Parent Albums – Keeping the Peace and your Profits

There have been countless questions about parent albums over the years and even more hours spent walking through the strategies and options that I’m surprised I haven’t written it all down to share with you guys on the blog !! Just within the past week I have helped a few photographers on this very subject! Perfect timing.

Here are some questions that are on many photographer’s minds – along with some seasoned advice and successful implementation:

What size should I do for parent albums VS. the main album?

Ideally, you’ll want to have thought about the scale down issue before choosing your main album size.  You will want a main album format that is painlessly scaled down if needed – without a fuss – by either you, me, or the book binder if they offer to do this for you automatically. Please don’t assume that just because an album company offers a SQUARE book… that this is a no-brainer.  Some press-printed books with gutters and trickier bleed margins are not actually square. They are usually slightly ‘off’ the assumed rounded numbers. Gutters can change width books that do not have a lie-flat construction – so a simple scale down won’t work in all cases.  Thankfully, most regular ‘flush mounted’ albums do use ‘whole numbers’ like 12×12 is really 12×12 or 8×8 etc. Do check your specs … or have me look for you.

For the rectangular formats – the math can get trickier depending on the album company, but most will offer a range of options in different aspect ratios that will scale down nicely like the beautiful 15×10 > 12×8.  Albums like 14×11 will be ‘off’ by a wee bit… which will take an extra touch after to trim off the canvas of one end. Not the end of the world – but wouldn’t it be nicer to avoid that completely? 🙂  Hey, I just noticed at West Coast albums – they have a size chart where they have actually considered the pesky 14×11’s quirkiness !!!  I haven’t seen this before. Cool! I thought I was the only neurotic one that found this math so aggravating!

Before you make any specification promises to your couple and their parents…. do a bit of math first and make sure the appropriate sizes that scale well – or at least very, very closely – are offered.

Some companies will offer a range of sizes that they will scale down for you ! Like Graphistudio – even though their ‘sizing numbers’ are not whole numbers and a bit unusual … they will scale down for their line of books and they’ll make it happen for you.  Companies like Finao, Renaissance, Queensberry and Vision Art will size down the files for you too as long as the math works !! Always note however, that cover templates for styles like acrylic, metal, photowraps will always need their own unique template size specific to each book ordered.

What type of book or album should I use for the parents VS. the main album?

There are many different options!

• a flush mount album of the same book model, type and construction – either same size as the main album – or smaller scaled down size. Examples abound in most all album companies – like Renaissance, Finao, Leather Craftsmen, Pictobook, West Coast albums, Queensberry etc…. hundreds. Another idea is with VisionArt – you could do an ‘Original Fine Art‘ or the for the main album – and the VisionArt ‘Dulce’ line with is less $ but with a fabric cover – the inside pages are the same construction. The Photo Art has thicker pages… so a higher perception of quality maybe?
• a press printed book that lays flat, that can be ordered at the same time (if the same design is the SAME as the main album) – thinner pages, may or may not have the same cover material choice as the main album. You might be able to have leather… but perhaps will only be fabric …. or perhaps you can do an optional photowrap cover instead. Examples include Finao RAVE press book or Pro-dpi press printed books with layflat binding.  Keep in mind that different models might require different file set ups or ordering steps….
• a thinner paged book but with genuine photographic prints but NOT press printed – like a Finao playBOOK or a Finao playPAL.
• a totally different thought – is a simple self-mount album (like a Finao Elements)  or a self-assembly matted album like a Seldex Gallery – that holds just one featured image per page.

What should we do if the grooms parents don’t want the same images that the bride’s parents do?

Usually photographers try to sell the parent books as exact duplicates as the main album – but despite their efforts, ultimately one side, or both, decide that they would like some different images in their copy.  Maybe less friends of the couple, maybe less ‘getting ready’ images of the bride, maybe removing the other sides extended family etc. This is understandable, and very common. What I suggest is basing the foundation of the album on the main couple’s album but have the parents look through this proof and pick out which images they want to swap out with their own favorites. Send me each parent’s set of images that they prefer and I can swap them out for you.  This can be better because it’s more ‘controlled’ than say, ‘go ahead and let me know which albums you want in your album’ …. because they are more likely to send dozens of random images rather than some strategic swaps – it’s human nature.  We would then make changes to each parent set as needed – keeping the couple’s album design in tact.

What should we do if the parents are divorced and/or remarried?

No problem at all. Same as above !  Experience with this is to tread very carefully and don’t make any assumptions. Let them tell you which ones to remove – and sometimes, they may want to move images onto separate pages. I have done this before !!! Same layout = too close … sometimes. Not to take advantage of an unfortunate marital situation … but this does mean an extra album sale for you. I know terrible…. and I can’t believe I typed that – but it’s a fact. One or two, additional albums for the book binder to print and bind ! Some couples need to buy even four different parent album sets in addition to their own main album.

How can I protect my profit margin with the parent album sales – they don’t want to spend as much?

There are different ways that you can save money – and at different amounts from small to large.

• $ – order the exact same book that the couple is getting, at the same size – and use a company that provides a discount % off per cloned book (not all companies do this refer to their price guides) Consider the difference if you bought a main album – and then 3 albums at a smaller size – will they only discount 2 because they are a different size? rather than 3 if all the SAME size…. check on this and calculate the difference. Again, do this homework BEFORE you give info to the families on what they are getting. 😉 I know that Graphistudio and Renaissance do offer clone % off discounts for IDENTICAL books ordered.  Asuka offers increasing % off for volumes of books depending on the qty ordered – the more bought, the higher the discount.
• $$ – order along with the main album a set of parent books of a different book model – a lesser priced book like the press-printed books or Finao playBOOKS or a Finao PlayPALS. They don’t cost as much as a full high quality leather cover type heavier flush mount book – there’s a big price savings right there.  Finao PlayPALS are photo books with skinny pages and seamless pages and can be ordered with a minimum qty of 3/6 great for giving away for samples etc. These must be ordered with a main album – not a standalone order. The playBOOKs CAN be ordered standalone… that’s the difference – I know it can be confusing.

• $$$ – Some companies like Graphistudio have two different options for parents – ‘parent book’ and ‘pocket books.’  Parent books are constructed the same as the main album but with a by default printed hard back cover BUT you can upgrade for a % fee to increase the page thickness or the cover to a leather. Bonus – you get dupe discounts but the upgrades will eat into the savings ! Pocket books are just that – tiny and will likely have a perfect binding and softer cover. My experience is that parents really don’t want a miniature book 😉
• $ – if losing a duplicate % off discount isn’t going to happen because images are different in everyone’s books – then you can save them some cost by deleting layouts – less pages in their versions. Try, if you can, to delete whole layouts … not bits and pieces here and there and consolidating – just a lot of work that can otherwise be avoided and save time. This can be done no matter what type of book model you’re looking at doing for the parents.

• $ – this is often overlooked …. but don’t forget about SHIPPING costs !!  Some album companies do NOT DROP SHIP to your various addresses for either international legal reasons, they don’t want to be liable, or they will include the invoice papers by default in with the books. Others will drop ship (like Finao and Vision Art).  Depending on your favorite album company see what they will do. If they WILL drop ship, you will save money because you won’t have to pay for shipping from THEM to YOU and then YOU to each CLIENT.  However, the benefit to paying more for shipping and getting it ALL to you first… is quality control. You can review the products first to be safe because things can indeed happen.

I’ll probably think of more tips later….. will add if some pop to mind ! I hope that this helps you and let me know if you would like any help designing your couples’ album and their parents albums by filling out our contact form.