We often get asked, “Why entrust our yearbook with United Yearbook?” After all, the yearbook is a critical part of the school’s legacy. The easiest answer would be to start listing what we as a yearbook publisher can do for you; the products, services, options, innovations, and support that United Yearbook provides to all our clients. But the first question is a why question. We want you to relax this summer and rest assured in knowing that your 24-25 yearbook will be the best it can be. So, here is why we are in the yearbook business, why we do business the way we do, and why we would like a chance to serve you.
A Glimpse of Our Story
Our founder-president, Sarah Tse, was already in the publishing industry when she was introduced to the yearbook business by a former yearbook representative of a national yearbook publisher in 2007. She immediately saw that there had to be a better way to do business built on principles like service, integrity, character, honesty, commitment, respect, and care. With those operating principles as a foundation, she began United Yearbook. And that why is what drives our how. It drives the way we do business.
It ensures that we operate with integrity and honesty. It means that all costs are spelled out clearly in the contract; there are no unexplained charges, hidden fees, or surprise add-ons. It pushes us to under-promise and over-deliver (not the other way around).
It causes us to look at schools as partners, not just as customers, and to see ourselves as fellow educators, not just as publishers. We respect the advisors we work with, and that partnership is crucial because creating a yearbook is a challenge: In a culture where individuality is prized, how do you get your staff to work as a team? In a world where every student walks around with a camera and many create their own digital content, why should they be interested in a book?
It encourages us to be creative and innovative, always looking for new ideas both in our book designs and how we operate. We recognize that each school culture is unique, so cookie-cutter solutions are not helpful. It also reminds us that our reputation rides not only on every book we produce but also on every phone call and every conversation.
What United Yearbook Offers
Now we come to the what: the services and products, options and innovations that we offer. We help our partners create books to be proud of, both in quality and creativity. This is what we do for all our clients, whether you are a school, a police department, a church, or a yearbook photography studio that provides services to the former. Together, we create a memorable yearbook.
Innovative designs: We want you to come up with fresh, out-of-the-box ideas, and we want to be the ones who help bring them to life. We’ve helped publish a wide variety of exciting and innovative yearbooks. We specifically encourage yearbook advisers and staff members to create without limitations. Our advisers’ have expressed great joy and confidence in knowing that their yearbook dreams are not only possible but come true at a price they can afford. Oftentimes, staff are penalized just for being creative. For example, they will be billed a substantial cost for adding treatments such as a gatefold or turned down when they request one-of-kind treatments such as double-sequin, lenticular, pop-up, and more At United Yearbook, we encourage you to be creative and never penalize you for that creativity. Some of our unique yearbooks are pictured below, a lenticular yearbook, a surfboard yearbook, a sequined yearbook, and a laser-cut yearbook. At the heart of our mission, we aim to walk alongside each adviser to bring those creative ideas to life. To check out even more of our innovative yearbook designs head over to our website.
In-class & virtual workshops: We take the educational aspect of yearbooking seriously because it’s not just about creating a book. We have tools and workshops to give students transferable skills and wisdom in design, photography, writing, project management, teamwork and interpersonal communication, ethics, time management, and marketing. We help you create a culture that inspires innovation, creativity, and collaboration; develops student leadership, and empowers your students to discover and use their talents with confidence.
Best-in-class software: Our software is clean, consistent, web-based, robust, very powerful, and has a short learning curve while giving you the ability to create eye-catching layouts. Some of the unique features include: the ability to collaborate with fellow staff members at the same time, project management and pagination, the ability to assign users, rights, and pages, a built-in flight-check feature including spell check and spotting for inappropriate or controversial words, the auto-flow of portraits from an index file (takes less than 1 minute) which allows users to place hundreds to thousands of portraits directly to the panel pages, work with clipart imported from other sources such as Canva, the ability to save your layout and reuse them from year to year, and many more robust features that promote creativity, productivity, and collaboration.
Help in planning and designing your book: We’re not only there at the beginning when you sign with us. We’re with you from theme to colors to cover all the way to release day (and beyond if you need us). We understand that your yearbook needs may differ from other advisers, and they may even change yearly. One year, your staff members may need extra assistance using our software program, while the next year you may need more assistance in marketing the book. We are happy to fill in those gaps where needed and give you peace of mind throughout the year. We are partners in the process, and we customize our service to each client based on their specific needs each season.
Marketing plans and assistance: Bringing the yearbook to the student body is one of the most fulfilling parts of being an adviser. Working hard on such a vital book that doesn’t sell is disheartening. How and why consumers make purchase decisions evolves by the minute, and what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. United Yearbook has dynamic, field-tested, and real-world strategies to build awareness and anticipation for your book all year long.
How to Decide
Deciding on a publishing partner for your yearbook is a big decision with many factors. Among other things, you will need to ask:
Am I truly happy with my current publisher? Can I depend on them to deliver my yearbooks on time?
What are my biggest challenges, and does my current publisher give me the resources to meet them?
If there are things I want to do differently, will my publisher support my ideas and vision instead of discouraging them?
When you’re making your decision, trust is a huge factor, and when it comes to trust, it is important to see not just what a publisher can do, but why and how they do what they do. United Yearbook may be the best partner for you; the way we do business may — or may not — fit your wants and needs. But before you partner with any publisher, we encourage you to ask those why and how questions.
We want to hear from you and answer any of those critical questions you might have. Visit our website at this link to schedule an online appointment.
United Yearbook offers blogs on a wide range of topics. In addition, there are resources such as curriculum, and year-round workshops on this and other areas. Make sure to subscribe to our blog and our newsletter, and visit our website at www.unitedyearbook.net to learn more! United Yearbook is available to assist you throughout the school year including during summer break.
Copyright © 2024. TSE Worldwide Press. All Rights Reserved.
Contributor: Jessica Carrera, Associate Editor at TSE Worldwide Press and Marketing Manager at United Yearbook, holds a B.A. in English with a concentration in writing from Biola University. She aspires to touch the lives of others through her words.
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