Creating a Coffee Table Book

 

It has been a bigger project than I initially thought, but finally, the "Iconic Trucks" coffee table book is going to the printer. The work itself has been rather exciting and there have been many great moments in the process. Although similar to a magazine, a book is still rather different. 

Here some things I learned in the process of putting this together:

- Have more material than you need
- Social Media is a terrible way to reach out to brands when you need their input
- Plan for more. I wanted over 50 trucks, but several brands did not respond....
- Proofread more than once
- Only give the material to the design team after ALL amendments have been made
- Those that provide input will have their own ideas what such a book should be about. One has to be firm and stick with the original concept.
- There WILL be mistakes. Small stuff. And one will only find that after printing. 
- Also a good idea is to have someone look at this that is not in the industry one is writing about.

To me, the most puzzling thing is how brands do not react to the idea of free exposure. One asks. One explains. And then nothing is coming. Especially when trying to make contact via social media in order to get to the right person(s). But hey,... Guess there are priorities people have.