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How to Self-Publish Your Photography Book
Valuable tips from one of the most successful photo book producers of all time.
Over the course of nearly four decades, photojournalist Rick Smolan has enjoyed tons of success (literally “tons” in as, however much five million coffee-table books in print weigh).
In collaboration with scores of photographers, editors, researchers designers and friends he has produced over eighty books of photojournalism, including several New York Time’s best-sellers. When it comes to photography books, there are few people with Rick’s insight and experience.
One of his first (of many) big breaks came in 1974 at the age of 24 when he was the last of 100 photographers commissioned to shoot for “One Day in the Life of America,” a special issue of Life Magazine. His latest book, Inside Tracks: Alone Across the Outback, is a smart phone-enabled coffee table book and doesn’t follow the traditional publishing model that’s worked for him in the past. Rather than relying on a big publishing company Rick decided to self-publish this book, beginning with a very successful Kickstarter campaign.
Rick’s always been a few steps ahead of the pack when it comes to embracing innovation and new technology. And as a former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer he’s adaptable and knows how to pivot, trying one approach after another to get the shot.
Rick raised over $60,000 through Kickstarter to fund the printing and fulfillment of Inside Tracks. He humbly admits he made many mistakes, while at the same time proving that an old dingo is still capable of learning new tricks. He’s a big believer in the spirit of the Internet (as in sharing ideas and learning from others) so here’s what the rest of us, young and old, can learn from his experience.
(Rick’s mind kind of jumps around from idea to idea … Internet-like. What follows is my attempt to distill and paraphrase…
