Have you walked around galleries or art shows and seen some of the artists displaying glossy hard cover books featuring their work? Wouldn’t you like to have a book highlighting your artwork on display? A book of an artist’s work adds instant value and credibility. It is an excellent way for the artist to market and promote their artwork. And, if the artist can sell a few copies of the book, this helps cover show expenses and distributes the artist’s images into the world.
Today, many artists are self-publishing their own books featuring their art. When done correctly, the average person should not be able to tell that an art book is self-published by the artist. These professionally printed books can be produced one at a time or in small runs at a very reasonable price. For example, nationally recognized portrait artist Chris Saper offers her book Mostly Monochrome at Blurb.com. At the time of this writing, Blurb will print up to 80 pages of 4 color 8×10 inches in a soft cover for under $30. You have options for hard cover, premium and custom paper, dust jackets, larger and smaller sizes. Check out their prices. Blurb will even sell and ship books for you. Have your art customers order your book directly from blurb and avoid the hassles. Or, print up a small quantity of your own books and sell them at your shows.
The real challenge is that artists are not art book layout, copy writers or editors. And, most artists have no interest in investing time to become book editors or book publishing experts. Artists want to paint, sculpt, draw, perform, photograph or just be artistic. So, how do you get your artistic work in a format suitable for publication? Blurb does have a program you download to your computer to help you build your book. Blurb’s Quickstart Book templates encourage you to select template or guide, then drag and drop images and text into the desired page. You’re ready to go!
Still hesitant? It shouldn’t be the investment of under $50 to give this a try and see how it works for you. It’s probably because either you don’t have the time or you consider yourself technically, computer or online challenged. In these cases, I would suggest you find someone who loves your art and is technically inclined. We don’t need a rocket scientist, just someone who has a “computer gene” floating around. You know the type. Maybe you can trade or compensate for time for them to organize your words and images for you. Remember, it is still your book, so you must proofread, double check and recheck. It’s always a good idea to have a second pair of eyes on your project. However, since you can print one at a time, you can always make revisions and enhancements.
If this is an area you would like to add as a competency, there are classes in local community colleges and online focusing for publishing and digital publishing for artists. ed2go.com offers online self-publishing classes at affordable prices. You’ll also find Art Classes at edtogo.com. Or, find a number of Self Publishing Books at Amazon.com.
You may also find independent self-publishing editors available for reasonable to non-reasonable fees on the Internet. Remember, it’s easier to catch someone else’s mistakes. Try to work out compensation that is fair to you. You don’t want to invest too much money experimenting in a process that will change over time. Make sure that you retain ownership and receive copies of all publishing materials.
If you have any questions on this process, please let me know! I would enjoy hearing from you. I apologize in advance if I am not able to answer all questions in a timely manner.
Richard F. Farrell
4/5/2010 Update: Another self publishing site that has come to my attention is lulu.com. Let us know what you know or think about their capabilities and ability to promote your books and art! – RFF
