HAPTIC PRESS Box Bundle: Street Notes, Film Notes, Photo Journal

Why You Must Become Your Own Publisher

HAPTIC PRESS Box Bundle: Street Notes, Film Notes, Photo Journal
HAPTIC PRESS Box Bundle: Street Notes, Film Notes, Photo Journal

A new idea for the MODERN PHOTOGRAPHER: You must become your own publisher, printer, and distributor.

HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: Creative Tools to Empower You >

1. More creative control

Learn From the Masters Book: First Edition
Learn From the Masters Book: First Edition

As a modern photographer, your goal isn’t to make a ton of money, gain massive fame and influence, or be written in the history books. Your goal is to express your creative spirit, and have full creative control and autonomy over your pictures, art, and products.

MASTERS FIRST EDITION TITLE PAGE
MASTERS FIRST EDITION TITLE PAGE

For example, for our Learn From the Masters Book, we had the option of going with a traditional publisher, but we chose to self-publish and self-print it instead.

To be frank, we probably would have made way more money, had far larger distribution, and seen our book on more photo book store shelves, but we decided that we wanted full creative control and autonomy — how we wanted to design our book, but also to keep all the “Learn From the masters of Photography” content available for free, and open.

2. More fun, and playful experimentation

CREATIVE EVERY DAY: Paper Edition by HAPTICPRESS
CREATIVE EVERY DAY: Paper Edition by HAPTICPRESS

A fun product we put out is “CREATIVE EVERY DAY”— an experimental book that combines the trifecta of:

  1. Photography
  2. Drawing
  3. Writing

As part of the HAPTICLABS KYOTO OFFICE, Cindy, myself, my sister Annette, and Cindy’s sister Jennifer all rented a tiny Airbnb, and cranked out this book. We designed it all together using Adobe Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop, and got it printed locally in California. We then distribute the book from Cindy’s family home (her mom packages and ships the books), and we also sent CREATIVE EVERY DAY to Amazon for fulfillment.

The fun thing was: CREATIVE EVERY DAY is a labor of our love, and brought us together closer as a family. It gave us all the opportunity to flex and workout our creative muscles with Annette and illustration, Cindy and writing, Jennifer and editing, and me and photography.

The power of publishing your own books, photography, and art is that you can try printing small batches of books (under 100 copies) and to be like a mad scientist — making fun and playful experiments, to try out new ideas, to bring joy into the hands of the viewer.

CREATIVE EVERY DAY: Mobile Edition
CREATIVE EVERY DAY: Mobile Edition

CREATIVE EVERYDAY is now available on mobile as PDF/Kindle Edition >

CREATIVE EVERY DAY: Mobile Edition
CREATIVE EVERY DAY: Mobile Edition

3. You can pick yourself

STREET NOTES MOBILE EDITION

Now with the power of the internet, you can “pick yourself”— you don’t need to wait and be “discovered” by an agent, a publisher, or anyone else.

You can print and publish your own books on blurb.com (to keep costs lower, print it as a magazine), you can sell your books or pictures as a Kindle Edition in the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing platform, or by opening up your own “Woocommerce” shop for WordPress and sell your own products in your own store.

BOOKS by HAPTICPRESS

I remember as a kid, sitting on the sidelines, waiting to get picked for baseball. I was often picked in the middle or the last. That was a horrible feeling.

Now, you don’t gotta wait to get picked or “signed.” Even a lot of musicians nowadays no longer opt for big music deals. They rather stay independent, and solo— to regain more creative freedom. This is what the musician Chance the Rapper chose, and makes most of his money selling shirts, products, cds, and shows.

Conclusion

LEARN FROM THE MASTERS by HAPTIC
Learn From the MASTERS: First Edition Book

Build your own platform. Become your own photography entrepreneur. Pick yourself.

Print your own books, sell your own products and just have fun.

Do it for the love and the money, and stay small. Strive to make books that spark joy in yourself, and spark joy in your reader.

MAKE BOOKS

ERIC

HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: Creative Tools to Empower You >


Photography Entrepreneurship 101

ERIC KIM x HENRI NECK STRAP  by HAPTIC INDUSTRIES // Portrait by Benjamin Thompson

PHOTOGRAPHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP BOOKS

PHOTOGRAPHY STARTUP MANUAL by ERIC KIM

Take control of your own photographic destiny:

  1. Photography Startup Manual
  2. PHOTOGRAPHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP MANUAL

PHOTOGRAPHY STARTUP 101

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PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS 101

CAMERA MONEY GBP by ANNETTE KIM


KEYS TO SUCCESS

Table of Contents

Learn how to make a living from your passion:


Photography Business 101

How to Make Money with Photography

CAMERA MONEY USD by ANNETTE KIM
CAMERA MONEY USD by ANNETTE KIM

Photography Marketing 101


SELLOUT ERIC KIM

How to Hustle.

Entrepreneurial Principles

How to be a Full-time Photographer

Photography Blogging

How to Teach Photography

Social Media

How to Save Money

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