Book publishers?

[Chad Simcox]

Has anyone worked with photography book publishers here before or gone down the road of pitching a portfolio as a book? I’ve got a concept I want to put together as a coffee table type book and am trying to determine the best, most efficient route to take in getting this book made. The portfolio of images isn’t together yet and no where near completion, but I want to get all my ducks in a row so to speak.
Current plan of attack is to shoot the series, then self publish a small run of books (5-10) to then send out and shop around to publishers.
And while at it, has anyone done any grant writing? I’m wondering if getting a grant to do this project would be possible. The subject is Fly Fishing related and I would love to somehow be able to work with a non profit (Casting for Recovery or similar) to help raise awareness and funds for the right group.

http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.

http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox Instagram

[John Pavoncello]

Chad,
I use My Publisher to produce books for my wedding clients and have done personal projects for gifts. Their reproduction is incredible and they just introduced a true “coffee table” sized book, with the pages about 11×14.  They’re not cheap, the last wedding book I did was 100 pages and cost about $300 but they continuously run specials and I wait to order my books when they are running a 40-50% off special.
Asuka books is another good one, but they are even more expensive then My Publisher.
If you are looking at printing more than three or four copies of your book, I’d suggest talking to local printing companies. You might be able to get a limited run of books at a much better price.
If you’re considering doing a book to sell, I’d suggest using My Publisher or one of the other companies to produce a sample book. You’d then have a actual book to take to a publisher, might draw more interest that way. You could also just pre-order books from your sample.
Show it around, maybe get the local book store to display it for you, and then take orders.

[Richard Bernabe]

Chad,

I have a photography book published in 2006 and I now work with/for Mountain Trail Press. If you have some specific questions you can contact me via email – whether it’s us publishing your book directly or providing the distribution and design for a custom publishing project.

[Chad Simcox]

John, I’m aware of MyPublisher, and have a photo book that is in the hands of UPS to be delivered today. Their prices are a bit better than MyPublisher from what I remember and seem to have good reviews.
I’m all for the DIY publishing on small runs, but I’m more interested in the process to get a book out there with a company that has production and distribution means. I’m at least a year out from having the project completed (that’s if I started spending a lot of time on it now).
Richard, thanks! I’ll try to get an email out to you this weekend.

http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.

http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox Instagram

[Chad Simcox]

Just an update/endorsement, Blurb’s printing looks amazing. I got a soft cover and it had a bit of a magenta cast on the cover, but inside everything was better than I had expected. The black and whites inside have no color cast to them which was a surprise and one of the things I wanted to test. Also there is no noise in the blacks which surprised me as well.
So if anyone is looking to do the self publishing route check out blurb. You can order just one book if you want, so it would be a great way to preserve memories of a fishing trip or family vacations.

http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.

http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox Instagram

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