Frequently Asked Questions

Who prints my book?

Every order is printed and bound by Lulu Direct, our print-on-demand partner. Nothing is pre-printed or kept in a warehouse. Your book is made specifically for you after you place your order.

How long does it take to arrive?

Your book is printed and shipped within about 2 weeks of ordering, and shipping time depends on the method you choose at checkout. See our Shipping page for full details, including timing for international and military addresses.

Can I return my book or request a refund?

All books are custom printed just for you and can't be returned. If yours arrives damaged, contact us within 30 days with a photo and we'll send a free replacement.

This covers books that arrive physically damaged, defective, or incorrectly bound. It doesn't cover changes of mind, or mistakes in your own design, like typos, cropped photos, or layout choices, since those print exactly as you approved them. Double-check your book in the Preview step before ordering.

What if my book never arrives?

Contact us and we'll look into it with Lulu. Orders that are confirmed lost in transit are eligible for a free reprint.

Can I change my order after I’ve placed it?

Once an order is submitted for printing it can't be edited or canceled, since printing starts quickly. Please review your book carefully in Preview before checking out.

What sizes and bindings are available?

You can choose from several trim sizes (Digest, 6x9, 8.5x11, A4, and Small Square) and three binding options: Softcover, Hardcover, and our premium Linen Wrap hardcover (available on every size except Small Square). You'll see live pricing for your exact spec while you design your book.

Why do pages go up in twos?

A sheet of paper has two sides, so pages arrive in pairs. There is no way to bind half a sheet. In the editor you add a spread, which is the two pages you see facing each other when the book is open, and your page count moves by two each time.

Every binding also has a minimum: 32 pages for softcover, 24 for hardcover and Linen Wrap. A shorter book still prints at the minimum, with the last pages left blank, and the editor tells you before you order rather than letting the parcel be the surprise.

There is a maximum too: 800 pages, which is the largest book our print partner can bind, and about 1,100 photos. If you have more than that, the happiest answer is usually two volumes rather than one enormous book, and you will be told while you are still choosing photos rather than at checkout.

Can I make the editor dark?

Yes. In your Profile, under Editor surroundings, choose Dark. It changes the photo library and the area around your pages to a soft grey while you edit. Your book itself does not change: pages look and print exactly the same either way. The choice is saved on the device you make it on, so set it again on a phone or a second computer if you want it there too.

Why do my Google Photos imports not know where they were taken?

Google Photos does not pass location on. Its import gives us the picture and the date it was taken, and strips the GPS coordinates your camera recorded, so photos that arrive that way have no location for us to read. This is Google's choice and applies to every app that imports from it, not just ours.

It matters when you organize a book by place. With coordinates, chapters are cut from where you actually stood. Without them, we look at the photographs instead and recognise the places in them, which works well for somewhere distinctive and less well for a meal or a portrait against a blank wall. Those land in a final chapter rather than being filed somewhere wrong.

If you want chapters cut from real coordinates, add the original files from your phone or computer rather than importing from Google Photos, and keep location switched on when you export them. On a Mac, Photos has an “Include location information” option when you export.