If you are considering publishing a book
filled with photography, I encourage you to read the newly revised and updated
edition of Publish Your Photography Book
by Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson (Princeton Architectural Press).
The book takes aspiring authors through
the publishing process and shows the many pitfalls to avoid. Filled with
interviews and contributions from publishers, artists, designers, packagers,
editors, and other industry experts, the book offers information and advice on:
·
Choosing
digital publishing platforms
·
How
to market a photobook
·
Production
choices
·
How
to develop your concept
·
Trends
in the publishing industry
Himes is a director at Fraenkel Gallery
and was a cofounder of Radius Books, a nonprofit publisher of books on the
visual arts. Swanson is an author, educator, lecturer, and advisor to artists
and arts organizations. Last year, she received the Focus Award for Lifetime Achievement
in Photography from the Griffin Museum in Boston.
Popular Photography said this of their
book; “If you’re serious about getting your work into print, and into the hands
of a wider audience, this will be the best $30 you can spend.”
The book shared these insights on
bookselling in the 21st century:
“It is not news to state that
bookselling in the early twenty-first century looks nothing like the last
decades of the twentieth century. Ironically, over the past decade, while more
and more photography books (and books of all types) were being published by a
wide range of small and independent companies and an even wider range of
first-time authors, the number of small and independent bookstores has
diminished dramatically.
“Bookstore closures have been fueled
primarily by the boom in Internet business coupled with the retail
price-slashing tactics of the Internet’s number one bookstore, Amazon.
Independent booksellers have had a hard time competing, but they are a driven
group, seeking to keep an almost-extinct literary culture alive. Many of the
most notable bookstores have emphasized and capitalized on their independent
status and the specialization of their inventory in order to build and retain a
loyal clientele.
“Independent booksellers, like small
independent presses, are willing to work very closely with photographers.
Today, many photographers are producing small runs of books – from several
dozen to one or two thousand copies – and then are selling them through their
own websites and marketing the titles through their own blogs and Facebook and
Twitter accounts. Reaching out directly to bookstores is key to selling books
in the twenty-first century.
“The publishing industry as a whole –
from agents and authors to publishing houses and booksellers – has gone
through, and continues to go through, major shifts resulting from, in no small
part, the changes in the purchasing habits of the general public. Being
versatile amid the flux is vital.”
The book’s appendix is filled with
scores of useful industry resources, including Web sites covering the following:
·
Understanding
elements of design
·
Publishing
industry resources
·
Lists
of publishers and distributors
·
eBook
creation tools
·
Producers
of print-on-demand photobooks
·
Industry
organizations
Here’s a sampling of them:
Publishing
Trends
The
Association of Publishers for Special Sales
Self-Publishing
Review Resources
Digital
Book World
The
Digital Photobook
All
Indie Publishing
Covering
Photography
The
Future of Publishing
The
Independent Publishing Magazine
The
American Institute of Graphic Arts
International
Digital Publishing Forum
American
Booksellers Association
Association
of American Publishers
The
Book Designer
www.thebookdesigner.com
Book Excerpt: IF ARISTOTLE RAN GM
Book Excerpt: IF ARISTOTLE RAN GM
“People will not have a sense of
positive corporate spirit in any endeavor unless that activity is connected
with their personal quest for happiness, unless they are feeling some degree of
fulfillment and some measure of happiness in that task. And it is only when this issue of individual
fulfillment is understood in the deepest possible way that we will see how
personal satisfaction is finally tied to interpersonal, organizational, and
business flourishing….
“It
is the people within any enterprise, and their interactions with each other,
that ultimately produce excellence or mediocrity.”
Brian
Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and
not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter.
You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels
more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted
by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014
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