The following message is taken from Shay’s Facebook page.
As some of you already know, I’ve been working on updating Grandpa’s biography. Grandpa and I have spent months adding to the original biography that I shared in 2015. It now has pictures throughout and has tripled in length. We are ready to share it with all family and friends. We hope you enjoy reading about Grandma and Grandpa’s lives!
You are welcome to download your own copy of the biography to keep digitally. If you want it printed, there are a few options. Staples has the cheapest binding options I can find. For less than $5, they will coil-bind the book, and include a clear plastic cover page and a solid vinyl back page. Colour printing is the expensive part (.59 cents per page x 59 pages = $35) at Staples. At the Staples in PG, the print shop manager, Elliott, was willing to print the book in colour for me, at the price of black and white, because he noticed that the book is much more B&W than it is colour. This reduced the cost to .19 cents per page (.19 cents x 59 pages = $11.20). Choose the 8.5″ x 11″ version, and print it at 98% size, centered, and that allows enough space to coil bind the book.
I wanted Grandpa to have a more professional-looking book, so I sent a copy for him and a copy for me to the online company, PhotobookCanada.com.
They did a beautiful job of printing books for us. Their books are 8″ x 11″.
If you would like a lay-flat hardcover book, like the one Grandpa has, use this link to order: https://www.photobookcanada.
Grandpa paid $75 for this book, using a voucher code I found online for 60% off. Make sure you apply a voucher code to your order, as there always seems to be different discount codes available that change every few days.
If you would like a slightly cheaper hardcover book that doesn’t lay flat and is half as thick as Grandpa’s version (thinner paper), use this link to order:
I paid $65 for this hardcover book, using a voucher code I found online. It uses a different link because I had to edit the pages to be slightly narrower to allow for the binding. Depending on what coupons are available at the time, you might get this one for closer to $50.
Both of these links will expire when Photobook deletes them in 6 months on April 21, 2026.
Orders of $99 or more from Photobook are entitled to free shipping using a courier to your house. Get together with someone else to purchase 2 books together so the shipping is free for both of you.
On one of my orders I had to pay customs and duties, and on one order I didn’t. So . . . best of luck! It was only $20 on an order of $350, so not a big deal. They print the books overseas, unfortunately.
If you wish to use a different book printing company, you’ll probably need a .jpg file for each page. Let me know and I’ll be happy to send you the 59 .jpg files that are required to upload to the printing company.
I posted 2 versions of the .pdf file on the Pighin Facebook Group page. One version is 8.5″ x 11″ (on regular letter size paper) and one version is 8″ x 11″ for books that need white space to account for binding.
Don’t forget the addendum when you’re printing or downloading the biography. Grandpa remembered a couple more items he wanted included after the book was done, so we’ve made a 2-page addition to the biography to sneak in at the end.
Here is a link to the promotions at Photobook Canada. I usually wait until there is a good deal before I order them. You may be able to find better deals online as well.
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