Photographic book publishers.

[Dunkeld]

Does anybody know of a genuine publisher for photography books? Net searches throw up scam sites, or organisations that seem to be including subscription to this or that before they will even look at submissions.

I have around 5000 images, mostly China. Any info would be appreciated.

Finding a publisher is very difficult unless you have established a name, as in most cases the publisher needs some assurance towards reaching sufficient sales levels to provide a good return for their investment.

You could always self publish and market yourself via companies like Blurb, (Print on Demand companies to minimise outlay and storage problems) etc., but as most will tell you, success in high sales requires total commitment and a lot of foot work plugging yourself.

With 5000 photo's I would try and consider a theme, so that your subsequent book falls into the genre categories that may sell.

Also checkout and read up on the mountains to climb that ordinary writers of novels etc., face; as the marketplace is much the same, if not harder, when you consider photographic books cost a lot more to produce.

Best of luck

[northumbrian1]

My wife had some major problems establishing herself as an author, and i guess its just the same trying to establish yourself in the photographic market too, since I tried the British Freelance Journalistic course some years ago - which helped but was still a major climb to get any editor to even look at my photographic images let alone get a rejection slip!


Best of luck! Tenacity is the key to getting everywhere - just make sure that you get yourself known as a prolific free-lance not willing to back down, and perhaps you may win through to get yourself published! northumbrian1

[Dunkeld]

Well, I have a past record so to speak, but, this is a whole new ball game. With 30 years freelance writing/photography under my belt as well as 11 years "Beeb" broadcasting I know the form. My past history was totally unrelated to what I do now.

Fifty odd publication contributions later, it is now even harder to get a foot in the door it seems. What I seek is a photo art book publisher, certainly more specialised and different to what I did before. In the past, I sold photos with articles both commissioned and non commisioned. Today I seek to get a wider audience for my images.

I did the rounds 30 years ago. Knocking on doors, badgering editors etc. But, today it seems editors get hounded by comparison to those days. The world and his wife buys a camera today and wants to sell photos tomorrow. The digital age in fact made it harder to sell photos because the competition has multiplied. Add to this melting pot, the free or "dollar a throw" image and the difficulty is compounded.

Finding the road ahead for me is now very difficult. I've so many strings under my bow, it is difficult to decide just which style might work with photo art. It is for this reason I seek a book publisher with a knowledge of what, out of my many thousands of images, would have the makings of a decent photo book or three.

Dave T.

[ABERS]

It's a hard furrow to plough. Unless you hit the right spot with a publisher, that's even if you get to contact one, you might as well give up going along that road.

We've had many a photographer giving talks at our club, with the end objective being the sale and promotion of their latest book. When I look at their productions more often than not I'm amazed that the've even had the temerity to approach a publisher, let alone getting them to agree to publish a book! No accounting for taste I suppose.

Even if you self-publish, via Blurb for example, you then have to market and publicise the book yourself, that can pay dividends but don't look for mega sales. My biggest seller so far has reached the dizzy heights of the high 80's, so I'll not be rubbing shoulders with Don McCullin etc.!

P.S. I've bought 4 of his books, I bet he hasn't bought one of mine.

[AndyStevens]

How about self publishing a book via Blurb (very good quality, have done one myself), and then contacting some publishers who concentrate on China/Asia/Travel/Guide books and say you have a fantastic portfolio you would like to show them. Gives them a good look at your images and they can visualise them in a book - if they wont physically see you, you can email them the Blurb preview link...

Look in WH Smith for suitable titles and then make a note of the publisher and contact details.

Dorling Kindersley (or something like that), Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, RAC.... (Rough Guides is published by Penguin/Pearson Group who are based at 80 The Strand, London. Speak to their receptionist and ask for the Rough Guides picture editor?).

I tried this with magazines and, after getting rejected several times, got some shots published in a local interest magazine. They have now added me to the list of suitable togs for supplying cover/centre spread images. It's grown from there with me now making regular sales through Alamy and being approached by publishers to use my images in their mags.

I'd like to do the book thing myself - just need a lot more decent images!

If you dont ask....

[amran]

it also depends on what type of albums you are looking for... and like they mentioned above maybe its worth phoning them up and building a relationship with them to understand clearly what they do and ask them for samples as they do that for a small price!