eBOOKS AS AN ALTERNATIVE

Last year I circulated some thoughts on the use of eBooks as an alternative to hard copy publication. In light of the recent postings I figured that I’d post my thoughts here for discussion. Since last August, when I first posted this email, I’ve come across some info which would lead me to believe that Adobe is now offering an as use method of being able to encode and copy protect your documents for $99.00 a year. It’s been on my list of things to check out. In any event, I think that eBooks are worth exploring.

eBOOKS AS AN ALTERNATIVE PUBLISHING VENUE

For several years Ive followed the debate over the shifting nature of contracts, and the efforts by media companies to gain more and more control of image rights. One of the conclusions that I came to was that photographers and photojournalists needed to explore alternative options for having their work seen while at the same time trying to generate some revenue from that effort.

I believe that the biggest concern that many photojournalists have today notwithstanding the recent attention thats been given to photojournalism by the events in the last few years is that most of our work is never seen by anyone other than a photo editor at a newspaper, wire service or photo agency. How many of you stage periodic screenings or parties with friends in order that others might see some of your work because otherwise no one will?

Personal websites and stock footage sites have expanded the possibility for sales and viewing, but often the costs involved in creating and constantly upgrading a really dynamic website can be prohibitive, and stock footage I dont believe works as well for photojournalism as it does for editorial and lifestyle.

Book publishing has traditionally been the venue for photojournalism to reach a wider audience once upon a time magazines played a larger role in providing photojournalists a showcase, but, with notable exceptions such as foto 8 in London, http://www.foto8.com, and several web-based efforts like Dirck Halsteads, Digital Journalist, http://www.digitaljournalist.org, and Harpers Magazine recent decision to provide photojournalist Peter Turnley, four major eight-page photo spreads next year, the options have been getting narrower. Unfortunately Harpers decision has spurred so much interest because major magazine venues have been disappearing as the magazines that provided those opportunities changed formats or ceased to exist.

While there are wonderful photojournalism books published annually, there are several drawbacks that face photojournalists seeking to get their work published, not the least of which is the prohibitive costs associated with printing a quality 4 color book. Having gone through the process myself, I can attest that unless you win the lottery, its not an undertaking that you can finance on an ongoing basis. After exploring a number of options several years ago I chose to self publish and the resulting experiences and lessons learned were worth it.

It was an expensive, but extremely worthwhile experience that provided me with a number of “this is what Id do differently next time” lessons, which only whetted my appetite to do it again. My only problem is that I couldnt afford to do it again.

But I really wanted to. So, I went looking for alternative ways which led me to start exploring the possibility of eBooks. With an eBook, the major cost is in the layout process, making the overall costs and sale price of an eBooks relatively inexpensive. Many eBooks sells for $3.95 to $9.95, which is reasonable given the costs involved in producing a hardcover book.

And it was as a result of that research that I decided to write this in the hope of sharing what knowledge Ive gained to date, and to stimulate some discussion about eBooks being an avenue that some of you might consider exploring yourselves.

THE STEPS OF eBOOK PUBLISHING

I do not believe that books as we know them will disappear. At the same time, after some exhaustive exploration and a visit to this years American Library Association Conference, I do believe that eBooks are now a sizable and growing segment of many book publishers business plans.

The most significant indication of this I found at the ALA was the advent of eBook Libraries. Type eBook Library in Google, and look at all the links that pop up.

In addition, several months ago Dirck Halstead wrote about Roger Richards eBook, Remember Sarajevo, which is available at Zone Zero. After reading Dircks comments, I followed up by going to the site and purchasing the book, and by sending them an email inquiry they state on their website a desire to publish eBooks on a continuing basis, but unfortunately I never got a response to my inquiry, and there havent been any new books posted in months, so I dont know what problems they might be having. In any event, you can check them out at: http://www.zonezero.com/books4sale/catalog.html

Creatively, eBooks offer the opportunity not only to design a book in the traditional way, but also to include hyperlinks to websites and to use links to multimedia materials such as video and audio as part of the content. Also, while most folks I spoke with set an outer limit of between 5 and 6 megabytes as the size of a PDF document capable of being able to be transmitted without complications, thats still a sizable amount of space to work with. There is also the option of creating an eBook and putting it on a CD, or DVD is the amount of content creates a download problem.

For someone interested in producing an eBook there are 2 ways to go about it. The first way, and one which as a Mac user I naturally gravitated to, is to use a program like QuarkExpress, or Adobe In Design. You lay your book out like you would if you were going to produce a hardcover book, and then convert your work into a PDF file.

The other way, the PC way, is using an executable language software program of which there are a large number of eBook authoring programs available and lay your book out in that program.

Ive only worked with QuarkExpress, so I dont know how easy it is to work with some of the executable language programs when it comes to photographs, but hopefully someone will be able to provide some insight and guidance on which of these programs might be best. I must add though that one advantage of working with a program such as QuarkExpress is that should you wish to go forward with publishing a real book, much of you layout work is already accomplished.

No matter which way you decide to go, the critical issue once youve laid out you book is in Copy Protecting your material. Because your work is going to be transmitted over the internet, this is the single most critical issue if you want to protect your work from being pirated or spammed.

If you go the PDF route, Adobe has software called Adobe Content Server which costs $3000.00, and which supposedly provides complete digital rights management. If anyone knows of any other copy protection software that allows you to protect PDFs Id like to know, because I think that $3000.00 is a bit steep.

If you go the executable language way, there are a wider selection of content protection programs some very expensive and others that work on a percentage of sales model through eCommerce sites.

In any event, content protection is something you dont want to leave home without.

DISTRIBUTION IS STILL THE KEY TO SUCCESS

If you decide to put out an eBook, what do you do with it? Clearly, if youve been able to get as far as laying a book out, chances are you also have a website so therefore youll want to try and sell it from your site with a credit card link.

Another alternative is to try and contact distributors like Zone Zero and others who you can readily find by doing a Google search on topics like eBook Marketing.

Another way, which again is something which Im throwing out for discussion and ideas, is to create some sort of Photojournalism Collective that would undertake to either set up some content management software and a server to act as an exclusive distributor of the members books, or to act as a distributor to eBook Libraries and vendors.

Its very clear from my talks with folks at the ALA that the business model that the major eBook Libraries are going to follow are the ones already in place for real libraries.

While they on occasion will purchase or distribute the work of one author, they prefer to work with distributors to provide them with large numbers of books. Its just easier to do this from a bookkeeping and management perspective.

IN CONCLUSION

I think that eBooks offer a new opportunity for a lot of us to gain an audience for our work that might not be possible under other business models. It certainly addresses a need that I think many have to create a vehicle which allows photographers and photojournalists to exhibit their work in thematic ways and also a format that allows for larger and more comprehensive presentations. It certainly provides an opportunity to rethink how to take advantage of our libraries of images, and to explore creative new ways in which to package those images.

Its not something that I think will make anyone rich but then again, I dont think that most of us do what we do with that in mind however, it does offer the possibility of some income which if nothing else can help cover the expenses of doing this.

I also think that perhaps most importantly it offers one more way of providing a historical record of the work that many have devoted lifetimes to chronicle, and another reason to try and fight for ownership of the images we sometimes bleed to get.

I am going to attempt to circulate this as widely as possible in an effort to try and stimulate some thought, discussion, suggestions or possible alternative ideas that will provide a little more light at the end of a tunnel that seems to be growing dark and narrow lately.

In order that as many people as want to take part in this discussion can do so in a way that is inclusive, I am posting this on the Forum site of the Digital Photojournalist, as the place where everyone can log on to express their ideas:
http://www.digitalfilmmaker.com/PhotojournalismToday/default.asp

Thanks for your time, and I look forward to your thoughts.

Al Crespo

by al crespo at Wed Jun 01 06:47:53 UTC 2005 (ed. Jun 28 2008) miami, United States | Bookmark this | Digg this |

Hi Al, I came across your post and was glad to read your thoughts on eBook publishing. Also, thanks for buying my book, appreciate the support :-)

Zone Zero have not published any new titles in a while, I have not asked publisher Pedro Meyer why, but it is probably because of the lack of support from the photography community. Several thousand copies of Remember Sarajevo are out there, mainly Pedro and I have given away a lot of eBooks as free downloads. The idea really was to promote exactly what you have in mind, a new way of controlling one’s work and distribution, and bypassing the big corporations who act as gatekeepers. There is a lot of great work out there that never sees the light of day.

As you might know, I publish the sister site of The Digital Journalist, The Digital Filmmaker http://digitalfilmmaker.com and also our portal Digital Vision Network http://dvnetwork.net . Dirck and I have as a goal the empowering of photographers and filmmakers using all the tools at our disposal in the current age. That was why we started publishing our sites years ago. Pedro Meyer at ZoneZero http://zonezero.com is also a man who cares deeply about our craft, hence his eBook venture with ZoneZero Editions. I have printed versions of Remember Sarajevo from the Adobe PDF file. For $3.95 one can have both an electronic book and a printed and bound copy. That is really cheap. But the only way for this to take off is for photographers to support each other.

The chances of getting published for most photographers is very slim, unless one has a big name or is producing something incredibly compelling. I had a book in mind for years but had never approached a publisher. I saw what Pedro was doing and dropped him a line. We agreed to collaborate and it was put together over 2003, and published in January 2004. Writer Peter Maas wrote the intro, and I included essays I had written over the years to accompany my photos.

Anyone interested in reading more go to this link http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0405/halstead_sarajevo.html

To download a free copy go to this link http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0405/remember_sarajevo.pdf

by Roger Richards | 05 Jun 2005 06:06 | Norfolk, Virginia, United States |

Thanks Al and Roger for posting these very interesting comments on publishing. Alot of food for thought here. I am all for such ventures and the history of photography is full of independent attempts to publish. Eugene Richards’ famous book Dorchester Days was self published (badly printed too, but now a collector’s item), and there is another famous photographer whose name escapes me at the moment: he started out this way, published his own work, and then became an outlet for other photographers, so he unwittingly became a publisher! These days digital has made all this even easier, but of course that means that, like the net, there is an avalanche of material being published and it is harder to separate the wheat from the chaff. Two things seem really important to me. One, to have a recognizable source consistently publishing good work, so that anything coming out of that source immediately raises expectations of quality and encourages people to buy because this material comes to them with a sort of imprimatur. second, as Al points out, distribution is key. I have worked in several places as a bookseller (in my salad days) so I know a bit about book distribution. There is no reason why some of the bigger companies shouldnt be persuaded to distribute this material if it is backed by a reputable source. And that source can build its reputation by cultivating good work and affiliating itself with other already tried and true Web publishers like foto8, Digital Journalist, and our nascent effort here at LS. No reason why LS couldnt eventually launch a publishing effort, right?

There was a big article recently, I think in the NY Times Book Review, about all this, the pros and cons of vanity publishing etc. Very informative. I’d like to see more discussion of this, because I am all for sidestepping the establishment and taking control of the means of production. History is sometimes made with these efforts.

by Jon Anderson | 05 Jun 2005 11:06 | Astoria Queens, United States |

I’m about to publish my first book entirely on my own. I’m going to publish a wee book on doggie hilarity called WOOFERS as a forerunner to a grander project. I’ll print it 9×7″ landscape and keep it to about 50 images. This way I can judge the quality of reproduction etc. Then, if and when I am satisfied, I will prepare my larger formatt book AT STREET LEVEL and do it hard back if the facilities are good enough. In each case I will purchase an ISBN so that major distributors can pick it up should they be interested. I’m going to run with [LULU];www.lulu.com as a print on demand partner. I’ve showed my project around to several publishers and I feel that they would tamper too much with it. I’ve got very specific ideas about the presentation and edit and so I’ll do it myself as technology now allows. Maybe a major publisher will run with it unaltered after the fact, as has happened to others, though not in photography mind you.
[WOOFERS]
[AT_STREET_LEVEL]
I’ll come back and tell everyone when it’s done.

by Paul Treacy | 05 Jun 2005 14:06 | New York City, United States |

This is a very informative thread. Thanks, Jon, and Paul I love your photos. The one of the two humping dogs while the owner sits on the bench nearby is hilarious.

by Roger Richards | 05 Jun 2005 17:06 | Norfolk, Virginia, United States |

Thanks Roger. I’m not even sure he was the owner, though he may have been. Either way, it still cracks me up too.
Cheers.

by Paul Treacy | 05 Jun 2005 17:06 | New York City, United States |

I think the eBooks idea is great, but would also like to learn more about ‘print on demand’ publishing. Has anyone published a book this way? I’ve looked around at different companies to work with, but am still a little gun-shy. It occurs to me that the best way to keep photojournalism and documentary photography alive and well is by publishing work in a variety of ways (web, print, ebook, TV, etc.)

by Morgan Hagar | 06 Jun 2005 10:06 | Los Angeles, United States |

hi everyone…

thanks for your comments and questions…at the time i researched this last year i hadn’t found any on demand publishers that were able to do photo books in a manner that i thought workable from a design point of view…i think that might have changed…paul’s comments about getting an isbn number are very important…without a number you work really isn’t considered a book, and it’s almost impossible to have it represented or catalogued anywhere…you can get isbn numbers through bowker…http://www.bowker.com/.

richard, it was the discovery of your book that really crystallized my recognition that ebooks could work for photography, and my hat’s off to you for coming up with the idea back in those far away days of yesterday…what was it 3 or 4 years…it’s amazing how what seems so long ago has changed so drastically :-(((

although i’m coming late to the party, i just got a point and shoot that lets me shoot video clips and i’m really excited about the possibilities that this offers…i’m going to play around with this and probably start putting little clips on my website to compliment some of my protest photos…again, this is also something that can be done with an ebook…making it multimedia…

anyhow, i look forward to seeing folks experiment with this option as another way to get their work seen by folks…

by al crespo | 07 Jun 2005 09:06 | miami, United States |

Hi,

This is a very interesting and informative post. Although it has been post long before I think many of the recent visitors to LS will be interested to read about it. Also I shall like to hear from my friends about their experience and any recent developments.

Regards

Santanu

by santanu chakrabarti | 14 Jun 2008 03:06 | Kolkata, India |

Self-publishing made easy online

by Stupid Photographer | 14 Jun 2008 11:06 | Holy Smokes, Holy See |

Thanks friend for the link. Anything else from my other friends??

by santanu chakrabarti | 15 Jun 2008 04:06 | Kolkata, India |

There is something appealing about a large format photographic book. The ebook concept sounds interesting. And really anything to monetize documentary photography is welcome. However, I don’t see it as appealing enough to the average book buyer. The idea behind a permanent work, which a book is, is that it’s accessible, can be leafed through, perhaps sits on the coffee table. Ebooks just can’t be accesed this way, and that’s their biggest obstacle to viability. Just my sense of it.

by David Wilton | 15 Jun 2008 06:06 | San Francisco, California, United States |

True about the appeal of reading a book. But to flip through an e-book at coffee table I think there is a handheld device which you can load with your e-books. What do you think?

by santanu chakrabarti | 15 Jun 2008 07:06 | Kolkata, India |

I’ve never seen anyone use an e-book. Probably because my stupid life is too sheltered, as I travel during only twelve months of the year.

by Stupid Photographer | 15 Jun 2008 15:06 (ed. Jun 15 2008) | Holy Smokes, Holy See |

The devices for ebooks that I know of, such as Kindle from Amazon.com, are intended for text. I think desktops with larger screens would probably display an ebook nicely. But why not create something that is made specifically for a browser experience? Issuu.com has something like that … still there is the problem of getting some form of remuneration for the work.

by David Wilton | 15 Jun 2008 15:06 | San Francisco, California, United States |

Hi David,

Recently there have been a number of companies that have developed software for ebooks and emagazines. They operate in a manner that allows you to flip the pages like a real book. I think they offer some interesting possibilities for those looking for new ways to circulate their work.

As for the remuneration part, that’s always a problem, and the only solution that I find workable is to create a website that takes advantage of PayPal.

Here are the links to the software for Flip Books and Magazines:

http://issuu.com/
http://magcloud.com/Browse
http://www.flashpageflip.com/
http://vcab.com/?ref=adwords&gclid=CLfMivP-xJMCFRJExwodaw7wHw

And here are the links to my photo site from which you can access my ebook as a free PDF, and my book site that allows folks to purchase my book and posters using PayPal.

www.alcrespophoto.com
www.centerlanepress.com

I’m also exploring the possible ways to directly sell my outake photos – not through a stock house – but rather directly to people who are in the photos which I hope to have ready by the end of the summer.

al crespo

by al crespo | 28 Jun 2008 12:06 | miami, United States |