hey Dick, just out of pure curiosity, was your demo album from Laguna Brown with the white gliding??

Jared is the coolest! He helps me out sooooo much!

Nope. We got the black, distressed finish. Silver edge. Very cool.

Jared was the guy who helped us too. They did a great job! Had a show today and that is ALL they wanted to look at.

[twinsrus]

Anyone care to offer thoughts on mark-up as a percentage?

We marked ours up the same amount it cost us.

[Phil V]

I don't mark up albums but I do charge for all the time spent designing, proofing, ordering and assembling them.
For printed albums I like the ones from Tony Sarlo, for albums with overlays I use Spicer Hallfields Reportage range.

[kiwinvan]

I don't mark up albums but I do charge for all the time spent designing, proofing, ordering and assembling them.
For printed albums I like the ones from Tony Sarlo, for albums with overlays I use Spicer Hallfields Reportage range.
On average how many hours do you put into one album?

[newgenphoto]

Nope. We got the black, distressed finish. Silver edge. Very cool.

Jared was the guy who helped us too. They did a great job! Had a show today and that is ALL they wanted to look at.

Oh thats cool. My first sample album from them was the distressed brown with the white edges. It was nice but nothing like the sabago black with silver edges I got from them with my images in it! The coolest color I have seen from them (I had a bride pick it) was the Sebago Purple with silver edges. It was SWEEET!

[tim]

I have a bunch of questions about albums....
I am going to begin offering albums to clients this year. I'm heading towards Asuka books as I really like the magazine style.
What albums or books do you prefer and why? (Asuka or others)
How long does it take to put them together?
What software do you use?
How much do you charge for them? (I realise that it takes time and skill to make them, and I want to make sure I do come out of it with some profit)
Any album advice?
Thanks!

1) Queensberry Albums are big, heavy, impressive, and will last many decades. Asukabooks are modern, light, and will last a while with good handling.

2) To start with it took 16-24 hours to do an asukabook, now I can do it in 8 and that's going down. This includes processing the images. If you did a single photo per page it'd be quicker.

3) I use PhotoJunction and CS2, as PJ I got with my Queensberry package. If you don't want that i'd suggest FotoFusion.

4) I worked out how long it should take me to make them, worked out what I wanted to earn per hour, added on the costs and overheads, and set that.

5) Advice: keep it simple, keep the "focus" on the images, not the layout.

[kiwinvan]

Anyone tried the Kubota software for Asuka books?

[Phil V]

On average how many hours do you put into one album?
For a reportage album, about an hour for the design, 2 hrs for the ordering then about 3 hrs to assemble it.

For a coffee table style album, it'll depend greatly on the software you use. I only did it once, using just PSCS2 and it took far too long. I'm hoping I'll get some kind of automation built up before I have to do too many more.

[PuR HART]

hey i was wondering could u use indesign for these books as well i am familiar with this program and it would be much easier than picking up another one.
also Asuka books and others i take it are kind of pricey to begin with So do many of you mark up the price and what are peoples reaction when u tell them 350 dollars for a coffe table book
because what i saw it looks like asuka cost 100 dollars and up is that correct .
thanks

[Phil V]

hey i was wondering could u use indesign for these books as well i am familiar with this program and it would be much easier than picking up another one.
also Asuka books and others i take it are kind of pricey to begin with So do many of you mark up the price and what are peoples reaction when u tell them 350 dollars for a coffe table book
because what i saw it looks like asuka cost 100 dollars and up is that correct .
thanks
I'd think you could use in-design and output to JPEG, IIRC Asuka might even accept PDFs (I'm not an expert - not a USA customer).

You really don't want to come and look at UK album prices if you think that's expensive.

I ordered a 20 page album with mats today and it comes out at a little under 500 bucks ($100 for prints). A flush mount album can be twice that.

[coreypolis]

hey i was wondering could u use indesign for these books as well i am familiar with this program and it would be much easier than picking up another one.
also Asuka books and others i take it are kind of pricey to begin with So do many of you mark up the price and what are peoples reaction when u tell them 350 dollars for a coffe table book
because what i saw it looks like asuka cost 100 dollars and up is that correct .
thanks
it might work, but you have to get the design into photoshop and place your image onto their template, make it a jpeg and then us their file checker program to make the pdf they want.

[liza]

So do many of you mark up the price and what are peoples reaction when u tell them 350 dollars for a coffe table book
because what i saw it looks like asuka cost 100 dollars and up is that correct .


This is why a lot of wedding professionals are reluctant to discuss cost vs. markup on public forums. Prospective customers do peruse them. ;)

[PuR HART]

well then i am always up for the pm's
sorry

[kiwinvan]

This is why a lot of wedding professionals are reluctant to discuss cost vs. markup on public forums. Prospective customers do peruse them. ;)

Yes, it's a difficult topic and I do appreciate the responses so far. I guess as I have never made one, I am very concerned with underestimating the time it would take to make it and as we all know time is money.

[ryleung]

This is why a lot of wedding professionals are reluctant to discuss cost vs. markup on public forums. Prospective customers do peruse them. ;)
But honestly, just since when is a fair mark-up not expected? A lot of things have mark-ups much higher than 66%, especially when they are luxury items. Take wedding bands, for example. I mean, who really thinks that little band is worth $500 in materials and craftsmanship alone?!

[coreypolis]

many price them per page

Gary Fong has a great set of info on DVD about albums, predesigns etc to make money on albums

[tim]

For your first asuka book, or any type of album, budget a LOT of time to get it right, especially if you've not done albums at all before. One image per page is easy but pretty boring, anything fancy can take ages.

[jessiper]

It makes perfect sense Jess. A lot of people still enjoy that type of album and Renaissance makes some of the nicest albums in the industry. Even on the digital side with their SOHO collection. I personally do not use them any longer as I have gone fully digital with my albums. If a bride requested it though I would for sure supply it. Great question by the way!

Thanks!

[coreypolis]

For your first asuka book, or any type of album, budget a LOT of time to get it right, especially if you've not done albums at all before. One image per page is easy but pretty boring, anything fancy can take ages.
exactly

one thing to keep in mind is to ofer all albums of th same proportions. So if you do a 10x10 flush mount album you can quickly make a 10x10 asuka book aswell by simply placing the images of the flush mount album into their templates. If you made it to a differnt proportion, say 8.5 x 11, you'd be starting all over basically.

[sapearl]

I don't really mark up the album itself but I certainly DO calculate it into the total cost of the job.

I sell day packages of service, delivering "X" number of proofs, and a certain number of enlargements in a bound album depending upon the package that has been contracted. I know what my fixed costs are and roughly what my competitors are charging for similar services.

Each year I allow for about 2-3% in inflation, but if I or the client decides to upgrade for a more expensive album then that cost gets added into the total. But I don't make money on that increase. - Stu

[sapearl]

Do you ever get inquiries for "parents" or "gift" albums? Typically these would be the smaller 5x7, 5x5 or 4x5 bound or flush albums.

I like the efficiency of how you have it set up, but what if grandma wants that little 4x5 "Brag Book" that she can fit in her large purse? ;) I'll get those types of requests a few times a year.

....one thing to keep in mind is to ofer all albums of th same proportions. .....

[coreypolis]

Do you ever get inquiries for "parents" or "gift" albums? Typically these would be the smaller 5x7, 5x5 or 4x5 bound or flush albums.

I like the efficiency of how you have it set up, but what if grandma wants that little 4x5 "Brag Book" that she can fit in her large purse? ;) I'll get those types of requests a few times a year.
you can make a 5x5 out of a 10x10 pretty easily :)

[newgenphoto]

you can make a 5x5 out of a 10x10 pretty easily :)

Very true. Our typical parent album is an 8x8 size. I do offer the 5x5 sizes as well but I don't sale them very often for some reason. not complaining though :)

[coreypolis]

Very true. Our typical parent album is an 8x8 size. I do offer the 5x5 sizes as well but I don't sale them very often for some reason. not complaining though :)
yeah, as long as its the same size or smaller int he same proportions its all good. scaling down is easy and you can make a action to do it to all in a couple seconds.

The one I'm doing now is a normal flush mount album for the couple and the same size asuka books for the parents.