Words, often criticized for being too concrete, have been slowly falling out of favor, with authors preferring to tell their tales via pop-ups, photographs, and interpretive ketchup blobs. Share your photographic memories with today's deal: for $10, you get one 20-page 8"x8" hardcover photo book from Shutterfly (a $29.99 list-price value). This Groupon cannot be used toward tax or shipping and handling, which starts at $7.99; it expires on October 28, 2011, and is limited to one per person.

Photo books contain 20 or more pages (up to 101 pages available for an extra charge) of photographically preserved time, printed on high-quality photo paper and professionally bound in a sturdy hardcover fold. Photo books are constructed online using the simple process of Shutterfly's all-new Custom Path feature, which lets customers choose their style, select their photos, edit their pages, and finally preview the finished book. During the style stage, customers choose from multiple backgrounds, such as fibrous, flaxen wheat, to vividly complement the portraits in the foreground. The subsequent step provides an opportunity to easily edit photos and add short captions, such as "Billy, Age 2," or "The Velociraptor That Ate My Top Hat." Depending on the chosen layout, up to 16 photos can fit on some pages, and if 20 pages do not provide enough real estate, additional pages can be added for $1 each. It can take five minutes to create a book; see how easy it is here.

Shutterfly's keepsake compilations are built to last, ensuring their presence will spruce up any coffee table, personal library, or stack of books for a long time to come. Whether the book is a gift for yourself or someone else, it will spellbind all viewers, who will wonder how to navigate its analog pages without a keyboard and a mouse. In addition to producing tangible mementos, Shutterfly allows users to store and share any photos in online albums, which can be digitally passed onto friends, family, and Abe Vigoda.

Reviews

Shutterfly has received reviews from ConsumerSearch, PC magazine, and TopTen Reviews. Viewpoints users gave it an average rating of 3.85 stars. Shutterfly has more than 295,000 Facebook fans.