Illustrated Coffee Table Book - Discussions

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

It is wonderful that we now have this much discussed book!

Lynda has done a fabulous job, and it is being offered as a special prize for the September and December photo competitions .

Read all about it here :

https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php?topic=9767.0

[Rod]

What about getting in touch with Ron Warwick. He has a little experience with books!
Personally I think it is a great idea, while at the same time a poor idea! Confused?
My experience with CT books is that they are large, usually over A-4 size probably no more than 50 pages that contain mostly pictures, and are used as a starting point for discussions.
As I said, great idea for these reasons.Bad idea: I don't think it would sell much because the cost would probably be way more than a calendar. You would probably also have a minimum run required. Surely that would probably be over 500 copies sitting in someones spare bedroom. That would have to have been paid for probably. Book like that would probably be over 30 quidI sincerely hope that I am wrong.
Good luck. I do mean that!

[Peter Mugridge]

I think this one would sell all right...

Yes, a coffee table book is around £30 to £40 and is mostly pictures; that's the whole point of them really - large format to display pictures well and plenty of room for text all about the subject in addition to the pictures.

Maybe I'm biased because I have quite a few such books - the Francis Frith ones, a lot of the 3D London Stereoscope Company ones and a few others mainly about astronomy subjects, but the quality does justify the price and I would suspect that there wouldn't be so many that I've been able to buy over the years if they weren't popular...?

[Lynda Bradford]

Discussions on producing a book of the Photo Competition photos or an  illustrated Coffee Table book have been ongoing not just in this topic area but behind the scenes in the Moderators section of the forum.  In view of the recent discussion on this topic I thought it would be useful to share with you some of the discussion that have taken place over the years.

We consulted with our forum member who are authors and designers on producing, marketing, distribution and sales of books.  We considered the minimum order for a realistic price, e.g. Ordering 500 and 1000 copies for a price of around £30. 

We considered three possible options:

1. To find a UK publisher who's interested in the project. Thus the book would be made available to purchase not only on Cunard ships, but in UK bookstores, including Amazon & other online shops. All costs in charge of the publisher, and a royalty scheme for the author (TheQE2Story).

2. An exclusive QE2Story limited edition, available for purchase to members only? The "limited edition" status would help put a higher retail price on the product (something around £40 - £50).

3. A manufactured-on-demand system, using any quality online photo book service.  No stock, no printing or shipping costs (but also no income!)

In 2016 we looked at the option of using the Lulu publication website that we use for the annual Calendars, but this option was not pursued.

In 2020 we discussed options for setting up a private publishing project versus using a publisher, who would take on the risk but it would be the publisher who would decide on the size, price, finding etc.

e.g.  a limited edition of 100 unwrapped 100-page A4 square (21.6 x 21.6 cm) hardcover books on 135 gsm art paper would cost £1652.16. With a retail price of £30 sales of 56 copies would be required to break even.

Advice was given in relation to the coffee table book:

"In the light of this, I think the « big coffee table book » option should be forgotten from the start, unless you’re ready to invest a huge amount of money. Designing and producing such a book is very expensive and certainly well beyond what Lulu’s and other online consorts are able to do qualitywise. You would need to work closely with a " real" printer or binder in order to achieve a product for which people will agree to pay a high price."


No further action was taken to investigate a publisher, partly because of time commitments and financial considerations. 

However, in March 2021, I put forward a suggestion to the Moderator Team to produce a Photo Book with the ten years of winning photos to commentate this achievement and to award as a prize for winners of special competitions. 

Although this is not a professional publication, it is a rather nice little commemorative item as you can see in Gallery album screenshots of the book. It is only available as a prize at the moment, but we will continue to look at making this available to purchase in the future. 

I hope this is helpful in outlining the work the Moderator team do behind the scenes on your behalf.