Are Photo Books Even Still A Thing?
Monday, March 22, 2021
I used this day to look over the different publishers’ websites again. I quickly became overwhelmed yet again. The process for submitting a proposal is complex for most of them and I lost confidence in what I had prepared to offer.
I looked over my presentation and reminded OG of his commitment to look it over and provide feedback. I am working to get an exact day/time when he will do so but I know it doesn’t work that way…
I typed in the following search: how to present a photo book proposal to a publisher. This was the first hit I got: PHOTO BOOK PROPOSALS THAT GET PUBLISHERS’ ATTENTION from an online web magazine called pdn. And in the process, I took note of three publishing companies whose editors contributed to the article: Chronicle Books, Kehrer Verlag (ah, the Germans…), and Damiani Editore , part of VIDOUN GROUP (never heard of before). Simplicity and clarity seem to be paramount. And I am struggling with both. But luckily, I have not submitted anything yet.
Snidbits that I took away from the article:
include several photos so as to show the range of the images while also telling the narrative…one should create a sense of “depth” and “nuance”
mention if the photographer was mentored (I mention Ken Hansen, so at least I get a point for that but I really wish Lenny had had a resume)
there is an interest expressed in knowing the ambitions of the photographer (this poses an issue, although I did briefly toy with taking photos myself and adding them into the Afterword, as a way of carrying on things. Clearly, I catapulted myself back down to earth. I have no training; in fact, it took me a bit of time recently just figuring out how to get the battery charged to turn on my Canon, after I blew off the dust from the camera case…In time, I will take pictures again, and I’ll be good, but in time far from now)
Is there still a way that Lenny’s work can be promoted? Can/Should I mention his portraits? This is a big question mark and a bit challenge that might prevent me from grabbing a publisher
Create a simple PDF. That is my plan, to convert the Google Slides to a plain old PDF.
Be open to design changes (This was useful and I will be making some edits to a couple of the slides, based on this. I may have to be open to changes but I will also have to know where to draw the line. I want to be able to have a say but I also don’t want to give the impression that the book is “done” as it is.
Consider a “comp list” (I mentioned only one “competing” text. I may want to list a couple of others. Just something to think about. At the same time, I want to stick with clarity and simplicity).
All in all, the article was helpful and at the bottom, I took note of two links to related pieces that I will read tomorrow. I will then incorporate what I have learned into my edits of the proposal draft I currently have. I hope to have something more succinct, engaging and overall more streamlined by Sunday the latest. And by then, I hope to have a better sense of where to submit. I think the hardest part is going to be selecting photos, now that I know I need to have several. In hindsight, clearly I need to show several images. My ultimate fear is that it will not be “good enough”, “interesting enough”, “capturing enough” to be viewed as marketable. Even though Lenny took over 1700 photos, I still feel like there was more that he had wanted to do. I sense the incompleteness of the project more now, as I am at this stage.
And I am cursing myself for not being a photographer, for not sticking with it and being able to go out there and continue the work, explore the surviving 20th century tugboats as they chug onward in 2021. And damn the pandemic for restricting me, for restricting us all.
But I was trying to end this on the positive. Here are the links, both from PDN (photo district news), I will be clicking on tomorrow:
