[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #307: More books for the coffee table

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #307: More books for the coffee table
November 7th, 2012

A couple of recent news items about publishing caught our attention and 
got us thinking. Bowker reported 
<http://paidcontent.org/2012/10/24/bowker-number-of-self-published-books-up-287-since-2006/> 
that "the number of print and ebooks self-published annually is up by 
287 percent since 2006." That's not really a big surprise, we all 
probably suspected something like that. Also, it seems that publishers 
of photo-rich coffee table books are doing quite well 
<http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/coffee-table-books-weather-publishings-decline> 
in comparison to the rest of the industry. Which is also not a surprise 
to anyone who's browsed the shelves of a big bookstore lately. So has 
anyone thought to combine these two trends? Of course they have.

  * Is the photobook the new self-publishing phenomenon?
    <http://www.theindependentpublishingmagazine.com/2012/08/is-photobook-new-self-publishing.html>
    (The Independent Publishing Magazine/Mick Rooney) "It's no
    coincidence that we have seen a marked increase in photo and image
    cloud services like Flickr, Instagram and Picasa. We are living in a
    highly image-laden world and we may be about to see the written word
    concede considerable ground to the visual image. Post anything up to
    your Facebook or Google+ account and you can be assured the ones
    with photographs or graphic images will garner the most interest and
    traffic. The social network Pinterest has built its entire platform
    around the visual image. Sometimes a few words along with a strong
    image can deliver a more powerful message than a thousand words."
  * Self publishing a photo book with print on demand [review]
    <http://nonphotography.com/blog/recommended/self-publishing-a-photo-book-with-print-on-demand-review/>
    (More than Photography/Nitsa) "Almost every digital printing service
    on the net offers to create an impressive coffee table photo book
    for you using the beautiful images you shot during your recent
    vacation to Hawaii. Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, DotPhoto, Wallgreens
    Photo Center to name a few. And they are all fantastic and will
    supply you with a great service and a high quality photo book.
    However, most of these services will charge a relatively high price
    for these books and do not offer you a place to sell these books to
    potential customers."
  * The DIY photobook phenomenon
    <http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jul/25/photobook-phenomenon-self-publish-be-happy>
    (The Guardian/Sean O'Hagan) "SPBH [Self Publish, Be Happy] is the
    brainchild of writer and academic Bruno Ceschel. It was founded with
    the aim of 'celebrating, studying and promoting self-published
    photobooks' via events, publications and the web. Not strictly a
    publisher, SPBH runs workshops that show photographers how to make
    and distribute their own books, posting the results on their daily
    blog and acting as a repository of knowledge."
  * Opinion: iBooks Author - why photographers should care
    <http://www.borrowlenses.com/blog/2012/01/opinion-ibooks-author-why-photographers-should-care/>
    (BorrowLenses/Sohail Mamdani) "If you write something that's
    compelling enough, that you put enough of an effort into marketing,
    then you stand a pretty good chance of making /some/ money. Those
    chances are a lot better than the chances of you getting picked up
    by, say, Peachpit to write a book for them. Now you have the tools
    to create your own photography book with a layout and look that's
    aesthetically pleasing, and the means to distribute that book."

*/Money fact:/*

Before you decide to get rich by selling a self-published photo book of 
your trip to the zoo, keep in mind that most of the digital publishing 
companies mentioned in the articles above make money by selling only a 
few copies each of thousands of titles and then keeping about 20% of the 
cash from each sale.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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