Tips of making photo books

A few tips for making photo books easier

1. I copy all of the pictures I want to put in my book into a separate folder to make it easier to upload.  I always name my pictures the same when I download them to my computer to make it easier to put them in order.  I use the format YYMMDD (ie 110121 for today).  This keeps pictures in chronological order across multiple years.  My mom & sister use a different format, so I rename theirs to match my format so when I go to put them in the book, they are already in order.
1. For example, if I'm making a book for 1 of the boys, I go through all my pictures for the year, & copy them into a folder with their name on it.
2. If I'm really organized, I might do this a few times throughout the year so it isn't as overwhelming.
2. It takes a while to upload the pictures to Winkflash (or any site you use), so I usually set it up before I go to bed to upload while I sleep.  Winkflash does have a photo transporter that's a little faster.
1. Again, I try to do this 2-3 times a year so at the end of the year it doesn't take as long.
2. I try to keep them all in the same folder.  Occasionally I get too many & I have to do them in 2. 
3. If you do a classic cover with Winkflash, then you can have the title embossed (except on the lighter colors).  If you use a window cover, it shows a picture.  If you are doing a vacation, I think the window cover is really nice.  If you are doing a specific year, I like the classic cover so I can see the title, but that's just my preference.
4. You can choose a theme, which will automatically set up colors & layouts for you.  Once you select one, I haven't figured out how to change it.  You might want to look at the colors that will be used before you start doing too much work, in case you don't like it.  If you select one & then click create my book, it will get you started.  I think you have to start all over if you want to change all of them.  You can change them as you go, but it's each page separately.  If you add a page after you start, it doesn't change the rest of the book. 
1. For example, I just did a book that had 4 different pages (Simple).  I added a page in the middle after I had a lot of it done, & it just repeat the color of  the page before instead of changing it to match the pattern if that makes sense.  It was A, B, C, D, A, B, etc.  I added a page between C & D & it became A, B, C, C, D, A, B.
5. You can have it auto load into the book or do it yourself.  I like to do it myself, but then use their image organizer. If your pictures aren't in order, I definitely wouldn't do auto load. I can do a general layout of what pictures on which page, but it will pick a layout.  I can always change it, but I think it makes it faster.
1. If you upload your pictures in order & they don't show up in order, go to your home page in Winkflash, you can change the sort on the top right hand top to Title (A-Z) & that will help sort them within your folder as well.
6. You can put 1 - 9 pictures on a page.  To change the layout, under template, you can pick how many pictures you want to add on each page.  They are also some that include journaling.  The full page ones are nice.  I also use 9 on the page & they aren't too small to see.
7. You can change the color background, on the background page.  I saw 1 book done with all black background & white font & it looked really nice.  I used to do all white because that was all they had & it wasn't bad.  I like simple so it doesn't distract from the photos.  You can also change the font & size and color of the font.
8. I don't label every picture if it's obvious what's in the picture.  For the boys books, I just make sure every few pages I have a date somewhere so I know when the pictures where roughly taken.
9. It does put a checkmark on the picture as you use it, so you avoid duplicates.

I'll add more tips as I think of them.  If you want to see some of my books, just let me know.

This advice comes from making multiple books & learning how to make things a little smoother.  If you only knew how long my first few books took.  I don't give you all of this information to overwhelm you but hopefully make it easier.