Matt Terry is conducting a full-on sample-mania comparison. He’s ordered samples from several companies to add to his impressive collection: Asuka, Vision Art, CMYK, Mpix, Zook, WHCC, and (of course!) KISS. Here’s the link to the post he started on OSP, so you can follow his research.

Here’s what he’s said about KISS so far (we’ll keep you posted as he continues his research):

The customer service has been superb to this point and the ordering process was so “simple” no complicated odd size templates… no file checkers… not 400 different options on where i want my text branded… just simply drag and drop a folder onto a “java applett that preloaded” and i went to bed… woke up and its done. Simple! keep in mind that this is my first order… i had my album designed in a folder already in spreads named 001, 002,… so the only thing i had to do is rename the folder to my order number and drag and drop. very simple. you can tell it is a album company run by photographers for photographers. i cant wait to see the finished product!

If you get your order in by December 3rd, we should be able to get it into shipping by the 14th without you having to pay RUSH fees. It’s up to you to select the appropriate shipping beyond that. We may be able to produce books after the 3rd, with a RUSH, to get them to you before Christmas. No other album company goes that deep into December! We do it all for you! We love you!

Happy booking!

I was trolling around on OSP today and saw a few KISSes from folks. Shaun and I are so appreciative of all the positive feedback. You all rock!

From Libbie:

I recently got my first KISS book and it is fantastic.

I found KISS to be super easy to work with. Their rep Phylicia kept in contact with me beautifully and even notified me when I’d accidentally placed an image too close to a margin. Super customer service! I can’t speak to Graphi, Asuka, or Zook personally although I’ve heard good things about them all. I’ve also used PictoBooks a few times and they did a great job, and their product is very nice, although they are more expensive than KISS and provide a nearly identical product so I’m sticking with the lower priced option with more personalized customer service.

From Jenny

…their customer service and turnaround time is amazing, not to mention the incredibly easy ordering system. Wish all companies would follow their lead with the design of the ordering system. I am so tired of things being complicated…

From Jeff

We do KISS 8×8 books exclusively for our guestbooks, and clients LOVE them. I do a quick design in InDesign, and then shoot KISS a PDF and they rock it from there.

From Trevor

try kiss… they rock.

From Mark

Ditto some more… Kiss rocks dudes! Thanks Kevin and Shaun!

From Melissa

I Love KISS

From Andrew

I will second visionart and KISS, those are the two albums that we use and we love both of them.

From Sandra

I had a client meeting today and the couple oogled and ahhed over the Kiss book over of any of my other sample books. They really loved it. Thought it had really good craftsmanship, liked the “thicker” but not too thick pages, and the leather.

From TMiller

You rock… =o) You’re officially my mid to high end album for 2008.

From Jules

got my sample book today. Totally rocks! GORGEOUS!

From Tim

Just got my triple volume sample album (148 pages/74 spreads!!!!) and it’s freaking AWESOME!!

I LOVE that Kiss is constantly improving their books and never satistied with status quo!!!

Seriously, I’ve shown these to several potential brides already and they have ALL been VERY impressed!!! I’ve been told these books make me stand out over the competition they’re checking out and they want one!!!

I decided since I’m only offering Brown, Black and Red, that we’d do my sample in each color!!! So I don’t even need swatches!!

Kevin and Shaun take you through the ordering process for a KISS Book!