self-publishing

a few weeks ago i made a hardcover book of my line drawings and borderlines series using snapfish. the book you see here is my second try actually. the first one was all white (cover and pages) and had several flaws, namely, many images had a thin gray line along one edge that was undetectable to me during the editing process. i was also unhappy with the white on white pages. many of my images have a shadow along the bottom and the white picture on a white background caused the image to look odd - the shadow ended but because the edges were not defined, the images made no sense. i ordered the pictures chronologically but didn't like it when i saw the finished book. the number of line drawings was greater than that of the borderlines and the book felt unbalanced.
the second time around i chose a black linen cover and black backgrounds for more contrast. now each image has a definite border and they just pop on the pages. i also mixed the line drawings with the borderlines in sets for balance and now i feel like the order is telling a story of sorts. the first time around the process took awhile to get the hang of and probably took me much longer than it should have. the second book i made was much quicker. snapfish does have lots of options for page layout, but i am sure a site like blurb has many, many more. i know they also have more book size and cover design options. the book from snapfish was reasonably priced - if i remember correctly is was about $30.
books like this are a great way to promote and archive your work. the book looks beautiful, includes measurements and materials for each piece, and also includes my artist statement. it looks professional and is a great complement to my studio gallery.
thanks for reading.