MAKING A BOOK - PART TWO

First, some most excellent news (yes, I am a child of the "Bill & Ted" generation :-). All 23 people from the workshop have agreed to participate in the book project. All three instructors have agreed to write introductory text for our book. Raul has offered to edit our photos into one group essay. I have all slides from 18 people scanned and ready to edit. David has been scanning more slides than you can shake a stick at. I have completed phase one of my market research. And, Jack is ramping up on writing the text for our book.

Next, I have some good news and some bad news. Bad news first. We do not have a commercially viable fine arts photography book. The market is not ready for our project-mostly because our careers are not yet to the stage where a fine arts book would sell. Now, the good news: We just might have a viable work of non-fiction including our pictures.

What is the difference between a fine arts book and a work of non-fiction with pictures? Basically…price. Think “exhibition catalog” rather than “coffee table book.” And a lower price dictates a lower quality of printing in a smaller size. What we put into the book would be the same group photo essay, but more text. Then, a less expensive book would potentially appeal to a wider set of publishers and distribution channels.

And there is an interesting side effect of doing a book of non-fiction. We sell more copies and we have a real chance of making a profit to donate. Fine art books typically sell 2,000 to 5,000 copies. They typically do not make any money. Most fine art publishers do these books “out of love” not profit. On the other hand, works of non-fiction sell a minimum of 10,000 copies.

So, if we can’t sell 2,000 copies, how is it we could sell 10,000? Audience. We are targeting a wider audience than the few who collect fine art photography prints and books. The target audience for non-fiction does not want to pay for high quality printing. So, a lower price is key.

Why do I think we have a chance at doing a non-fiction book with pictures? Our timing is right. There is a change in the market around photography that we could take advantage of. More people are becoming photographers. More people are collecting fine art photographic prints. Key innovators in photography are dying and thus driving up the prices of vintage photographic prints. More people are collecting photographic books. More fine arts books are being published now than ever. Digital technology is causing a disruptive shift in the publishing market - allowing more people to participate in and publish photography.

Specially, we would be selling this book to ourselves – people like us. And, there are more and more people like us each day. Some examples of our "target audience":

• Petra, Tom, Mark, Pam, Gretchen – busy professionals with stressful careers looking for a creative escape from their high pressure lives.
• Victoria & Arnold – people so passionate about travel and photography that they put off building a new porch on their house to travel to San Miguel de Allende.
• Jack, Heather, Martha – retired from careers and exploring trajectories previously not taken.
• Lance – professional civil engineer who has quit his job to make a go at photography before it is too late.
• Tori – newly graduated fine arts student trying to get started in her career.
• David – professional commercial photographer trying to break into fine art photography.
• Ben – successful photojournalist trying to make it to the next level in his career.

On what do I base these conclusions? Research. So far, I have done the following:

• seminar on publishing books of non-fiction
• seminar on publishing fine art photography books
• three seminars on collecting of fine art photography hosted by curators
• four lectures on the careers of break-out fine arts photographers
• tour through photo l.a. and speaking with gallery owners
• reading relevant articles
• looking at fine art photography books
• visiting fine art book stores
• talking to personal contacts
• shown our work around to other photographers
  (see also TEST PRINTS)

Some interesting things for you to read:

Sam Abell does an 8-day workshop through Santa Fe Workshops for photographers to create a book dummy for a fine arts photography book. What is a “book dummy”? It’s a sample book using inkjet prints and custom hardcover binding. Students testimonials from past workshops.

Articles on Publishing the Photographic “Fine Art” Book from photo-eye:

Part One (pdf file)
Part Two (pdf file)
Part Three (pdf file)

See also "MAKING A BOOK - PART ONE"