Observation/suggestion

[DougAxford]

Can I make an observation on the Critique Section?

We're getting some really awesome images being posted here and I think that somewhere in all this, there should be an opportunity to promote the sale of these prints to our own members and others, either individually or through an eventual book collection.

If I am like some of you, I've got images that I think are good enough for a book, but not enough to make it a financially viable work. Perhaps others can provide their opinions on whether a collection through this site might be of interest in the next year or so if things continue to progress. It certainly would create some excitement.

If this might happen, it would be good to set some options at the beginning, rather than try to pull everything together a year from now. All I'm suggesting right now is to think about it and if the response is positive, make sure that all images are saved somewhere with full information and authorization if a contributor is interested.

DougA

[Curtis Cunningham]

I would love to see something like this happen, be it selling prints individually, or compiling images into a book.

As far as the book idea goes, would you see individuals who contribute images being remunerated? If so how?

[DougAxford]

Originally Posted by Curtis Cunningham

As far as the book idea goes, would you see individuals who contribute images being remunerated? If so how?

I don't have an answer to that. It's more likely a question of who wants to foot the bill to have them printed and who is responsible for selling them. I prefer to dream positive but think negative. My dreams rarely come true. There are tons of coffee table books available now but most of them are from single photographers, not groups.

I think the response to this post kinda tells the tale - not much interest.

[Noel_Carboni]

Not an endorsement nor a negative, but just a couple of data points from me:

I worked with an internet group a long while back to prepare and produce a book of our collective works for sale to raise proceeds to help tsunami victims. It was called "Images to Brighten Our World". It was full of great, upbeat images, and we hoped it would raise a lot of cash.

1. It was more difficult to create than we expected; there are a lot of details in putting a book together - even a picture book.

2. The self-publishing cost was higher than we expected, even though we got the printer to give us a "charity" rate (meaning it was at their cost, no profit).

3. A few hundred copies were all that were sold - directly off the Lulu.com site and mostly to those of us who had photos in the book.

I currently have a book of astroimagery about to hit the shelves through a commercial publisher. Some details:

1. Again, much harder to prepare and polish than you would think. Literally MONTHS of work beyond what I thought it would take.

2. It's a niche book, and timely (e.g., international year of astronomy).

3. I will be getting only a tiny fraction of the sell price. The publisher/printer gets some, but the distributors take a lion's share of the profits.

-Noel

[DougAxford]

Thanks Noel - that's sorta echos my inner thoughts. Perhaps we could turn the 20 or so best into a gallery right here on PPH and have prints available for sale. You'd think that should be easy to do with most of the proceeds going to the photographer and a small part to the site.

Of course, that could cause another headache over what prices to charge - OK forget my suggestion

Doug