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Author Topic: Bangladesh Book  (Read 3480 times)

dlashier

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Bangladesh Book
« on: June 01, 2006, 04:59:31 am »

Hi Michael,

Pardon me for starting a new thread but I couldn't find an appropriate one to append to. I received my copy of your Bangladesh book today and I must say that it is excellent - both my wife and I enjoyed it immensely and I'm sure will continue to.

I'll admit that my primary motivation in ordering it was to evaluate the quality of the production and printing (vs Dudley's book) because I can compare many of the images to your online versions, but the book is worthwhile on its own merits. However I have a couple comments and questions, some of which are perhaps better answered by Dudley, but I thought I'd pose them all here and you can respond to those that you wish.

- I noticed that some images reproduced with more impact (relative to the web versions) than others. In particular, images which depend on shadow detail didn't do so well, as expected with offset reproduction. If you were doing this book again, or producing a new book, would you bias your image selection based on this or other criteria that you observed?

- I would have appreciated a little more text regarding the context of the images, even the location of the "bonus" photos at the back would have been nice. Is there any restriction with the layout templates to including more text on an image page or are you restricted to either just a text page or image/title page?

- I noticed that you, like myself, have a propensity to portrait format. With the format of this book this results in quite a bit of whitespace for these images. Is it possible to place two images on a page, or would you reconsider image selection the next time based on this? I noticed that some publishers offer a square format that might be better suited for a balanced mix of portrait/landscape.

- I did quite a bit of research (ie googling) re printing such a book and although I found a number of POD sites where the upfront costs were modest or zero and economical for very small runs or personal/friends use, the costs involved for a moderate run were quite a bit higher making them uneconomical. Are you (or any readers here) aware of any other viable options for moderate run printing, on the order of 1000 copies?

- When I ordered my book on your site the cart indicated a quantity of 250 still available. Do you care to share with us the actual number of copies sold to date?

TIA for any responses you feel inclined to make, and still marvelling over your book,

- DL
« Last Edit: June 01, 2006, 05:12:47 am by dlashier »
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michael

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Bangladesh Book
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2006, 09:35:13 am »

It was an enjoyable project, and I have no regrets.

I wouldn't choose images for a future book based on how I think they might reproduce. Photographs need to exist for their own reasons. I sometimes regret putting images on the web, because compared to seeing them in a print they fall flat, but such is the nature of each of the different types of media.

There are no limitations on mixing text and images. It can be whatever you want. I simply decided to let the photographs speak for themselves.

I printed 1,500 books. I've sold just under a thousand so far, and have given away and othwise distributed another couple of hundred.

Michael
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dlashier

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Bangladesh Book
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2006, 01:17:14 am »

> I sometimes regret putting images on the web, because compared to seeing them in a print they fall flat, but such is the nature of each of the different types of media.

True, but this is generally a size issue although some, such as intentionally flat shots seem to fail on the web because we expect more snap but accept the flatness in print.

> I simply decided to let the photographs speak for themselves.

And indeed they do, but they sometimes benefit from context, which you indeed provided for the ship breaking shots. The remainder of the shots in the book truly do stand on their own with no comment required, but for instance my initial reaction to your Namibia sunrise shot in the postcard essay was "ho hum", until I read the accompanying context after which I was imagining myself actually being there and the shot became magic.

> I printed 1,500 books. I've sold just under a thousand so far, and have given away and othwise distributed another couple of hundred.

That's encouraging especially considering the esoteric content, although I'll admit that the "off beat" nature of the locale was a plus for me - photographers aren't normally prone to buying photo books unless they're instructional    Thank-you for your responses.

- DL
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