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A brand spankin’ new website that all you shutterbug mamas are going to love is Inkubook.com.  Well it’s not quite brand new, although they did only launch publicly a few months ago (July 2008). 

Inkubook allows users to design, share, buy and even collaborate on photo books.  Right now there are three sizes available, but according to the site there will be more sizes added in the near future. 

Photo books are available in soft and hardcover (though availability depends on size), and start at just $13.95 for 20 pages.  You can have up to 12o pages in a photo book!  (Right now they’re running a special until October 15, 2008 where you can get a free photo book if you’re a new member… read on for details!)

These Inkubook photo books are definitely great for documenting anything in your life, whether it’s a book full of “baby’s firsts,” a scrapbook style book full of vacation photographs, or a book featuring full color scans 0f your child’s artwork.  You can add text alongside your images, whether it’s just a short anecdote or a poem special to you.  Ooh, and you never have to worry about your photos fading in an Inkubook, because each of these professional quality books is printed with 100 lb archival quality silk paper.  oOoOoh fancy!

A very unique feature that Inkubook offers is the ability to have friends and family submit images and text for your photo book.  Once your invitees login or sign up, they can then preview the photo book and upload their own images and text (maybe even giving you a fresh perspective of your fond memories) for your consideration that you can incorporate into your final design.

My take on the site and software:

• You will need to have Microsoft Silverlight installed on your computer in order to use the photo book creation software.  This is no biggie in my book, after all, how many online apps need Adobe Flash to work?  So if you don’t have it, go to Microsoft.com and download it.
• The ability to instantly grab your photos from your Flickr account makes Inkubook even more awesome by allowing Flickr users who religiously upload to just click and go.  You will have to authorize Inkubook  on Flickr to access your pics. Don’t worry, this is painless and the directions are right on Inkubook the first time you try to do it.
• What I don’t like too much is the inability to use uploaded photos on multiple albums without uploading those same photos multiple times.  For example, if you started album A with a template and theme set that you later decided wasn’t going to work for you, any photo/text you uploaded can only be visible from the interface for album A and will not be available to you within the interface of album B unless you re-upload them.  Okay, so you avoid this totally if you use Flickr or if you upload to Flickr first so…. this isn’t all that bad, since you can after all get a Flickr account for free.
• I’d like to see the ability to add text with a wider variety of fonts and with cool effects like wavy text, etc. (Nothing too cheesy, Inkubook photo books have class and we don’t want take away from that.)
• Overall, the customization options, fresh themes and templates available, and the promise of even better features to come with Inkubook make this relative newcomer to the online photo book world a worthy competitor for all the other consumer photo book sites, and Inkubook deserves your perusal and consideration.

I am just super excited to get my photo book.  I ordered it tonight so I should be getting it some time in the next week or so.  Of course my book is full of littleQ photos, but only from the last year.  When I have my photo files all situated and sorted out I’ll make another one from birth to 3 years (his birthday is in February) as a scrapbook for his toddler years.  It’ll be great to see how Inkubook grows and evolves to be an even better photo book service than it already is.  After all, Inkubook is still young.

So I know, you’re now dying to find out how you can get started and most importantly, how you can get your awesome Inkubook photo book for free like I mentioned before.

1. Sign up with Inkubook and start making your free digital scrapbook
2. Using the “Invite Friends” feature, invite someone to join Inkubook and submit a few photos/page designs to include in your book.  Inkubook will send them a promotion code to use for a free digital scrapbook. 
3. Finish your book and order it using the promotion code BBY944. Hurry, offer only good for new members who join Inkubook on or before October 15, 2008! For promotion details, visit http://inkubook.com/freekidsbooks.

Just keep in mind that it will only work if at least one of your invitees joins in the fun and submits something for your photo book.  It’s so worth it though, because your free Inkubook photo book can be ANY size and can be up to 120 pages.  All you’ll pay for is shipping.

Also if you’re a graphic designer or digital scrapbooker, I just want to give a heads up that Inkubook employees are currently on the look out for eye-catching designs that will be used (in exchange for compensation of course) on the site.

When my photo book arrives I’ll update you all on how it came out, with pics of the final product!

Technorati Tags: Inkubook, photo book, digital scrapbook, free photo book, photos, photographs, memento, memory book, photo album, album

I got my Inkubook! – Here’s my review of the final product

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