What is the state of the art in self published photo books?

[RalphLambrecht]

I use Adobe’s InDesign, which offers smooth integration with Photoshop and Illustrator. A wide selection of fonts, etc. Smith-Parker is a reliable print on demand printer. In today’s world you don’t want to print books, but use print on demand.
Keep in mind that photos that are reproduced for print media must be adjusted to resemble originals. Also, every step of design, fonts, kerning, proofreading, etc that you farm out will add significant costs. Not to mention choice of bindings, etc.
However, while time consuming, the whole process of self publishing is fascinating. Before beginning I would invest in reading several books on self publishing that are available on Amazon. At least you will get some idea whether you want to embark of such a venture.
On the other hand, if you are loaded with lots of ready cash you could hire designers, editor, proofreaders, etc and give to a printer that can print high quality photos.

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[gone]

The ex and I once published something called "Island Profiles" on the Big Island. We showcased a local artist, poet, musician etc every month. Microsoft Publisher worked very well for putting it together. The high cost of printing on inkjets or color copier made it a labor of love and a money losing enterprise, but it was a lot of fun and looked great once we figured the printing part out. I think this was the first edition w/ some of my art for illustration. The layout here was easy to work with, but resizing the images and figuring out how put the type together and have it work correctly on the front and back of the page was a challenge initially.

 

[laingsoft]

Good luck on your project. However, don’t sell yourself short!

Not selling myself short, just being realistic. I take photos for myself and if others enjoy it that's alright I suppose.

 

[AgX]

What about self-made photo books?

Brad, you asked from the start "what are the 'good' companies ?" thus restricting the bookmaking to something sourced out. Was this deliberate, or did you overlook making books oneself?