In the past year I’ve self-published four photo books. It cost me a little bit of money but honestly, I could have done it almost or 100% free.

I spent $50 for Affinity Publisher to help lay my books out. I purchase a proof copy before publishing. The price of the proof will depend on book size, page count etc.

For example: 8.5" x 11" @ 200 pages on “premium color” paper is less than $20 for a proof. Premium in quotes, because this is being printed by Amazon or Barnes & Noble and the Premium paper is good but not great.

So I’m in at $70 so far, but I’ve also ordered author copies to give away to friends/family etc.

You can forgo the proof copy if you like and go ahead and publish, and you can also just use Word or Google Docs, etc. to layout your book.

Doing it this way through Amazon or Barnes & Noble or a handful of other companies you can get your book printed, it will be out there for sale, and you can order author copies basically at cost to sell on your own or give away. You don’t have to have any inventory, you don’t have to manage shipping etc. The profit for books isn’t that much per copy. But if you’re just looking to get some copies printed this is a great way to do it, and also potentially get some sales, and get your photos out there.

It’s the little things that can make your day sometimes.

I’ve bought books online that were mailed in folded cardboard mailers designed for books. Something like this. They have scored lines so they can be adjusted/folded for different thicknesses of books. Even at that, I’ve had a few arrive with a dinged corner.

I don’t necessarily write about the photos. I shoot a fairly niche subject, and I hike/travel some to go out and get my shots. Every time I come home and dump my photos or “flicks” (hint), I do as long a write up as it takes to describe my little day long adventure, the weather, maybe set the mood and add a little color/humor.

I’ve done this for years, and when I decided to put out my first photo book, I used those write ups in my books.

This might end up being one of those /r/UnethicalLifeProTips :-|

If you have a bunch that are already scanned.

Sign up for a flickr account. Depending on the number of photos, in order to upload all of them you might have to buy a “PRO” account for the year. (Currently $72) Don’t set the account to auto-renew unless you think this will take longer than a year. There’s also a 2-year plan for $132.

Upload all of the photos, and add as many descriptions, titles as you want. I would do this in groups. Cambodia (1972), Tiajuana (1964), etc… Reason is you can add titles and descriptions to all of the items in that group as they’re uploading. You can upload more than one group of photos at a time, but sometimes just looking at the small thumbnails you might tag some wrong.

Also mark all of them as “Public Domain Dedication (CC0)” You can do this during the upload process. This makes them free for anyone to download and use, if that’s your intent. There are other options. https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Anyway, once everything is uploaded and you’re happy with everything. You can set the account to “In Memoriam” This will protect all of the photos from deletion even after the Pro account expires. https://www.flickrhelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4404071450516-In-Memoriam-Flickr-Accounts

Once the account is In-Memoriam you won’t be able to upload anything else or log in, so make sure you’re done with everything.