A good source for standalone photo essays to publish in a magazine is the upcoming books lists from photo book publishers. A few of the big publishers like Chronicle or W.W. Norton will do photography books but generally the good stuff is with the specialty publishers. It’s interesting to note that the literary publishers are extremely proactive about shopping the first serial rights around to magazines for publicity but it’s rare for a photography book publisher to do that so you’ve got to go look at the upcoming lists yourself and see if there’s something worth pitching to the editor. I’m working on a project now that needs a couple photo essays so I thought I’d share my list:

21ST Editions
Aperture
Arena Editions
Chris Boot
D.A.P.
Dewi Lewis
Farewell
Foil Web
Hassla
J and L
Kehrer Verlag
Lodima
Loosestrife Editions
Monacelli
Nazraeli
Phaidon
Pond Press
Power House pH
Prestel
Quantuck Lane
Radius
Sasquatch
Scalo
Steidl
Taschen
teNeues
Trolley
TV Books
Twin Palms
Umbrage Editions
Watson-Guptill

Photo Eye publishes a newsletter with upcoming releases. Always a good resource.

More in Europe:
Apeiron
Edition Braus
Hatje Catz
Lunwerg
Mets & Schlit
Peliti Associati

Australia
T&G Publishing

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38 Comments

  1. Thank you for that, presented in a most helpful way.

    I can think of Dewi Lewis Publishing as well.

  3. Sadly, Arena Editions has been gone for a number of years.

  4. Where do university presses fit into this equation? Aren’t they always looking for a fitting, appropriate printing project for their own learning, and to enhance their professor’s resumes? I’ve seen several photo books by “University of _____ Press”. Always seemed like a great fit to me; win/win.

  5. …as has scalo. from the uk, chris boot and trolley should be there too, and it would great to have some non-Anglo suggestions too

  6. Schaden.com in germany

  7. Ive taken these from the 2008 Leica European Publishers Awards For Photography:

    Apeiron, Greece
    Lunwerg Editores, Spain
    Pelite Associati, Italy
    Mets & Schilt, The Netherlands
    Editions Braus, Germany

  11. (steidl all the way)

    now what I would be REALLY looking forward to se is a list of self-publishing, self-made-photobook resources.

  16. I’d always suggest looking at http://www.thamesandhudson.com as they specialise in visual arts publishing, and always have a really strong selection of photographic and art books

  17. Thank you so much for this information. I can’t even tell you how helpful it is.

    Allison

  18. This was incredibly helpful. Through your post, I’ve found Power House Books and just received something that looks like a favourable reply to my portfolio submission.

    Many many thanks.

    Balazs

  19. For photo books relating to Asia, here are a few respectable publishing houses located in Hong Kong and Mainland China:

    Blacksmith Books in Hong Kong (who recently published the phenomenal 640-page photobook CHINA: Portrait of a People):
    http://www.blacksmithbooks.com/9789889979942.htm

    FLP (Foreign Languages Press) in Beijing is China’s largest state-run press, and have an English division, including photobooks:
    http://www.flp.com.cn/main/

    Timezone 8 in Beijing have a massive catalogue of photography and illustrated art books:
    http://www.timezone8.com/osc/

  20. You might want to include a couple of print on demand facilities too as this is a great new way for photographers to put out quality books.

    I’m thinking of http://www.blurb.com and http://www.lulu.com as two fine examples.

    Here’s my latest at Lulu which I think is a gem,
    lulu.com/content/5162138

    Unfortunately, I have to take care of all the distribution myself.

    I’ve had some interest from publishers with this material but chose to try and do it myself to maintain complete control over edit and layout design. If you prep your files rights the results can be astonishingly good.

    Thanks for your time.

    Paul Treacy
    photohumourist

  23. How clever of Mr Power, to entitle his lecture ‘The Death of the Photo Book’ on Thursday May 14 at the NY Photo Festival, that he created. In front of his bemused staff and a resentful audience he pontificated for a very short time on the subject and announced his intention to make authors pay him to produce their books in ’boutique’ editions of 50, which if they sell he would then perhaps publish in a larger number.

    It is ironic that Mr Power,CEO of PowerHouse Books and the creator of the beast: a publishing company that rarely pays it’s authors’ royalties (most do not even bother to ask for them) would publicly stab the same beast, perhaps to finish it off before he declares bankruptcy? thereby avoiding any avenging authors’s future audits of the books, legal demands for advances not paid and royalty statements never produced.

    Afterwards at the well attended festival opening party the overworked PowerHouse staff, many of whom are now taking a pay cut and working less hours, mingled with disgruntled authors. Fans of their wonderful books made purchases while the authors gamely mingled and signed books knowing they will never see their share of the sales.

  24. ovrer the years i have taken a lots of flowers photos and animeals and i might add rather unusual flowers. i would like to make a calender year of flowers. place mats, costers, cards, magazins and the list go on. i don’t have a clue how to get started. i would like to find a publisher who deals with this sort of things. i don’t think i can do it alon. i would appreciat very much if you can give me some direction.

    thank you

    with positive thougts

  25. thanks so much all of you for the powerful info, I’ve self published a fine art book on blurb but not so happy with the results; now, I’ve no idea what to do with another project,namely, erotica: shot in europe during the past 10 years and thinking about putting it together.

    Does anyone have a list of erotica publishers handy? European and outside the USA would also be helpful, thanks in advance!

    johnny

  26. Power House has a $250 submission fee??? Sounds like they need the money as much as or more than the photographer.

  27. i’ve travelled around Australia for the last 5 months, taking allot of photos and capturing all the beautiful differences this vast continent has. Could you recommend a publisher who would work with me publishing these photos into a book?

    regards,

    Daniel

  28. Great list!!! Thank you so much, I’m starting to shop around for publishers.

  29. Hi everybody!

    Just to let you know:
    Pcjelkabooks just started with it’s first book Shop+Dog!
    http://www.pcjelkabooks.com
    It is based in Switzerland.

    P

  30. I am a photographer that has been capturing Chicago for Years.I have libraries stacked with Classy,Unique, & Beautiful Chicago Imagery. I was curious to know if anyone knows of any Chicago Based Photography Book Publishers or maybe a good Publisher for this project. I am a professional and I also own my Own Fine Art Gallery. Photography is my life always has been and it forever will be. I’ll probably die with a camera in my hands. I have creative and unique photography for endless days :)…anyone?Any Help? Or a points in the right direction?

  32. I would like to create and publish a big that is basically a large collection of historic vintage photograpic images of Mexico during the 1930’s in the period before and about the Mexican revolution. They’re perhaps the only and largest collection in existance and were taken by my great grandfateher O.B. Hachenberger who is recognized for his work as one of the greatest photographers of the period.
    looking for a publisher that specializes in printing images in large format for a book that would best display there historic and artistic value.

    Other than a biography, the images may only require some text to aid in their desciption, others, speak for themselves.
    Any suggestions ?

  33. Australian Book By Australian Publisher, Wins Best Photography Prize
    at PHotoEspaña (PHE10)

    Australian photographer Max Pam’s Atlas Monographs published by T&G Publishing Sydney has taken out the coveted “Best Photography Book Prize (International Category)” for the 2010 edition at PHotoEspaña in Madrid.

    PHotoEspaña International Festival of Photography and Visual Arts is a major event in the annual calendar attracting an audience of more than 600,000 from around the world.

    Atlas Monographs was named in the top 100 Best Photography Books of the Year for 2010, the only Australian book to make the list. Publisher Gianni Frinzi was advised of the win in the “Best Photography Book Prize (International Category)” this week. An Awards ceremony will be held in Madrid on 24th June.

    “We are absolutely delighted with the win. Max (Pam) and I worked tirelessly to ensure the integrity and quality of the book. It is fantastic to be rewarded with this international prize,” said Gianni.

    “T&G is focused on bringing the best of Australian photography to the world. This prize is not only recognition for Max Pam’s tremendous body of work, and for T&G. It is a real boost for Australian photography publishing. To my knowledge we are the first to win this prize in Australia.”

    The PHotoEspaña jury comprised Juan Manuel Bonet, critic and former director of Museum Reina Sofia; Pep Carrio, photographer; Wim van Sinderen, curator at The Hague Museum of Photography; Miguel Lopez, Director of Antonio Saura Foundation and Alberto Corazon, designer.

    Atlas Monographs
    In Atlas Monographs Max Pam shares his journeys through Zanzibar, China, South India, Yemen, Madagascar, Karakoram and the South China Sea. The book features photographs from his nascent years in the early 1970’s to images taken as recently as 2006. The vast majority of pictures in Atlas Monographs have not been published before. The book not only contains photographs spanning four decades, but also excerpts from the journals Max kept on his travels.

  34. Not to discourage anyone, but the chances of having a photography book published is lower than bring struck by lightning. Cheers.

  35. Thanks for this list – seriously handy.

    As a black and white photographer I find the self publish route to be fraught with difficulty. The production processes are all tuned to give good colour reproduction and mono pictures always have a random colour cast.

    Yo can’t beat a good traditional publisher!

  38. Another one for your list: Noorderlicht publisher Aurora Borealis in the Netherlands. Our latest book Oculus by Ken Schles (oct 2011) is a fine example. It is mentioned on several ” Best of 2011″ lists, like Photo-eye: http://www.noorderlicht.com/en/shop/oculus/

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