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The Complete Guide to Instagram Photo Books

Turn your Instagram posts into a Photo Book with ease

Put a stop to endless scrolling by organizing your precious moments in an Instagram photo book. Preserve each memory with captions, stickers, and unique backgrounds. Make it as big or small as your choose, or design multiple photo books to highlight different occasions.

If you're ready to get started, here's everything you need to know.

Photo Credit: Toa Hefitba

Benefits of transforming Instagram posts into a photo book

Though Instagram provides a platform for sharing your memories, your social media images may not showcase the same vibrance, depth, or sharpness as the original images on your phone. Instagram photo books preserve each photo's color, tint, contrast, and sharpness — so your memories look like they did the day you took the photos.

Other benefits include:

  • Preserving the quality of your photos.
  • Preventing the loss of an image due to a technical glitch.
  • Allowing you to group your pictures by category, memory, or event.
  • Providing room for long captions without character limits.
  • Allowing you to share your memories in a tangible and special way.

You also have the option to include stickers and personalized backgrounds to enhance each of your selected images. This is what makes Instagram photo books so unique.

How to turn Instagram photos into a photo book on Mixbook

  1. Begin by clicking SIGN UP from the Mixbook Studio menu to create an account. Next, click PHOTO BOOKS and choose a template from the many categories available.
  2. Next, click the Instagram icon from the Upload page, then ‘Allow’ on both popups. Select the photos you want to use, then click ADD TO PROJECT.
  3. Arrange your photos, then drop them into each template page.
  4. Add captions and stickers, or change your background from the left menu, then click PREVIEW to review your order. Once you’re happy with your project, click ORDER.
  5. Lastly, select your BOOK TYPE, BOOK SIZE, PAGE TYPE, and COVER, then ORDER.

Mixbook Studio’s intuitive interface makes designing and ordering your photo book a breeze. Save time by using prepopulated templates and stickers, or be creative and design your own. Every part of an Instagram photo book is fully customizable and personalized.

Mixbook Studio's quality and style options

Mixbook Studio's quality and personalization options are unmatched. Customize everything from your cover to your paper type and add as many extras as your heart desires.

Select one of three popular Photo Book covers

Mixbook provides three photo book covers: hardcover, lay-flat, and softcover.

  • Hardcover is the most popular choice due to its durability.
  • Lay-flat covers are seamless with thick pages; they also open flat and have no center gutter.
  • Softcover is a lightweight, flexible photo book for casual occasions, art, and portfolios.

Choose from multiple size and style options

Mixbook photo books are available in three styles: square, landscape, and portrait.

  • Square: Square photo books are available in four sizes: 6x6, 8.5x8.5, 10x10, and 12x12. These photo books are best for occasions like Mother’s Day, birthdays, and anniversaries.
  • Landscape: Landscape photo books have wide covers and display travel, birthday, and wedding photos the best. They’re available in three sizes: 8x6, 11x8.5, and 14x11.
  • Portrait: A portrait photo book has one size – 8.5x11 –suitable for coffee tables and bookshelves. This photo book is a popular choice for displaying images of seasonal events and daily moments.

Personalize each page with a caption or quote

Mixbook Studio offers photo book templates with ample space to place text. Drag and drop a text box from the left menu, then caption each image to give them context. Personalize these captions by changing the size and font style.

Add fun to your pages with stickers

Mixbook Studio offers an array of themed stickers for holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, and more. Use them as is or customize them using the filter bar. There's also an option to create stickers from your own images.

Choose the perfect background

Mixbook Studio provides unlimited backgrounds to highlight your precious moments. Choose a solid or gradient background to follow an Instagram-style aesthetic, or select a pattern to make each page unique and visually appealing. You can also upload an image to use as a custom background.

Instagram photo book inspiration

Photo Credit: @jessicanickson | Instagram

“Turning your memories into beautiful keepsakes is something you’ll never regret! The @Mixbook I created for Maverick was above and beyond what I expected and we keep it displayed in our living room.” @JessicaNickson

Mixbookers all over the world wrap their best Instagram memories in photo books. If you’re looking for a little inspiration to get started, check out these examples.

In this example, the Mixbooker created blank space on the left to write an introduction. Use this space to break your book into chapters or to add visual depth to each memory. The background they selected follows a color scheme that matches their images. You could choose a predesigned background for yours, or design one of your own.

Or, in this example, the Mixbooker has created a perfectly balanced Instagram photo book using a four-image spread and photos of the same size. To add depth, they used backgrounds in the same color family and a few stickers to make the images pop.

These are just a few of the many Instagram photo books created with Mixbook Studio. Mixbookers love their creations and rave about them online. Some are repeat customers, and many turn their memories into canvases or other Mixbook creations.

Photo Credit: @jesshogancrum | Instagram

“This year I made my in-laws a photo book from @mixbook of all our pictures from our beach trip a few weeks back. This is something they can put on their coffee table and look through from time to time. It’s a special way to capture memories and I know will mean SO much to them …” @JessHorganCrum

The difference between Mixbook Instagram photo books and traditional photo albums

Aside from the aesthetic, Instagram Photo Books have images printed on each page. Photo albums contain slots to insert photos or sticky pages to paste them on.

Photo books are also lighter, and every page contains a photo or graphic. Photo albums, on the other hand, contain many blank pages towards the back and are much heftier.

In addition to these immediate differences, there are other key areas where photo books and photo albums differ.

Durability

Photo albums have hard covers wrapped in plastic or fabric. This makes them easy to scratch, scuff, or stain. However, photo books with matte hard covers are smudge-proof, fingerprint-proof, and scuff-resistant.

Personalization

With photo books, you can choose from templates or create your own design. You also have the option of designing your background and stickers to illustrate your story, your way. Unlike photo albums, which only hold images, photo books provide room for quotes and captions.

Quality

Photo albums have hard pages protected with glassine interleaves. Over time, glassine gives way to the elements, becoming acidic and turning yellow. This gives a yellowish tint to the photos underneath – ruining their aesthetic.

On the other hand, photo books contain printed photos on high-quality, tear-proof pages in various finishes. This eliminates the need for protective interleaves.

Design flexibility

Photo albums have two basic bindings: ring and case. Ring binders allow you to rearrange pages, add more, or remove some. Case binding creates a spine, fusing pages at the center so you cannot rearrange them, similar to a photo book.

However, one major difference between the two is design flexibility. Although the pages are not removable, you can print your photos in the order you choose, eliminating the need for rearranging them.

You also have an option to select the orientation, size, and cover. Choose a hardcover, layflat, or soft cover to display your memories. Design your book further by selecting the paper finish and adding divider pages.

Cost-effectiveness

The price of a 300 image, 4x6 photo album ranges from $20 to $40. Each 4x6 photo costs an average of $0.14 to print. To fill this album, it would cost $42, bringing the total to between $62 and $82. To follow a theme, most people will purchase multiple albums, driving up the cost significantly.

Mixbook photo books are customizable, so the prices vary. However, the starting cost for a 20-page, 8.5x8.5 hardcover photo book (holding up to 120 photos) is $14.99. For the same cost as a photo album, you could purchase four additional photo books to give to your family and friends.

Frequently asked questions about creating an Instagram photo book

Before you get started on your Instagram photo book, check out these Frequently Asked Questions to make your process easier.

Are my photos shared with any third party?

Mixbook must share your photos, name, and address with carrier services and printers for production and delivery, per the privacy policy. However, we will not share your contact details with any marketing companies.

How much does an Instagram photo book cost?

Instagram photo books on Mixbook range in price depending on the number of pages, the cover, and the page type. However, the average cost of a 20-page, 8.5x8.5 hardcover photo book is $26.59.

How do I reach Mixbook customer service?

Reach out to customer service through the Live Chat feature on the Mixbook website. To do so, just click NEW CONVERSATION and type in your query.

What are your shipping options?

Mixbook offers four shipping options: Budget, Standard, Priority, and Express. Express shipping is the fastest option, and Budget is the most cost-effective. Each shipping option has an additional cost displayed at checkout.

International shipping: International shipments are subject to import fees and taxes. You are responsible for these charges upon delivery. Unfortunately, we cannot calculate these charges or include them in your final costs as we do not collect them.

Can I use low-resolution Instagram photos?

High-resolution photos are best for printing. If you have a low-resolution photo from Instagram, try using the original from your phone or computer. If you only have the copy on Instagram, use an app like Photoleap, Lightroom, Fotor, or Photoshop to improve the resolution before using it.   For magazine-quality prints, it's best to use photos that are at least 4MB and 300 dpi.

Can I use screenshots?

Yes, you can. However, some photos lose resolution after being screenshotted. Low-resolution images might display blurry in your photo book.

Designing an Instagram photo book is quick and easy with Mixbook

Are you ready to see why many Mixbookers love our Instagram photo books? If so, it’s time to create one of your own.

The Mixbook Studio platform is easy to navigate and user-friendly, and it takes seconds to create an account. Once you create your account, navigate to our Photo Books library to get started. Choose a template or start with a blank slate – it’s up to you.

Don’t miss the opportunity to preserve your Instagram memories using Mixbook today.

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