Some Photos, A Book and Some Thoughts

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

I'm new to the whole crowdfunding experience. I've dropped coins in busker's hats on occasion but when it comes to online crowdfunding I've been mostly sitting back and checking it all out, with occasional coins dropped in virtual hats.

I'm a photographer. I've been trying to figure out how to build up a fan base, trying to figure out how to get my art in front of the public, trying to figure out what my art is worth, what people want and how to sell my images.

I'm still trying to figure it out.

For now, however, I've put together my 3rd book on Blurb called Broken Memories: A Memento Mori of Waikumete Cemetery. This one is a photo-essay taken in the older sections of Waikumete (New Zealand's largest cemetery) where the graves have suffered from time, weather and vandalism. The electronic age has made us more mobile and has given us infinite distractions to fill our days. It is easy to get caught in the internet's fast pace and semblance of immortality. Where does honoring the reminder of a loved one's passing fit in our lives in this electronic age of fast food and fast living. I have the preview option turned on so if you are interested in seeing the images feel free to browse.

This is my 3rd book I've uploaded to Blurb. My other two have turned out well, the images rendered well and the books professional-looking. If you have a book you want to create, especially one with images, I'd recommend you take a look at their site. I did have a few hiccups with their Booksmart tool when I first tried to use it but that was mostly because of me, not the tool, & I did have get help from their support when I contacted them.

Like any Print On Demand, you have to keep in mind there can sometimes be quality control issues but I haven't had to return any yet (haven't put in huge orders yet either). You also have to do your own marketing. It's a possibility though, if you want to put together something and either give it as a gift (trust me, mine went over well with family last Christmas) or if you want to see your projects come to life.

I'm happy to talk about my experiences with Blurb, drop a comment. And of course, feel free to check out my most recent book!

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

This sounds promising. I have pimped your project over on my LJ.

Have you looked for ways to make your photos available as other projects, such as prints or coffee cups?

Re: Thoughts

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

Thank you for spreading the word, I appreciate it!

I have a Cafe Press site which does sell mugs, cards, tiles, calendars (which reminds me, I need to start thinking about getting my calendar images together before they re-open the templates for next year) and some other stuff. I can do prints but the image size is huge for the largest. I'm trying to get my shop in better order but got derailed doing this book for the contest (closes on the 15th). Now that it's uploaded and done I can get back to going through my trip photos from May and spending time on the shop.

I was going to mention the shop in the post but I may want to do a separate post for that because there are issues like different image sizes and free vs premium shops and stuff like that I'd like to tackle.

I was going to mention my print sale but didn't know if that was allowed :)

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Mentioning the print sale is okay. It will help if you highlight whatever crowdfunding aspects there are to your projects. Cyberfunded photography is a pretty new thing here; there are really only a few of us trying it so far, and we're all taking different approaches. So it will help to lay those out for people to see.

I'm going to make a couple of posts here about the tags and the photography.

Re: Thoughts

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

Also, would it be possible for a "print on demand" tag or something similar? It would be a resource for those doing printed art of both the wordy and picturey kind & would apply to places like Blurb & Lulu for books as well as places like Cafe Press.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Okay, I have added "print on demand" since that probably applies to a lot of projects here. However, note that we already have a "shopping" tag -- that applies to anything someone is selling, like stuff from Zazzle or Etsy or whatever.

Re: Thoughts

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

Ah cool, thank you. I must have missed the "shopping" tag when I was looking.

Awhile ago when I was looking at the different POD options for both items and books I was reading a lot of different opinions & experiences but I had to go looking through each company's forums to do it. I'm hoping other people will be able to join the discussion with their experiences as I think it can be a resource for cyberfunding, especially since you can tailor-make a book/etc for someone without having to worry about doing a print run of hundreds or thousands.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

A fair number of folks have posted about their experiences with various POD or batch print services. That helps newcomers pick out a good company.