Sheep book project

[Ed Sutton]

I've set the ball rolling on my 'big sheep book' project. It's taken me a while to plot out the chapters/sections but I'm pretty much there now which has helped me work on a format and try some layouts. There's still a lot of photos to take and words to write, but it's now become a case of taking the photos and writing the words to fill known places.

Things will probably change as time goes on, for example the cover picture/s and subtitle. I like the layout but the central pic needs to be different. Quite what I'm not sure, but probably a tup with impressive horns.



More spreads in my sheep project thread.

I find having a paper copy easier to judge how layouts work, and things like typefaces and font sizes. So I've had a couple printed. The latest, and final one before the book is done, I did with Mixam. Preview here - https://mixam.co.uk/share/663e293e5771600906315310

I also made a quick 'promotional' video to give people an idea of it, and especially its size which is hard to convey in a PDF or similar.

View: https://youtu.be/cqzUuR8Tm-g


It's got plenty of likes on FB from Lonk lovers, which is to be expected, but I'd be grateful for unbiased feedback.

 

[lindsay]

Great work and well done, I'm excited for you. A great project.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Great work and well done, I'm excited for you. A great project.

Thanks Lindsay. It's taken a while to get this going and to this stage. Probably another 12 to 18 months of photo taking and research/interviews/writing before it's done. Hoping to have it done it for October 2025 - the 120th anniversary of the Lonk Sheep Breeders' Association.

 

[Harlequin565]

Agree with Lindsay. Great work and well done. Flip through looks fab. Simple design works flawlessly and the images all marry well together.

Would be very interested to follow your production journey - especially around costs and choice of publisher. That's quite a big book and in my (very limited) experience, won't be cheap to produce. So when you get them all done in hardback for a fiver each, I want to know how you did it!

 

[Ed Sutton]

Agree with Lindsay. Great work and well done. Flip through looks fab. Simple design works flawlessly and the images all marry well together.

Would be very interested to follow your production journey - especially around costs and choice of publisher. That's quite a big book and in my (very limited) experience, won't be cheap to produce. So when you get them all done in hardback for a fiver each, I want to know how you did it!

Thanks for the feedback.

I've not decided on a print and funding route yet, but am expecting a retail price of around £35. A lot will depend on print run size. I'll probably get a single paperback copy done through Mixam and use that to promote the book in order to judge demand so I can work out the print run. Then maybe a Kickstater type thing and try to get it known outside sheep circles as it could have a wider audience with elements of local history and general countryside content.

I have a friend who is bringing out his fishing autobiography in hardback later this year and will be tapping him up for info on production and publishing costs. Another angling acquaintance publishes high quality fishing hardbacks. Depending on costs I might hand production over to him. Unlike the fishing books I've self-published which I did to make a few bob, this is a labour of love and (I hope) a historical record so any profit will be a bonus.

 

[Ed Sutton]

A surprise addition to this for a Sunday. In part as self-promotion, in part to give something back to the Lonk Breeders' Association, I've been thinking of putting up an outdoor gallery at the Association's show and sale. But how to make prints that are weatherproof cheaply? I'm hoping Doxdirect have the answer. Last week I ordered an A3 encapsulated print from them. It turned up not long ago! The colours are off, but that might be a cmyk/rgb issue, but at a fraction over £4 each it's looking affordable to get ten or a dozen done.

The plan is to attach bulldog type clips and hang them on baler twine either to sheep hurdles or the side of a trailer. I didn't have any baler twine to hand so used garden twine to test the idea. They might need weighting if it's windy I suppose.

Yea or nay?

 

[droj]

I started looking at your Mixam layout, Dave. In particular I wouldn't justify the text - it looks decidedly weird like that with such an awkward variation in word spacing - letting the right margins go ragged would look more cohesive & organic. A blank line between paragraphs isn't obligatory, but may add some visual grace ...

 

[Ed Sutton]

I started looking at your Mixam layout, Dave. In particular I wouldn't justify the text - it looks decidedly weird like that with such an awkward variation in word spacing - letting the right margins go ragged would look more cohesive & organic. A blank line between paragraphs isn't obligatory, but may add some visual grace ...

Thanks for looking and the comments. I'd done a version with spaces between paragraphs and tried it without for this one. However I've reverted to with.

But I'm sticking with the justified type. Sorry. I did a version with left justified type and the ragged right edges looked weird to me!. I guess it's personal taste. It'll also allow me to differentiate a couple of longish quotations from the main text by indenting them as left justified paragraphs - so long as I make a note on eth style sheet. Still lots to do with both photos and design though.

 

[Harlequin565]

But how to make prints that are weatherproof cheaply?

£4 for an A3 print is pretty good even before you get it weatherproofed. I was going to suggest an A3 laminator but that's around the £40 without buying the prints... I'm assuming they're for display and not for selling?

Clothesline pegs are quite a cheap alternative to bulldog clips and you can get big packs of wooden ones which look nice too.

Have you tried getting in touch and see if they can give you space in the beer tent? Will be a talking point while people are drinking, and you wouldn't need to weatherproof them.

 

[Ed Sutton]

£4 for an A3 print is pretty good even before you get it weatherproofed. I was going to suggest an A3 laminator but that's around the £40 without buying the prints... I'm assuming they're for display and not for selling?

Clothesline pegs are quite a cheap alternative to bulldog clips and you can get big packs of wooden ones which look nice too.

Have you tried getting in touch and see if they can give you space in the beer tent? Will be a talking point while people are drinking, and you wouldn't need to weatherproof them.

I thought of borrowing a laminator off a friend, but for £4.00 a pop I might as well take that route.

They're not for sale. If they want pics they'll have to buy the book! The quality's OK for display and even indoors will look OK. I bought some small wooden clothes pegs but wasn't keen. probably too small. Bulldog clips will grip better I think. Another idea I had, which would ruin the lamination, was to use blank sheep ear tags!

There's no beer tent at the show, it's in a field next to a pub! But when publication is guaranteed for the book I will investigate other places to display the prints and promotional material.

Affinity has introduced a QR code generator, which I've played with today and will likely incorporate on the prints.

 

[sirch]

I have no issues with the fully justified text which looks perfectly normal for a photobook to me. My nit pick is that the single image on one page with 4 images facing feels a little over used to me, I understand that it fits the image format but may be consider varying that?

It looks really good though and I have nothing but admiration for work like this

 

[Harlequin565]

There's no beer tent at the show

Hmmm.. It appears there are quite a few emoji's for how I feel about a show calling itself a show without a beer tent.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I have no issues with the fully justified text which looks perfectly normal for a photobook to me. My nit pick is that the single image on one page with 4 images facing feels a little over used to me, I understand that it fits the image format but may be consider varying that?

It looks really good though and I have nothing but admiration for work like this

Thanks Chris. Much appreciated.

I know what you mean about the four-to-a-page layouts. I've overdone them in this dummy. It was to see what the pictures looked like in relation to each other and to make the dummy thick enough to give me an idea how the book might 'feel' . When I have more text that I can relate them to I'll be trying a different layout for some. Rather than having individual captions I might have a column of text and a pair of related pictures to a page. As I keep saying, there's a long way to go yet!

Hmmm.. It appears there are quite a few emoji's for how I feel about a show calling itself a show without a beer tent.

There's beer. It's just not in a tent!

 

[Fixer]

Page 22 in Latin was fun !

 

[Ed Sutton]

Not much to report here but the photo sections are filling up and I've got back to researching and writing again. Missing out on some photos this summer has pushed the 'deadline' back about 12 months to this time next year. I've also got a few non-sheep people wanting a copy and a tentative offer of promotion from a National Sheep Association representative. With all the shows and most of the sales out of the way for this year I can get on with it and plan out what else needs photographing.

A new draft layout. Will probably use more photos larger than in other try-outs.

 

[sirch]

Good to see

 

[Ed Sutton]

Good to see

Thanks. It's coming together better in my head now, which has helped me concentrate on getting the sorts of pictures the book needs rather than shooting to see what I get that can be used. A different way of working for me.