Chatbooks

Chatbooks is a consumer photo printing company that turns digital photos taken on mobile phones into printed photo books and prints. Its defining product is a subscription series in which volumes are created automatically: each time a customer adds 60 photos to a connected source, the service assembles and prints a new 60-page book. Customers can also build one-off books, choosing size (6x6, 8x8 or 10x10 inches), softcover or hardcover, cover designs, and up to several hundred pages, with editing tools for collages and captions available in the app.

The service originally connected only to Instagram at its 2014 launch and was extended in 2015 to Facebook, Google Photos and the phone camera roll. Books are ordered and edited in the Chatbooks iOS/Android apps and shipped to the customer, with a satisfaction guarantee and replacement policy for damaged books. The company positions the offering around speed and low price, with entry-level 60-page books priced at $8 and a stated goal of a five-to-ten-minute book creation process.

Founding story

Co-founder Vanessa Quigley, a former scrapbooker who worked for an early digital scrapbooking company, found that raising seven children left no time for making photo albums. The turning point came when she found her youngest child in bed clinging to a photo book made by his preschool teacher — the only printed album he had. Her husband Nate Quigley, a Brigham Young University accounting graduate, former McKinsey consultant in Los Angeles and Paris and Harvard MBA, assembled a small development team and within weeks built a prototype app that automatically printed the family's Instagram photos into a series of photo books. The couple moved from Florida to Utah, believing it would be a good place to build a high-growth business and raise their family.

Business model

Chatbooks sells printed photo books and photo prints directly to consumers through its mobile app and website. Its core offering is a subscription: an ongoing book series in which a new volume is automatically generated and printed each time a set number of new photos (60) is added to a connected photo source, alongside one-off custom or classic photo books in multiple sizes, cover types and page counts. Customer service is handled by #MomForce, a support team composed of stay-at-home mothers working remotely across U.S. time zones.

Recurring subscription revenue from ongoing photo book series and Monthbooks plans, supplemented by one-time purchases of custom and classic photo books and prints. Books started at $8 for a 60-page volume; shipping was free in the U.S. and Canada and $2 per book to supported international markets as of 2015.

Traction

Within its first 12 months of operation Chatbooks printed and shipped more than 500,000 books and reported more than 100,000 active customers and nearly 150,000 Instagram followers. By 2017 it had raised over $20 million and had a viral ad with 50 million-plus views; the founders later cited $23 million raised in Utah and more than 85 employees. The Android app has surpassed 1 million downloads with a 4.1-star average across roughly 17,600 reviews.

Latest developments

The Chatbooks app remains in active distribution on Google Play, with an update logged in August 2026 and company staff responding to user reviews in 2026. The current product line includes Monthbooks subscription photo books with selectable delivery schedules, cover styles and sizes, Classic Photo Books of up to 366 pages, and photo prints, with free standard shipping and a satisfaction guarantee.