Book Designers
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- gramme
Is there anyone here who designs books on a regular or semi-regular basis? I've been trying to break into that niche for a long time and my efforts haven't produced anything worth mentioning. Most of my work is brand identity, which I enjoy, but I also really love the long-term, immersive experience of book design (i.e., not just covers). Last year I sent numerous emails, sent personally tailored self-promo packages to a number of publishers, etc.
I'm interested to hear what methods of reaching out to publishers as potential clients are working for people. I realize publishing in general is suffering right now, but people are still buying well-crafted books, and I think that market will always exist.
- identity0
Email Irma:
http://www.irmaboom.nl/A friend had a class with her at Yale - he said she's VERY helpful and would really love a nicely written email on this subject. She could probably best, of anyone I've ever heard of, lead you in the right path.
- scarabin0
got any in your portfolio? that would probably help.
maybe download a favorite from project gutenberg and do one up
- randommail0
gramme, your work is solid and seems like it would appeal to the luxury book market - publishers like Kraken Opus, Assouline, and Taschen. It's a tough niche industry to try to get into, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.
- Thanks. That's another market I'd love to tackle, in addition to those mentioned below.gramme
- bjladams0
i've worked on a handful of books over the last couple years, and am currently working on a few more.
the last one i did - the author paid to have a small run of books printed thru a private press and sold some and then sent some to bigger publishers - now they're in negotiation to reprint on a larger scale - seems that most of them (publishers) want to see investment on the part of the author.
- d_rek0
I know a friend of mine works with a local author who self-publishes. The author skirts major publishing houses and prints his wares locally or online. Of course he doesn't have a high-profile budget for design and/or printing but it's sort of indicative of the publishing market right now.
Lots of independant authors self publishing through Amazong and with eBooks.
- Yeah, I'm not opposed to the Blurb-type markets per se. I just don't know if there's much money to be had there.gramme
- gramme0
Interesting, id. I love her work. It never occurred to me to email an industry icon such as her. That's good to know. I'll give it a shot.
@ scara, there are a couple books in my portfolio. One for Formica, another for AIA (American Institute of Architects) St. Louis. Both were pretty image heavy. Not much of a carrot to entice publishers. I'd like to get into things like museum catalogs, academic texts, and architecture books.
Your idea about redesigning a proj. gutenberg book is interesting. Would take forever, but could be fun.
- d_rek0
gramme,
Museum catalogs is a pretty niche market - the best I can tell is to attend events at Museums you want to work for an rub elbows with the directors/curators. From my experience is while they want high-concept work, well-produced work their budgets are minimal.
I recently produced a small publication for the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) which was done in a small run of 1000, printed and sourced locally. Budget was minimal (ended up getting the books created for about $6.50 each). The publication itself consisted of several essays by the curators and also handsome spreads of images from the exhibition.
The *only* reason I was able to get this job was because my current employer is a benefactor at the MOCAD and is constantly rubbing elbows with the cultural elite in the area. It helps that my employer is on the board of directors for several local arts institutions as well. Time to get social!
- I should mention the project was also PRO-BONO through my employer.d_rek
- Also something to consider - all of the Museums in Detroit have an in-house creative staff that manages most of those materialsd_rek
- materialsd_rek
- Yeah. I've contacted tons of museums and other arts organizations. They all have in-house people, or only outsource if it's for free.gramme
- outsource if it's for free.gramme
- gramme0
Another thing I've considered, which could rustle up some notice from the publishing industry, is to produce a book as a Kickstarter project. I have an idea for a curated project, an art book with a specific theme, that I think would have wide appeal. Not ready to divulge the specific idea yet, but if what I envision were to come together it would be an awesome product.
@d_rek: I think you're right. I've toyed with the idea of joining the STL Art Museum (SLAM)'s Young Friends association. From what I can tell, the art scene around here is pretty small, and heavily dominated by the presence of St. Louis's most well-known design firm. They seem to snatch up most of the interesting work in town, and have the manpower to get it done. But I feel like if people around here knew that I can produce work of similar quality for much less money, they'd be intrigued.
- I'm not all that gung-ho about the art scene anymore. I kept hearing a recurring theme about in-house or pro-bono only.gramme
- Seems nonprofits are struggling more than most people. Generosity is in short supply.gramme
- there's still a lot of non-profits out there spending - they accounted for more than half our work last monthbjladams
- I was talking mainly about the arts. My biggest client is a nonprofit.gramme