What is a photo book plan?

This article is a continuation of the previous post, “How to make a photo book that may sell well”

Notice: The text on this website is a Japanese text translated into English by automatic machine translation. Because I’m not good at English. I’m sorry, but it may be a strange sentence.

If you want to make a book that sells, I think it is a shortcut to have themes of eroticism, food, profits and losses, content that instigates anxiety, and content that relieves anxiety. But I don’t want to make that kind of thing. What should I do if I want to create a theme other than that?

I don’t know the correct answer, but in my case I try to make something that makes me think “I want it!” This is an easy-to-understand and cool photo book that I liked when I was in high school. However, high school students who buy photo books seem to be too small as a market, so I don’t write them in the proposal. I just think in my heart. The actual plan book targets people who have grown up from high school students.

Now let’s talk a little more concretely. In my case, I have two types of proposals for making a photo book. One for the publisher and one for the interviewee. In the case of a photo book, it is often necessary for publishers to consider plans only after a certain number of photos have been prepared, so a plan document to be sent to the interviewee is required before shooting. My filming is done in a place that is not accessible to the general public, so I need to get permission from the facility manager. Regarding the contents, I think the following things are important.

In the case of a plan to the interviewee

Three things are important. Advantages of the interviewee. A way to eliminate the concerns of the interviewee. The record of the photographer. I don’t think you need to write the details of what the book will be like. I’m trying to make the contents that the person in charge thinks, “If I refuse this project, they think I’m stupid,” or “This is good. I’ll show it to my boss soon.”  In the case of the group which is not used to acceptance of the coverage, accepting coverage is an extra job and only increases the risk, so they try to find the reason to decline. So, I must break the situation with one piece of plan. Therefore, I will make an effort to write a “crying plan” that will move the hearts of the person in charge. In addition, it is assumed that not only the person in charge but also the boss, the person at the site, the president, etc. will see it, and it should be understood by anyone.

In the case of plan to publisher

Is it a book for whom? What format book do you want to make? Write content that resolves publisher concerns. In the case of plan to publisher, the contents of the plan are important here, but the quality of the photos may be important.

These will be put together in a single A-4 size and sent as PDF data. If necessary, we are proceeding with the flow of attaching materials or sending them separately. When a publisher reviews a plan, it may take months because it is decided after several meetings. In my case, waiting for months and finding the next thing is a waste of time, so I send a plan to the several editors I know at the same time. Of course, after adding ” I suggest it to other companies.” In the first case, it may be safe to send one company at a time, but it seems that the editor may lie down in the drawer, so if there is no response, it may be difficult to determine the reason.Anyway, when thinking about a plan, what you need is to leave yourself a little sideways. “Make something that readers are happy with” instead of “Make it because you want to make it”. I usually don’t want to hear the talk of someone who says, ” I’m here! I’m here! “. The same goes for making books. You need to think about how the readers will be happy.

If you bring a plan to the publisher, you may need to negotiate, so I will write down what seems to be a hot topic. However, this is only my experience and not all.

About format

Since the human field of view is wide in the horizontal direction, the photo looks more natural in the horizontal position. I don’t want to bring my intentions to the fore, so the photos that I shoot have a lot of horizontal positions. So, if I try to show the picture properly, the book format will also be landscape. However, some editors say that they can only be sold in vertical format. However, in fact, if you make it a vertical format, it will often be laid out with double spreads, and the joint of the page will come in the middle of the photo, making it difficult to see the photo. In addition, the actual sales are not likely to sell well because of the vertical format. Of course, if you have a lot of photos in the vertical position or if you want to lay out a lot of photos on one page, there is no problem with the vertical format.

About POS system data at bookstores

Some editors make sales forecasts based on bookstore sales data (POS system data). However, my books may be special, but my books are sold outside the bookstore. The library also bought a lot, and the people for the coverage also bought a lot. Depending on the book, it may be 1000 books for the library alone or 1000 books for the people for the coverage alone. Both are different from bookstore distribution channels, so they will not appear in bookstore sales data. Some editors may be asked, “Where do you sell your books?”, But it is not necessary to sell anything at the bookstore alone. Just send it to someone who needs the book. In addition, some editors say, “If you sell at the library, there will be fewer people who buy it.” But is that really the case? In the sense of knowing the existence of a book, a library may be better than a bookstore that returns immediately. In fact, a person who found my photo book in a high school library came to the autograph session. Also, if you really want a book, you want to keep it at hand. In other words, I think that you will purchase.

Phew. There are quite a lot of things to do besides shooting.