Guest Speaker 1: Richard Higginbottom- Tide Press
Richard Higginbottom is the founder of Tide Press, an independent book publisher. He talked through publishing books and the different elements of photobooks, zines etc. This was part of the employability talks we had.
There are key parts to publishing which include:
Books- how they come to life and into human consumption/ society
Editing & Sequencing- making the content of the book and the order coherent
Design
Materials- the relationship between photos and paper, print, binding etc.
Printing- methods or materials of printing including hp printer, digital press, risograph (grainy, aesthetic, lo-fi, eco-friendly inks).
Binding- pamphlet stitch, saddle stitch or by hand which is more cost-effective.
Distribution- getting your books out there for people to see and buy.
Promotion- online/ social media, sending books to be reviewed, book giveaways (as seen on ‘Flak Photo’).
Book Fairs- ‘Bound’, ‘Format’, ‘Offprint’. Also a good way of promoting your work.
Launches- an event to announce the book release: in a book shop, or gallery which is another way of promoting work for sales and to be seen by the public eye.
Sales- online through websites (which can be better than selling through bookshops as they take a percentage of the sales, so it’s better for profits to sell through a website).
Invoicing- a way of communicating with printing, bookshops etc and so they know exactly what you want from your prints.
Collaboration- photographers, graphic designers, writers, publishers etc are all good for networking and combining different creative outlets in one form.
Discussion
Funding- presales are a good way of funding projects so you know in advance how many books need to be printed and can work out the costs from there.
Interviews
Competitions- gets your name out there and people will see your work/name. A good photobook awards that we were told is “FotoRoom”.
Tide Press Website: http://www.tidepress.co.uk/
Screenshot from Tide Press shop website