I am back from my travels and my order from PrestoPhoto was waiting for me. I ordered the 11X8.5 imagewrap hardcover book on premium photo paper. The cost for the book was $60 + $4.99 sh. This was a reorder of a book already printed in Aperture, so I had a solid comparison. The apple book was about $80 +$5.99 sh, so there was a significant savings. I am generally happy with the result, although I would like the option to order a paper cover. The imagewrap cover is fine for this book, but will not work for all books. The paper is not as heavy so the book is not as thick as the apple book. The original book was 70 pages, and the one from PrestoPhoto was 72 because I turned the front and back flaps into front and back pages for the book. I need 3 more copies of this book, so this is a good savings. The book contains a combination of old scanned photos and new digital photos. I cannot tell any difference in the scanned photos, some of which date back to the 1930's or so. The cover photo is a scanned photo from 1952, and it looks better on the image wrap than the paper cover. The newer digital photos pop just fine if they are taken outside, but the inside color does not seem to be as good. The pictures are darker, and I did not reedit them for the new book. I do not know if I would have noticed this if I had not had a side by side comparison, but if it happens again I will need to adjust my inside shots accordingly.
I had some difficulty uploading the PDF, but it was a lack of knowledge about manipulating PDF's that caused the problem. I reached out for technical support but had figured it out by the time I got the response. They also noticed that they had received my order, so knew I had figured it out. I did manage to get the cover adjusted so the printing on it was not cut off.
I now need 3 more of these books, and I had to redo the PDF because there was a date error on one of the pages. I am glad to see that I can send the PDF up as one file instead of sending the cover up separately. Now I need to decide if I have to adjust those inside pictures before I order another.
I appreciate the response from Meghan above in regards to other options. I have five other books in various stages of completion and I am glad to know that I will not have to export them and redo them in Pictures. I will definitely try the lustre paper for some other books I have started. I would appreciate any comments from anyone who has tried their velvet cover since the image wrap will not work as well for some of my other books I have in my pipeline.
I would also appreciate any comments on how the new apple photobooks in Pictures. I know that I cannot create my own templates, but if they have sufficient templates it may work for me for some books. I do like the ability to edit my photos as I create the books, and my understanding is that the editing function in Pictures is not currently as robust as Aperture.
This thread has been so helpful to me and I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to respond. I was very discouraged when I found out that I could no longer print books in Aperture, and now I have some viable options I would not have discovered on my own.