Legacy Book

[Bongo]

I'm thinking that a book of my paintings - 98.5% color photos - might be a good legacy. No way of knowing what will happen to my paintings, and my online gallery - when I disappear. This would be 100% vanity, with no intention of marketing. It would be my "Kilroy was here" if you get my meaning. A print on demand. I would buy X amount to give to a few relatives and friends. So any insight on how to go about this is appreciated.

Not trying or even thinking about making a profit, and I know this is going to cost a good chunk of change - looked for a few seconds at blurb.com and it seems like the kind of thing I'm looking for - but know nothing about them - or bookmaking for that matter.

 

[Artyczar]

Lulu.com is probably a cheaper bet. You can set it up in a PDF per their guidelines. They have templates you can download per each size book. I found that it's cheaper than blurb. Let me know if you need any help!

 

[Bartc]

There are half a dozen or more print on demand services that handle books at no cost to you until printed, though not all do hardcovers. I can't tell you which you might prefer, because it's not just a cost issue it's also a quality of reproduction issue, as well as ease of use. Take your time choosing, at least until you think you're going to expire!

Ayin, did you review a bunch or just find that Lulu had the right combination for whatever you had been seeking or Bongo is suggesting?

I do think your idea has real merit, Bongo. Wondered about that myself. Leaving something of your artistic spirit and efforts for future generations is of some real value, even if most won't ever bother with it, because there's usually at least one who matures enough to find some worth to them personally.

 

[ZenDruid]

I would also recommend Staples, the office supply store that also has art supplies and will also print booklets, cards and posters. I've used them for posters and a few booklets of my photographs and a few other history projects. In the case of photographs, I made my own prints through photoshop and printed them on photo paper on my printer. That way I had complete control of photo quality. I took my original prints to Staples, decided on a cover and spiral binding style, and voila they bound my prints into a booklet and I don't think they charged over $20 USD. For photos, these are one of a kind originals. For text booklets, they will run multiples.

If I want them to make a poster, I provide the file in .pdf format on a CD disc or thumb/flash drive (don't scoff, CDs are still a real technology, my tower computer has two record/playback drives). The largest posters they made for me are 12x20 inch.

My only legacy heirs are my daughter and teenage artist granddaughter. My daughter has already claimed a few of my original paintings. My granddaughter is still caught up in her own karma, but a few decades from now she may wonder what granddad did, so I'll have a few hard-copy booklets for her.

Several years ago I worked with a local historian to edit and format her small book on local town history. This included text and lots of photographs. She opted to not use Staples, but a small local printer that created soft-cover bound books for her. So that kind of a printer does exist and is worth investigating for cost estimates.

One final note, working with a local print shop, whether it's Staples or Mary's Multiples, might be more satisfying than an online printer. You get to meet people interested in your project, they will want to show you examples of what they do, and you can annoy them with phonecalls and personal visits to see how things are going. Plus, supporting your local economy.

 

[Enyaw]

My sil says that blurb always have 40% off sales. She says if you sign up but don't do the book you get a 40% off deal swinging your way. She has done 6 or 7 books and has always had the 40% off. Maybe 40% off their price is not as low as others. I don't know.

 

[Bongo]

Ayin,Bart,ZD, Wayne - thank you! The more I think about it, the more appropriate it seems to me as a Legacy item. "They didn't look at my work while I was alive, maybe they will when I'm dead" I've still got some tread left, but there is a lot that goes into making a book like that. First I have many (very many) hundreds of paintings. Since I painted over the dogs as I went along, most of the ones that I have I like. Curating it down to a manageable number won't be easy. Then I have to take quality photos of each. Then figure out the best order they should appear, layout, size, paper quality, etc. So beyond the expense, there is a lot of time consuming work that needs to be done.

 

[Bartc]

Well, after all, it is your legacy, Bongo! Did you expect anything that one considers a legacy to be short or easy?

 

[Bongo]

Well, after all, it is your legacy, Bongo! Did you expect anything that one considers a legacy to be short or easy?

Actually no, I haven't thought at all about the end times. Living it is hard enough, now to document it too! No doubt I'll be headed for some agonizing reappraisals. But save for a page of introduction, the book will be nothing but photos of the paintings. No explanatory text.

 

[Enyaw]

I've started taking pictures. Mind you I only have four or five hundred as I tossed about 2000 years ago. I am tossing as I photo as well so it's a good chance to cull the herd. Good luck Bongo.

 

[ZenDruid]

"They didn't look at my work while I was alive, maybe they will when I'm dead"

Don't count on it. After you're dead, you'll get about a week of grieving before you get a place under the staircase in the back of their mind.

I've seen this on photography forums, guys who want to leave their grandkids a legacy of their 5000 digital photos of cats, dogs and sunsets.

Get about two dozen prints of some of your good art, forget the rest, get them bound and give them to your friends and relatives THIS Christmas. Drink with them and move on.

 

[Bongo]

Don't count on it. After you're dead, you'll get about a week of grieving before you get a place under the staircase in the back of their mind.

I've seen this on photography forums, guys who want to leave their grandkids a legacy of their 5000 digital photos of cats, dogs and sunsets.

Get about two dozen prints of some of your good art, forget the rest, get them bound and give them to your friends and relatives THIS Christmas. Drink with them and move on.

Sage advice ZD. Of course, I won't take it as I'm still enamored with my idea. One thing I have no sunsets, no cats, one dog painting. My plein air work is one thing, but my studio work is extremely eclectic. The book will be like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get on the next page (apologies to Forrest Gump).

 

[ZenDruid]

My plein air work is one thing, but my studio work is extremely eclectic.

I'd like to see it, is there a link?

 

[Bongo]

I'd like to see it, is there a link?

There is. Just understand I haven't uploaded ANYTHING to it for ten plus years -- so I'm a much better arteest now, and so there is a lot of work that's not on it. http://thebongolian.jalbum.net/StudioBongo/

About ten years ago I decided I was going to sell prints - Soon gave up on that idea, although the store is still there. Some of those are only about eight years old. studiobongo.com

 

[ZenDruid]

Just understand I haven't uploaded ANYTHING to it for ten plus years -- so I'm a much better arteest now, and so there is a lot of work that's not on it. http://thebongolian.jalbum.net

Your work there is definitely impressive and very interesting, thanks!

Your drawing from a strange cultural inspiration, I like it! The bee beards for example.

 

[Artyczar]

Ayin, did you review a bunch or just find that Lulu had the right combination for whatever you had been seeking or Bongo is suggesting?

I've made multiple books (color and B&W) in both soft-cover and hard case in this way. I have not only researched, but I paid for them as samples at many other places for me and other artists. The quality and price at Lulu turns out to be better when doing a small run or a one-at-a-time (print-on-demand) kind of printing. For example, I've never paid more than $8.50 US for the thickest book. That's about 32-36 color pages, soft-cover catalog 8.5 x 8.5 size. That's with Lulu.

There is a cheaper and better quality way to go, but it requires you to set up your own publishing company, and that's to go with IngramSpark. It's hardly possible to pay less than if you do it that route. It's just a lot of setup that involves taxes and paperwork. It's do-able though. You just have to be ambitious.

If you want to print more, like 100 at a time, you can save a bit more money with another print-on-demand company like DiggyPOD. And, of course, once you start printing in the thousands, you can really save money per unit.

 

[Bongo]

Wow, thanks for the breakdown Ayin, lots to digest and investigate.

Your work there is definitely impressive and very interesting, thanks!

Your drawing from a strange cultural inspiration, I like it! The bee beards for example.

Thanks ZD

 

[Bartc]

Actually no, I haven't thought at all about the end times. Living it is hard enough, now to document it too! No doubt I'll be headed for some agonizing reappraisals. But save for a page of introduction, the book will be nothing but photos of the paintings. No explanatory text.

Bongo, a common mistake we make is to associate "legacy" with only post-death period. You create your legacy while alive in reality and there's no reason you cannot do so deliberately and enjoy it while you aren't pushing up daisies.

 

[Artyczar]

I agree. My "legacy" is what I make now, and it's just for me unless someone wants it or wants to buy it. They can enjoy it so long as they want to. I have no one to pass these things on to, and I know no one will really remember me all that long after I'm gone.

 

[Bartc]

Ayin, remembering any of us is quite the crapshoot, I think. There's a whole industry in genealogy now devoted to reviving the memories of our grandparents and theirs, to whom we didn't bother listening when we were young and they were still around!

I come from an artistic family, some of whom were quite prolific in several media. Yet most of what they did that is appreciable is lost or moldering somewhere if at all. Very little of it is hung, which seems a shame. Yet some of my treasured memories are of sitting with one or another of them watching them paint. And those die with me anyway. Sigh....

 

[Bongo]

100% correct. I wish I had the book now so that I could look at it. My paintings are in an unorganized pile in a room off my studio, where you must move boxes to get to boxes. My online gallery is a decade out of date. So they are already dead, buried, all but forgotten even before I'm dead, buried and forgotten.

Will the book one day be entered into the Library of Congress? Will it one day be required reading in art schools? Will copies be auctioned at Sothbes and Christies? Will pigs fly?