Assignment 3 SYP

Evidence of operating in the Photography Industry in a commercial context

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Obtaining Primary research for assignment 3 analytical text (Assessment 3 CRS Padlet) on the photo book publishing industry & to increase my knowledge

I chose to focus my research on the publishing area of the photographic industry as I am publishing a book, and at the outset of my publishing journey I had no idea whether I would self-publish or be published-in fact frankly I had no understanding of the processes at all.

To network and obtain primary sources I used my interpersonal skills at a professional level.

Things began to fall into place when I attended at photobook fair at Ffoto Gallery in Cardiff and spoke with  publishers, self-publishers, book sellers and photographers. I visited to gain more in-depth knowledge of a publishing and how the role fits into the broader economy and/or arts community. My focus was already on exploring the differences between self-publishing and publishing.

I was also looking for inspiration/angles for an essay on publishing. Are there any publishers working with students at an affordable level? What are the current developments in publishing?, and ideas on how to publish myself. Visit notes if needed: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/syp-research/ffoton-gallery-cardiff-book-art-fair-13-7-24/

I had particularly useful conversations with Brian Carroll, publisher or Offline Journal (documenting Welsh photography), David Mayne self-publisher and Walter Waygood, a prolific photobook self-publisher and photography lecturer, see my blog entries above.

This visit completed the gaps in terms of how I would publish my own project. It gave me some good ideas and leads for this assignment:

  • Publishing in Wales, or Welsh based photographers? too niche
  • Reasons why photographers chose to publish or self-publish
  • Why photographers publish zines rather than books?
  • Funding for photobook publishing? not an area that I need to explore myself
  • Affordable publishing? hard if impossible to find anyone doing
  • Sustainable publishing?  too niche
  • How the future is looking for photobook publishing? too broad

My conversation with OCA postgraduate photographer Anna Sellen (17.6.24) also fed into these ideas: Where is publishing going? What new is happening? Doing it differently or sustainably? Why do we have to pay so much to get books published? Small publishing houses? Any publishers working more cheaply with students?

Making my dummy book for assignment 4 gave me more insight into publishing, especially self publishing, and helped me to frame my questions to put to those in the industry for my primary research.

Primary Research Survey contact record

The survey was sent to 32 in the photobook publishing industry:

  • To 15 publishers – 4 responded
  • To 18 published photographers:
  • 5 who use publishers, 1 responded
  • 7 who use both routes, 3 responded
  • 6 who self publish, 5 responded

This gave me a good range of views/experience to analyse.

Copy of contact record sheet for blogDownload

Primary Research Questions and responses

Survey results for essay blogDownload

Summary (Main findings are incorporated in my essay):

  • Motivations for publishing photobooks, photographers V publishers. The later are more focused on financial viability.
  • Publishers say the photo book market is over saturated & their professional services are essential for success.
  • Those using publishers agree this.
  • The self-published primarily mention control of the end product and affordability.

These research findings led me to self publish my own book, but to be aware of audience & quality as well as costs.

Industry interview:

As a result of this I was invited to interview a photobook photographer who had been published many times, and had some useful responses to my questions, see blog post:

Al Brydon – Photographer and published photobook photographer interview 10.9.24

Al responded to my email survey questions saying he was happy to take a call instead of answering by email. I prepared for the call by doing more background research on him.

Record of interview:

Al Brydon interview 10.9.24Download

This opportunity to interview a often published photographer was invaluable. It gave me deeper information:

  • benefits of collaboration & good working relationship with publisher & objective eyes.
  • the importance of questioning the suitability of each project for a book.
  • understanding that publishers don’t want work aimed a photographer’s ‘followers’.
  • He has to work hard to promote his work as well as the publisher

Outcome:

After this primary research, I made an informed choice to self publish myself and was able to confidently write the assignment 3 analytical text, backed up with secondary sources.

LO3: operate in complex commercial contexts requiring the application of specific interpersonal, professional and business skills within an ethical framework

SUSTAINING YOUR PRACTICE: ASSIGNMENT 3 – REFLECTIONS AGAINST LEARNING OUTCOMES

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The brief:

Option 2: If it’s not possible to conduct a work placement, write a 2,000-word analytical text that discusses a particular role, either one of those discussed in Part Three or another role related to the photographic industry. This task should be informed by primary research (i.e. direct contact with practitioners) as well as other resources.

The aim of this assignment is to:

  • Gain an in-depth knowledge of a particular complementary role and/or the roles and responsibilities of a particular type of photographer.
  • Understand how the role fits into the broader economy and/or arts community.
  • Understand the duties and responsibilities of a particular role, including any conflicts of interest there may be with other professionals.
  • Continue to build your professional network. (Boothroyd, S. and Alexander, J; 60, 2020)

Reference: Boothroyd, S. and Alexander, J. (2020) Sustaining Your Practice Course Manual. Barnsley, UK: Open College of the Arts.

REFLECTIONS AGAINST LEARNING OUTCOMES

LO1 demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the professional context(s) relevant to your practice and have an understanding of the professional dimensions that underpin a successful photographic practice.

To support the final resolution of my work in the form of a photo book I chose to write my essay on the photobook publishing industry.  

I collated the responses to the survey for my primary to increase my knowledge of the publishing industry, see my post:https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/assignments/assignment-3-syp/syp-primary-research-responses/

My knowledge of the photobook publishing industry is demonstrated in my essay, What are the benefits and challenges of self-publishing or having your photobook published, submitted and sent to my Tutor.

LO3 operate in complex commercial contexts requiring the application of specific interpersonal, professional and business skills within an ethical framework.

To inform my essay I researched the publishing industry initially by reaching out to professionals at a book fair: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/syp-research/ffoton-gallery-cardiff-book-art-fair-13-7-24/

I reached out to both publishers and published photo book photographers in the form of a survey to gain primary research for my essay: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/assignments/assignment-3-syp/a3-syp-primary-research-survey-questions/

I interviewed a published photobook photographer, see my blog post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/assignments/assignment-3-syp/a3-syp-interview-for-primary-research/

ASSIGNMENT 3: Primary research – Interview with published Photobook photographer

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Al Brydon – Photographer and published photobook photographer interview 10.9.24

Al responded to my email survey questions saying he was happy to take a call instead of answering by email. I prepared for the call by doing more background research on Al.

His website is here: https://www.al-brydon.com/

He has published many ‘books’ mainly zines, of those:

No mans land: zine/40 pages/x 125/signed/£10

The code for flowers. The last star to shine: Soft cover/88pages/x220/Anotherplace press/£15 30 copies & print@£56

Even the Birds were afraid to fly – Book/80 pages/£35/2020/Kozu books

None Places Zine – Zine/soft cover /32pages/Another place press?

Solargraphs Book – JW editions/x350/£30 reduced to £15- ltd edition sold out

Graveyard Bins Book – x200/another place press/£10 sold out

As we wander – another place press/£10/x150 sold out

Usually, zines small in size to reduce costs. Favours sewn thread, case bound, litho print.

I reviewed my questions before we spoke and was surprised that most were still appropriate, I asked:

  1. Why do you make photo books/zines, what outcomes are you looking for?

Photobooks suit his work; they have a long life, are portable, and allow the work to breathe. You can show more images than at an exhibition. He doesn’t start photographing intending to make a book but as the work develops it becomes the obvious path to share his work – he doesn’t allow it to strait jacket him and continues to experiment and take risks.

He doesn’t make books out of all his work, knowing that only some work is suitable for photobooks.

  • Who is your audience?

He doesn’t have one in mind as he photographs to suit himself, he’s fortunate having followers and an existing audience, which grew organically. Again, he likes to keep the freedom to experiment and not to think about conforming for a particular audience – freedom from expectations. He believes that publishers don’t want work aimed at followers/publishers.

His books sell easier than his higher priced prints.

  • Why do you use a publisher rather than self-publish using a printer? He has self-published for the 1st time recently and would do it again for a simple zine however; publishers have skills he hasn’t, particularly, editing/sequencing and design. He thinks objective “eyes” are important.
  • Would anything attract you to self-publish? Only if he was making a simple zine.
  • What’s important when choosing your publisher? Knowing that you can work together well. Another Place press and Kozu have approached him in the past. Kuzo does their printing in house.  Al likes to work collaboratively, is happy to take suggestions, and hand the project over to an expert.

      6.         Do you self-fund or have you obtained other financing for any of your publishing? The publishers he uses finance the publishing initially, so he views it as low risk. Should they not sell out then he doesn’t get paid and may be liable for some of the costs – it the way they work, and it works for him. I asked him outright if it was financially viable for both parties and he said that yes they both make money from the book sales. He gets a % of the profit. He mentions Marc Wilso who crowd funds as an opposite who spends a lot of time on creating funding and probably makes more money, but this isn’t what Al wants. Nor does he want to go to larger publishers who expect larger bodies of work. His balance is to make enough money to continue to do the photography that he wants to.

7.        What makes your work attractive to a publisher? They seem to like photographers that they’ve worked with before and view him as a ‘safe bet’ with a reasonable sales record.

8.        What do you do to maximise book sales? The market is oversaturated with photo books and photographers. He does work hard at Instagram and to his website and always sends about 10 copies to people in the industry and galleries.

9.        What does your publisher do to maximise your book sales? He mentioned Instagram, magazine features and interviews.

10.      Do you find you have the control you would like with end product?

End note: I was interested to hear that he still entered competitions but doesn’t get chosen. He says this shouldn’t be used to value your work.

Brydon, A. (2024) Responses to questions on publishing routes used. Interview by Niki South. 09/10/2024

ASSIGNMENT 3: The Photographic Industry- Primary research the responses

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To support SYP assignment 3 and for primary research and sources I devised and sent a survey to some in the publishing industry. See the questions in my previous post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/2024/09/18/assignment-3-the-photography-industry-primary-research/

This was sent to a mixture of large publishers, medium to small publishers, photographers who have been published and those who have self-published. I deliberately sent to some publishers who had published photographers I surveyed and vice versa.

The survey was sent to 32 in total. There were 14 responses, a response rate of 43%, which I understand was quite good.

Here is my contact record sheet:

Copy of contact record sheet for blogDownload

This is a compilation of the responses that I received:

Survey results for essay blogDownload

These have been incorporated into my draft essay: What are the benefits and challenges of self-publishing or having your photobook published?

ASSIGNMENT 3: The Photographic Industry- Survey questions

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Survey to those in the publishing industry

To support SYP assignment 3 and for primary research and sources I devised and sent a survey to some in the publishing industry.

This was sent to a mixture of large publishers, medium to small publishers, photographers who have been published and those who have self-published. I deliberately sent to some publishers who had published photographers I surveyed and vice versa.

The survey was sent to 32 in total. There were 14 responses, a response rate of 43%, which I understand was quite good.

I did refine my survey questions below following my first couple of responses.

THE EMAILS SENT AND QUESTIONS ASKED WERE:

TO PUBLISHERS

Enquiry for research on photobook publishing

Dear…. vary/personalise

I am contacting you because I am writing an academic paper for the final part of my photography degree. My paper is based around photobook publishing, and I would really appreciate it if you could take the time (valuable I know), to answer the 10 questions below, to contribute to my essential primary research.

Please add your responses next to the questions below. Feel free to answer only some of the questions if all do not suit you, though of course, if there is anything else you would like to add I would be delighted.

I thank you in advance for giving your time and experience to support my understanding of the photobook publishing industry.

THE QUESTIONS

With regard to photobook publishing:

1.           How do you find photographers that you work with, or do they find you?

2.           What elements are the most important when you are choosing who/what to publish?

3.           What do you look for when deciding to publish a relatively unknown artist?

4.           How important is a presence at photo book fairs to maximise sales/audience?

5.           How important are photographers’ awards/exhibitions to photo book sales?

6.           Does a photographer sharing on social media prior to publication have an adverse or beneficial effect on sales?

7.           Which should come first, an exhibition or a book?

8.           Is self-publishing impacting on the choice of material you have to publish, or anything else?

9.           How would you encourage a photographer to use your services rather than self-publish?

10.         What is your major challenge when publishing photo books?

Best regards

Niki South

TO PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Enquiry for research on photobook publishing

Dear…. May need to vary/personalise    

I am writing an academic paper based on photobook publishing for the final part of my photography degree. …., your opinion/experience would be a valuable contribution to my essential primary research.

I would really appreciate it if you could take the time, to answer the 9/10 questions below, or those appropriate for you. Please add your responses next to the questions below, or in any format which suits you, and if you have anything else to add that would be great.

Thank you in advance for giving your time and experience to support my understanding of the photobook publishing industry.

THE QUESTIONS:

All Photographers

1.           Why do you make photo books/zines, what outcomes are you looking for?

2.           Who is your audience?

3.           Do you self-fund or have you obtained other financing for any of your publishing?

–             If funded/part-funded has this affected your end product and if so how?

AND IF you prefer to self-publish:

4.           Why do you self-publish rather than use a publisher?

5.           What would attract you to go to a publisher instead of self-publish using a printer? 

6.           What’s important when you choose your printer?

7.           Do you collaborate with other specialists to support your skills to self-publish?

8.           How do you deal with book sales and distribution?

9.           What do you do to maximise book sales/audience?

10.         If you have exhibited and published a book for a project, which comes first?

OR  IF you prefer using a publisher:

4.           Why do you use a publisher rather than self-publish using a printer?

5.           Would anything attract you to self-publish?

6.           What’s important when choosing your publisher?

7.           What makes your work attractive to a publisher?

8.           What do you do to maximise book sales?

9.           What does your publisher do to maximise your book sales?

10.         Do you find you have the control you would like with end product?

Best regards

Niki South

TO POSTGRADUATE PUBLISHED AND SELF-PUBLISHED:

Enquiry for research on photobook publishing

Hi… vary/personalise    

I am writing an academic paper based on photobook publishing for the final part of my OCA photography degree. As an OCA post graduate who I believe has published at least one book your opinion/experience would be a valuable contribution to my essential primary research.

I would really appreciate it if you could take the time, to answer the 9/10 questions below, or those appropriate for you. Please add your responses next to the questions below, or in any format which suits you, and if you have anything else to add that would be great.

Thank you in advance for giving your time and experience to support my understanding of the photobook publishing industry.

THE QUESTIONS:

All Photographers

1.           Why do you make photo books/zines, what outcomes are you looking for?

2.           Who is your audience?

3.           Do you self-fund or have you obtained other financing for any of your publishing?

–             If funded/part-funded has this affected your end product and if so how?

AND IF you prefer to self-publish:

4.           Why do you self-publish rather than use a publisher?

5.           What would attract you to go to a publisher instead of self-publish using a printer? 

6.           What’s important when you choose your printer?

7.           Do you collaborate with other specialists to support your skills to self-publish?

8.           How do you deal with book sales and distribution?

9.           What do you do to maximise book sales/audience?

10.         If you have exhibited and published a book for a project, which comes first?

OR  IF you prefer using a publisher:

4.           Why do you use a publisher rather than self-publish using a printer?

5.           Would anything attract you to self-publish?

6.           What’s important when choosing your publisher?

7.           What makes your work attractive to a publisher?

8.           What do you do to maximise book sales?

9.           What does your publisher do to maximise your book sales?

10.         Do you find you have the control you would like with end product?

Best regards

Niki South

Those that I contacted and their responses are in the next post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/2024/09/18/assignment-3-the-photographic-industry-primary-research-the-responses/

The responses fed into my draft essay sent to my Tutor.

ASSIGNMENT 3: The Photography Industry- Learning log

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Learning log assignment 3

Deciding on my focus:

As I am publishing a book and researching widely about publishing, for this assignment it made sense to write an analytical text around the publishing sector of the photographic industry. At the outset of my publishing journey I had no idea whether I would self-publish or be published-in fact frankly I had no understanding of the processes at all.

Things began to fall into place when I attended at photobook fair at Ffoto Gallery in Cardiff and spoke with  publishers, self-publishers, book sellers and photographers. I visited to gain more in-depth knowledge of a publishing and how the role fits into the broader economy and/or arts community. My focus was already on exploring the differences between self-publishing and publishing.

I was also looking for inspiration/angles for an essay on publishing. Are there any publishers working with students at an affordable level? What are the current developments in publishing?, and ideas on how to publish myself. See my visit notes: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/syp-research/ffoton-gallery-cardiff-book-art-fair-13-7-24/

I had particularly useful conversations with Brian Carroll, publisher or Offline Journal (documenting Welsh photography), David Mayne self-publisher and Walter Waygood, a prolific photobook self-publisher and photography lecturer, see my blog entries above.

This visit completed the gaps in terms of how I would publish my own project. It gave me some good ideas and leads for this assignment:

  • Publishing in Wales, or Welsh based photographers? too niche
  • Reasons why photographers chose to publish or self-publish
  • Why photographers publish zines rather than books?
  • Funding for photobook publishing? not an area that I need to explore myself
  • Affordable publishing? hard if impossible to find anyone doing
  • Sustainable publishing?  too niche
  • How the future is looking for photobook publishing? too broad

My conversation with OCA postgraduate photographer Anna Sellen (17.6.24) also fed into these ideas: Where is publishing going? What new is happening? Doing it differently or sustainably? Why do we have to pay so much to get books published? Small publishing houses? Any publishers working more cheaply with students?

Making my dummy book for assignment 4 gave me more insight into publishing, especially self publishing, and helped me to frame my questions to put to those in the industry for my primary research.

I sent a survey out to 32 in the photobook publishing industry, see blog post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/assignments/assignment-3-syp/a3-syp-primary-research-survey-questions/

FAs a result of this I was invited to interview one photobook photographer who had been published, and had some useful responses to my questions, see blog post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/assignments/assignment-3-syp/a3-syp-interview-for-primary-research/

See pdf of Survey responses on my blog post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/sustaining-your-practice/assignments/assignment-3-syp/syp-primary-research-responses/

After this I began writing my essay for which I found I had plenty of primary research and could back this up with secondary sources.