The ability to publish your own professional-looking hardcover or softcover books these days is incredible.

It doesn’t just have to be a photo book anymore. It could be a family recipe book, a custom children’s book, a personal travel log, a book of poems, a personal memoir…. anything!

Anyone can use a number of publishing websites to design beautiful custom books. The most affordable options are Costco, Shutterfly, Walgreens, or CVS.

If you want to get a little fancier (which will be very tempting once you see how lovely these books are), your options include:

Blurb

An advanced publishing platform for anyone to publish books and magazines (and even sell them online)

MyPublisher

The publisher with the most customization options, for those who love to spend hours figuring out the perfect layout and design

Mixbook

A relatively new publishing site that allows you to throw together an elegant photo book quickly without having to make a lot of design decisions

Kolo

Kolo, the makers of perhaps the nicest physical photo albums you can find, offers these lovely custom options for publishing your own books online