Chance of getting published, 300 pledges required for my book on Milton Keynes

[lilserenity]

Hello,

First of all I have deliberated over which area of the forum is the most suitable for this, and I thought this might be best. Secondly I hope this is OK!

I thought this may be of interest on here, because I am still a film user (I only use my phone for digital) and I have been made an offer where I might be able to get a project I have been working on for the past 2+ years published. The caveat is I need around 300 'pre-registrations' to show that I can sell at least that amount from the publisher.

My book is a documentary of a city in England, a so called "new town" called Milton Keynes. It's of the urban, suburban and rural landscape, architecture, people, place and that has been done by trudging around all 34 square miles of the city area with my cameras (either my M2, OM2n or Autocord.) I have also been privileged to have taken photos of many of the original architects, planners, designers, engineers, managers etc. who worked at the development corporation that kickstarted the building of the new town.

You can see some of the project here:

Dead Link Removed

In fact some folks here helped with RA4 queries when I wanted to print some of the negatives so this along with a couple of other rangefinder based forums has been a great help to me, so you won't see me carpet bombing Dpreview with these details, So I hope this doesn't come across as crass spam!

The book if published would be 250 pages, full colour, 8x10" in size and paperback retailing at about £10, available at a couple of book launches in the UK (1 in MK), bookstores in MK, and on-line via Amazon and possibly also my website for signed copies -- so it's not just available in the UK. As it stands I'll probably make no money at all, but it's something I am willing to do to get this work out there and maybe in 30-40 years time it'll be the foundation I look back on. There will be an introduction in the book from me but also Prof. Derek Walker who was the Chief Architect and Planner from 1970-76, who was in the team that developed the now grade II listed shopping building.

If you are interested and would like to buy a copy, you do not need to pay anything now but if you would ever so kindly visit my website and put your name down for a copy (or as many as you like) -- I will stand a good chance of meeting that 300 target. It's currently 156 and I have been overwhelmed by support of people, including people on forums who I have never met before, but I will be ever so grateful.

• Visit my website and put your name down for a copy

I hope this is OK,

Thanks and take care,
Vicky

 

[lns]

Hi Vicky.

Interesting photos. I like your idea of documenting this area. Very well done. I always feel I run out of inspiration in my dull suburban area, though to be fair it's much less interesting than Milton Keynes appears to be. Still, you've kind of inspired me this morning.

Is Milton Keynes where Leica used to have its UK offices? This summer when I was in London I walked by the new Leica Mayfair. That's a very different area, alas. There must be some symbolism in the move.

Best of luck with the project. I hope to spend more time looking at it.

-Laura

 

[lilserenity]

Hi Vicky.

Interesting photos. I like your idea of documenting this area. Very well done. I always feel I run out of inspiration in my dull suburban area, though to be fair it's much less interesting than Milton Keynes appears to be. Still, you've kind of inspired me this morning.

Is Milton Keynes where Leica used to have its UK offices? This summer when I was in London I walked by the new Leica Mayfair. That's a very different area, alas. There must be some symbolism in the move.

Best of luck with the project. I hope to spend more time looking at it.

-Laura

Hi Laura,
Yes MK was where Leica Camera had their offices, I'm not sure if the other parts of their business are still there or not but it is photographed (in 2009) as part of the project but as a photo, probably won't appear in the book.

The Flickr photos will largely all but disappear when the book comes out, or rather if.

So if you can support the publication of the book, I'd be ever so grateful. There will be availability on Amazon if the publication went ahead...

Thanks,
Vicky