Print-on-demand (POD) books represent one of the best ways of archiving valued images. They are relatively easy and cheap to produce, can be of almost any size or design, and make a convenient way not only to show images to friends and family but also preserve them for future generations.

POD book companies typically provide the option of limiting access to a book to the specified author, making it available to the general public, or adding an ISBN and publishing it is a more formal manner. Books made available to the general public can sometimes be downloaded in electronic form, typically in return for a specified payment. Anyone wishing to purchase a paper copy of a book must of course pay the relevant price which includes the cost of printing, postage and the author's commission.

Books that are formally published must have an ISBN, and copies must be sent to the relevant legal deposit libraries. In the UK, these are the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the Bodleian Library Oxford, the Library of Cambridge University and the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.