Jain Lemos » Photography and Publishing

Whatever your book is about, remember the idea has to be sold three times:

1. To the publisher or investor who will finance and produce your book,
2. To bookstores and fulfillment houses that will keep it in inventory,
3. To someone who will buy the book.

Proposals must illustrate exactly how you will communicate to the potential customer. If you have a concept that readers will buy, then the booksellers are more likely to pick it up from the publisher.

This endless loop can become a head scratcher, but there is a way to get it right. Create your proposal as a PowerPoint presentation for your customers. As you move through the slides, are the readers pulling out their wallets before you finish? If so, then the acquiring editor and the bookseller in the same audience will take notice and follow suit.

You will still need to have many other proposal elements developed in order to make the first sale. But if the main impact of your proposal proves you can make the last sale, you significantly increase your chances of landing a great publishing deal.

Write (photograph) what you know about is good advice but you may know more about something than you first realize. When it comes to subject matter, I like to ask photographers what they feel gives them “authority” to publish on their proposed topic. I’m interested to know about your significant credentials, time spent on the body of work and influential people attached to the project. Equally important to me is your curiosity, passion and intimate connection to the subject. I want to make sure we can convince publishers that you are the very best person to take up this topic.

Case in point: A photographer who is also a parent is certainly qualified to do a photo project about children. Regardless of your parental role, you have a basic physiological component which automatically connects you to your offspring. This causes you to become an authority on children on some level. The key is to take that authority and kick it into a project idea that is so strong it can carry your project beyond just your amazing shooting style with young people.

To create a successful photo book, all of the proposal elements (message, text, design, photographs, visual style, production values, marketing hook, endorsements, etc.) must be perceived as having the potential to touch a common nerve with the intended audience. Defining your audience completes the strength of your proposal.

What if you aren’t a parent but have built your career around taking pictures of children? One of my earlier posts with an anecdote about my grandfather I titled, “Chase your DNA.” That is a narrative theme any photographer with an interest in family photography could run the distance with. Equally, a publisher can see the potential to expand the concept into many directions for a comprehensive book: history of the family portrait, ancestry mixes, family trees with a few broken limbs, skeletons in the closet, then and now comparisons of family properties, similarities in the facial features between old generations and newer ones, and so on.

Coming soon: The proposal as a communication tool.

The bulk of my experience is producing and editing documentary books but I have also worked on plenty of single subject titles (i.e., cookbooks, gardens, tiles, wedding design, cars). In either case, the proposal’s topic must initially be perceived as having the potential to connect with an identifiable audience beyond people with an interest in your fantastic photography.

Here is an example. Your proposal is to photograph behind-the-scenes of the next Boston Marathon; from runners chomping down big carb dinners to a cancer patient undergoing chemo treatment the night before. This is a lukewarm idea, so what will make your proposal stronger?

The right combination of the three elements I mentioned yesterday. First, the linking of the concept via the proposed title and subtitle to topics of immense interest: aging and health. Then, to give your proposal additional legs, the first visual must subliminally suggest that hopes and dreams do come true.

Suddenly with these simple improvements of the idea, the proposed book is not just for people who actually run marathons or live in Boston. It has opened up to anyone with a desire to overcome a handicap, to find inspiration to change, to win, to find inner strength and conquer the impossible.

On deck: Do people ever ask for your advice about your proposed topic?

My next few posts will be dedicated to addressing what I believe is important information about photo book publishing, my professional passion. I am now channeling my frustration over what I felt was thin advice in PDN’s September Book Issue into mini help sessions. Writing proposals is a darling topic of interest and a fine place to start.

Is it a Book?

I have read hundreds of book proposals. When I was an editor at Harper Collins, we received dozens of proposals every week. The vast majority were eliminated for the sole reason they were not books. In other words, the concepts were quickly identified as feature articles, public space exhibitions, photographs of a local event only of interest to that community, conceptual images suitable for calendars or greeting cards, grand schemes beyond financial reality, tabloid fodder or egoist attempts from the photographer you barely broke even on last season who now feels a showcase of their outtakes is in high demand.

To become a photo book, your proposal must have a clear premise and a driving force bigger than the initial concept. This must be expressed right away and here is how to do it effectively.

The book’s proposed title must easily translate into a category. The determination of category is critical to booksellers; they are the ones who decide where to place your book in the store. If you aren’t sure where your book belongs, neither will those who face these decisions daily.

The logline (subtitle or short description) is where to reveal the book’s driving force. Remember the title and logline presented are proposed. As presented they may never see the light of day. Still, the more expert help you seek in getting this part right, the better your chances. Title elements should stand out so sometimes creating a professional logo or branding element is helpful. Also, be aware that subtitles are often omitted from lists and bookseller order forms, but for proposal purposes, use a subtitle to strengthen your idea. Proposals rarely look anything like the finished product but we have to imagine that they could.

Consider the latest book from A Day in the Life veteran author/publisher David Cohen: What Matters: The world’s preeminent photojournalists and thinkers depict essential issues of our time. The main title is strong. The subtitle links the title’s intrigue and **pow** announces who will be the book’s receptive audience. If your proposal only consisted of a two part title (and you aren’t David), would an influential person ask to hear and see more?

And then…the first photograph in the proposal must be brilliantly tied to the title and logline. Even though the entire book could, and oftentimes does, morph into something else, in my opinion it is these three elements (title, subtitle, first photograph) along with their independent and collectively unique energy that determines if your proposal will be considered or not.

Coming up: How turn your topic into a great photo book proposal.

PDN’s “The Book Issue” arrived last week with headlines promising to bring insights into the mysterious world of photo book publishing. From Perfect Book Proposals to 7 Rules for making a book you can be proud to show and to revealing 15 of the Most Influential names in the biz, readers were eager to plunge into articles that would crack the code for landing coffeetable book mega deals.

For unpublished photographers there couldn’t have been even the remotest “Ah Ha” moment while reading Edgar Allen Beem’s seven steps piece:

1. Have excellent scans
2. Hire a designer
3. Get a sample of the paper from the printer
4. Go on press
5. Be ready to give control of the cover to the publisher
6. Don’t submit photos you don’t want published
7. Don’t get into a shouting match or “throw attitude.” (I note for this final tip, Beem allots only two sentences and it seems to be the most critical of all.)

Jessica Gordon admits in the short opening of her article on the perfect pitch that “…there’s no exact recipe” for a proposal. From there, she writes carefully about three impressive projects but none of which are surprising in terms of being published. We hear more of the same: landing a deal is less about the proposal and more about the notability of the photographer, personal connections, imagery excellence and marketplace value of the subject matter.

Next we get to the Influentials. While the cover promises this will be people—hey, maybe people we can actually talk with or find through our LinkedIn Network—unfortunately, when we reach the article, the inside headline now includes organizations along with people, and they “shaping” photography book publishing. Well, that certainly opens the topic to a few extra signatures. So our people list now mentions a cool bookstore owner in Colone, a few foreign indie publishing houses, the publisher at Aperture who used to be an editor and probably doesn’t take calls from us anymore, an award-winning London designer and so on. It is interesting that not one literary agent makes the list, that Amazon does (huh?), and “Photographers Who Self-Publish” manages to squeeze in (let’s note there are many companies in this category with ads in the issue). Actually, I think PDN writers believe Martin Parr is the most influential person because he is mentioned like fifteen times in this article!

The issue’s most helpful bit of information is found in Holly Hughes’ editor letter: “Photo book publishing is full of paradoxes.” PDN’s online story, “Marketing Moves that Sell Books” by Kelly Ebbels is leaps better because here is the heart of the entire matter.

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to receive a private showing of Verso’s Limited Edition of the Magnum Founders Platinum Portfolio at Serbin Communications in Santa Barbara. Thanks to Elizabeth Owen for showing me this rare project that is impressive in every category of fine art presentation. When she put on a fresh pair of lint-free gloves before opening the solid walnut box containing the book and platinum prints, I knew I was in for something special.

The investment at the pre-publication price was $12,500, and I believe they have six editions remaining to be sold of the original 75 that were assembled. In an atmosphere of content oversaturation and crowd sourcing, important photography presented with taste and care is holding value.

Lately the catch-phrase is Stay in the Now. But I hear the American Past calling. Last week, an editor from DK told me she was looking for global titles. I didn’t have one in my back pocket to show her.

Photographer Paul Mobley and Lena Tabori’s Welcome Books will issue American Farmer: The Heart of our Country this fall. I have recently mentioned two other noteworthy new projects: American Cowgirl and A Journey Through Literary America.

When the present moment of our country appears so bleak, I understand how preserving noble bits of our nation feels urgent and important to do. There is a surge or an urge or a purge happening. Though American stories may not be a fit for big One World (but in the meantime, pick-your-flag) publishers, on this day I see a need to document What It Was Like, What Happened, and What It’s Like Now.

Welcome to the American Recovery Group. I am an American, and my name is Jain.

A Journey Through Literary America is thoroughly presented in both electronic and print form. Their booth had a great blend of promos to showcase the project. They worked very hard and as a result, received solid interest from a half-dozen publishers. I am sure they will be on press very soon!

I was planning to write more about the show Saturday. Instead I will save news and views for later. Also, I read this damper in a Publisher’s Lunch report after the show wrapped:

As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Bob Hoover wrote, “There’s nothing to get excited about this year. Publishers’ staffers, who understandably ask and get anonymity, say they’re smiling through the boredom.”

I guess my no plan plan helped keep my enthusiasm above the flat line.

A new photo/film project, American Cowgirl, from charming, Texas-born photographer Jamie Williams brings back memories of riding in barrel race competitions in my hometown as a young girl. Barrel racing requires a lot of concentration and was originally created as event just for women! This photo is my favorite from the gallery. Well done, Jamie!

I’m currently consulting with a photographer/author team on their book project. With BEA (BookExpo) in L.A. at the end of May, they needed a solid plan.

I feel their concept has heaps of potential. This is their first book. However, they both work with the production/printing end of bookmaking, which gives them some special advantages.

Here are a few of the topics I covered:

After our meeting, here was their feedback:

“Thanks so much for meeting with us! You were absolutely fantastic! … and exceeded expectations!”

“It was great meeting you. And thank you for all of your advice. I can see that we have a lot of work cut out for us but I feel like we have a much better chance of success thanks to your help.”

I’ll be sharing more about this project once it is ready for prime time.