February 10th
By Dana Downie

All of the panelists at our February event: The Hard Facts of Getting Your Book in Print: Real-life Stories From the Front agreed that it takes hard work and perseverance to get a book printed and sold. They have also provided us with the following additional information.

Book publishing is usually not that profitable, but there are ways to increase your return. Royalties on expensive illustrated books are generally seven to fifteen percent on the net return to publisher (list price less forty to fifty percent). As Rick Smolan said, “It’s your passion and the UPS guy gets paid more. On One Digital Day, we made $1.50 per book from Random House on a $40 book. Even when you are well known and have a track record, it can be difficult to interest publishers.”

Peter Menzel echoed, “Photo books are notoriously unprofitable due to their high production cost and low standard royalty (about 10% of net). If photos for your book are already shot, you are in a much better position not to lose money on the book. But if you have to finance all your own shooting, the ante is raised considerably. However, I encourage photographers to do photo books, but with the understanding that a photo book is a work of dedication that, even if critically successful, will not necessarily be financially successful as well. For more info on books and publishing, Fotovision produces workshops on the subject: www.fotovision.org 415/725-1636.

Follow your interests and become a specialist in a subject or team up with an authority on the subject.

Doug Keister found himself becoming a historic architecture photographer who evolved to shooting to travel trailers and mortuary headstones, while Jay Blakesberg followed his interest in music and musicians. They suggested publishing books that appeal to niche markets, not just photo books. “They are not buying my pictures, they are buying what I take pictures of,” said Keister.

Interest a business in your book idea to help subsidize expenses. The organization can then use your book to promote its product/idea/service. Rick Smolan is probably the best example of this. He secured Adobe, Olympus, Lexar, Espon, snapfish, jetBlue, webward and Google to sponsor America 24/7. On a smaller scale, Jay Blakesberg plans to interest music groups in his book ideas about them and have them help to defray the publishing costs.

According to Peter Menzel, magazine assignments have not been a successful way to offset expenses. “Of the four photo books we have done to date, only one was shot…during magazine assignments that paid for travel, film, and a day rate. We turned a Stern Magazine assignment (Robo sapiens, The MIT Press, 2000) into our fourth book and other magazine assignments for GEO and Focus (German edition), and Discover (U.S. edition) helped add material.”

“All of the books we have done have been large, international endeavors that were very expensive. Except for Women in the Material World, they have all made a profit in the long run, but not through book sale royalties. The books paid for themselves mostly through editorial and stock photography sales.”

Photographers must be willing to make a significant effort to promote their books.

Peter Menzel stressed, “…promoting a book is VERY important. This is when it is time to call in your chips: contact everyone in the world you know that could make a difference and at least mention your book—newspaper and magazine writers and editors; TV and radio producers and on-air people; organizations that could invite you to speak and show slides. It is important to get advance copies out to these people. We do some video with all our books and have found it helpful for TV and radio sound bites. With luck and persistence, we have been on NPR, Terry Gross, Oprah, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC and dozens of local TV and radio shows. Every mention helps sell books.”

Also, Doug Keister suggested selfpublishing a local interest book that bookstores in your area would carry. Promotional opportunities for the photographer could include presentations to local clubs and organizations and features in the local newspapers.

Photographers should do their homework. According to Blakesberg, “Do as much research as possible. Research, understand, and learn the printing process from shooting and digital file prep to layout, proofing, and printing. Understand how your picture ends up on the printed page and stay on top of it. Get an attorney to look at the contract. Use common business sense. You want the same thing from a book contract as any other contract. Everything is negotiable.”