I have been given the opportunity to test a new book publishing company out. Saal Digital have created a portfolio book for me and this is my honest review.
At first I was little skeptical as always with a new supplier. However, I downloaded the software for designing a book with Saal Digital. Their communication was always by email and was simple and straight forward and very clear to understand. T
he software download was smooth and opened up easily. I was already familiar with creating books, so their designing software was easy to get to grips with. If you've never designed a book before, then you may need one additional support.
Quite quickly, I became frustrated with the software as I felt it was too restrictive as is most other reputable book designing software. I felt that some of the ideas in my head for how I'd like my book to look wasn't met by the templates already supplied by Saal Digital. I did manage to overcome this by settling for one of their page templates and managed to create by book in the way I'd like.
Once I'd designed the book, ordering was very straight forward and the speed in which the book was finally delivered was astounding in comparison to companies like Blurb. My book was designed, submitted, published and delivered within one week.
Upon receipt of the book, it was very nicely packaged and protected well. My immediate thoughts were how nice the extra padding is. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect with the padding but it impressed me and has a nice finish to the book. It adds a nice quality feel to it that sets it apart from a Blurb book.
As you open the book, the lay flat pages that come as standard are printed on a good quality paper that feels like thin card and doesn't bend easily, so it feels safe and easy to turn the pages.
My photographs really work well on the paper and it felt nice to look through. Overall, I'm impressed with the book.
I'd definitely look at using All Digital for future books.