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Re: picking your own clothes
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From: Sue Macy <sue_at_suemacy.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:55:31 -0400
I№d like to add my own two cents regarding the issue of nonfiction authors doing their own picture research. Picture research has become an essential part of my writing process. My book, Wheels of Change, included two-page features after every chapter, which were built into the book№s outline afte r I found two wonderful private collections of bicycle memorabilia that I realized would go a long way toward communicating the extensive impact of the bicycle on 1890s American culture. And while I agree that professional photo researchers might have superior knowledge of photo resources and perhaps a better temperament for dealing with rights and permissions, I think I have the best of all worlds: an Illustrations Editor, the amazing Lori Epstein at National Geographic, who can suggest sources when I need them but who is equally comfortable with letting me follow my own leads whe n I can. Macy
On 3/31/12 11:04 AM, "Susan Rubin" wrote:
Marc,Thank you for expressing clearly and perfectly what we do when we research images for our NF books, and also acquire permissions. The permissions problem is worthy of a separate discussion as you so well kno w. But the pictures or art we choose for our books and where we place the im ages add a vital component to telling the true story. Susan
--- On Sat, 3/31/12, Lionel Bender wrote:
From: Lionel Bender Subject: Re:
picking your own clothes To: bookmarch_at_aol.com Cc: ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Date: Saturday, March 31, 2012, 6:00 AM
Marc,Points well made and accepted. This again is a clear division betwe en trade and school-and-library books. Production of the latter, for reason s often difficult to swallow, such as tight budgets and schedules, make ex treme research a luxury. And, yes, publishers do increasingly ask to clear all rights, but photo agencies equally are putting up prices for digital use . A balance often needs to be made otherwise many good (but perhaps not excellent) books will never see the light of day and children will not g et the variety of products they need. Lionel
_____________________________
On 31 Mar 2012, at 13:36, bookmarch_at_aol.com wrote:
While I agree that much is open to negotiation, I must disagree with Li onel in a couple of ways. First, photo research is not necessarily best done by a professional. Indeed I -- and many of the trade NF authors I know -- fin d that doing that research is an essential part of our work as authors. On ly we know in depth the kind of images that support our text. Indeed locating and using (sometimes obscure) image sources is part of what Susan Campbell Bartoletti calls the "extreme research" we do in creating our books (one that, as I have been discussing in my blog, reviewers never notice or cr edit us with doing). Locating an image, "reading" it carefully, placing it in the text, and writing the apt caption is part of the work we authors do in m aking our NF into immersive experiences. Only that tactile contact with image location and selection allows us to surround the reader in the world we are evoking in our books. Using a professional would be like hiring someone to pick your clothes -- we'd rather shop for ourselves, and show the world our own sense of style.
Second, while it is useful as a negotation strategy to limit the rights you want, increasingly publishers, aware of the digital and thus global futu re of books, require you to clear -- or at least know the final cost of -- all rights.
Marc Aronson
Received on Sat 31 Mar 2012 11:55:31 AM CDT
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:55:31 -0400
I№d like to add my own two cents regarding the issue of nonfiction authors doing their own picture research. Picture research has become an essential part of my writing process. My book, Wheels of Change, included two-page features after every chapter, which were built into the book№s outline afte r I found two wonderful private collections of bicycle memorabilia that I realized would go a long way toward communicating the extensive impact of the bicycle on 1890s American culture. And while I agree that professional photo researchers might have superior knowledge of photo resources and perhaps a better temperament for dealing with rights and permissions, I think I have the best of all worlds: an Illustrations Editor, the amazing Lori Epstein at National Geographic, who can suggest sources when I need them but who is equally comfortable with letting me follow my own leads whe n I can. Macy
On 3/31/12 11:04 AM, "Susan Rubin" wrote:
Marc,Thank you for expressing clearly and perfectly what we do when we research images for our NF books, and also acquire permissions. The permissions problem is worthy of a separate discussion as you so well kno w. But the pictures or art we choose for our books and where we place the im ages add a vital component to telling the true story. Susan
--- On Sat, 3/31/12, Lionel Bender wrote:
From: Lionel Bender Subject: Re:
picking your own clothes To: bookmarch_at_aol.com Cc: ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Date: Saturday, March 31, 2012, 6:00 AM
Marc,Points well made and accepted. This again is a clear division betwe en trade and school-and-library books. Production of the latter, for reason s often difficult to swallow, such as tight budgets and schedules, make ex treme research a luxury. And, yes, publishers do increasingly ask to clear all rights, but photo agencies equally are putting up prices for digital use . A balance often needs to be made otherwise many good (but perhaps not excellent) books will never see the light of day and children will not g et the variety of products they need. Lionel
_____________________________
On 31 Mar 2012, at 13:36, bookmarch_at_aol.com wrote:
While I agree that much is open to negotiation, I must disagree with Li onel in a couple of ways. First, photo research is not necessarily best done by a professional. Indeed I -- and many of the trade NF authors I know -- fin d that doing that research is an essential part of our work as authors. On ly we know in depth the kind of images that support our text. Indeed locating and using (sometimes obscure) image sources is part of what Susan Campbell Bartoletti calls the "extreme research" we do in creating our books (one that, as I have been discussing in my blog, reviewers never notice or cr edit us with doing). Locating an image, "reading" it carefully, placing it in the text, and writing the apt caption is part of the work we authors do in m aking our NF into immersive experiences. Only that tactile contact with image location and selection allows us to surround the reader in the world we are evoking in our books. Using a professional would be like hiring someone to pick your clothes -- we'd rather shop for ourselves, and show the world our own sense of style.
Second, while it is useful as a negotation strategy to limit the rights you want, increasingly publishers, aware of the digital and thus global futu re of books, require you to clear -- or at least know the final cost of -- all rights.
Marc Aronson
Received on Sat 31 Mar 2012 11:55:31 AM CDT
