Has anyone printed their own book?

[BlueBerryBad]

Before she died, my mum wrote stories about her life. I'd like to get them made into a hardcover book sprinkled with photographs, but I don't know how.

Has anyone done this? I've made photo books but they're pretty limited text-wise.

I only want one or two copies for family.

All advice so appreciated.

I have. Check the "Feedaread" website. The books I got printed are beautifully bound. They look amazing.

Nice idea, OP. There’s a Mumsnet forum here, that may help:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/creative_writing

Best of luck. I think self-publishing is much easier these days, with lots of resources on the internet.

You can publish books on Amazon for free and then buy a couple of copies and take them down. You'd either need to prepare the manuscript yourself if you are reasonably IT literate and have a bit of time, or pay someone else to. I have published a couple of books this way and enjoyed it.

You could also try these people /www.lulu.com/create?srsltid=AfmBOora5Nw3Yf6zH0zPF_mbb2wa8vsUI7vvCr9wTHPuLimUDqFbeekx

Thank you! I have just had a look at Feedaread and it looks like they only do paperbacks?

Thanks Hairyesterdaygonetoday

Thank you. Like Feedaread, it looks as though these are paperbacks only? Or maybe I missed something.

Lulu as recommended upthread are good. I've used for work and personal projects. They provide template files, or create in canva and download as pdf. Hardback options, and all sorts, and pretty reasonable cost

I've just looked at my KDP account (Amazon publishing) and I can create a hardback book.

Could you try looking at companies that produce one off 'heritage' type books? They also often print family books for dementia sufferers. It will be pricey, given that you want photos in, but they are specialists. Self publishing might involve you having to produce more copies that you would ever need, and then you'd have to buy them. A specialist company would be a better bet.

Thank you @SoNiceToComeHomeTo

Good thinking... that's exactly what I've been looking at.

Have a look at mixbook website, they have templates that allow text and photos together, I have used it to create a book of poetry and photos for someone.

I've done this using Mixam a couple of times. DM created a posh version of a photo book with family photos and stories about each person (her grandmother etc). I helped with editing and layout. We made it all as slides in Google Slides and then save to .pdf and upload to Mixam to order. It comes back as book and we got 20 copies to give to all the cousins.

My sister and I have done something similar.
For DM's 60th birthday we wrote down the stories she told us as children. I types them up and printed them on nice paper. DSis did some watercolour illustrations, then we took the loose pages to a bookbinder - fortunately there was one locally.

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