bcharrison

I am new to self-publishing and I am worried about making the wrong choice. I am interested in publishing a book of my photographs with some text, possibly in the form of poetry. I am thinking about somewhere in an 8" x 8" size. I would like to do a hardcover. I would like to print on a good weight paper. This would enable me to print on both sides. Possibly archival.

I haven’t decided on finish, matte or glossy. Quality binding. I have not decided on how to go about marketing yet.

If anyone has self-published, I would greatly appreciate your input.
Thanks with great appreciation for your input.

barb

JasonC Loc: Houston, Texas

Hello Barb,

I have self-published two books. But both contained more rhetoric rather than photos. However, the publishing company I used, Blurb.com, caters more to photograph-type books than rhetoric. They offer hard cover or soft and different grades of paper. Blurb has a program that you can download that forms a template for constructing your book. The program is pretty easy to use and the results are quite good, albeit it's expensive to convert into hard copy.

P.M. me if you have further questions.

Jason

bcharrison

Hello Jason,
Thanks for your reply. Was the paper acid free? How did you feel about them putting an ISBN number? How well was the book bound? Did you look at using LuLu? There is so much to think about before making a decision and hoping it is the correct one.

barb

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I have never self published a book but many of my photgraha are reproduce in books, magazines, and in all manner of advertising. i have also created printed literature and advertising pieces to promote my studio's commercial photography business and have had to deal with commercial printers. Of course, I was very concerned about the reproduction quality.

I noticed you have concerns about paper stocks, archival issues, and reading between the lines, I detect you have concerns about print quality.

There are many ways of reproducing photographs- the benchmark for high quality reproduction used to be high resolution 4 (or more) color process lithography, printing on certain clay coated stocks- fine screen etc. I realize that the digital age and newer graphic arts technologies has, in many cases, changed the process. Oftentimes, I am horrified as to how my work is reproduced, sometimes it is decent enough and sometimes it is almost better than the original. High quality graphic reproduction work can be expensive.

I am sure you can send in a few examples to your potential printer/publisher and ask for a sample of the reproduction quality and secure the specification as to archival issues and image stability.

Good luck with you project- sounds exciting!

bcharrison

Thanks so much for your reply and the information that you shared.

barb

PeterBergh

I have also used Blurb but only for one book. The book contains photos and minimal text (captions). I decided on hardcover on their cheapest paper in 12x12 since that format neatly allows for horizontal and vertical images. You get discounts if you buy 10 (35%) or 20 (40%) books. For 10 books I paid somewhere between US$500 and US$600.

I considered selling the book through Blurb but decided against it; they have thousands of books for sale, making the odds of my book selling well rather low. Since I don't need the money, I decided to give the book away to friends and relations.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

I have made several books of my photographs with Shutterfly. Very high quality. But when you pay $80 or more per book (I only bought a few - maybe a dozen would be a savings) makes them too expensive to sell. I have self-published several paperback books for mass-market sale. One included a lot of photographs, but to make a $5 book the photo reproduction is not great and the paper is definitely not archival.

Wilderness Images Loc: Apache Junction, AZ.

I visited my local Costco store and checked out the three types of photo books that they offer. I settled on the one in the middle, a coffee table type, and am very satisfied with the results. They have an online publishing tool that offers the options to select font style/size, background, photo sizing and moving, etc. The book is $30 for the first two and $15 each from there on, no further discounts offered. It's a hardcover, 30 page book with high quality print stock. A link will take you to my facebook page where I have a few photos of the finished product.
https://www.facebook.com/Images.in.the.Wilderness/

Jack Olson

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Why not try self - printing on top quality paper between covers and spiral bind? 7" x 5" makes for comfortable viewing at reading distance.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I've done two books and used Blurb for both. You have a wide range of paper quality, binding types and page size. It also provides a variety of templates and custom options. It's the only program I've used primarily because it's plugged into Lightroom.

JasonC Loc: Houston, Texas

Answers:
* I presume the paper is acid-free
* My books do not have an ISBN number, presumably because they are "privately published"
* The book binding is disappointing. I chose hard-cover and the binding is similar to soft-cover, whereby the pages are merely glued into the binding instead of sewed in.
* No I didn't consider LuLu.

Jason

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

I went to FB and looked at your book. Looks to be top-notched!! Pictures are worthy of print. How are your knees doing?

ole sarg Loc: south florida

If u want to market the book use amazon

ole sarg Loc: south florida

If u want to market the book use amazon

bcharrison

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to me. Any thoughts on Blurb? Do you feel the venture was worth it?