How to Make and Self Publish Your Own Art Book!
- By the end of this video, you'll have all the knowledge you need to publish your art in your very own book. This video took a lot of work and time. I've broken down all the steps in the process, mistakes I've made, and the top things to look out for. And if you're wondering why you should believe me on this topic, well, my name is Ross and I draw, but I also make art books, specifically, I made and self-published three different art books, one of which I kickstarted, released, and I'm currently pitching the characters and narrative to several streaming services. But this video is about making your own art book. And step number one is get your together. Okay, this is more like step 0.5, but it has to be said, in order to make an art book, you're going to need art. But this video isn't about what art to make or how to lay out your pages. Though, if this video gets 50,000 likes, I'll make another video on art book design. Anyways, line up your pieces, choose what's in, what's out. Lay out your page design and your page order to the best of your ability. Material pricing rates and a whole bunch of other factors can change day to day so having as many details nailed down by the time you ask for quotes can really help you in the long run. Now the real step one, choose a publication method. When it comes to publishing your art book, you'll have to make a decision, go through an established publisher or get your hands dirty and self-publish. If you go with the first method, publishers will typically take 40 to 60% of your profits but the trade-off is that they do all the heavy lifting, you know, physical printing of your book, marketing, filling orders, Amazon listings, et cetera. All my art books have been self-published so this video will focus on that process. There's a ton of pros and cons to both sides, but once you've decided how you're going to publish, it's time to prep your specifications. Next is getting all the details regarding the logistics of your art book. Although it will be best for you guys to get as many of the specifics nailed down during this step, your manufacturer can also help with some of the more difficult decisions.
Quantity. How many art books did you order? It's going to be mostly guesswork, but for me, I typically print about half to 1% of my total global audience. And I've found that this model actually does really well with the real world interest and demand for my books. Not all followers are made equal. You know, some platforms have a much better conversion rate than others. Currently, I would say my audience is 1.3 million. 1% of 1.3 million is 13,000 books. It's trial and error, but don't be too ambitious. In the beginning, I had a bad habit of over-ordering my books only to have it sit there and eat living space. Number of pages. The number of pages will play into the cost of the book. Obviously the more pages, the heavier the book, the more cost to ship, you get it. Dimensions. Art books come in all shapes and sizes. There's not an industry standard size. So my best advice is to grab a bunch of your favorite art books and measure one that fits your needs. Paper type. There are so many. How the hell do you choose? Usually the publisher or manufacturer can send you a couple samples of paper or books for you to choose from. Buy your favorite art books, feel the cover, feel the paper, find something similar to what you want to create. The different kinds of paper are usually categorized by thicknesses like 80-lb or 110-lb. Cover type. When it comes to the cover of your art book, the first step you're probably familiar with is choosing a hard or soft cover, also known as hardback or softback. Next, you'll have to look at all the different finishes and feel. Upgrades. Beyond everything I've already mentioned, there's even more bells and whistles you can add to your art book cover, things like UV spot covers, foil stamping, slip-on covers, et cetera. For me, I love shiny things and that's why I always include a foil stamp on all my books.
It's easy to get distracted and add way too much during this step. So a lot of these upgrades sound really cool until you see the physical cover and realize it's way too stimulating. Think about your cover as a whole and try to use these extras as accent to your art, rather than a dominating feature. Finding a manufacturer. Like I mentioned before, a publishing house's main purpose is to find authors and artists to produce and publish their work into books. Since we're self-publishing, we'll be reaching out to manufacturers ourselves. One thing to consider heavily is whether you want a domestic or overseas manufacturer. Domestic manufacturers are great because communication is often easier, shipping will be much faster and cheaper, and generally the quality control is much higher. The downside is that you'll be probably paying more per book and your product choices may be limited. Overseas manufacturers can be great because of the low costs and there's a higher number of manufacturers to choose from. Also, you'll probably have better luck creating unique and niche product styles and types overseas. Platforms like Alibaba are easily accessible and may work for you, but you can run into potential communication and timezone barrier, varied product quality, and long shipping times. I know sometimes it's our tendency to run to Google for all this information and that might work amazingly for some of you, but please note that a lot of the manufacturers and suppliers haven't kept up with modern times. Their websites sometimes look super ancient, like something out of the nineties. If you're really lost, some art books actually list their manufacturer. And it never hurts to look them up and send them an email or give them a call. For me, specifically, I was approached by my manufacturer at a convention. Once you find a couple of manufacturers that seem like a good fit for you, it's time to reach out for initial quotes. As I mentioned before, the more details you have about your project, the more accurately you will be quoted.
So when I'm asking for quotes, I like to request three different quantities. For example, if I'm considering buying 5,000 books, I'll ask for a quote of 3,500, 5,000, and 6,500. Since different bulk amounts might change the per book costs, it's a good way to gauge the cost difference. Also, manufacturers want you to order more so they'll often quote the larger quantity as cheaper. So usually in your quote, you should have the costs of the quantity of books that you chose, and also the cost of shipping to your desired location. Sending your files. In my experience, once you've sent your deposit, which is usually half the cost of your quote, your manufacturer will send templates over as guides for single pages, double page spreads, and your cover. This will include specifics on page dimensions, page bleed, spine, and colors. All right, bleed. Bleed in printing is the area beyond the edge where the sheet needs to be trimmed. In other words, the bleed is the area to be trimmed off. This gives the printer a small amount of space to account for movement of the paper and design inconsistencies. Something to note is that bleed is added to your chosen dimensions. Fold. There's no specific numbers regarding your book's fold, but it's important to remember that art books are books, and books have a fold, a crease in the center, and you don't want to place any art or details in an area where it's more difficult to see. Colors. Prepping your art for printing is extremely important, but might take a few attempts to get it right. Make sure whatever program you're using to export these files is set to CMYK. I'm not going to go into specifics of RGB versus CMYK because there are thousands of videos out there that can scientifically explain that much better than I can. But this next step is a special Ross Draws tip. I've been printing my art for many years now, and I've found that 99% of printers add too much contrast and too much saturation, so I always decrease the contrast, I raise the values and de-saturate my art before printing.
I also add extra desaturation on red and cyans for this very same reason. Mail day. Congratulations, you finally have something physical in your book process. The approval process can get a little confusing, but I'm going to try my best to outline what you're going to receive and the purpose of each proof. Each will require individual review and an approval from you. Here's the breakdown. Color proofs. Colors often look different on a back-lit screen compared to being printed on paper so this initial step is to make sure all the colors are good to go before getting started on any printing. These may or may not be the actual paper or material chosen for your final book. Ozalids. This is the version of your book printed on newspaper-ish material with all the pages in correct order. Use this to make sure everything is positioned correctly on each individual page with the art and pages in proper order. Dummy book. This is a blank book that matches the exact dimensions, page count, binding and paper type that you chose. This is a good time to gauge the weight and feel of your book. At this point, any major changes you make could delay the shipment delivery by two to three weeks. You should account for possible delays from corrections when timeframing your project. There's a chance you'll be so excited that you want to approve everything right away. But wait, make sure you carefully examine every single page. If you're not thorough, an ink spot or blemish might find its way onto all of your future copies. Once you're completely done with proofs, you'll receive advanced copies. These are your very first book copies called advanced copies. You can ask for several, and I usually ask for three and that way I can start marketing my book for my store and won't need to wait for the entire stock to arrive. Arrival.
Now it's here. What an exciting day. Depending on how many units you ordered and your book's dimensions, this shipment could be anywhere from a single box to a whole shipping pallet. This might seem like common sense, but make sure you have proper storage for your books. For "NIMA", I requested half my shipment delivered to my studio and the other half delivered to a storage unit nearby. Each box is labeled with a box number, the number of units in each box, and your brand name. Yes, it feels so official. It is "NIMA - The Black Lotus" regular edition. All right, that's it. Hey, everybody. Today's Thursday, which means that this video is coming out tomorrow, which is crazy because this video has been months in the making. A lot of research and prep has gone into it. And we're just getting around shooting the outro. Hopefully this video helps a lot of you guys create your very own art books. You know, it's such a rewarding experience seeing your book come to life. And so if this video has helped you at all, like and subscribe. It's free and it really helps me out. Or if you want to go the extra mile, my newest book, "Bloom 2" is still on my online shop. And I just want to give a huge thank you to you guys. The only reason I've been able to create three of my very own art books is the opportunities that you guys give to me. So thank you again. Don't forget to subscribe. And remember, every day is a color dodge day. A publishing house's main purpose is to find authors and artists who- So usually in your quote, you should have the costs of the- I can't read. Which I realize is super lucky and that not might be the not the case that you.
Quantity. How many art books did you order? It's going to be mostly guesswork, but for me, I typically print about half to 1% of my total global audience. And I've found that this model actually does really well with the real world interest and demand for my books. Not all followers are made equal. You know, some platforms have a much better conversion rate than others. Currently, I would say my audience is 1.3 million. 1% of 1.3 million is 13,000 books. It's trial and error, but don't be too ambitious. In the beginning, I had a bad habit of over-ordering my books only to have it sit there and eat living space. Number of pages. The number of pages will play into the cost of the book. Obviously the more pages, the heavier the book, the more cost to ship, you get it. Dimensions. Art books come in all shapes and sizes. There's not an industry standard size. So my best advice is to grab a bunch of your favorite art books and measure one that fits your needs. Paper type. There are so many. How the hell do you choose? Usually the publisher or manufacturer can send you a couple samples of paper or books for you to choose from. Buy your favorite art books, feel the cover, feel the paper, find something similar to what you want to create. The different kinds of paper are usually categorized by thicknesses like 80-lb or 110-lb. Cover type. When it comes to the cover of your art book, the first step you're probably familiar with is choosing a hard or soft cover, also known as hardback or softback. Next, you'll have to look at all the different finishes and feel. Upgrades. Beyond everything I've already mentioned, there's even more bells and whistles you can add to your art book cover, things like UV spot covers, foil stamping, slip-on covers, et cetera. For me, I love shiny things and that's why I always include a foil stamp on all my books.
It's easy to get distracted and add way too much during this step. So a lot of these upgrades sound really cool until you see the physical cover and realize it's way too stimulating. Think about your cover as a whole and try to use these extras as accent to your art, rather than a dominating feature. Finding a manufacturer. Like I mentioned before, a publishing house's main purpose is to find authors and artists to produce and publish their work into books. Since we're self-publishing, we'll be reaching out to manufacturers ourselves. One thing to consider heavily is whether you want a domestic or overseas manufacturer. Domestic manufacturers are great because communication is often easier, shipping will be much faster and cheaper, and generally the quality control is much higher. The downside is that you'll be probably paying more per book and your product choices may be limited. Overseas manufacturers can be great because of the low costs and there's a higher number of manufacturers to choose from. Also, you'll probably have better luck creating unique and niche product styles and types overseas. Platforms like Alibaba are easily accessible and may work for you, but you can run into potential communication and timezone barrier, varied product quality, and long shipping times. I know sometimes it's our tendency to run to Google for all this information and that might work amazingly for some of you, but please note that a lot of the manufacturers and suppliers haven't kept up with modern times. Their websites sometimes look super ancient, like something out of the nineties. If you're really lost, some art books actually list their manufacturer. And it never hurts to look them up and send them an email or give them a call. For me, specifically, I was approached by my manufacturer at a convention. Once you find a couple of manufacturers that seem like a good fit for you, it's time to reach out for initial quotes. As I mentioned before, the more details you have about your project, the more accurately you will be quoted.
So when I'm asking for quotes, I like to request three different quantities. For example, if I'm considering buying 5,000 books, I'll ask for a quote of 3,500, 5,000, and 6,500. Since different bulk amounts might change the per book costs, it's a good way to gauge the cost difference. Also, manufacturers want you to order more so they'll often quote the larger quantity as cheaper. So usually in your quote, you should have the costs of the quantity of books that you chose, and also the cost of shipping to your desired location. Sending your files. In my experience, once you've sent your deposit, which is usually half the cost of your quote, your manufacturer will send templates over as guides for single pages, double page spreads, and your cover. This will include specifics on page dimensions, page bleed, spine, and colors. All right, bleed. Bleed in printing is the area beyond the edge where the sheet needs to be trimmed. In other words, the bleed is the area to be trimmed off. This gives the printer a small amount of space to account for movement of the paper and design inconsistencies. Something to note is that bleed is added to your chosen dimensions. Fold. There's no specific numbers regarding your book's fold, but it's important to remember that art books are books, and books have a fold, a crease in the center, and you don't want to place any art or details in an area where it's more difficult to see. Colors. Prepping your art for printing is extremely important, but might take a few attempts to get it right. Make sure whatever program you're using to export these files is set to CMYK. I'm not going to go into specifics of RGB versus CMYK because there are thousands of videos out there that can scientifically explain that much better than I can. But this next step is a special Ross Draws tip. I've been printing my art for many years now, and I've found that 99% of printers add too much contrast and too much saturation, so I always decrease the contrast, I raise the values and de-saturate my art before printing.
I also add extra desaturation on red and cyans for this very same reason. Mail day. Congratulations, you finally have something physical in your book process. The approval process can get a little confusing, but I'm going to try my best to outline what you're going to receive and the purpose of each proof. Each will require individual review and an approval from you. Here's the breakdown. Color proofs. Colors often look different on a back-lit screen compared to being printed on paper so this initial step is to make sure all the colors are good to go before getting started on any printing. These may or may not be the actual paper or material chosen for your final book. Ozalids. This is the version of your book printed on newspaper-ish material with all the pages in correct order. Use this to make sure everything is positioned correctly on each individual page with the art and pages in proper order. Dummy book. This is a blank book that matches the exact dimensions, page count, binding and paper type that you chose. This is a good time to gauge the weight and feel of your book. At this point, any major changes you make could delay the shipment delivery by two to three weeks. You should account for possible delays from corrections when timeframing your project. There's a chance you'll be so excited that you want to approve everything right away. But wait, make sure you carefully examine every single page. If you're not thorough, an ink spot or blemish might find its way onto all of your future copies. Once you're completely done with proofs, you'll receive advanced copies. These are your very first book copies called advanced copies. You can ask for several, and I usually ask for three and that way I can start marketing my book for my store and won't need to wait for the entire stock to arrive. Arrival.
Now it's here. What an exciting day. Depending on how many units you ordered and your book's dimensions, this shipment could be anywhere from a single box to a whole shipping pallet. This might seem like common sense, but make sure you have proper storage for your books. For "NIMA", I requested half my shipment delivered to my studio and the other half delivered to a storage unit nearby. Each box is labeled with a box number, the number of units in each box, and your brand name. Yes, it feels so official. It is "NIMA - The Black Lotus" regular edition. All right, that's it. Hey, everybody. Today's Thursday, which means that this video is coming out tomorrow, which is crazy because this video has been months in the making. A lot of research and prep has gone into it. And we're just getting around shooting the outro. Hopefully this video helps a lot of you guys create your very own art books. You know, it's such a rewarding experience seeing your book come to life. And so if this video has helped you at all, like and subscribe. It's free and it really helps me out. Or if you want to go the extra mile, my newest book, "Bloom 2" is still on my online shop. And I just want to give a huge thank you to you guys. The only reason I've been able to create three of my very own art books is the opportunities that you guys give to me. So thank you again. Don't forget to subscribe. And remember, every day is a color dodge day. A publishing house's main purpose is to find authors and artists who- So usually in your quote, you should have the costs of the- I can't read. Which I realize is super lucky and that not might be the not the case that you.