Epson's StoryTeller Photo Book Creator Makes Publishing Your Own ''Best Seller'' of Cherished Memories a Snap at Home

Business Wire, Feb 22, 2005

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Easy-to-Use Kit Gives Chief Memory Officers and Photo Enthusiasts Tools to Preserve and Share Special Occasions

Epson America Inc. announces the debut of the StoryTeller(TM) Photo Book Creator, a convenient, easy-to-use kit for creating and publishing personalized, hardcover photo books entirely at home that are ideal for gifts or display. StoryTeller Photo Book Creator provides Chief Memory Officers(TM) (CMOs) and photo enthusiasts everything they need to publish a book of their own photos to remember and share special events and memories easily and affordably at home.

Today's families have shelves and walls full of framed prints, shoe boxes overflowing with photos tucked away in closets and storage containers, computer hard drives nearing capacity that are filled with images, and large cumbersome albums that are often tucked away and forgotten. The PictureMate Family Memories Survey conducted by Harris Interactive in 2004 shows that over 50 percent of consumers polled have at least 500 photographs stored away and more than 30 percent of respondents said their family photos were disorganized. In addition to being a quick, easy and inexpensive way to organize and preserve images, Epson's StoryTeller Photo Book Creator finally enables users to create beautiful, professional-looking hardbound books right in their own home. The glossy cover and professionally designed page layouts enable anyone to quickly create a book of cherished memories and stories that can be shared and passed on, whether for display on a coffee table or as a gift for friends and loved ones.

"We have shown consumers what they can do with StoryTeller, and the response has been phenomenal," said Rodrigo Catalan, product manager, StoryTeller, Epson. "When you show someone your pictures and words captured in a book of this quality, it provokes a certain, unmistakable upwelling of emotion. The book consumers can create with StoryTeller will be at the top of the list of items they rush to save when fleeing a burning building."

About StoryTeller Photo Book Creator

StoryTeller Photo Book Creator kits are available in three different versions: a 5" x 7" book with 10 pages and an 8" x 10" book that is available with 10 pages or 20 pages. Both the 5" x 7" and 8" x 10" 10-page books hold up to 200 images, and the 8" x 10" 20-page book accommodates up to 400 images. Each kit includes easy-to-use EPSON StoryTeller Publisher software with professionally designed page layouts. Also included is the hardcover book with a unique, specially-designed adhesive binding system to hold the printed pages in place. EPSON Premium Glossy Photo Paper for exceptional page printing, two glossy book cover sheets with machine scored front and back flaps, and a clear book cover to protect the book round out the kit.

Creating a StoryTeller Photo Book

With StoryTeller Publisher software, creating the ultimate hardbound photo book has never been easier. StoryTeller Publisher is Windows(R) compatible and offers an intuitive menu with easy-to-use features and drag-and-drop controls, enabling users to author and publish a personalized story with their images and words. Users can make basic image enhancements, such as removing red eye, enhancing contrast, adjusting brightness, sharpening detail and applying special color effects with the click of a mouse. Although the software automatically crops and sizes images to fit the layout, users can also manually adjust the cropping and zooming. Annotations in special font styles and colors can also be used to add unique details and enhance the story.

StoryTeller Publisher features six theme options, including Celebrations, Passages, Rock & Roll, Storybook, Travelogue, and The Way We Were, to help transform ordinary photographs into an extraordinary story. Each theme features 10 inside page designs and three cover designs that can be used in any configuration for a total of 60 page layout options and 18 cover layout options. Each cover features a front cover design, book spine that allows users to insert text for convenient labeling, front and back flaps for author's notes, and an automatically generated thumbnail index on the back cover showing the photos featured in the book.

Convenient Printing with StoryTeller Photo Book Creator

StoryTeller Publisher is designed to work with all ink jet printers offering support for Windows 98 SE/ME/2000/XP operating systems. Optimal results will be obtained with Epson photo printers, which are capable of printing true photo quality images and which handle the long cover paper with ease. For use with non-Epson printers that don't support the printing of the 21-inch cover on the 5" x 7" version or the 29-inch cover on the 8" x 10" version, the software offers an option to create short covers using the extra EPSON Premium Glossy Photo Paper included in the kit. Easy-to-use controls, a full color printed manual, and online instructions help users navigate through printing options.

Pricing and Availability