Exhibitions
Exhibitions involve a lot of work and are usually static (ie they don’t travel around the country). Exhibitions are a partial closure of work, but books are a full closure.
The Economics of Publishing
Print Runs
Usually 1,000 to 2,000 printed. Bookshops may only take 10-30 copies. It’s all done on a very small scale for photobooks. Co-editions are books published in different languages. You only have to change the black plate if all text is printed in black. Co-editions are critical, particularly for books which have a lot of text. Captions to images also need translating and reprinting. With a photobook with a single page of text at the beginning, you can usually sell these abroad as it has limited text and doesn’t need a co-edition.
Retail Price
A hardback photobook retails for about £30-£35. The publisher gets approximately 30% of the money made. A £25 book will be to be produced for £5. They are sale or return. A 5-times mark-up is needed:
Production cost - £5.00
Retail Price - £25.
Prices have to come right down in some countries such as India and Eastern Europe.
Publication Costs
50% of photobooks you see in the shops are self-funded.
Retailer discount – 45-50%
Wholesaler discount – up to 65%
Royalty – 10% net/5% book price – some photographers will take copies of their book instead as they can be used for pitching to galleries. This is more effective than sending a CD or portfolio. Books don’t make the photographer money, but you can take it to an agency and are excellent calling cards.
Marketing
Advertising is very expensive and not done for photobooks.
Editorial coverage – try to get features in magazines like the Guardian Weekend, Sunday Times or Independent – this can generate income for the photographer. Also try photo magazines like BJP, Ag or Foto8.
National newspapers don’t really do book reviews on a photobook, but they review exhibitions.
Dewi Lewis encourage the photographer to get publicity:
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In the town the photos were taken -
In the photographer’s home town -
Newsletters/websites of societies related to the topic or the photographer -
In photo magazines and local magazines (City Life, etc)
You can sell your books in:
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Local press -
Bookshops -
The tourist market
Book Launch
The press don’t generally attend book launches, so usually friends and family attend. Try to do this for less than £200.
He advises to approach the photobook from a commercial standpoint.
Photographer Involvement
It is critical that photographers take an active part in their book. They can, for example, write personalised notes to various people informing them of their book.
Paul Graham and Martin Parr both self-published their books initially and used these books to network, leaving them with people who may have a strong impact on their work.
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Submitting Work
1 What are the publishers looking for?
They are looking for something which will be of interest to people worldwide.
eg – work on the miners stroke wouldn’t be interesting to people in other countries.
eg - ‘Prisons in Italy’ project – would the UK market be interested in this?
eg - ‘Once Upon a Time in Wales’ contained photos of a small village in Wales, but this project was about a period of time and a sense of community, which gave it more chance of working abroad.
Try to go for international appeal on subject matter. Is there human interaction? Do we feel empathy for the people in the book?
1 Timescale
If you have a project which has some basis of time (ie the World Cup), you need to be thinking about it about 3 to 5 years before the event.
Dewi Lewis has to give 6 months notice of a new title before the book is launched and distribution schedules are very long.
1 How to Submit Work to Dewi Lewis
Look at Dewi Lewis website for more details. Submission periods are in May and December.
They want to see 12 images and a brief outline of the project and also something about the photographer. They accept CDs and PDFs in a slideshow format to make it easier for them to view, don’t just send a CD with pictures in folders inside, make a web gallery or PDF slideshow. If sending prints, make them A4 standard inkjet prints.
Only one or two projects each year get through the submissions process.
To get around this, go to portfolio sessions – Rhubarb, Fotofest, etc – where three or four projects will be chosen. This is very expensive, however, but worth it. You will get to meet people you wouldn’t have a chance of seeing normally.
Submissions may take several weeks before the publishers get back to you. Don’t chase them too quickly – in other words, don’t make a nuisance of yourself! However, if you’ve heard nothing for 7 to 8 weeks, ring them to make sure they’ve received your submission. Remember to include contact details.
Book Dummy
At the end of any project, you do, you should put together a Blurb book for closure.
Dewi Lewis work with colour laser prints and construct them as a concertina book layout – this works with A4 paper (2 A4 sheets folded in half and stuck together, so each page can easily be removed and re-arranged) – this is a working model.
Layout can be done with Quark Express or In-Design.
Like a novel, the photography book is about the work of the author trying to say something personal. There is a narrative which allows people to read it.
Book design and layout
Punctuation, grammar, white space, flow – what are you trying to stress? What do you want to play down? Photobooks are not just about the images themselves, but about the whole thing put together.
Look at the last image – what do you want to leave the reader with? Where are you trying to get to?
Grouping things together – linkages – in the book. This could be a colour, subject, etc. Make sure the book flows.
Repetition is good. Think about the relationship of the images to each other and sequences.
