Next Steps
Congratulations on signing up with Daylight to have your book published! Below are some general notes about what to expect moving forward.
PREPARATION:
There is often a bit of downtime between signing contracts and beginning work on the book in earnest. Please take advantage of this window of time and:
1 - complete production of your photographs including creating hi-res digital scans and applying color corrections, adjusting density and saturation levels (etc.)
2- create a preliminary edit/sequence to be discussed in detail with our designer
3 - brainstorm and solicit text contributions (foreword, introduction, acknowledgements, etc.) and all copyright permissions where appropriate. Per your contract, you are responsible for securing permission for any quotes/reprints of copyrighted works so please make sure that that has been taken care of before submitting your copy.
4 - compile completed text into one, or multiple, Word documents. We will provide basic copyediting (not developmental editing) and you should have everything pulled together by the time we begin production. Since it takes time to refine text please be in close touch regarding late additions or 'in progress' contributions. It is important to respect the deadlines set by our team once they are provided.
5- brainstorm and begin lining up exhibitions, launch events etc organized during your publication season. Dates can be preliminary as it will take a few more steps for us to finalize your actual publication date.
TIMELINE:
We will keep you updated with dates and deadlines related to the production workflow and ask that you do your best to adhere to those as closely as possible. Keep in mind that producing a book is incredibly complex and involves numerous moving parts, team members, vendor partners and other complicated logistics. While we do our best to avoid delays they can sometime be inevitable. Please be patient and work with us as we keep things moving along!
PRODUCTION:
A member of our team will be in touch shortly to solicit 'pre-sales' material for our distributor. This information is all preliminary and simply allows us to lay the groundwork for effective distribution of your title based on the topic and contributors. They will request some preliminary text and low-res images in order to get the distribution team up-to-speed on your book.
As mentioned, our designer will reach out soon after with some specific production requests and initial workflow deadlines. It is important to read through these dates carefully and do your best to anticipate them and provide whatever is requested as far in advance as possible. There will be many steps during the design, editing and production process and you will be working closely with our team to fine-tune everything until it is perfect!
PROOFING:
Typically proofs will be sent to both you and our designer so you can review them together via a skype or phone call. There will be two sets of wet proofs providing you the opportunity to make minor color corrections by providing notes directly onto the proof sheets. Our printers are amongst the finest in the world and they will be working hard to ensure your book is printed beautifully. In order to assist it may be advisable to provide a set of 'match prints' of images appearing in the book in order for the printer to refer to them directly.
PROMOTION:
Once your books is designed and being printed there is another window of time that you can take advantage of to line-up signing events, exhibitions and etc. A few months before the book is due out our publicist will set up an initial phone call to discuss your book and properly position it for widespread promotion. Please plan to work closely with her to provide whatever materials she may need to publicize your book. In addition to blasting out a press release she will set up interviews, reviews and supply promotional copies to relevant parties and upon request.
Hopefully at this point you have already set up some signings, exhibitions or launch events which go a long way in helping to promote the book. Please communicate the schedule of these events closely with our publicist so she can best take advantage of the extra marketing opportunity.
Please go ahead and LIKE Daylight Books on Facebook and FOLLOW Daylight Books on Instagram. We will respond in kind. This is a very important step in making sure we can follow along with you and cross-promote opportunities.
DISTRIBUTION:
Daylight works with CBSD/Ingram to distribute our books all over the world. We work closely with the distributor from the moment a contract is signed until long after the book is released. Artists can help ensure the book appears in favorite/local bookstores by contacting the book buyer at that store and giving them information about the book. We are unable to reach out to individual bookstores to ask them to carry titles or set up signings but we HIGHLY encourage artists to take this on themselves. As soon as you have something to show (PDF, proof sheets etc) feel free to begin approaching bookstores and setting up signings timed for the publication month of your book.
Please keep in mind that you will NOT be able to sell your allotment of books in any traditional bookstore due to our exclusive contract with Ingram. You will, of course, be able to sell your books directly via your website as well as at certain book signings, exhibitions and launches
LAUNCH:
Since the pandemic we have deemphasized in-person events but, at times, Daylight continues to participate in book signings, panels, or lectures for our book releases. Someone from our team will be in touch with more information as opportunities become available. Previous events have included book signings at Photoville, AIPAD, ICP and etc. These events are entirely optional but are often a good chance to connect with other Daylight artists as well as the larger photo community. Many events and signings are confirmed after the launch events so please make sure to keep the Daylight team in the loop with upcoming opportunities so we can effectively cross-promote! In addition to tagging us on IG and FB it would be helpful to email us at least a month in advance of upcoming exhibitions or other opportunities.
Thank you for taking this journey with us - we are looking forward to creating a beautiful book with you!