Self Published Books
There are some interesting comments at Signal vs. Noise where they've asked what their readers think about self published books. Most are positive, or simply don't notice the difference between self published books and books from the larger publishing houses. As long as it can be found via Amazon who cares right.
The trend is obviously changing, but I find it odd how self publishing is looked down on as something that was not good enough to be picked up by a large publisher. Compare that to the music and film industries where independent bands and film makers are considered hip and underground when they self produce and distribute their works. Yet for writers this some how shows their work wasn't "good enough" to have been picked by a *real* publisher.
I have a few friends who have published their own photo books, on their own dime of course. That is pretty much the only way to do it in Japan. One friend's book cost her about 30man yen to do- not all that bad considering she has Her Own Photo Book now. Considering what other people spend on "things" (esp.in Tokyo) I think it is a good investment...
By the way, I made you a copy of a book this morning- Stephen Shore's "The Nature of Photographs". Whenever you can meet to get it, that is fine with me.
::posted by: john at April 18, 2005 09:39 AM
John, I hadn't even thought of photo books. I wonder how much of a cut Amazon takes? Cool, I've been loving Uncommon Places.
::posted by: mhegge at April 18, 2005 08:55 PM
From what I hear, the better option for self-published photo books is to use a dedicated service. A recent article that reviews some of the services shows that this is a pretty cost effective option if you want your photos printed and bound. Certainly cheaper than 30万円!
::posted by: mark at April 20, 2005 10:28 PM
so, aside from iPhoto or Canon, what kind of "dedicated services" are out there, esp. for folks in Japan....any companies or links would be appreciated....
::posted by: Kurt at May 15, 2005 12:29 AM
Kurt, just so you're not waiting for me to respond, the comment posted by 'mark' is not me. I'm posting as 'mhegge' to avoid confusion.
::posted by: mhegge at May 16, 2005 12:00 PM
