Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The New "Skinny" Flush Mount

When I first started KruBooks, I did a lot of research on printing companies and who I wanted to use as my main suppliers.  Probably 90% of my business is design only, but I like to offer brides and photographers a "whole package" option as well that covers design, print, and bind.  My plan was to keep it simple with two offerings  - a premium flush mount album and a more budget-friendly coffeetable style option.  I picked industry leaders for both and have been very happy with the finished products I've seen through the years.  But, as I mentioned in this post from 2009, I've continued to keep an eye on other companies and new suppliers as they come up.  There's plenty of new developments in the album industry!

For my premium flush mount albums, I have been using Leather Craftsmen's 3500 Flush Series.  I absolutely love their craftsmanship and customer service.  I will continue to offer these albums in 2013, and will blog soon about some new "frills" they have to really make your album stand out from the crowd.  I am also happy to announce that there will be no price raise on these albums this year!

BUT the real news is that I will no longer be offering a coffeetable style option in 2013.  Shocking, I know.  The thing is, while I loved having a less expensive offering for my brides, the simpleness of the album never seemed quite up to par for one of your most treasured heirlooms.  I started recommending it for guest books, engagement, vacation, or portrait albums, but steered brides away from using it for their weddings.  In 2012, I learned about Finao's new playBOOK album.  The playBOOK is a flush mount with a "skinny" page design...still thicker than a normal art book, but not quite as thick as the premium Leather Craftsmen.




Photos by Zofia & Co. Photography

I'm excited to say that I will be replacing my coffeetable album options with these "Skinny" Flush Mount Albums in 2013.  Here's why I love them:

1) No more press printed pages!  Coffeetable albums have the designs printed right on the page, usually at much lower quality.  Finao's playBOOK albums are real photographic prints, mounted to thick pages.

2) See ya, gutter!   Traditional coffeetable binding causes you to loose a good portion of your design in that annoying center gutter.  I hated the discontinuity this brought to the design, and how it limited the panoramic feel of those big gorgeous images.  In contrast, the playBOOK has a seamless construction and layflat design.

3) More bang for your buck!  The playBOOK has the quality of a flush mount, but is cheaper than the coffeetable!  As I looked over the pricing, I couldn't believe that I could offer this upgrade AND have it be less expensive than my current coffeetable album offerings.  The playBOOK has many fun cover options to choose from as well, all PVC free, eco-friendly, non-leather materials.

If you want more information on the pricing for these new "Skinny" Flush Mount Albums, shoot me an email (krubooks@hotmail.com), and I will send the revised 2013 pricing pdf.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Welcome 2013!

I have completely lost all blogging credibility.  It's been seven months since my last post!  The truth is, I thought about closing the blog down since I was worried sharing too many design ideas might invite imitators.  But I have some fun things in store for 2013 and I don't want you to miss them!  One of the things I am most excited about is mixing up my album offerings.  But more to come on that soon!

First, I just wanted to say what an awesome year 2012 has been for KruBooks.  Thank you to all the brides, photographers, and etsy clients who helped make it such a success.  One reason I truly love my job is that I work with the BEST people.  I love my repeat photographers who are sweet, understanding, encouraging, funny, and just truly the most quality people.  I can't wait to continue our friendship in 2013!

2012 was an exciting year for us personally as well.  My husband and I finished the last six months of our Grand Cayman adventure, and moved to Cincinnati in July.  We are happy to be back in good old America, although we definitely miss our island life and friends.  If you want to read more about our Caribbean escape, your can catch up on our Grand Life blog.

Finally, a couple fun stats:  In 2012, I had 117 album orders!  This is compared with 84 album orders in 2011, and 38 album orders in 2010 (when I was doing KruBooks part time).  I also had 108 etsy orders - wahoo!  I love staying busy, and now that I no longer have that amazing weather and clear blue sea tempting me, I hope for even more in 2013.

Best wishes to all my friends for the new year!  Can't wait to see what's in store!