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eBooks for your portfolio?

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Mike Jackson
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eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Mike Jackson »

Teton Images : An artistic celebration of the scenery and wildlife in the Jackson Hole, WY area.
http://www.blurb.com/books/2499661

Rendezvous : Mountain Men, Trappers & Traders
http://www.blurb.com/books/2499729

I've been building a few books for my photo images and having them printed at Blurb.com. You can view the latest ones by clicking the links above.

I am posting it here to show how it might work as a hard cover portfolio for a sign shop. You can print one copy, add new images and then print another one at any date in the future. Blurb has quite a few different sizes, finishes, and prices, and they have a lot of templates if you want to use them.

I could also see eBooks as a great way to show off a step-by-step project.

Lastly, they are pretty darned cheap—especially considering the big picture. For example, you can print an 80 page, four color book for around $50. I have a color calibrated monitor and find Blurb's color output extremely close to what I am seeing on the screen.

Check out the link to my book above and see for yourself! (Click the four way arrow icon in the lower right to see it much larger)

Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Mike Jackson
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Mike Jackson »

This link takes you to a resource for marketing yourself with a photobook:
http://www.photoshelter.com/mkt/researc ... photobooks

Click in the green panel and fill out the info for a free PDF guide.

Cheers,
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Raymond Chapman
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Location: Temple. Texas

Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Raymond Chapman »

WOW! Stunning work. But...why would I be surprised?
Doug Bernhardt
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Doug Bernhardt »

and speaking of killer work!
Doug Bernhardt
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Mike....now that there's been a little time in between this post and your book, how has it gone? Has the marketing link worked? Have you sold many copies etc etc. As you know I have hundreds and maybe thousands of Pub Photos I've collected over the years and it's now time to do something with them. My "perfectionist" side has kept me from getting much further than a little snooping for a publisher etc. Another question....do the templates allow for the introduction of type in the pages or did you do that in In Design or something. And yet another question...how do the pages look when it's in your hand? When I was helping out with AMAL there was alot of concern about things like dot-gain and how to compensate.
Mike Jackson
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Mike Jackson »

Doug,
I made one little test book at the lowest price they offered and had it printed. It looked GREAT! After that, I changed to the larger size and did a more official version and it looked GREAT. I added the For Sale link on their site and created links to the book from my site. People can buy the books directly from Blurb and they do the rest. I get a check once in a while for my part. I set the prices and resulting profits to me. I liked the feel of the paper on their basic book finish. I paid extra one time for their premium paper and didn't think it was worth the extra expense. Still, you can order one of each. Blurb has a little icon that gets printed near the front and back of each book unless you pay around $6 per book to have it removed. I always thought that was too much.

Trying to make and sell the custom books through Blurb isn't going to make any money. While they are very reasonable in cost for a custom product, they were way too expensive to have made and try to sell to the general public that are used to paying $12.95 to $19.95 for a similar sized book at a bookstore. On the other hand, they are dirt cheap for the purpose of a portfolio or personal artists book...much cheaper than having a bunch of custom prints made for a standard portfolio.

They have a lot of pre-built templates. I chose to make my own pages in Photoshop and save each page at a JPG or TIF. Can't remember which off hand. After that, I just move the pages around to the desired location. For my little art books, I didn't worry about page numbers, but you could still do that in PS.

I'd say give it a try. If you were searching around for a publisher, they could easily see the possibilities and might make getting it published easier. Tyler is making on for his graphics portfolio right now. I am in the process of doing another little artsy book, too.

Hope this helps!
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Kelly Thorson
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Kelly Thorson »

Have your spoken to anyone on the legality of using the pictures in a commercial book Doug. I have no idea if there are any issues involved, but if you haven't, it's the first step I'd take. There is a whole lot of fuss on copyright and property rights these days, people are getting sued all over the place.
I believe there is no shame in failure. Rather, the shame lies in the loss of all the things that might have been, but for the fear of failure.
Doug Bernhardt
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Mike....thanx for that I'd also concidered the idea that "Trying to make and sell the custom books through Blurb isn't going to make any money. While they are very reasonable in cost for a custom product, they were way too expensive to have made and try to sell to the general public that are used to paying $12.95 to $19.95 for a similar sized book at a bookstore." which seems to be the whole issue of e-books and all that involves. These will be trying times for traditional publishing.

Kelly, I actually have worried a little on that as well as the "models" in so many of the pictures I've collected. A prime example being
e-red lion1 long interior.jpg
e-red lion1 long interior.jpg (145.9 KiB) Viewed 10081 times
where there are several models that had no idea they were part of my "grand scheme"!! Often, in fact most often, I put motion blur on the photo
2e-elgin wall1.jpg
2e-elgin wall1.jpg (214.97 KiB) Viewed 10087 times
so from here I can't worry about it anymore. Most often the owners or management of the pub are hugely happy an outsider is there with a camera and the threat of the inter-net. It's one of those things that I hope the content outweighs the resutls.
Mike Jackson
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Mike Jackson »

Doug,
I'd certainly check with a lawyer or two before proceeding too far. I spend a lot of time reading about the issues of models and model releases, not to mention property releases. While most people or places wouldn't care, it only takes one to put you out of business.

Good luck either way!
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
erik winkler
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by erik winkler »

Unbelievable that Doug should be worried about legal afairs with 'models' on his photo's.
But even I do agree it is imporatant to cover it.
Take a look at Google (one of the biggest companies in the world) streetview, there peoples faces are blured even some houses are blured when the resident apparently contacted google to blur out their house or firm. With a book you do not have these problems. But how do magazines work with this problem? How many times do I see photo's of Times square New York with all these companies being published?
One or two lawyers would be the most sensible, but if budget is an issue, common sense and deleting those faces would be the most easy thing to do.
Good luck Doug with this mayor undertaking!

By the way, if you want any suggestions and help, you could try Frances Federer, she just published her book and has learned a lot in the proces.
Her book is now even available at online shops such as amazon. http://www.gilding.net/
Realizing we are in the 2nd renaissance of the arts.
Learn, copy and trying to improve...
Still in the learning phase ;-)
Amsterdam Netherlands
www.ferrywinkler.nl
www.schitterend.eu
www.facebook.com/Schitterend.eu
Mike Jackson
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Mike Jackson »

Erik and all,
I was at a seminar somewhere and the instructor was talking about a case he studied. A photographer snapped a candid shot of a man and lady sitting/kissing on a park bench. He didn't get a model release at the time. He opted to forge the model releases for both, then turned them into a stock agency. A company used the image on a billboard. The guy in the photo sued the billboard company who dragged in the stock agency and finally the photographer. As it turned out, the guy in the photo was not married to the lady on the bench, but the man's wife saw it and all kinds of personal h*e*l*l ensued. I think Doug could easily "accidentally" get into a similar scenario if taking unaware people at a bar or pub. I have model releases printed and use them on all commercial images.

Again, a lawyer is needed to despense law. To be specific, you'd need a property rights lawyer and not the corner civil lawyer that handles divorces and car crashes. But all I read says you don't need permission to photograph people in public and put them in a publication or magazine. The other side of the issue comes up when the image is used for any kind of product or advertising. Books seem to have some gray areas. There was a National Geographic photographer giving a slideshow and lecture at one of the local museums. He was asked how he could use all of the images he took for the magazine in a book without model releases. He said he only needed the model release for the image of the lady on the front cover. I can't tell you that is an accurate statement, only what he said.

I haven't personally had a NFL or NBA ticket in my hands, but I am fairly sure there is some text on the back of the ticket that grants them rights to use images of patrons and spectators when they surrender their ticket at the door. All of the big associations have licensed, approved photographers. You can go to the game with your camera and shoot away, but you are restricted on how you use the images of the players, refs, and fans. Images taken inside arenas are not the same as taking them at the town park. I suspect the lawyer will tell Doug he has to be careful with images taken inside establishments. And, I'd be awfully cautious with photos taken inside a place like Disneyland. Disney likely has tons of weapons/lawyers and parents get a lot of protection for images of their children.

Google has their own team of lawyers, and they get sued regularly. They can afford it, but not many of us can afford any kind of property rights suit.

Most people I know err on the side of safety and don't get too exposed on this issue. Or, how big is the risk and how much return are you hoping to get?

There is a ton of information on the Internet about this subject. Start here:
http://www.danheller.com/blog/posts/pho ... -need.html

Read all of it, but then really pay attention to the area about half way down that starts with "So,....."

On the left side, there are lots of additional links to related topics.

Hope this helps,
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Mike Jackson
Site Admin
Posts: 1705
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:02 pm
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Mike Jackson »

Robert,
I believe you are inserting the issue of copyrights into this discussion, vs the issue model releases Kelly asked about.

That's an entirely different topic!

Mike
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Kelly Thorson
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Kelly Thorson »

You may be able to get around the people in the pictures by inserting a text box or detail shot over them in your image. When done correctly it can look perfectly natural. I often use an image as the background and then superimpose photographs on top in my books and it looks nice.
Just for the record in case this is confusing some, I think what we are talking about is self published books online, not e books (books in electronic format) which the online version would be, but not the hard copies.
I believe there is no shame in failure. Rather, the shame lies in the loss of all the things that might have been, but for the fear of failure.
Doug Bernhardt
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Re: eBooks for your portfolio?

Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Yea....what to do? I can't imagine even trying to find all these people. I'll just have to watch and see...... whatever might unfold. Thanx for all input.
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