Yearbook Editors Dilemna - Choosing the Right Yearbook Software

There are two main decisions that go into creating the perfect yearbook. The first is the software used to design the book. The second decision is ensuring that the printing of the yearbook goes easily and smoothly, mainly driven by the yearbook company you work with. With these two decisions under control, your school can count on having an amazing yearbook.

There are many different software options for creating the perfect yearbook. Each year, students make their yearbook the most important book for that graduating class. Many people keep their yearbooks for as long as they live and look back on them often. This puts a lot of pressure on the design and layout of the yearbook. There are companies that provide yearbook software for schools, but choosing the right one can be a daunting decision.

Types of yearbook software
 
For schools who wish to create the yearbook layout for themselves, there are many different kinds of yearbook computer programs to help. Choosing the right yearbook software is important for several reasons. First of all, the cost of the software is a large part of the yearbook budget. Secondly, the type of software that is chosen is important because each software program has different strengths and weaknesses.

Software	Difficulty of use	Image editing	Template available	Typical Cost (per license)	The "low-down"
Adobe InDesign	High	Yes	Yes	> $700	Industry standard tool, gives tons of flexibility but difficult to learn to use
Microsoft Publisher	Medium	Limited	Yes	$200	Easier to learn with great flexibility. There are some bugs in the software that may surprise you (e.g,. transparent images)
QuarkXpress	High	Yes	Yes	$500	Similar to InDesign. Robust tool with tons of flexibility, but more difficult to learn to use
PageMaker	High	Yes	Yes	$300	Older software, not in as much use anymore
Microsoft Office	Low	Limited	No	Depending*	If you know how to use MS Word, this is sometimes the simplest option. Not as flexible
PelicanSoft Yearbooks Desktop!	Low	Yes	Yes	$200	Solid yearbook tool with tons of templates. Some limitations on flexibility but built with a number of great utilities to make yearbooks easier (e.g., layout of profiles)

* Many computers are already loaded with the suite of Microsoft office tools (e.g., Word, Powerpoint). Purchasing a new license typically in the range of $250-300 (less for academic licenses)
 
Working with your yearbook printer
 
There are a number of yearbook companies that do a great job helping schools with their yearbooks each year. Jostens, Entourage Yearbooks, Lifetouch, and Taylor Yearbooks are a few of the most popular. There are 4 areas in particular you can ask your yearbook printer for help with in regards to your yearbook software.
1.       Templates & clip art - Get your hands on the library of templates and clip-art used. Most companies have a CD that they can distribute to help you get the basics right first. Entourage Yearbooks provides a good comprehensive "starter-kit" with templates & clip art.
2.       Electronic & printed proofs - Make sure to ask for both a printed and electronic proof (usually PDF) from your printer to make sure the book looks the way it does on your computer.
3.       Discounted software - Many yearbook companies can offer software at lower that list prices, ask about discounts and offers.
4.       Technical support - Your yearbook company can provide technical support beyond what the software company can usually provide on page specification and color palettes. Make sure you know who to contact for which questions.
 
Starting on your yearbook project
 
Creating a great yearbook involves more than just the software you use but you don't have to be hindered by the software either. Following the above steps can help you get past a lot of the common "pitfalls" other schools have run into. There are a few final things to keep in mind for anyone embarking on a yearbook project. First, it's a lot of coordination to create a yearbook. Be ready to be working with a lot of people. Second, the software you use can be your friend or enemy, choose the right one for you wisely. Finally, remember to ask your yearbook company for help, the better ones will have figured out a lot of the more technical problems for you already. 
 

Four Tips for Every Yearbook Advisor

A school yearbook is a publication with a ready audience, eager to purchase the volume, even doing so in advance. Yet a wise yearbook advisor knows that there are many things to attend to. Poor decisions along the way can lead to an entire student body that is unhappy with a book that they had hoped to cherish. How can such a catastrophe be avoided? All of the tips any yearbook advisor should take to heart begin with planning.

Tip #1 - Plan who will do the work
Early in the school year the decision should be made as to the yearbook publisher. There is no way to overcome problems that will arise due to procrastination. The school should have historical data as to the usual purchase rate for annuals. Samples from various publishers, with printing costs, can guide selection of the company to be used. Well known publishers such as Jostens, Entourage Yearbooks, Lifetouch, and Taylor Publishing have longstanding reputations for quality work. Be sure to inquire about specials such as cover upgrades or price breaks for changing from black and white to color. Once a selling price is set, a budget can be worked out. This will serve as a financial plan for the project

Tip #2 - Plan what the book will look like
This is the most critical issue to students. The yearbook should contain all the important memories of the school year. It is the advisor’s responsibility to see that these are presented in an organized and complete way. A yearbook can be made interesting by tying all the sections together with a theme. The theme can be almost anything, but it should be consistent throughout the volume. The sections of the book should include all of the activities that are important to school life. Even if only 2% of the student body participates in a certain club, there will be unhappy customers (and their parents) if that organization is left out of the yearbook. Create a sample layout for the sections, planning the number, size and style of pictures. This plan will guide the actual work.

Tip #3 - Plan and execute the collection of materials
Decide early on aspects of data collection. What software will be used to lay out the volume? The publisher will have formats that they will accept. Make sure that the editors know how to use the software and do a test run to be sure the publisher is receiving sample pages accurately. Choose who will do the photography, writing, and recording of names for labeling the pictures. Individual shots will usually be taken professionally, and at least one backup date will need to be scheduled for retakes and to cover absences. Who will take candid shots, and what will be their general style?

Tip #4 - Plan for and meet all deadlines
Create a time line with the various deadlines prescribed by the printer. Know when photographs, copy and art work is due and submit it on time, even early. Things always go wrong and publishers can be most flexible when errors are discovered early. Be sure the editorial staff understands when their portions of the project are due.

With good management a yearbook with well-preserved memories of the school year will be enjoyed by all.

A Review Of The Major Yearbook Companies

Yearbooks are very popular student keepsakes. Most people end up treasuring and keeping their yearbooks for the rest of their lives. Choosing the right yearbook company to print your yearbooks can be a confusing task, though; there are so many to choose from. Below, we take a look at a few things you should keep in mind when comparing the major yearbook companies.

Are They Quick?

When you've promised students they will have their yearbooks in hand by a particular date, it can be very frustrating dealing with a slow or inefficient company. Although LifeTouch and Josten's have reasonable turn around times, they do not come close to equaling the speed of Entourage Yearbooks. Entourage Yearbooks boasts the fastest turnaround time in the industry; with three to four week printing times, they blow the competition away in terms of speed.What's Included? Not all yearbook companies are made alike; this holds especially true when it comes to the kind of support and products that you'll get when you order your yearbooks. Although some yearbook companies offer a couple perks - Taylor Publishing and Josten's might throw in an extra thing or two - none include the comprehensive roster of items that Entourage Yearbooks does. As a dedicated yearbook company, Entourage Yearbooks provides templates, software and guides - basically, a complete starter kit that will help the process go as smoothly as possible.

How Much Does It Cost?

For many schools, prices are the deciding factor when it comes to which yearbook company they choose to print their yearbooks. Herff Jones, Taylor Publishing, LifeTouch and Josten's do not even come close to matching the competitive rates offered by Entourage Yearbooks. At Entourage, we understand that schools often work with tight budgets, and we're happy to offer very reasonable prices for our yearbooks.

Useful links on yearbooks

Article on yearbook planning for elementary and middle schools:

http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin/admin515.shtml

Message board listing on some of the challenges in putting together an elementary school yearbook

http://www.ptotoday.com/boards/free-all-_-pto/11375-elementary-yearbook.html

Useful article for yearbook advisors on how to put together a yearbook plan

http://www.ehow.com/how_2205627_plan-incredible-school-yearbook.html

Elementary School Yearbooks Offer More Than Just Memories

Elementary School Yearbooks Serve As Useful Learning Tool

Students who have the opportunity to assist in the creation of their elementary school yearbook may be surprised to learn how much fun and creativity goes into the process. Entourage Yearbooks has made the entire procedure a useful learning experience that students and teachers fondly remember.

There is a lot of planning and coordinating that goes into the creation of a year book. Not only are elementary school yearbooks a fond memory of the fun and excitement that took place during the year, but the process of helping to create the actual yearbook is an opportunity most students wouldn’t want to miss. Students enjoy collecting and organizing photos as well as selecting from hundreds of designs, colors and templates Entourage Yearbook offers to help create the most memorable yearbook ever.

Entourage Yearbooks makes planning and creating an elementary school yearbook fun, easy and interactive. Their dedicated yearbook publishing website has all of the necessary tools needed to create a yearbook. The web site offers great choices for collecting, organizing, and storing yearbook content. It allows yearbook staff members access to pictures that will be included in the yearbook. Students can also learn how to upload their favorite photo for inclusion.
Elias Jo, General Manager for Entourage Yearbook commented, “One of the biggest joys in working with elementary schools and PTAs is seeing the final product, and the joy it brings to all of the students and teachers that worked on the project from start to finish. They feel a real sense of accomplishment, and so do we.”

Planning and creating an elementary school yearbooks is simple since Entourage Yearbooks offers a variety of tools, customer service and computer software. All of the tools and templates Entourage offers are customized by category, so schools can select designs that are appropriate for their age groups.

To learn more about creating your elementary school yearbook online, visit http://www.entourageyearbooks.com/index.html

About Entourage Yearbooks
Entourage works with high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, colleges/universities, military groups and churches around the country to fulfill their yearbook publishing needs. They proudly offer the fastest turnaround time in the industry, and affordable prices. In most cases, Entourage Yearbooks are priced 20% below other companies.

For more information:
Kelly Dunford
Entourage Yearbooks
kelly@entourageyearbooks.com

Interesting article on what NOT to do in Elementary School Yearbooks

Article posted in Houston about what NOT to do for a school yearbook.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090523_ks_yearbook.d448278.html

Judge a Book by its (Hard) Cover

By: Printing News

What matters is how it's printed.
Making a hardcover book is simple. Just cut some sheets of paper, fold along the grain, punch holes, and sew it together. All you have to do next is seal the spine with glue, attach the cardboard cover, and viola, a hardcover book! Sounds easy, right? It is, but how exactly does a printer select the most viable printing solution when it comes to hardcovers? Which method works best for these books, digital or traditional offset printing? Many times these two options come to mind, and questions have been raised since the introduction of on-demand printing.

In the Classroom
For starters, digital printing has significantly affected the sales of hardcover books. According to Don Reisfeld, president of Morton Advertising, the demand for hard cover books is higher because of digitally printed high school yearbooks. Entourage Yearbooks and Express Press both offer cost-effective, on-demand yearbooks. Entourage does not require minimum order sizes, and ordering customized yearbooks is easy, according to the company's Web site, which also advertises its understanding of the 'business' of yearbooks and the stresses and demands of publishing.

Express Press uses variable data software to publish its selection of its Expressly-Yours yearbooks, but it took awhile to get to that step. When the company formed in 1978, the dated technology combining a small press and an ITEC paper plate dubbed the company a "quick printer."

"In 2000, we once again took advantage of new technology to be a 'quick printer.' This time though, instead of letterheads, envelopes, and multi-part forms, we became a quick printer of yearbooks. We use the HP Indigo five-color digital press," explained Founder Bob Clar. The digital press allows the company to offer school customers quick turn around and lower prices.
The prepress required in traditional yearbook printing in the past added to both cost and time. The Express Press staff turns out hard- covered, perfect bound yearbooks from start to finish in approximately seven weeks. Typically, the traditional yearbook publishers want the pages of the book to be available in January, for a delivery in May or June. With digital, the schools have gained many more weeks to gather information, which even includes some extracurricular activities and sports that have been previously overlooked due to time constraints.

The Internet plays a major role in the process, enabling schools in need of hardcover books to find Express Press, and place orders that are shipped nationwide. With the combination of the Internet and digital printing, Express Press, and its yearbook division, Expressly-Yours, is seeing continued growth. Because of new technological advances in the industry, the company's digital printing method is actually offset printing using liquid inks. HP Indigo uses an inking system that is transferred to a blanket—like traditional offset.

Besides yearbooks, hardcover photo books have also succeeded because of digital printing. Such books have kicked the market up a few notches, including HP's Shutterfly, which produces customizable, hardcover photobooks such as wedding albums, baby books, and vacation memories. Currently offered in five sizes, custom photo books are available with a variety of cover options. Other hardcover photo book sites on the Web include Apple iPhoto, Kodak EasyShare Gallery, and Snapfish. There are also Web sites that allow creation of personalized hardcover books, including www.picaboo.com and www.myphotobookcreator.com.
Photo books have been on the rise lately, and growth is increasing annually. All of Snapfish's fulfillment partners print the books on HP Indigo 5500s, which use HP's ElectroInk technology. ElectroInk is a liquid ink that combines the advantages of electronic printing with the qualities of liquid ink.

John Jacobson, Jr. from On Demand Machinery (ODM), a manufacturer of book binding equipment, said photo book sales took off because of the digital market. "You can now make a hard cover book for $30, whereas back in the day it would cost hundreds. Photo books took off even without advertising and tons of work."

You Be the Judge
Aside from photo books and yearbooks, digital printing has had a major impact on other hardcovers as well. New authors can publish books easily and for less money, and first-time publishers can make hard cover cookbooks, how-to guides, and poetry books to name a few.
However, compared to offset-printed hard cover books, digital paper stocks can be difficult to bind. Also, the scuff resistance tends to be better on offset printing than on digital products.
Offset printing is still the most common form of high-volume commercial printing. While digital presses are getting closer to the costs and benefits of offset, they have not yet been able to compete with the volume of hardcover books an offset press can produce—the more materials printed, the lower the costs.

Typically, any additional print costs are minimal, but on the flip side, there are many unused hardcover books left over, and stored in warehouses.

"That has to do with production quality. You can print 2,000 books on offset and go back and print more, depending on how strong the demand is for the book," explained Paul Parisi, president of Acme Bookbinding. "You can also do a digital print at first, then go offset when you need more copies."

Acme Bookbinding uses Mekatronics Ultrabind equipment for all its short run and single copy binding. "(Ultrabind) is designed to handle single copy books of any size, one after another—all different, with a fully self-adjusting process that requires no operator knowledge or adjustment," explained Parisi. The company recently purchased its third Ultrabind, and still has its first machine, which is 18 years old. It "continues to run like a charm," described Parisi about the quality of the equipment.

Practical Applications
Borders, paired with Lulu.com, launched a personal publishing program recently. The idea is to provide consumers with a quick an easy way to produce personal hardcover books on demand. Borders revealed the program at its first concept store in Ann Arbor, Mich., at its digital center, through interactive kiosks. Compared to the full Lulu.com catalog, the templates are options are limited, however, they will offer the convenience of making and then receiving a book in a physical store, rather than going completely through an online interface.

The program will be accessible through the kiosks in 13 additional concept stores planned to open this year. Also, existing stores will offer personal publishing how-to books, as well as information on the personal publishing program.

Lulu.com CEO Bob Young said the thousands of writers and readers visiting Borders each week have their own stories to tell, and now, because of the personal publishing program, nothing will stand in their way.

The Verdict Is in. Or Is it?
ODM published a how-to guide, featuring hardcover bookbinding and producing books for the on-demand digital industry. In the pamphlet, the company illustrates how to produce single copy, hardcover books in large quantities.

"The sales of hardcover books are going up, because digital printing is creating opportunities that once didn't exist," said Jacobson. He also said that digital printing may eliminate offset printing in the hardcover market. "We may see offset's demise. Digital is now more affordable, and people can benefit from this."Jacobson also compared digital printing versus offset printing for hardcover books to Apple iTunes taking over Wal-Mart's position as the number one music retailer, according to a consumer survey. Apple Inc. statistics state that iTunes has sold more than four billion tracks since its launch in 2003, thanks in part to the popularity of its line of iPod portable music players. He mentioned that this clearly points to the status of the digital revolution. "Books are next," he said.Despite his vision of an all-digital world of print, Parisi feels offset is here to stay. "Offset will always be here, and digital will always be here. People still listen to the radio. People still go to the movies. Offset and digital printing both have a place in the market—it depends on who you are and the nature of the product; you're not going to print Harry Potter on a digital press. If you're printing a high volume, you're going to go offset."
Trading Podcasts for Hardcovers