APUG book of photos

[removed account4]

if you change your images / page to 210 it trims page count down considerably

too bad the random image pages don't have 210 images on them
it would make browsing the gallery for this sort of thing really easy ...

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I've been doing some price shopping for services, and if we go with Blurb, we can get a soft-cover, 8.5 x 11 inch book with up to 120 pages for $35, hard-cover for with dust jacket for $44, hard-cover with imagewrap for $ 47, and ProLine Linen cover with dust jacket for $50. That's a far cry from $100, and well within the budget most people on the survey indicated they would spend. I've seen Blurb books before and they're quite nice. Yes, they're not as nice as what Lodima could do for us, but if we judge by the survey, there's no way we could get 500 people (or 1000) to pony up and buy the entire production run. If we were to go with Michael's suggestion that those buying the book cover the difference, if we had a production run of 1000 books, and 200 people actually bought, then the excess production run would raise the cost per person by a factor of 4- so a $20 book would become an $80 book. If we went with a POD book, the cost would be fixed, per book, never go up, there would be no excess inventory to manage, and to cap it off, there would be no delay between design and production while we wait for checks to come in. Put simply, the logistics of producing the book absolutely dictate that we go with POD. I know I don't have a spare $10K sitting around to produce this book to insure it gets printed in a timely fashion, and I don't have a garage I could store 1000 books in, nor do I have the time and energy to sit down and process, pack and ship orders in a timely fashion. Neither do any of the other folks who have been actively working on this, and I doubt most of the nay-sayers here do either. Now, if someone here has the spare cash and the spare time to manage the offset press run and its distribution, I will be the very first one to cede that task to them and pony up my $20 for my copy of the book. Please, step forward and identify yourself.

As to blood being spilt in this thread, I don't see it. I do see people offering up nice ideas without regard for practical considerations and when those practical considerations get pointed out, they get butt-hurt because their idea wasn't immediately adopted. If you want to participate, the identities of those organizing this effort are known at this point - feel free to PM us and join in. For the record, we are:

Joel - Guitstik
Rachelle - Mooseontheloose
Ian Grant - Ian Grant
Scott - TheFlyingCamera

This process is somewhat slow by virtue of the fact that we're in four discontiguous time zones (Japan, Central US, Eastern US, Continental Europe) and so conversations don't happen in real time. We are finalizing a lot of details for the project and will be putting out a new announcement in a new thread in the next few days. It should all be much clearer then, and we hope folks will be able to get on board at that time. If people are too butt-hurt to see past the project not looking exactly like they wanted it to, then we'll kill the thing here and let someone else produce their own idea of what this should look like. If not, we'll get a book out the door within the next six months.

 

[2F/2F]

I've been doing some price shopping for services, and if we go with Blurb, we can get a soft-cover, 8.5 x 11 inch book with up to 120 pages for $35, hard-cover for with dust jacket for $44, hard-cover with imagewrap for $ 47, and ProLine Linen cover with dust jacket for $50. That's a far cry from $100, and well within the budget most people on the survey indicated they would spend. I've seen Blurb books before and they're quite nice. Yes, they're not as nice as what Lodima could do for us, but if we judge by the survey, there's no way we could get 500 people (or 1000) to pony up and buy the entire production run. If we were to go with Michael's suggestion that those buying the book cover the difference, if we had a production run of 1000 books, and 200 people actually bought, then the excess production run would raise the cost per person by a factor of 4- so a $20 book would become an $80 book. If we went with a POD book, the cost would be fixed, per book, never go up, there would be no excess inventory to manage, and to cap it off, there would be no delay between design and production while we wait for checks to come in. Put simply, the logistics of producing the book absolutely dictate that we go with POD.

An unlimited edition...I like it!

 

[MattKing]

If you want to participate, the identities of those organizing this effort are known at this point - feel free to PM us and join in. For the record, we are:

Joel - Guitstik
Rachelle - Mooseontheloose
Ian Grant - Ian Grant
Scott - TheFlyingCamera

This process is somewhat slow by virtue of the fact that we're in four discontiguous time zones (Japan, Central US, Eastern US, Continental Europe) and so conversations don't happen in real time. We are finalizing a lot of details for the project and will be putting out a new announcement in a new thread in the next few days. It should all be much clearer then, and we hope folks will be able to get on board at that time.

Thanks to all four of you for stepping forward and putting time and effort into this.

I especially appreciate the fact that there are people from a lot of different locations working on it.

And I'm sure having a transplanted Canadian on the team helps too .

 

[coigach]

...If you want to participate, the identities of those organizing this effort are known at this point - feel free to PM us and join in. For the record, we are:

Joel - Guitstik
Rachelle - Mooseontheloose
Ian Grant - Ian Grant
Scott - TheFlyingCamera

This process is somewhat slow by virtue of the fact that we're in four discontiguous time zones (Japan, Central US, Eastern US, Continental Europe) and so conversations don't happen in real time. We are finalizing a lot of details for the project and will be putting out a new announcement in a new thread in the next few days. It should all be much clearer then, and we hope folks will be able to get on board at that time. If people are too butt-hurt to see past the project not looking exactly like they wanted it to, then we'll kill the thing here and let someone else produce their own idea of what this should look like. If not, we'll get a book out the door within the next six months.

Cheers for update - much appreciated.

 

[ozphoto]

Hi guys! Any more information regarding this? After all the to-and-fro, and heated discussions, it seems to have died totally.

 

[keithwms]

It hasn't died at all There have finally been some earnest efforts to create an inclusive project which all APUGers can be proud of. I look forward to seeing the product!

 

[ozphoto]

Thanks Keith - that's great to hear. How do you keep updated?

 

[keithwms]

Nanette, I was asked my opinion about something and was added to a few informal mails. I believe where it stands now is that Sean has made some excellent suggestions for how to make the project more inclusive and open. I think there will be some new info quite soon.

FWIW my role in the project has been simply to suggest that a "jury" is not one person.

 

[ozphoto]

Great to hear, and I agree with your "jury" comment. Look forward to it all being revealed!!

 

[canuhead]

Just a thought, one of many amongst the 33 pages here. Has there been any thought given to approaching sponsors to advertise or help fund the book, in return, perhaps receiving a special mention or acknowledgment in the fwd or prologue ?

Also, agree with others who ask if the pug community has come to terms with what really is the purpose of this book. Imo, selection should not be voted on by members, this should be the responsibility of a select group (no idea how this will be decided..). Initial edit is done online (if the panel can't meet in one location) and the images then whittled down to whatever number is required for the book.

With the right panel/star chamber/ chosen ones, the editing process can move along quickly. When I've been involved in this type of process as a judge, it really does come down to the fact that images that are compelling will be obvious, if this is indeed the goal of the book project.

If it's meant to be more inclusive and show any and all work, rough or polished, then perhaps open a gallery, announce it to the general membership (subscriber and non) and set a window for submitting, single image only. If people miss the window, then they're not regulars. This should reward those who spend time here. These will form a POD book. Price for the book will depend on membership status on APUG.

Discuss or dismiss

 

[keithwms]

If it's meant to be more inclusive and show any and all work, rough or polished, then perhaps open a gallery, announce it to the general membership (subscriber and non) and set a window for submitting, single image only. If people miss the window, then they're not regulars. This should reward those who spend time here.

I like this approach.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Canuhead,

Most of what you've brought up in your post has already been discussed in this thread (and off) and has been finalized by the steering committee for this project. The project has been ready to go for some time, but as Keith has mentioned above, we are just waiting for Sean to polish a few final details.

Don't worry -- when the APUG book project launches, everyone will know about it! ;-)

 

[coigach]

Looking forward to hearing more about APUG book - how are things going with this?

 

[Marco B]

Great to hear the project hasn't died. Will keep watching out for calls for entry. Looking forward to put in my bit, even if it may not be selected for final publication... that is all part of the game.

Which makes me think, would it be an idea to create a special (temporary?) APUG gallery of all photos that "Didn't make it"?... A bit similar to National Geographics last page "Photo that didn't make it" in the NG magazine? If so, it might be best to publish it sometime (3 months, half a year?) after the book has been published, when the first excitement and frustration has died down... to avoid overly heated discussion of "Why hasn't this photo been included?!"

 

[coigach]

Any updates on the APUG book or has the idea died a death?

 

[TheToadMen]

I'm interested in participating (and helping to organize) this book, if the project is still feasible.

I would like to enter some pinhole landscape images myself, like :
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
and
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Bert from Holland

 

[PhotoBob]

yeah I'd be interested in contributing to an APUG book as well

 

[StoneNYC]

Is it still open? And if so which image should I submit? (If any) lol


Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ian Grant]

The OP hasn't been active on APUG since June 2012. Unfortunately the project ground to a halt.

Ian

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Probably best just to let sleeping dogs lie on this one...

Ken

 

[Jesper]

A nice thought though.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Yes, it was a nice thought. The process derailed in a complicated mess, although not acrimonious. One of the biggest snags was figuring out how to solicit and select the images for the book. At no affordable price point could we produce a volume that would be democratic and representative of the APUG membership, so the question of how to curate/jury the book became central, with no conclusive decision ever reached. At this point in time, if someone wants to take this on as a project, I say more power to them. Just privately contact the photographers you want to have represented in the book to submit images, produce it and market it here. IF you want to associate it with APUG, talk to Sean and get his blessing to use the APUG name in marketing. But at the price point most folks here on APUG indicated they'd be willing to pay, self-publishing would lead to a very slim volume.