You've Just Created a Photobook. Now What?
“There are three main stages of self-publishing a photobook,” the Ukrainian artist Maryna Brodovska tells us. “Everyone’s favorite stage is actually creating the book: making the pictures and editing them. The second stage is printing, which requires a lot of patience but feels like a pure miracle when it’s done. There’s little that compares with holding the first copy of your book. And finally, there’s the promotion and marketing stage. This final stage is the one I hate, but it’s also one of the most important!”
To create our three-part guide to self-publishing photobooks, we interviewed about twenty artists who’d been through the process from start to finish. In Parts 1 and 2, they took us through the journey of planning, editing, printing, and designing a book. In Part 3, they’ll take us through the marketing stage.
While no artist enjoys self-promotion, we were inspired by the creative ways these photographers got their work out there and into the hands of collectors, which included, among other things: successful crowdfunding campaigns, museum exhibitions, and even an artists’ collective. Read on for their best marketing tips.