• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

First book

Andy brown

Well-known member
A few years ago a friend suggested we collaborate and produce a book.
So we did and we had a 'launch' last weekend.
Seems we struck a bit of a chord and feedback and sales have been very encouraging so far.
It's a hardback, full colour, 144 pages of images (mine) and artworks from our local area.

Here's a bit of a sample of the images:

Sunshower_zpsbd77272c.jpg



Lightningforcolourawardsentry.jpg


Watertexture2OPsample.jpg


Spottedgumscolour.jpg
 

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
Great news, Andy! Hope your book will continue to do well. You say pics and artwork from your area. Is it focused on nature or do you handle other aspects, as well?
 
A few years ago a friend suggested we collaborate and produce a book.
So we did and we had a 'launch' last weekend.
Seems we struck a bit of a chord and feedback and sales have been very encouraging so far.
It's a hardback, full colour, 144 pages of images (mine) and artworks from our local area.

Hi Andy,

Congratulations with the 'birth' of your book.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
144 pages of images (mine) and artworks from our local area.



Sunshower_zpsbd77272c.jpg
Andy,

Congratulations. Tell us how the book idea came about and who's photography does it include. Also what was the path to your final decisions on number of pages, quality of paper, size and publishing company?

Asher
 

Chris Heilman

New member
Congrats Andy Brown! From the pictures you have posted here, the book looks very interesting. Where is it available if I may ask?

I am finishing up a book myself, which I plan to publish through Blurb, in about one month.
 

Andy brown

Well-known member
Thanks very much for your responses and good wishes.
I've had a bit of a yearning to get a book up for many years (thought I had enough decent landscape images of my region to warrant a selection for a small book).

My friend runs a very stylish bookshop in the tourism hub of the area.
It's very much a tourist destination and she saw a real need for a memento/gift book with local content and came up with the concept.
We originally thought we'd put together a sample and take it to different publishers and see if they'd run with it.
By the time we had a good sample, we anticipated the next question (nice, but do you have enough content for a whole book?) so we set about bulking it up a little.
Before long we thought "we're halfway there let's keep going".
We did and after a fair bit of work and many layout changes etc. we self published.
The fun bit now is self promoting and distributing.

The photography is all mine, basically all landscapes, I also photographed most of the artworks included (35 local artists) My friend Michelle, handled all the layout, design and all sorts of other processes (big job).

It's called 'Sapphire, images and art of the sapphire coast' and is available in local bookshops and tourist outlets.
It was picked up by a major chain in Canberra, the nation's capital which was encouraging.

The size and feel and number of pages was a compromise based around economic rationale.

I'd love to show a few of the artworks which are all lovely but won't for any possibility of copyright issues.

I loved the chance to include some intimate landscape shots which don't necessarily stand on their own but seem to fit well in the book format.

eg.
Neptunesnecklace7.jpg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Chris,

Thanks for sharing. Your perseverance is paying off. Impressed that a big chain is taking it on.

The first picture above would work well as a print too. Have you thought of making prints available and adding a brochure in each book offering folk the chance to own a genuine individually printed copy for them?

The great assets you have are the resources of friends who believe in you and are willing to work to help you achieve your goal.

Asher
 
Did you have book printed for stock, or are they printed on demand? If stock, how many did you have to have printed as the minimum order for printing and binding?
 

Andy brown

Well-known member
Charles, we had 1,500 copies printed.
Could have gone for less but we felt confident enough to do a slighter larger run which kept price per unit at level which means we could potentially make a bit of profit.
The whole printing process was remarkably seamless. Done in Hong Kong and all promises and time lines were met.
Our break even point is to sell a third of the copies, we've nearly managed already after only a couple of weeks.
I must say it's given me a lot confidence to do more similar projects in the future.
 
Top