Charney’s page layout for Artist Jody Alexander.
Charney’s layout for the Table of Contents and on the left is a detail of
The Tape Modern, a sewn and encaustic installation.
Charney, of Charney Design for many years on my
web and print design, developing, as she would
say “my brand”. We sat down at her computer
and reviewed the work together. It was uncanny
how aesthetically attuned we were. We ooo’d and
ahhh’d and thumbs-up’d the work, or scrunched
up our faces and simultaneously bid it “auf wiedersehen”.
I implicitly trust Carol’s design sense. She
educated me on page layout and internal design of
the structure, and how each page would grid out.
She worked on a beautiful cover design. I knew I
was in good hands. Sometimes I can’t articulate
what I want, but I definitely know it when I see it.
Carol intuits my tastes, and steers me in the right
direction.
Instead of reinventing the wheel on publishing,
I asked for help from Linda Womack. She was
generous and gracious with her sources for a legal
agreement for artists, and suggested printers for
quotes. She had already done so much research,
and was willing to share it with me. Early on, she
mentioned how Amazon has helped
with the sale of all of our books. If you
buy one encaustic book, they send
you recommendations for others.
I decided it was better to publish
locally, or as local as prudent. We
printed in San Francisco, where
Carol would easily get to a press
check. How many should we print
- one or two thousand? The more
we print, the lower the cost. Then
there was the question of storage.
I already had a storage unit for my
“material” habit, which allowed me
to keep my studio space small.
I decided to print 2000 books.
They were packaged 27 to a box,
weighing about 35 pounds per box.
I had 74 boxes of books delivered to
my storage garage on two palettes.
Seeing that many boxes was
daunting, and made me wonder
“what was I thinking?”
Next I had to consider distribution. I
sell the books on my website through
Paypal, and on Amazon. I have sold
them at conferences, where I teach,
through paint companies, art stores,
and merchants selling fiber and
textile supplies. It was important to
apply ahead for an ISBN number
for my book, so that Amazon was
willing to stock it. The process
was not too difficult, and was wellexplained
on-line.
Daniella Woolf
Portfolio
41
Summer
www.EAINM.com