tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post8946346231961163988..comments2024-03-27T00:32:29.877-07:00Comments on Photos and Stuff: Understanding Photobooks: The Uglyamolitorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-59080069560802861012017-06-18T08:38:30.031-07:002017-06-18T08:38:30.031-07:00I agree and admire Steidl and what he does, and I ...I agree and admire Steidl and what he does, and I think the photo world is better because of his publishing. However I think pursuing commercial publishers should not be done at the expense of POD or artist's books.christianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05057172033456543944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-79721178179579195062017-06-18T07:52:36.919-07:002017-06-18T07:52:36.919-07:00I worked in the music biz during the 1980s & 1...I worked in the music biz during the 1980s & 1990s. Reading your last few columns brought back a lot of memories of that time. <br /><br />It was true back then, for me at least, that the most exciting work was being done by people with no real foot in the door who were "self-publishing" (the DIY movement of self-made and released cassettes, fanzines, etc). <br /><br />Of course today, technology has made this much easier to do, and with much higher quality. I am working on my first small photo book, of maybe 30 pages, right now. I plan to put out maybe 3 or 4 of these each year. Small, easily digestible, fairly current. And self-published, of course. It's quite a lot of fun! And who knows, maybe I'll sell a few copies along the way, too.Oldwinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06546428931999701295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-50812324431622762012017-06-18T06:23:38.014-07:002017-06-18T06:23:38.014-07:00Thank you!
I probably should have made clearer th...Thank you!<br /><br />I probably should have made clearer that these guys are not 100% of publishing. It's obvious that the people who publish Stephen King novels are not these people.<br /><br />What I was not sure of, and what I was pleased to learn from your comment, was that there are still grownup publishers in photobooks.<br /><br />I suspect that, for instance, Phaidon and Aperture I think are at least less sleazy (they do enough volume to make the "bestsellers fund the failures" fiction into a reality).<br /><br />I am delighted to learn, also, that the system does in a sense work. Your book(s) moved the needle, as it were, and you are "more successful" in a meaningful way.<br /><br />Again, thanks for the counterpoint.<br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-90634745581237558922017-06-18T03:35:34.769-07:002017-06-18T03:35:34.769-07:00It doesn't always have to be like this. I have...It doesn't always have to be like this. I have had two books published by a small well-respected house in Germany, who I approached after buying and admiring one of their titles. The owner funds his passion for book-making out of his main job, and he has never asked me for a financial contribution. One of my two books sold out, and I’ve had exhibitions and magazine features on the strength of it. I accept that he may be one of the exceptions that prove the rule, though.<br />erickehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01409165571476557979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-62739046091552570132017-06-18T02:44:18.288-07:002017-06-18T02:44:18.288-07:00Even on the risk to sound vaguely marxist: It'...Even on the risk to sound vaguely marxist: It's down to simple economics and technology. With conventional printing, you need a minimum print run to make it economically feasible. So this required a seizable investment prior to production. This economic risk is placed on the publisher. He might either act as a Gatekeeper of Good Taste, i.e. do market research to check whether the book is marketable, or pass the risk on to the author by taking his money to cover the cost.<br /><br />With PoD, the technical impediment of a minimum print run doesn't exist any more, so the role of the commercial publisher becomes obsolete. This is just another case where an economy is made redundant by advancing technology. In order to stay economically afloat, publishers resort to the role of the Gatekeepers of Good Taste. This means marketing a scarce good - recognition by the Art scene - "oh, he's got a book with Steidl!".<br /><br />Now, we're all grown-ups around here, so there's no need for the elementary school Art teacher to tell us whether we've drawn a proper picture. We can figure this out by ourselves, thank you very much.<br /><br />Best, ThomasThomas Rinkhttp://www.picturesfromthezone.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-12993015435808533812017-06-18T02:10:46.404-07:002017-06-18T02:10:46.404-07:00Self publishing is a threat to the traditional art...Self publishing is a threat to the traditional art book business, of course. But I think that guys like Steidl will survive, because he makes his money with other kinds of books (Günter Grass for example). He can afford to publish some photo books that don't have to be profitable. There is this interesting movie "How to make a book with Steidl". Go watch it.Mark A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11553260844948501544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-63307660145665970512017-06-17T21:51:49.528-07:002017-06-17T21:51:49.528-07:00"...magical Euro elf..."
*flips back to..."...magical Euro elf..."<br /><br />*flips back to read more*stone sealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08285111419079958362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-73439773810189823112017-06-17T17:18:59.260-07:002017-06-17T17:18:59.260-07:00I always thought that art (and photography) was fo...I always thought that art (and photography) was for the people. Contrary to this notion, it looks to me that high-end publishers like Steidl, MACK and others are all part of a small circle jerk of publishers, curators, collectors and artists serving themselves only in an infinite loop of highly over produced photo crap without any external participation from the general public. <br /><br />Imagine if important works of photography like Frank's The Americans or Walker's American Photographs were monopolized by these snobs, limited to prints of 200 expensive books, that would only circulate among rich collectors and gallerists, while at the same time tools like the internet and self publishing are readily available in order to make the work reach a larger audience.<br /><br />I do thing that Colberg's obsession with design and highly elaborate photobooks (and his demands that you should hire a professional book designer) comes from an effort to maintain or even extend the monopoly that these high end publishers have on art photography. "Hire a designer" essentially means "Go to a fancy publisher" because they will have the designers -- and also the sales and marketing people, and also all the contacts with the gallerists and collectors. Carlosnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-41200311729169914072017-06-17T12:26:59.153-07:002017-06-17T12:26:59.153-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.christianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05057172033456543944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-37087705153039287672017-06-17T10:33:58.176-07:002017-06-17T10:33:58.176-07:00"Vanity Press no longer means enabling people..."Vanity Press no longer means enabling people to pretend to be authors, it means enabling people to pretend to be publishers. The correct answer for most of these projects is "Your project is shit. No." but it turns out that the answer is occasionally "Oh, you have $50,000? Let me see those pictures!" "<br /><br />You have the whole thing there. It's a racket, related to that other racket known as "internship", restricting the sexy jobs to kids with rich parents who can support them through the "work for nothing" filter.<br /><br />There's also the business of "taste gatekeeping", which the likes of Colberg et al. fulfil. Wanna be published? Then make more of the sort of work that gets published.<br /><br />POD is wonderful, and one of the best innovations of the Web. Anyone who says different is a fool or a publisher. It's also very funny that so many of these trustafarian projects have a faux-punk aesthetic.<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.com