As you might begin to suspect, when it comes to books, I walk the walk. I LOVE making books, and have since 1993 when I made a real effort to begin to put my work in print. This was after years of darkroom printing, but books are a different animal altogether. Before I bash the little book you see here, let me first say that I LOVE MagCloud. If you are asking, “What’s MagCloud?” then you have some homework to finish. I’ve written extensively about this sister platform, so I’m not going to do the work for you. I’ll let you investigate the differences. (You could start by searching on this site, hint, hint.)
Those too lazy to visit a site or do research aren’t serious photographers. (Tough love but true.)
What you see here is a MagCloud Digest, one of my all-time favorite objects. I love the small landscape format, the minimal cost, and the option of either saddle stitch or perfect bind. I’ve been using this option as my business card for years. Digest has so many uses. Another interesting note is that I ordered one copy, but they sent me four. Not sure how or why that happened, but I’m not complaining. The one thing I don’t like about this publication is that I chose saddle stitch instead of perfect bind. With thin publications, like 8 pages, I love saddle stitch, but when you have a thicker publication, that center staple page comes with a sizable gap that makes handling the piece slightly more difficult. Next time, perfect bind.
The “Don’t Forget Me, Okay?” plays into the written aspect of this project. It was originally going to be a subtitle, but I’ve since changed my mind about that. Before I became a bookmaker, I would have never made an image like that, but after making books for several decades, and knowing the story is the most important aspect, these images can play a huge part in the overall success of a publication. Remember, a book isn’t a portfolio.
I spent last weekend looking at photography projects. The annual photography event was happening in Santa Fe, so I took a few hours and looked at everything that was on display. Imagine tables with a hundred different photographers showing work. I did see one or two iPads, but everyone was showing print. And by the way, this wasn’t a tradeshow with camera companies. No, far from it. This was an event about actual photography. In short, way more interesting.
Most photographers had a print giveaway of some sort or had a print object for sale. This ranged from traditionally published monographs to flyers and magazines. If you want to play in this world, this is the price of admission, but remember, putting your work in print is FUN. It forces you to think and to take action, something in short supply in the online photography world. If you haven’t tried MagCloud, it’s worth a look.
8.25”x5.25”
Digest Landscape Publication
Page Count: 8 to 384 pages
Base Price: $0.17 per page
Saddle Stitch Binding – no additional charge (8-100 pages)
Perfect Binding $1.00 per piece (24-384 pages)
Comments 5
I treat these magcloud digests as zines and love to drop copies in the mail to friends and family. They don’t have much monetary value, but man do people love to receive even my roughest work. I get a lot of feedback from them, which is more genuine than an ‘insta-like’. They also fit in standard large envelopes and usually weight under 2 oz, making delivery $1.07 stamp. Pretty easy to send out. Highly recommend.
Super cool. And I use them the same although I don’t give them to family. They would toss it.
My favorite!!! The size the price. Really hard to beat. Thanks for turning me on to them.
Cool. Yes, I love them too. Now, time to make more.
Your Morocco Book looks so nice! My first book at Blurb (square format 18 x 18, softcover) has a very nice print quality.
This format at MC is quite cool and inexpensive to produce. I definitely have to try that (via Pages …).
Thanks for the tip.