Neat and Sweet: Our Publishing Plans...

...As of now. Or maybe I should say our publishing "aspirations." This is just a description (for now) of what I want to do, not necessarily what will work out when push comes to shove.

I have an idea very firmly in mind of the kind of book I want to produce. My "model" is Henry Wessel's Steidl book Waikiki, which (by the way) I absolutely love—it's my favorite of all the books of his I have, or have seen—just gorgeous. (Might also be my favorite Steidl book, but I'd have to think about that). That book is simple and plain, clean and elegant: 11 3/4" square, with 25 pictures, one per spread on the right-hand leaf; short essay, hardbound with a dust jacket. Neat and sweet. Our books could go from there down to as small as 8x8", the size depending on what's right for the pictures.

We'll concentrate—specialize, even—in new, unknown, underserved photographers of the post-transition era*, not the same old names who've been publishing books and winning awards and selling in galleries and populating museum shows for years or decades (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Nuts'n'bolts
We're going to be partnering with a very good, very experienced art publisher who specializes in extremely high quality photographic reproduction. Their best books are absolutely fanatical, and you'll have a chance to buy their very best book, their undisputed masterpiece, for a sweet price, in just a few days. Ours won't reach their highest, most exalted standard...but their "average" is other publishers' "very good." We'll publish 500 copies. The photographer, producer, and I will get 50 copies between us (30/10/10), leaving 450 to sell to you.

Sales numbers, of course, will be critical. There will be some number of sales—undetermined as of yet, and most likely different for each book—that will represent the "break-even" point—i.e., where all the expenses of production are recouped. Beyond that, it's profit. The photographers whose work we publish will be paid in copies at a minimum—that is, he or she will be guaranteed those 30 copies of their own book no matter what. Then, the photographer will get a split of the profits if there are any.

The way from here to there
Here's the plan. We're going to run a Kickstarter campaign later this fall to raise the initial capital (which is relatively modest). Counting my own $1k, we have promises for $2.5k already [UPDATE: now $3.5k]. Every donor of $150 or more will receive a copy of the book as a "thank you," but the book, when it's available, will sell for less than that, which means that everyone who kicks in that amount will also be making a substantial contribution to the cause. (You will of course be able to contribute less, or more.)

Going into the future, we won't do any more Kickstarter campaigns. Rather, each book will have to break even in order to recoup the capital to pay for the next book. If one book sells out, then there will be profits. If it doesn't break even (or falls too far short), then there might not be any future books.

If this model works, I could see producing, I don't know, two books a year. At least one.

Well-judged
I'm a nut about proportion—it's almost its own art form with me—so if we do books they'll be well-proportioned.

The guiding principle for the size and length and thickness of the book I want to make has to do with what I consider the ideal for looking at photographs—for the reader's (the looker's?) experience. I look at photo books all the time...virtually every day. I like to look at books sitting in a chair, which means that many coffee-table tomes are too big for my taste. I have books in which the pictures are too cramped and small; in which the layout is unacceptably busy; or which are just too big and unweildy to hold in your lap. Waikiki is perfect in this respect. It's a very elegant, comfortable way to look at an excellent small selection of photographs—generously sized, but easy to hold in your hand on your lap while you're sitting in a chair, so you can drink in the pictures at length, comfortably.

I said I'm a nut, so I don't think I'm doing any damage to my image to say I've been thinking about this stuff for years.

'Xxxxx Books'
I've created a new category in the right-hand sidebar, called "TOP's Own Books." (I have a company name picked out, but we'll need to clear it legally before I'm at liberty to use it.) I'll put all the publications post in that category, so those who want to keep up with this will be able to.

That's it for now. More as I learn more. Stay tuned for that book deal...it's not just a special offer, it's a special offer that's actually special.  :-)

Mike

ADDENDUM: Thanks for all the comments. In regard to some of the questions, note that first paragraph! We're very early in the process here, and nothing's set in stone. This is a report of what I'm thinking about, nothing more. Anything could change before the plan gets put into action.

Follow our publishing plans on Twitter @TheOnlinePhotog

*Oh—and, film or digital photographers, color or B&W, without prejudice.

Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Jim Becia: "Mike, Not to be critical, but I find the idea of paying more by supporting you on Kickstarter to not make sense. With your print programs, you price prints less than their normal going rates, but with Kickstarter you want to charge more for the going rate of the book. It is not the way I would approach it, but it is your business and your decision."

Mike replies: Jim, Kickstarter solicits voluntary donations from supporters, to help jumpstart ("kick-start") a venture of some kind. It's not a straight sales venue. The Kickstarter option will not be for people like you who just want to buy a book for a businesslike price: if all goes well, you'll have that opportunity later, after the book is published. It's for people who believe in the worth of the venture and want to help it get off the ground. The book they'll get for a certain level of donation isn't compensation—it's just a "thank-you" for their moral and material support.

Oh, and the people who buy the book after it's published, for the regular price (which we hope will be less than $50) will be contributing to our success too, no question, in a somewhat lesser but still important way. No one should feel obligated at all to participate in the Kickstarter program.

Gunnar Marel: "Great aspirations! (With equal expectations looming…!)"

Paddy C: "The art books I design for galleries run 500 copies. On occasion 750–1,000. Absolute max 1,500. It's doable and the cost-per-copy (if you're considering just the printing) is not bad. Mind you, add everything else in and it may be a little iffy. But then art books are not a money-making venture for most."

Louis McCullagh: "With such a small number of photos in each book and your name to uphold the quality of printing why not put the photos online and presale all 500 books before printing. If presell number is greater then 500 then you can print more. After all no one is going to physically handle the book before purchase anyway. No need to have a kickstarter fund raiser."

Mike replies: I don't just want to publish one book. I'd like to publish many books, one after another.

Let's say the total expenses for one book are $15,000. The idea is to raise $15,000, and use it to pay for the first book. Then the first book breaks even. That means the publishing company again has $15,000 in the bank—enough to pay for a second book. And so on.

If the first book earns $18,000, then we split the $3,000 profit between me, the producer, and the photographer, to pay for our time and effort. And we still have enough capital for the second book. If the first book earns only $12,000, that means I only need to invest $3,000 of my own money in order to publish the second book. I can afford that (well, once, maybe even twice—we'd need to make a profit at some point); I can't afford to invest $15,000, or even $10,000. So the Kickstarter money will in effect be seed money which I can keep re-using; it will theoretically allow us to keep producing books into the future, assuming each attempt is more or less a success.

If I do pre-sales on one book, let's say we collect pre-sales to pay the entire cost of the first book. We collect the money, print the book, and distribute all the copies. Where are we? Right back where we started—with no capital for the next book. It's back to the drawing board. Plus, there are all sorts of problems with pre-sales, which I've experienced already way too vividly. I only want to sell what I know I can deliver...promptly, no fuss, no muss.

Whether the venture will be a long-term success or not depends on how well we do overall. If each book makes a little profit, we're golden. If one book loses a little but the next one makes it back, we're also good to go. It's only if successive books fall appreciably short of break-even that the venture might fail—and if that's the case, then it probably deserves to fail.

Comments

[Marek Fogiel]

Good plan Mike, so where's this kickstarter button ?

[Stephen Gilbert]

Is the Kickstarter listing alive? I can't find anything.

I hope you'll post a link when available.

[Kalli]

I'm very happy to see that TOP is going into the photobook business and look forward to seeing what you'll be offering.

Speaking of small photos, have you ever seen a book by Gerry Johansson? I'm no fan of the monster print, but Gerry takes it to the other extreme with his very lovely, if tiny, photos.

[Soeren Engelbrecht]

That company name wouldn't by any chance be "TOP Shelf Books", would it ?? :-)

[Dave]

This is great -- T.O.P. is really evolving. I'm sure you're going to produce great books, but I am actually more excited to watch you expand T.O.P. in a new direction. You are building a true internet success story. It's fun to watch.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

The reproduction is of course critical. But I'm reasonably confident you're pickier about that than I am, so if you're pretty happy I figure I'll be happy too. And I suspect your ideas on proportion will be positive to neutral for me -- not negative, not a problem.

As Ctein has said about selling art in general, you don't have to get everybody to like it, you just have to get 450 people to like it enough to buy it.

I'm pleased to hear the tech is now allowing 500-copy runs at this quality level (I'm taking the quality on your say-so).

Best of luck! I'll check out the Kickstarter, and consider the books. (One problem -- my most likely source for these things is as gifts, which means the hypothetical possibility of their selling out quickly may well mean I don't end up getting them when I'm interested. I don't see any real solution to this, though, it's just one of those things.)

[Ben]

Awesome! Good books are a great thing.

[Ryan]

Great idea Mike. I wish you great success and will do my part by purchasing!

[Mike Johnston]

"I'm pleased to hear the tech is now allowing 500-copy runs at this quality level"

David,
They'll print 100 if you'll pay for it. The problem is simply that the per-copy price goes down dramatically the more copies you print. And the problem there is that you're sorely tempted to "save" money by printing more. If it's more than you can sell, then don't earn back your expenses anyway AND you end up with extra cartons of books you have to either throw in dumpster or (far more common) store. This is greatly complicated by the variables in pricing. As you print more, the price will fall more, and you will presumably sell more. But at some point your postulated market is saturated and you can't sell any more for any price.

The other extreme is equally problematic, which means you shouldn't be too conservative either: because the fewer you print, the higher the per-copy price has to be, and (hence) the fewer people will buy it.

You have to try to pick the number where you're printing as many as you think you can reasonably sell, or just a little more. And not less. It's a tough balance to find, and publishers routinely get headaches over it. Small publishers get especially large headaches.

Mike

[Mathew Hargreaves]

Mike,

Good luck with this bold move forward. Your heart, soul, and bruisable ego will go into overtime thinking about every detail. I have done small press editions of literary works back in the 90's. I still have copies of the last book on 1996. The elation comes from holding that first copy before anyone else in the world does. Then you get to wait for the reviews and copies flying back in your direction.
However you may find 500 is too little for an international market. You might look to your print sales numbers to get a aerial view of the potential sales market. 1000 copies might be a better number. A nifty selling technique is to number each title as a volume number on the spine, like on the bottom. Each successive book is a new volume number. People who collect books do not like to be missing a book in a numbered sequence. The higher quantity may not sell out as fast but late-comers to the series, say starting with #2 or #3 will probably want to obtain #1. Satisfying the late buyers will help with later sales as word of mouth builds.

CHEERS...Mathew

[Dean Johnston]

Hiya!

> underserved photographers

I read that at first as "undeserved photographers" and thought, "Sweet, I'm in."

Oh well.

Take care.

[Dean Johnston]

Hi again.

Incidentally, regarding Kickstarter, I read something somewhere a couple of days ago (BBC?) that, if I recall correctly, suggested that most pledgers pledge at the level where they get the product / service, and psychologically see it as a transaction, not a donation.

Not having a clue about anything to do with business myself, I'm not sure if that is useful information for you or not, but thought I'd mention it.

Take care.

[Timprov]

I think this is a really good idea, and I have more ink than cash at the moment. I also think Jim Becia has a point. So I have an idea: if we could find four or five of us new and unknown photographers who were each willing to donate a small print that would ship with the book, that set would be a great Kickstarter extra. Not sure what numbers you're aiming to get there, but I could produce 50 or 100 8 1/2 x 11s without much difficulty. 450 would be pushing it.

[Jeffrey Goggin]

@ Kalli:

I agree with you about the quality of Gerry Johansson's tiny photos -- I, too, find them quite lovely -- but I find I am less enamored with the quality of his books, especially the early ones, where I can easily see the halftone screens with a naked eye.

His later books are much improved and as the saying goes, "it's the content that counts," but I hope Mike aims a bit higher with the TOP books in terms of print quality.

[Sylvain G.]

Dear Mike,

Good to read more about this exciting project. I'm sure I'll be supporting some of the books.

Still a few question marks though.If you don't mind me asking.

Don't you think that many customers, fearing to miss an offer, will actually be lured to jump in the kickstarter line rather than wait for the release price? In effect, people would rather pay more to secure their sample than to voluntarily support the project. What do you think?

If I understand correctly, supporters will be getting theirs from that 450 batch and when the funding period ends, other customers get the rest through "normal orders". Is it?

I guess it all depends on the demand size and perhaps I'm exaggerating your readership size? That said, wouldn't going to kickstarter -considerably- expand your market from your typical readers' base?
And not so rhetorically, what's the idea behind the limited edition here besides setting a manageable break even point?
Are "2nd prints" a possibility ?

Don't get me wrong, I ask questions because I see a very good line of things coming to us from T.O.P. and am anxious that it's not going to be too expensive or too difficult to get, "too limited". Surely if it's to promote "not the same old names who've been publishing books and winning awards and selling in galleries and populating museum shows for years or decades".

Success on the project, Mike

Greetings,
Sylvain

[Aaron]

I totally agree with your kickstarter summary above: it should be a donation to a worthy cause, not just a pre-sale. Many, many successful Kickstarters do offer something more than just the product though, if you're seeking a donation that's higher than the retail price of the product. That something extra doesn't need to make up the different - just something to show that the people who pony up more, early , are appreciated.

I nominate a small Mike Johnston print as the extra (could even be a random print from the archives; that'd be fun).

[Sean Dwyer]

Best of luck with the latest endeavour. I think this is an excellent adventure.

[James Sinks]

Mike, on a somewhat related note, whatever happened to your friend with the "lost portfolio"? The guy who made matchbook sized prints of oddball photos...

I seem to recall you tracked him down and there was talk of a print sale of some kind.

And then nothing.

Also, I agree with the other commenter who said that your Kickstarter campaign is 100% backwards. The way to get lots of contributions is to pre-sell the Kickstarter book at LESS than the TOP price, and offer other rewards (multiple copies, your name in the book, an ad on TOP, prints, a portfolio review, a cuppatea with Ctein, whatever) at higher levels.

[Josef]

I would also consider giving away a print along with a copy of the book at the $150 level. This gives an extra incentive to get people to fund the beginnings of the project by offering more than the book that will be available at a far lower price.

Otherwise, I love the idea and look forward to following along to see how well the venture works. I am assuming you will give regular updates which will give a unique view into how the photobook business works.

[Darin]

Why not price it out on the basis of printing 500 copies but, after you announce the title, take pre-orders before making the final print run decision? That way those of us who might not check in to TOP everyday could assure ourselves of getting a copy, you'd get cash up front, and then could adjust to a longer print run if you thought there was enough demand. Better from my point of view than hoping for a second print run.

--Darin

[Kurt Shoens]

This TOP book publishing venture is fantastic news. I've really appreciated the photo books reviewed here and have been adding to my collection slowly but surely.

To properly prepare myself, will I need to have Paypal in working order to participate?

[robert harshman]

Mike, I don't think you understand the Kickstarter model. But, a easy way to adjust your view of pay more upfront to support the effort is to supply more value to the KS supporters. Have a signed version of the book, in a custom case, perhaps with a small print.

Then you have something of value beyond the retail value of a book that can be purchased on Amazon for x% off with free shipping.

As I noted a year or so ago, I think you should have a monthly or even more print sale on TOP given the number of the sales you made prior sales. Heck, maybe you should have a gallery of print sales?

Just my 2 cents :)

Best of luck in this!

Robert

[Al Patterson]

I've added you to my Twitter list, welcome! BTW, I was unable to post here using my android device, let's see if my Windows machine works. (I'm on the road at the hotel with the worst internet connectivity ever...)

[David Adam Edelstein]

Really excited for this plan, Mike.

[Jeff Grant]

Great idea, Mike. A truly independent book business that can afford to take risks with relatively unknown photographers is an excellent idea. I'll be lining up for the Kickstarter project.

[Roger]

The book sounds interesting and I'll likely purchase a copy. What I'm REALLY looking forward to is Mike's Kickstarter video!

[Mike Johnston]

"whatever happened to your friend with the 'lost portfolio'?"

James,
Hey, good idea.

Mike

[Adam]

Mike,

Very excited, and you can count me in on the Kickstarter front. I must admit to one small frustration, however: when you wrote "post-transition era" with an asterisk, I assumed the asterisk would explain what post-transition era means. It doesn't, and Google wasn't very helpful. I assume you mean post-transition to digital era?

Thanks,
Adam

[Mike Johnston]

Adam,
Yes, I mean "the digital transition," roughly 1997 to 2008, give or take. You can expand or contract the actual dates according to taste or argument, but you're likely to end up with some subset or other of the past two decades.

Mike

[Michael W]

By the sound of it, I'm guessing that you are working with Michael A Smith. If so I think you are onto a good thing as he knows how to produce quality books. I also think you have a good eye and should be able to put together some interesting volumes. Looking forward to see how this works out - best wishes.

[Ahem]

As Robert above, I suspect you don't fully understand what Kickstarter is meant for, or how it works. It is a crowdfunding site, meant to fund projects which wouldn't otherwise be funded. People can pledge as much money as they want - so the $150 you propose is just one level. Many will pledge less, some more. If you don't reach your stated goal, _you get nothing_. If you meet it or go over, you get the funds (minus Kickstarter expenses, less than 10% I believe).

But judging by the popularity of past print sales, I'd put money on the bet that you will have more funds than what's needed for the 500 book print run after the Kickstarter project is done. Much more.

I believe that Kickstarter doesn't require you to explain what you with the money if you get much more than you need. Nevertheless, Kickstarter etiquette states that you should offer "stretch goals" on the project description at increasing total pledge levels, which unlock if you reach higher total pledge than what your project actually needs. Otherwise people will think you'll be "reviewing" the funds in the Bahamas sipping on mai tais.

Some ideas for stretch goals would be even better printing/paper/cover quality as offered by your printer, a deluxe dust cover or slip case, loose prints from the book or other TOP photographers, lower price for the book or larger printing run, creating a companion website for the book for updates and discussion, free shipping for backers, or even a gallery show.

It is advisable to also offer pledge tiers below that $150 point to attract people who can't/won't pay that much. I think a loose/matted print (no book) would work here. As for ideas on rewards for higher pledge tiers: prints from the book or other TOP photographers (you could have different prints as stretch targets and rewards), access to the first 100 numbered and signed books on a first-come-first served basis, lunch with the CEO and President of TOP, or free advertising space on TOP for a few weeks.

[MartinP]

How about a book of Kirk Tucks 'quiet' black and white portraits?

[Louis McCullagh]

With such a small number of photos in each book and your name to uphold the quality of printing why not put the photos online and presale all 500 books before printing.

If presell number is greater then 500 then you can print more.

After all no one is going to physically handle the book before purchase anyway.

No need to have a kickstarter fund raiser.

[Steven ralser]

Mike - don't forget about the tax implications of kickstarter funding. I remember reading an article on kickstarter (and why stuff doesn't always get sent out), and, if I remember correctly, some of the people forgot to take into account taxes they would have to pay on the money bought in.

Steve

[Dennis ng]

Normally you get something value added like signed t shirt / book / extra page or photos etc for the contributor. Not necessarily expensive but somehow valuable for the first round one.

[Edie Howe]

As a successful Kickstarter, let me warn you about giving too much away as premiums. By the time I finished fulfilling mine, I had less than half of my goal money. I can offer prints of my own work as a donation to your cause, Mike; Give them out as premiums. You'll only be responsible for shipping costs to your donors.

Best of luck,
Edie

[Louis McCullagh]

Mike

I'm totally with your aims. However you are using other people's money (kickstarter) to cover the possibility of a loss.

There is a contradiction here that is staring you in the face. You have completed multiple print sales and pre sold in every one. I do not follow why a book is different.

Was the price of a print not more than a book or at least close?

Why not use kickstart to do presale? one of the levels can simply be the price of the book and postage (use a 3rd party to do the fulfilment).

Saying no is not good. In this online world what would it cost to put the book on line (not high res) with all the images for buyers to browse and ask who wants to preorder.

Test your market. Remove stress and uncertainty.

So if you want to do several books there will be ones which are more popular than others. You need to try and anticipate which they will be. One really bad book will blow your kickstarter money.

I have nearly 200 books and I would agree that I would very rarely buy a poorly printed book no matter who the photographer was. Quality is paramount.

[Edie Howe]

To Kurt Shoens:

No, Kickstarter will collect funds directly from your credit card if and when the project meets its stated monetary goal. It will dispense the funds to Mike via an Amazon account, if I recall correctly.

Edie

[Ben]

Just one idea for down the road, or maybe for a higher kickstarter pledge: subscriptions. If the first book does alright you could sell a three volume subscription option. Might work, might not... I expect you'll do well regardless, and if the first book looks nice–and I'd be surprised if it didn't, I expect there would be interest in something like this.

[James Sinks]

Mike, the lost portfolio(s) as a book sure seemed like a good idea to me, even having only seen one photo of his.

You could even do a "books on books" style thing by showing a life size photo of an actual torn-edged micro-print (or even a whole spread of them, if they're small enough) and then a "proper" repro at larger size.

[nacho]

This idea sounds wonderful. Good luck.

I would go for the publisher's "highest, most exalted standard" and their "fanatical", "extremely high quality photographic reproduction", even if it's much more expensive. No shortcuts. If you are working with someone able of doing the very best, why settle for anything else than that? The market for books is getting quite saturated, so quality of the printing besides the (assumed) quality of the photographs could be a way for Top Books to differentiate itself from most of the rest. Top quality.

Will you be accepting book proposals?