My new portrait book is out!

Rolleiflexible · Jul 17, 2009

After four years of photographing my series
of portraits of naked women, and thinking
and writing about portraits and what it is
they represent, I've finished my book of the
series. I am hoping to find a conventional
publisher for it, but in the meantime I've
self-published an edition through Blurb:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/770769

Melanie and I are expecting the arrival of our
son in September, so I wanted to give birth to
this opus before the diapers arrive. It weighs
in at 160 pages -- 121 portraits and about
5,000 words of accompanying essays that
explore the subject of portraiture. For those
curious about hardware, I shot about 70 of
the portraits with Rolleiflexes, and the rest
in large format with a Sinar Norma view camera.

If you are able to see a copy, please send me
your thoughts.

Nikanon · Jul 17, 2009

where an how would one be able to get a book of good quality made in large amounts?

Rolleiflexible · Jul 17, 2009

No idea, Nikanon. I know there are
printers in the East who turn out great
work, but I've not used any.

David A. Goldfarb · Jul 17, 2009

Congrats on getting this far, Sanders, and best of luck finding a publisher!

Jeff Kubach · Jul 18, 2009

Sounds interesting! I hope you find a publisher also.

Jeff

Chazzy · Jul 18, 2009

Best of luck on finding a publisher. Portraits and nudes are two of my own chief photographic interests.

arigram · Jul 18, 2009

Excellent.
I wish I could buy a copy.

lightwisps · Jul 18, 2009

First off, Congrats!! My gallery "3 Yellow Tulips" might be able to help market you book. If interested, please contact me at

Lightwips@yahoo.com

Feel free to visit our websites for both 3YT and lightwisps

Best of luck to you. i have always dreamed of doing a book

Don

SuzanneR · Jul 18, 2009

Did you submit it to Blurb's book contest? They have some good judges from the industry.

eddym · Jul 18, 2009

Congratulations Sanders! I love your work, and I'm going to order the book. Best of luck with it!

jgcull · Jul 18, 2009

Congratulations on the completion of your project... well, so far. I hope you're able to take it to the best level you imagine. That cover is really beautiful!

cowanw · Jul 18, 2009

Very impressive!
Here is one way to get a book published.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/100-books.shtml

Andrew Horodysky · Jul 18, 2009

Congratulations, Sanders!

As an FYI, there are people in the industry, book and publishing brokers/producers, who do all the initial prep work with you and pitch your concept to publishers, sometimes working on production through delivery. It becomes a partnership, of sorts, for publishing. You may want to check these people out, as they are well-connected with editors and creative directors within that arena.

Rolleiflexible · Jul 18, 2009

Thanks, everybody, for the kind words. I've
always considered my naked portraits to be
pieces of an integrated whole. The book, with
its accompanying essays discussing portraiture,
puts the images into the context I have always
imagined them to occupy.

SuzanneR said:
Did you submit it to Blurb's book contest? They have some good judges from the industry.

Suzanne, I did! That deadline drove me to get
the project done. I entered it in the Editorial side,
because my text provides a narrative that seems
better-suited to that part of the contest.

jgcull said:
That cover is really beautiful!

My first cover used the same image but a different
type layout. I posted it over at Flickr, and one viewer
offered to help improve it. That viewer turned out to be
Jorge Colombo, who had a cover on the New Yorker last
month -- an impressive talent. (www.jorgecolombo.com)
My belief in the kindness of strangers has been reaffirmed.

a.horodysky said:
As an FYI, there are people in the industry, book and publishing brokers/producers, who do all the initial prep work with you and pitch your concept to publishers, sometimes working on production through delivery. It becomes a partnership, of sorts, for publishing. You may want to check these people out, as they are well-connected with editors and creative directors within that arena.

I spent a lot of time getting the page layouts right. I
didn't like Blurb's standard layouts so I set my own pages
and submitted them as full-bleed JPGs. (Which took an
insane amount of time for a 160-page book.) So the book
does not need prep work -- it is ready to go to publishers
now. If you can recommend a broker, I would be grateful.

The Blurb edition is expensive (most of the price going to
Blurb) but the test copy I ran was quite beautifully printed.
If I don't find a commercial publisher, I will be content with
having produced the Blurb edition.

Chazzy · Jul 18, 2009

I really enjoyed looking at all the photos on Flickr (all 23 or so pages of them), and trust that they give me some idea of the contents of the book (which, alas, I cannot afford).

Rolleiflexible · Jul 18, 2009

Chazzy said:
I really enjoyed looking at all the photos on Flickr (all 23 or so pages of them), and trust that they give me some idea of the contents of the book (which, alas, I cannot afford).

Well, yes and no. A number of the book's
portraits are on my Flickr page, and many
are not online. But the book differs in that
it combines words with the portraits in a
way that creates a new and different work.

I am sorry about the cost of the Blurb edition.
Most of the money goes to Blurb, not to me.

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 18, 2009

Sanders, a warm congratulations to finishing your book and putting all of that extremely hard work behind you.
I don't think the Blurb price is too high, but I still can't afford it... Boy I wish I could though. You have been an inspiration to me since I first saw your work. Your consistency is amazing, and I really enjoy what you do with your camera and the light.
I sincerely hope you find a real publisher for this book, but I'm sure the Blurb book will be well worth owning for those that have enough resources to purchase it.

Good luck, and I hope you can keep the great work up, even after diaper time arrives. I think to go full cycle with the work together with Melanie in her pregnancy would be to post some images post birth too, of the baby, and the miracle of life.

My best to you,

- Thomas

Rolleiflexible · Jul 18, 2009

Thomas, thanks. I've been shooting a series
of Melanie during her pregnancy, and Melanie
has been shooting some self-portraits along
the way as well. Some of my photos of her
pregnancy are collected here:

Dead Link Removed

If we end up with material we both like, we
might try to co-author a book of the project.

removed account4 · Jul 18, 2009

it is nice to see your work will finally be
in a complete collection ( book and writing )
i can only imagine the amount of time and effort.

good luck finding a publisher!
john

SuzanneR · Jul 18, 2009

Rolleiflexible said:
I am sorry about the cost of the Blurb edition.
Most of the money goes to Blurb, not to me.

I made a far more simple, straightforward blurb book last year, and found their portion to be too much. If you, the author, want to make money on a blurb book, you have to add a lot on top of their price, and I didn't think the quality justified that price. If I had really wanted to market that book and make some money, the book would have cost $60 or $70, which is about what you can buy for a book printed far more beautifully through a traditional publisher.

It's a real flaw in the on-demand printing model. Bascially, they make money on your content.

Sorry for the hijack... oh, and I've been slowly going through some of the books in that contest. I entered last year, but really didn't have much a book. Despite my rant, at some point, I'll make another book (maybe I'll try Lulu), the process of sequencing and editing is extremely valuable.

CarlRadford · Jul 21, 2009

Congratulations Sanders - your work has always been an inspiration. The hope is that a publishers will see merit in producing this book so that it becomes affordable for the majority! - your work warrants greater exposure - no pun intended!

wfe · Jul 21, 2009

All means of congratulations Sanders, this is totally awesome and there's a very good chance a copy will find its way into my collection. I've been a fan of this body of work since the first time I saw it.

Rolleiflexible · Jul 21, 2009

Bill, Carl, Suzanne, John: Many thanks.
I was happy to see that the book made
this week's Top 20 Blurb bestsellers list.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/popular

Soon to be a major motion picture! :-D

GM Bennett · Jul 21, 2009

Nice work, Sanders! Are there ways and means to get a signed copy for those of us APUGers who order a copy?

Regards, Graham

Rolleiflexible · Jul 21, 2009

Graham, of course -- I'll be happy to
sign copies if you send them to me,
and cover the return shipping costs.
Email me at sanders@mcnew.net to
make arrangements. Sanders

My new portrait book is out!

Rolleiflexible

Nikanon

Rolleiflexible

David A. Goldfarb

Moderator

Jeff Kubach

Chazzy

arigram

lightwisps

SuzanneR

Moderator

eddym

jgcull

cowanw

Andrew Horodysky

Rolleiflexible

Chazzy

Rolleiflexible

Thomas Bertilsson

Rolleiflexible

removed account4

SuzanneR

Moderator

CarlRadford

wfe

Rolleiflexible

GM Bennett

Rolleiflexible

My new portrait book is out!

Moderator

Moderator

Andrew Horodysky

Moderator

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