ffrailey wrote:
> And if the book doesn't sell well, that
> advance could be all that I ever get for this undertaking.
Well, with all due respect Fred, this should help weed out the 'bad' books
that keep popping up and deluding the market, siphoning off many railfan's
money, lowering the quality of railroad publications in general and
creating some of this problem in the first place. "Only the strong
survive". I hope your book is a good one, but we all know the publishing
risks and we are all familiar with what's out there and what percent of
that work was just 'thrown together by fans'. If anything, having to pay
your photographers along with your prepress and printing people will
inspire you to take quality and content into consideration first, and I see
nothing wrong with this type of 'competition'. There will always be a
market for a well written and illustrated (and well printed) book. If you
produce a top quality publication and it doesn't sell well originally, look
at your marketing and distribution at that point. Placing ourselves into
some self-inflicted amateur status and expecting less from a railroad
publication to begin with just because it has a picture of our favorite
locomotive or was written by a friend is ridiculous and self demeaning.
"Seek out the best work and do your best to write the content" is some
advice that many railroad book authors somehow seem to sorely miss. And
you have to look back the real reason why you are doing the book in the
first place. Are you doing it to make money, or are you providing a
heartfelt 'contribution' to the hobby? If you expect to make money in
publishing, you must pay money for salable content if you cannot provide it
on your own. If you are doing this all for free, then you must find
contributors who will also place a value of zero on their work, and you
cannot expect actual photographers to 'join' your club.
> But I read your manifesto and say to myself, does Corns know who
> he's beating up on?
John is 'beating up on' those who take advantage of others for the
advancement of their own publishing efforts. I am saying this too.
> In other words, John, welcome to the club. Here, take my crying
> towel and dry yourself off. We're all being used.
This is ridiculous Fred. What a helpless mess we would all be in if we all
felt this way. Why in the hell would we blindly give our work away for
nothing and just accept that? I don't. No one else has to either. Nobody
here has to 'join' any club by default. Authors, publishers and printers
are taking advantage of photographers because there are so many naive
amateurs who would just like to see their shot published with their name
under it. This is the problem to begin with. If you guys want to 'make a
contribution', then don't screw the rest of us by placing a value of zero
on your own work, because publishers see us a group, and not individuals.
If you can't resist that urge to see your shot on a page, then send your
shots to one of the fan magazines. They pay insulting rates by modern
publication standards, but at least they will pay you a few dollars until
you realize that your work is worth more than fan magazine content.
Somebody is missing the trees for the forest here, and it's not the
photographers.
Dave Cohen
Photographer
ASMP Member
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
