It's done! The 2020 winners book is now available to order here and once again the price has been kept to its absolute minimum with zero profit being made and the only expense is what KDP take for the printing.
This years book is in memory of the tragic passing of Jack Dore, the son of one of our contributors. Please consider contributing to help raise £25,000 and in doing so will help those people suffering from depression and Mental Health issues, in Jacks' memory HERE
On the decision to use Amazon which for some I understand is not ideal and I include myself in that, but for what we need, it unfortunately is the only option for the time being. After this year though I will be able to compare the number sold from the previous 2 years and make a judgement on whether to do a print run or stick with the print on demand. When I had used POD with Blurb in the first 2 years of the books the price for me was far too high, coming in at around £25 before PP. Ok it was a hard back book but I just felt it restricted the numbers that would be sold and ultimately it is the purpose of the book to help promote the work of the contributing photographers to as many as possible. There is also the work involved for me. I'm happy to collect the work and organise the book design etc but if I was to use a local printer for example (which I priced last year before lockdown restrictions) then orders would most likely have to go through me which involves a little more time. There was other options of using a company to distribute them at a cost of around £3 a book which would obviously be added to the price. I had a print price of £850 for 100 copies with a similar book size and cover as the current KDP book. I would have had to cover the cost of this without knowing if they would all sell, in the end there were 139 sold last year on KDP. P&P would have been in the region of £3.50 so the book price would be about £12 a unit as an estimate and if I was dealing with orders it would mean I would also be dealing with the money coming in too which I wouldn't feel comfortable with never mind the hassle that it would involve.
So I hope you can understand my reasoning for going down the Amazon route again but it would be preferable to find a smaller printer for the future so I will continue exploring the opportunities available for next year.
In the meantime go and take advantage of the availability of this beautiful collection of these hugely talented photographers work, with the variety and diversity of images all part of the unique quality of these books. The gallery of images are also on this website to view if you wish but nothing beats having them together in print.
This whole thing is mostly about sharing the work of others, so please do what you can to promote this book to as many people as possible. I will be sending a few copies out to publications, who (fingers crossed) will maybe mention within their pages. A wee nudge to those who might have Youtube channels etc if you want to spread the word and work, then that would be hugely appreciated by all. For now, thank you for taking an interest and I hope you enjoy sitting down with a copy of the book very soon.
