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The ultimate ambition for any photographer is to see a collection of their work published by a recognised publisher. It’s the dream we all have when we start out, but sadly few of us achieve. The photographic publishing industry is having a hard time and it’s become even harder to get published. So is self-publishing the answer? Cass Chapman speaks to three leading publishers to find out what they are looking to publish and the truth about getting published.
“It’s very rare for an unknown name to come through with a project that sells well. A photographer must be very hard in judging whether anyone else is going to be interested in their book.” Dewi Lewis
Dewi Lewis, Dewi Lewis Publishing, Owner
Independently, I’ve been working as a publisher since 1994. The key focuses are name and subject when choosing which photographers to work with. If someone has a really strong name then that is important. When it comes to subject, it ultimately needs to be something that crosses beyond photography, linking in some way to another market.
You want something fairly obvious – it has to be something booksellers can understand very quickly and easily. We always direct people to our website when they approach us. We try to look at projects twice a year. The last thing we want is emails with people directing us to their website then sending heavy attachments – 99% of the time they are going to go in the bin.What we’re asking for is initially a preliminary submission of 10 or 12 images and not exhibition prints if hard copies are sent in, because we don’t return them. These days, more and more photographers are putting together PDFs on disk and, if that is the case, the quantity of images doesn’t really matter. It needs to be something we can look at fairly quickly and put in a pile of possibles. We get hundreds of submissions in, and we are doing between 16 and 24 publications a year.
The market at the moment is deceptive for photographers because if they go into somewhere like The Photographers’ Gallery bookshop, they see an awful lot of books and assume there is a big market. What they don’t realise is that lots of those are funded by the photographer, they have been sponsored or they will have grant aid. Photo books are so expensive to produce, so the [publishers] really need to be producing a minimum of 3,000 copies. The market for most books is 1,000 or less.
Self-publishing can be approached in two ways. At an early stage in a career it can work, but you have to start on the basis that you might not sell any copies. You always have to be prepared to work hard getting it into bookshops; sending out press copies. You pay for the cost of production, but you then pay to mail out copies, to storing the books, and so forth. Don’t look at doing more than about 1,000 copies. The alternative is the photographer raising all or the majority of the financing, working through a publisher. The danger there is you’ve got to find someone who really believes in it. You don’t want someone who is producing it to make a few quid, not producing it to a high quality and isn’t bothered about selling it. It’s very rare for an unknown name to come through with a project that sells well. A photographer must be very hard in judging whether anyone else is going to be interested in their book. The prints may look gorgeous but a book is very different – it’s not just a collection of single images. You have to know what’s out there.
“Choosing which projects we might develop takes into account not only of the market conditions and the audience, but also the basic concept of whether the idea behind the book is any good.” Andrew Sanigar
Andrew Sanigar, Thames & Hudson, Commissioning editor
I’ve worked for Thames & Hudson for 14 years, of which I’ve been commissioning for five, and the market at the moment is as challenging as I’ve known. Photography books tend to be comparatively high-priced and the financial investment made by the publisher to produce, publish and market any book is considerable. So, to be able to produce a book that has an identifiable, sizeable and loyal audience and is something that the person buying the book feels they absolutely must have, is critical.
Choosing which projects we might develop takes into account not only market conditions and the audience, but also the basic concept of whether the idea behind the book is any good. The idea and the work must have international appeal; or if it’s only of interest in the UK, the audience here has to be large enough to support it. A great photography book is much more than a carefully considered picture edit and layout – there has to be either an original and compelling idea behind it or, if the subject is one others have already published, a fresh approach. I’m always looking for something different and intelligent.
I often hear from photographers starting out with proposals for monographs of their work. This won’t work. The simple fact is that any photographer needs many years of building up their career, their profile and their international reputation before any monograph is really workable commercially. I’d suggest that photographers approach a publisher by sending an email or letter introducing themselves, explaining their project and attaching a few key JPEGs or colour print-outs.
What is really important is: the idea behind the book, who the book is for (consider the audience) and why do they need it. Always keep those basic principles in mind and a publisher will take your proposal seriously. I think self-publishing is an important option for new and young photographers. While fundamentally I think photographers are too close to their own work to edit it effectively, I still think it’s a positive choice to have in mind. That said, to really do a book effectively and get it distributed worldwide, to promote it and market it effectively, you do need a publisher with decades of knowledge working with you to get maximum impact and, one hopes, success. Be passionate about what you do. Hold on to that and it will shine through the work and connect with its audience – and that’s what it’s all about.
Chris Boot, Chris Boot Ltd, Editor and publisher
I get approached by three or four photograhers a day and publish about four or five books a year – so I don’t get the chance to get back to most people. I don’t think I have ever taken on a project that has come in over email from someone I don’t already know. When I do commission, it’s the work itself that sells the project to me – the work and the photographer.
I’m interested in ideas about how photography is used, and most of the books I’ve taken on push the use of photography forwards in new and interesting ways. I tend to respond better to some people than others. It’s such an intimate thing publishing someone’s work and the working relationship is so important. The market is terrible right now. I don’t think it’s suffered a downturn but there just aren’t that many people that buy photography books. Books that do well usually appeal outside the photo art world where there is an audience for the subject they address. If a photographer is looking to get a book published, it’s important for them to have an established reputation and a network of galleries behind them. You don’t establish your reputation by doing a book; you establish it through galleries and magazine articles. You need to do a lot of ground work that creates the audience. The key is having one, maybe two, galleries behind you. I think self-publishing has to be done. If you assume there are 5,000 books in the UK at any one time looking for a publisher and four publishers doing 15 books a year, how else do you approach it?
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