Ever since I began taking my digital photography seriously, I've had this notion to compile a selection of my photographs captured from around the Northeast of England and create a published coffee table photography book.  Finally, I decided to zero-in on Newcastle Upon Tyne (where I live), as this had the most diverse range of subject material, and which might maintain interest for a generally curious audience that didn't necessarily have links with the city or Northeast England.

Thanks to Snap Collective these ambitions have begun to take shape.  I made initial enquiries to several prospective publishing houses, but was turned away for various reasons, including the subject matter being too "niche", or not the kind of content they would publish.  Snap Collective were much more approachable, and after an initial discussion with one of their editors, they agreed that this was a project they'd be happy to help me with, and with a shared commercial risk.

Because the initial print-run will be small, my target is for at least 25 confirmed pre-orders before the book can go into print, and also because of the boutique nature of the publishing, there will be a fairly long wait (15 week approximately) between pre-order confirmation and receiving of the book, so patience will be required!   Due to the limited print-run, the book will be at an upper budget price range, with a discount during the first two-weeks of official launch. However, there will be 190 A4 landscape pages of my photographs, so this will not be a small book, which can be enjoyed as a snapshot impression of this northern city well into the future.

In the meantime, I have ideas for including the names of the first 25 buyers to be permanently added on the book's acknowledgement page (optional opt-in), as well as providing signed A5 prints as a token of gratitude, whilst awaiting for arrival of the book itself.

I've almost reached the stage for uploading a high-resolution final version of the content to be ready for the next "pre-order" public launch step.  Before then, I still have plenty of work to do.  This includes asking some of the potentially impacted organisations for permission to use images for a commercial purpose, generating social media interest (I've begun to include #TwoToneToon and #PhotographyBook tags in my @ArtPhotoMe Instagram posts), contacting magazine editors, and identifying potential target audience buyers (these will include libraries, museums, regionally local organisations).

My ultimate aim is to create an online exhibition of some of the book's content in parallel, and to make these available as individual #WallArt items.  If enough interest is generated, I will aim to create ebooks of each of the chapters, for sale online as a companion to the physical book. 

Some examples of how the book is taking shape can be found on my portfolio website

If you are interested in being updated on progress of this project, or potential commercial purchases, please feel free to either send an email to info@art-photography.me, where you will be added to my mailing list (I don't send many newsletters, so no deluge of spam coming your way), or contact via DM on social media.

AndrewP