Sunday, December 20, 2009


Asian elephants are considered endangered on the IUCN Red list. At the turn of the 20th Century, there were 100,000 elephants in Thailand. Today, there are less than 5,000.

We were honored to be contacted by Don Tayloe regarding his documentary film, "The Last Elephants in Thailand". Don's film is a sweeping account of the lives of domesticated elephants and what is being done to save them. Their habitat has been drastically reduced and they are rounded up and turned into slaves in logging camps or to perform in the tourism industry. Fortunately, there are people trying to save the animals, but they are under funded and undermined by politics.

This book is a companion piece to the documentary and as a visual biography, we hope that it will encourage people to reach out a helping hand. For more information on Don Tayloe's film, please visit http://haepictures.wordpress.com/

To learn more about how you can help: http://www.fortheloveofanimals.net

To view the book, click here.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009


This was a very quick, but enjoyable project to do for one of our clients in Las Vegas. Our client had an existing business plan that they wanted to present at an upcoming meeting of investors. They wanted to give the investors something that represented their concept and that would be unique and memorable. So we converted the traditional business plan into a very beautiful presentation book.

Sunday, December 13, 2009


Duomo to Como is a book we created for a client as a holiday gift. Three couples traveled through Italy and Switzerland on vacation. Each couple took hundreds of images during their vacation. Our client collected all the images and had us put together a book about their adventures. They then ordered three copies of the books and plan to give their friends the books as a surprise during the holidays.

Thursday, December 10, 2009


This was a cute little book we did for a friend and client of ours who wished to tell her family that she was pregnant with her first child. The story is told from the point of view of her dog, Diego. Our client ordered several books and wrapped them as presents to everyone in her family. At the end of the book, Diego announces that he is going to be a "big brother".

We congratulate our friend and client on her new baby and hope the book is a real hit over the holidays!

Friday, December 4, 2009


We've just completed another book project, titled "Photo Light Forms" by photographer John W. Daly. This book showcases some of John's work shot in Yuba River, the SouthWest and in Italy.

To learn more about John Daly, visit his site. To see more of this book, please click here.

Thursday, December 3, 2009


Picturia Press congratulates LiveJournal as they announce the release of the book we recently designed for them. It was a beautiful compilation of content from their blog community. We wish them much success!

Book Provides Insight in Social Media's First Decade

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LiveJournal Inc. has announced the release of LiveJournal: The First Decade, a groundbreaking anthology that celebrates ten years of original content drawn from LiveJournal users around the world, featuring photos, comics, stories, memes, editorials, and graphic content.

Sunday, November 22, 2009


This was really a sweet and wonderful book to work on during the holiday - and the cold season. Randi is our client and she contacted us to put together this book as a gift to her husband. They got married in 2007 and recently she collected all of the images from their honeymoon to create a coffee table book as a memento and holiday gift to her new husband.

Randy was highly organized and gave us all 400 of her pictures in order of their honeymoon trip through Maui, Kauai, Napa Valley and San Francisco. It was a perfect book to work on in this chilly weather!

To see more of the book, click here.

Sunday, November 15, 2009


We recently designed a book for Ellen van Deelen called "The Rat Pack - A Humorous Look at Extraordinary Mice. Ellen entered the book into the Blurb Book Contest and won much applause from candidates and voters alike. The book was nominated as a runner up and we are thrilled for Ellen and the recognition she received on her charming photographs. A special thanks to our dear friend Jerry Gotkin, who helped us write the beautiful introduction to that book, as Ellen was from Holland and did not speak fluent English.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009


Gifts of Time, Fifty Years Down Memory Lane was such a treat to create for our client. Brenda is a wonderful mother, a great co-worker, terrific friend and fantastic wife. I can say that because I read over 50 tribute letters to her from her friends and family.

This memory book is to be a surprise gift from her friends for her upcoming 50th birthday.Thankfully, one person, (one very organized person) coordinated the many letters and images that people wanted to contribute to the book, and although there were one or two late contributions and additions to the book, we managed to get it to print in time for the event. Happy Birthday Brenda and many more!

To view images from the book, click here.

This was an emotional book to work on for our clients. The family of a woman who had recently passed away from cancer wanted to create a memorial or tribute book about Ellen that they could give to Ellen's daughter so she would always know how much her mother was loved and admired.

This is a collection of letters and images from her family and friends that was put together and then gifted to the Ellen's teenage daughter. It is a wonderful gift that Ellen will have as a reminder of her mom for all her life. We wish them all the best during the holidays and the coming years.

To view some of the images from this book, click here.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009


We just finished up a project for our client who wished to put together a voyeuristic book of her images as a gift to her boyfriend who travels extensively. She had professional images of her taken and asked us to design a tasteful, yet engaging book of her images. These were some of the most beautiful photographs we have worked with and although we are very proud of our work....we won't be showing this work to the public. This is a very personal book, which we do quite often for our clients. We respect their privacy, but still appreciated the opportunity to work on something so personal.

We hope he has enjoys the surprise in in suitcase the next time he takes a trip!!

Monday, November 2, 2009


Lucy & Salvatore. What can we say? It's not often anymore we hear of people being married for 50 years, so it definitely deserved a book to celebrate the occasion. Lucy's nephew contacted us to create this book for them, as they wanted to present it to Salvatore in a few weeks, who was going to be celebrating his 75th birthday!

It was a small book, only about 30 pages, but each page is full of memories of their 50th Anniversary and their renewal of vows. We wish them many more happy years together! To view more images from the book, click here.

Sunday, November 1, 2009


We did another wonderful wedding album this week for our clients -Melissa and Joseph. They are such a great couple and Melissa was so easy to work with as a client. She new very clearly what she wanted in a design -a romantic, yet editorial look to her book and picked a 12" x 12" square design. She had approximately 1,000 images which we paired down to create a lovely 100 page book.

We wish them the very best in the coming year and hope they treasure their book for years to come!

Thursday, October 15, 2009


This was such a fun, fun project! While we enjoy all the books we help our clients create, this one had us laughing and smiling throughout the design process. The Rat Pack, A Humorous Look at Extraordinary Mice is a collection of images by photographer Ellen van Deelen from Holland.

Ellen has lovingly captured her pet rats holding a variety of props, such as stuffed animals and musical instruments. These darling creates with their soulful eyes and adorable poses will be sure to charm and entertain you.

To view more of this book, please click here.

Thursday, October 1, 2009


Last year, Picturia Press created a blog book for our client to celebrate the birth of her first child - Beatrice. We were contacted again this year to create another book for her blog about Beatrice's first year. The book actually ended up being TWO books! We were really happy to work with our client again and to see how much her little one has grown in one year!

To view more of the book, click here.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009


Picturia Press recently designed "A Retrospective of Fine Art Oil Paintings" for a Bay Area artist, Iona Ezaki. The book is a collection of Landscapes, Animals, Still Life and Portraits done by Iona over the last 20 years.

Iona Ezaki was recently named 2009 Cupertino's Distinguished Artist of the Year. Iona has won numerous awards in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Los Gatos Art Association and The Cupertino Fine Arts League. She was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Landscape painting at the Cupertino Fall Fest in 2008 for her painting, "Napa Dreams". For more information about Iona and her artwork, visit: http://www.ionaspaintings.com.

To view more of this book, click here.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Think your book has what it takes to win $3,000? The Best Blurb® Books Contest is now accepting submissions! Let Picturia Press help you design the winning entry.

Enter your book by October 22 in one of three categories: family, pets, or travel, for a chance at one of three $3,000 grand prizes or one of three $1,000 runner-up prizes.

On October 23, voting is open to the public – tell your friends, family, neighbors, and Twitter followers to get out the vote. One judge in each category will select a winner and a runner-up from among the best Blurb books as voted on by the community.

So let's get started on your next book.

Monday, August 24, 2009


Live Journal is a well-known online blogging community that has been around since 1999. Recently, Picturia Press was hired to work with the team at Live Journal in compiling a selection of the best journal entries from their virtual online community.

The book was to be 10 year anthology for LiveJournal. It was very challenging to create a 118-page book; assuring that each writer and blog entry had it's own personality, while still complimenting the entire look and feel of the book. We hope the anthology will be a big success for LiveJournal and we congratulate them on their 10 year anniversary.

To view more of the book, click here.

Monday, August 10, 2009


We were happy to work with an prior client on creating a wedding book for her son, Matt, who recently got married. Our last project with this client was her Blurb best-selling cookbook.

Last year, her son got married in their home with just family and a few friends present. Although they didn't have a large wedding, they still wanted to have a keepsake of their special day. As a gift to the newlyweds, our client had all the photographs collected and asked us to create the wedding book as a surprise gift to her son and daughter-in-law.

Needless to say, they were completely surprised and delighted, and we were honored and pleased to be part of this special event. Congratulations again to Matt and Julie! To view more of this book, click here.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

This was an absolutely amazing project to work on for one of our clients based in London. She is getting married in August and wanted to create a book - one book - to give her fiance as a wedding present. They met four years ago, like to travel and are known for taking a lot of pictures. She had OVER 1000 images for us to review and use for this project. This project originally started out as one book with 100 pages, but by the time we finished the project, we had four books. But, undeniably - four...beautiful books.


We even ended up being invited to the wedding! Unfortunately, we can't make it, but we are confident that there will definitely be a at least one picture taken of him receiving the books, and of course, we hope to work with them again on creating a WEDDING book after they get back from their honeymoon. We want to wish the very best to Hannah and Paul, a wonderful couple and a wonderful client.

Monday, July 13, 2009


We just finished a wonderful book for a Dr. Judith Monteferrante, a fine art photographer based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Judith is a retired cardiologist with a special interest in female heart and cardiac imaging. This book, THE NUDE MATURED, explores the hidden beauty of aging and the soft sophistication of the beautiful older woman, accepting and often celebrating her desirability in this image–driven age of unachievable perfection.

The images were beautiful and mostly consisted of black and white photography. We were honored to work with Judith and her images during the creation of this book. We wish her continued success in her career.

Thursday, June 25, 2009


At Picturia Press, we offer our clients a range of services depending upon their needs. While some clients hire us to design and layout their book for them, other clients simply require a book cover designed. We also provide what we call "enhancement consultations". This service is offered to clients who have designed their own books, yet feel they need some design help improving the look and feel. This includes creating unique layouts, photo retouching and color correction, typography, color selection and consistency. Please contact us for more information about these services.

Last week, we had a client in Australia contact us who was creating a book for his father's 60th birthday. He had created most of the book himself and done a great job, but wanted our opinion and assistance on designing the book to make it look more polished.

We were happy to work with him on making the layout more cohesive and consistent, including incorporating new page layouts, color selection and typography. Additionally, we designed the dust jacket for his book. Too bad we can't be in Australia when his father opens his present.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009


As a preferred vendor at Blurb, we are thrilled to learn about their newest product offering, the 12" x 12" Square Book. This will be a wonderful addition to their current line up of book sizes.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009


A client contacted us the other day because she was working on creating a great book chronicling the life of her friend who was turning 30 years old in a few weeks. Although she wanted to design the book herself, she asked us to consult with her on design and layout and the concepts of "telling the story" of her friend's life. We were very happy to assist her in creating a wonderful gift.

While we consulting with our client, we also provided our image correction services to work on red-eye elimination and color correction of some old photographs. We also designed the dust jacket for her new book, seen here.


There's nothing more rewarding than working with and recovering old photographs for a client. We were asked to do this project as a commemorative piece on our client's wife who recently passed away.

We received many scans, emails, and discs full of wonderful old images to work with on creating this book. We spent a great deal of time photo editing and photo retouching the images to bring them up to print quality.

Never assume a photo can't be used in your book because it is old, damaged and/or deteriorating. A good designer will know how to edit and recover those images to use in your book. Below is an example of one such image that we recovered and used in this book.



To view more of the book, please click here.

Saturday, May 2, 2009


We just finished up publishing a photographer's book of images that he captured during his travels around the world. Primarily in Latin America, the UK and the Phillipines.

Picturia Press combined the photographer's images with wonderful quotes and sayings that would compliment the look and feel of the book without distracting the viewer from the photography.

To view more of the book, please click here.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009


Sound interesting? Whether it's for a school, a sports team or a club....Blurb.com has new special running right now and is offering a great service to help get your book designed with no up-front expense or budget.

Here's what you'll get:

  • 8"x 10" 40 page book (additional pages is negotiable)
  • one soft copy proof book (to review before final order)
  • 8 hours of design time (includes internal pages and cover)

Offer good through June 30
Minimum of 30 book purchasers lined up
Price of each book: $29.95 softcover, $41.95 hardcover

Please contact Picturia Press for more information.

Friday, April 10, 2009


I have a very close friend of mine who recently celebrated her birthday. As I gift to her, I made a little "celebration" book reminding her of why she is so special to so many people, friends and family alike. These kinds of gifts are the best, because they come from the heart and it's a gift that people will keep forever.

We used lots of fun colors and images and typography to make this little book fun and memorable. Everyone who attended the event loved it - especially everyone who "appeared" in the book.

If you are trying to imagine something special to give to someone for an upcoming event, consider creating and gifting a Memory Book.

To see inside the book, click here.

Thursday, March 26, 2009


Picturia Press was honored today by being selected as the first ever BlurbNation "Featured Member".

"Suzzanne of Picturia Press has done a phenomenal job developing her book design business for books for a wide range of clients who regularly return with repeat business. Also, a special shout out and thank you for Suzzanne's support of BlurbNation, which included flying cross country to co-host a BlurbNation meetup and submitting a detailed article on initial client discussions."


Picturia Press has worked with several "print on demand" companies, but has found Blurb to be exceptional in its' customer service, support, quality, options and pricing. We feel very fortunate to work with them and I am personally very appreciative of their continued support of our work.

Thursday, March 19, 2009


Wedding albums can be the most rewarding projects to work on for book designers. Getting started is always the hardest part, simply because the bride has hundreds of images and sometimes over a thousand. It can be difficult and time consuming to choose which pictures to use in the book. Simply going through those images can be an overwhelming process for the couple. This is where a designer can be helpful. We ask the client to select the absolute "must haves" for the album first and then we will review the rest of the images to complete the book.

In this process, there's a lot of trust that needs to be established between the client and the designer. This isn't just a photo book or coffee table album - this is something that will last a lifetime and become a precious keepsake. As a designer, we want to have as much invested in the outcome of the final book as the client.

To view the book, click here.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

We just finished working with Bob Barancik on his latest book of artwork: Art Not Hate, Creative Responses to Conflict. This book features a powerful selection of Bob's mixed media paintings.

We've worked with Bob Barancik on a number of projects and hope to continue to work with him on creating more of his books in the future. For more information regarding the Art Not Hate project, please visit: http://www.artnothate.com

Wednesday, March 4, 2009


Picturia Press has worked with Jerry Gotkin over the last year to design and create five books showcasing the artwork of Marjorie and Jerry Gotkin. Orchids: An Intimate Portrait of Beauty, Marjorie's Table, Still Life/Florals, The Tall Ships and The Gardens of Hospice by the Sea.

After designing these wonderful books, Jerry asked if we could create a website for him, which we created and just launched today and you can visit here: www.gotkinarts.com. As always, we were very happy to work with Jerry again on this project and to help showcase his beautiful art in both print and on the web.

Monday, March 2, 2009


While Picturia Press is busy designing new books, we thought we'd share an update from Blurb.com about their 2009 Photography Book Competition. From their website:

Photography.Book.Now 2009 is here, and the call for entries is on! We're accepting submissions for the second annual competition now, and we want to see your best work. Darius Himes returns as lead judge, along with a panel of world-renowned editors, publishers, curators, and photographers.

Photography.Book.Now is a celebration of the most creative, most innovative, and finest photography books – and the people behind them. This is your chance for international recognition and a shot at a $25,000 Grand Prize.


Photographers wanting our assistance in creating a compelling and award-winning design can contact us directly at info@picturiapress.com

Monday, February 16, 2009


I know, it's been quite some time since we last posted, but that's only because we've been so busy designing books. In fact, we've got another three books coming out very shortly!

Recently we completed this fabulous book on Artesano Iron Works. The gallery is located in Philadelphia and this book is a collection of images taken during an open-house event at the gallery.

The photography, taken by our client, an award-winning photographer, Gerard Tomko, features some contemporary pieces of the artist, Ricardo Cabrera installed at the Artesano Gallery. This was a soft cover 7 x 7 book with images of the artwork, the gallery, the lighting, flower arrangements and the delicious catering for the event. What a great idea! Everyone involved in the event can now use this book for promotional purposes.

Click here to view the book.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009


We just finished a project working with our new client, Gerard Tomko. Mr. Tomko is an award-winning wedding photographer based out of Philadelphia. He's been in this profession for over 28 years and that definitely shows in his wonderful images. It was a great piece to create for him so that he can showcase his work during the Wedding & Portrait Photographers Convention in February.

Gerard Tomko is also a survivor, he battled and beat cancer this last year and is now back to work and creating wonderful images. We personally wish him well, much success and continued good health!

To visit his site for more information on his images or to schedule your upcoming nuptials....http://www.gerardtomko.com

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

We have a lot of customers inquiring about if they need an ISBN number and Bar Code for their books. While we posted about this topic before, I think it’s important enough to reprint the original posting here:

Do I need an ISBN Number and/or a Bar Code? The answer to that depends upon your needs. Let’s start with the ISBN Number. You are not legally required to have an ISBN number. It simply depends upon if and how you are going to sell your book. So, if you are selling your book through workshops, direct mail or through the Internet, you most likely will NOT need an ISBN number or Bar Code.

If you plan to sell your books through retail chains, specialty stores or catalogs, (Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.) you will most likely be required by the reseller to obtain an ISBN number for your book for inventory and general ordering purposes.

Here's Why: An ISBN number identifies a book title or edition from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition, meaning that it can never be reused. This also means that if you sell both a hard copy and a soft cover of your book, you must have two unique ISBN numbers.

The ISBN itself is a 10-digit number that is divided into four parts separated by hyphens. The first part of the ISBN is a group or country identifier. The second part is a publisher identifier. The third part is a title identifier. The last digit is a check digit used to validate the ISBN. In other words, the ISBN is a code that identifies your book around the world. You can apply for an ISBN number by contacting Bowker, who is the U.S. broker for ISBN numbers.

Now for the Universal Product Code (UPC), also known as the Bar Code. This is a computerized product identification system. Your ISBN Number is NOT the same thing as your Bar Code. Most retail chains require both a ISBN Number and Bar Code. However, the ISBN Number can be translated into bar code format. When you purchase your ISBN number through Bowker, you can also purchase the Bar Code, or you can find a list of UPC Code (or Bar Code) suppliers here.


ISBN Numbers and UPC Codes and their costs.

Bowker is the U.S. broker of ISBN numbers. This is the place to go to get your number. Usually, Bowker sells numbers in blocks of 10, for approximately $250, or a cost of $25 per book. This price also includes the UPC Code (Bar Code) which you will also need. If you don't wish to purchase ISBN Numbers in blocks of 10, you can purchase a single ISBN. However, it's not as easy and it is not as cost effective. You have to call Bowker directly at 877-310-7333 and request a faxed application for $125.00. I haven't yet been able to find the form downloadable from their site. Additionally, this cost of $125.00 is for the ISBN number only and you have to purchase the bar codes separately for a cost of $25.00.

You don't have to purchase the bar code from Bowker though, there are other options available. If you want to do it yourself, there is a whole list of ISBN software available online for generating your own codes, or you can try companies such as Bar Code Graphics that will create the bar code image for you for about $10.

On a final note, you may also want to consider registering your book with Bowker's directory "Books in Print". This is their master list of all books available. Oddly enough, when you buy your ISBN number from Bowker, you aren't automatically registered into their master list.

Monday, January 19, 2009


Picturia Press has collaborated with Cheryl Brown in the past and was thrilled when she asked us to help her create and launch her new website. Cheryl is a wonderful Art Director who has worked with clients such as LL Bean and Eddie Bauer.

For more information about Cheryl, or her company CBROWNCREATE, you can visit her website here.

Saturday, January 10, 2009


It's hard to believe how quickly time is passing and now Valentine's Day is only a month away. This is the perfect time to start planning that special way to proposed to your sweetheart. Proposal books are a unique and romantic way to tell the story of your love through pictures and words and something you can both treasure for years to come.

This year, Blurb is having a promotion that will give you a $75 credit (wow!) for sharing your engagement story with them. The contest runs through February 14 and they will announce the winner on February 16th. For more information, you can read Love Bound on the Blurb Blog.

Picturia Press will be happy to work with you to design something very special that will "pop the question" in an unforgettable way.