Afterword is a Q&A series with authors to give an insight into the different ways you can produce a publication. Every author is asked the same questions. In this post we meet artist RM Sánchez-Camus.
RM: My current juggling act is the holy partnership trinity of Applied Live Art Studio, Social Art Network, and Axis. These three build the triangle from which I try to create social art magic for artists and the communities they work with. I also go by the name Marcelo which adds extra confusion when introducing me at a video meeting. I’ve recently gotten obsessed with publishing, and many of my books don’t have an ISBN! What I haven’t mastered yet is sales because artists are often much better at being makers than being salespeople. But maybe one day there will be a social art best seller out there!
1. How did you start making your publication?
I’ll speak generally about my publications. I have 2 with ISBNs and 3 without. Only the 2 with ISBNs are for sale, the others I just give away to contacts where it relates to the work. All of them are laid out using InDesign, and all of them also include artwork that I have made, along with narrative text and more. The longer the book the wider the spine which gives you space to put the title and your name on it so it looks great on a bookshelf. I was told recently that the direction that your spine title sits is different in different languages and I can say that I have never checked if I did this correctly. All my publications are ‘perfect bound’ which means that they are glued together. None yet come to resemble a hardcover book, but I’ll make one of those one day.
2. How did you print your publication?
All the printing was done digitally with an online provider. There are quite a few really good ones in the UK that are pretty affordable. I was told Canada prints the most books because their paper is cheaper as they have loads of logging. As a social artist, I highly doubt my work will need such an intense impact on planet earth which is another plus to the work we do! For one of my books I did choose speciality paper and it was more expensive but the result was lush.
3. How did you fund your publication?
“I have been asked ‘what’s the point of the book’ until I pass it to the person and they thoroughly enjoy leafing through it and then they’ve answered their own question.”
All my publications have been funded from commissions I have worked on. But sometimes that comes from me diverting funds to ensure I have enough to design and publish. I have been asked ‘what’s the point of the book’ until I pass it to the person and they thoroughly enjoy leafing through it and then they’ve answered their own question.
4. How did distribute your book and what has the response been?
It’s been really surprising to see how far the reach of an ISBN goes. The thing that blew my mind was that mega retailers like Amazon and Waterstones automatically create a page for your book from your ISBN. They can’t sell it because they don’t have copies but you can organise this yourself. Also another really important thing is that your book gets automatically registered into the British Library forever. This is a really big deal! I felt very proud of that. Maybe some alien researchers trying to understand who these bipedal animals were will check out my book and scratch some notes into their plasma screen bellies. What’s also been interesting is selling the book online to total strangers. As a social artist, I’m usually deeply embedded with the people I work with so this is a new relationship.
RM Sánchez-Camus is a co-founder of the Social Art Network, a member of the SAP steering committee and the director of Applied Live Art Studio.
All images credited to the artist.