So this is a starting page for a project that I hope will intrigue you and maybe even persuade you help out in some way (by donating use of your time, art, talent, and / or skill).
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A quick run down of my purpose:
- Money: I do not intend to make any money making this book, rather all proceeds (from the sale of the book, $10-$25 estimated price) will go directly to a homeless charity in Fort Collins, Colorado or nearby. I am considering Eternal Brotherhood, Denver Rescue Mission, Salvation Army, The Murphy House, Homeless Gear, or another homeless shelter. If you have suggestions please let me know.
- Printing: I am hoping to be able to get enough buy-in from local businesses and individuals to help with printing to cover the cost of printing the books (I haven’t decided on numbers for the initial run of books yet). I will probably setup a IndieGoGo or Kickstarter page, once the initial design of the book is done.
- Use of Art: I am asking for donations of the use of artwork within the realm of visual media (photo, traditional, written, prose, essay……). I am also looking for ways to include music and short films as an addendum to the book (still working on the specifics). I am asking artists to allow me to print their work, for the purposes stated above, and only that. It is non-exclusive (feel free to put your work anywhere else you wish), or even use the book to promote your own work (existing or not).
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Artist Info / Byline / Credit ……
- So with every piece of artwork I want to make sure that there is at the bare minimum of an artists name and where their work can be found (if they want it). My preference would be to also have a little bit of info from the artist about the piece. A sentence or two description, story behind the piece, or another bit of info the artist wants to convey to the viewer.
As for the legal printing rights and such (Key Points):
- When submitting stuff, feel free to watermark, post medium resolution product or other methods to make sure it isn’t stolen.
- The only rights I would have on paper would be that I have the artists permission to print their work in the Coffee Table Art-book and in advertising the Coffee Table Art-book. Nothing beyond that, so no restrictions on the Artists usage of their own work. Because even if a piece was designed with this book in mind, it is still your work.
- I want this book to also help artists get a wider reach with their work without impeding them.
- As to the legal paperwork, I will write something up, talk with some lawyer friends of mine (get the legalize put in), post it, then if it looks good actually get a contract of sorts. That way it protects everyone involved and makes it clear what is happening.
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Now on to the details of the Book:
- Theme: Hope and / or Life. I am debating a couple other options, but I wanted to leave it open for suggestions.
- Binding: I am open to different options, but I want it to be durable and solid printing. something that can be left on a coffee table at home or even in a welcome area at a business. My initial thought is hard bound or cloth bound, but a spiral bound has the advantage of laying open, flat on a table, without that pesky binding cracking.
- Format (page size): I prefer larger art books that way you can actually see the art work. Minimum size 8.5” x 11” landscape, or even up to 20” (long edge). I suspect the exact size may drift depending on the art put into it, or to accommodate printing costs (a normal page size may be cheaper than an odd one).
- Target Audience: the target audience would be the general populace and businesses (so no objectionable content, G rated so to speak).
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Printing options
ok so I will try to list various printing options here and update as necessary. (fyi in approximate alphabetical order)
- Blurb.com (recommended by a friend of mine, Rae) – http://www.blurb.com/make/books holds some more specifics on their process.
- DeviantArt – I know a decent number of people who have printed small and large Photos through them but I don’t know the quality of their books.
- mpix – http://www.mpix.com/
- mypublisher – http://www.mypublisher.com/
- shutterfly – http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books
- Snapfish – http://www.snapfish.com/snapfish/welcome
If anyone has contacts at a local printer let me know, I would prefer do do as much locally as possible.
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I am at the developing stage of the project, so I need help.
- Source artwork is the biggest need right now, so if you have some, would like to make some, or know some artists, please help by sending then a link to this page
- People networking: if you love bringing people together then this would be awesome for you to help out. I want help from others for the entire project. From the artwork, design, layout, printing, finances, bookkeeping, distribution…… I don’t want this to be a Me project (as in it is Micah’s project) but rather it is a joint effort from a bunch of people, crowd-sourced, to use a catch phrase.
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Please feel free to comment, rant, or whatever to let me know what you think.
To ask a question please comment on this post or email me, skype, im, facebook….
To submit content (text, pictures, music, video) please email me, skype, im, facebook….