Atop the list was Alistair Fothergill’s Planet Earth: As You’ve Never Seen It Before, a tie-in to the hugely successful BBC/Discovery Channel television series “Planet Earth.” Household names—Ansel Adams, Edward S. Curtis, Annie Liebovitz—also broke the top ten, as did a book of portraits of the Kennedy Family by Shannon Thomas Perich. Animal photography showed up big, with two different editions of Jill Greenberg’s Monkey Portraits, as well as Creature, Dogs and Snog (see below) making the list. Nature and landscape photography, historical collections, a book of golf photos, and Dian Hanson’s Big Book of Breasts also grabbed spots.
Of the 50 books, five of them stood out to us as interesting case studies in the salability and trade appeal of photography books. Affordability stood out as a major factor, with none of these books reaching beyond the $35.00 mark. Two of the books found passionate audiences that had likely been underserved (see I Was Cuba and Wise Women). Hungry Planet benefited from its topicality, while 100 Days In Photographs rode a notable collaboration between two massive image archives. And in three of the cases, holiday gift giving seems to have played an important role in their success.
#2
SNOG: A Puppy’s Guide to Love
By Rachael Hale
Little, Brown and Company, 2007
Hard cover, 160 Pages, $19.99
It may come as little surprise that a book of puppy photographs and quotations about love has done well, but as Michael Sand, an executive editor at Little Brown, and Company notes, packaging, price point and photographer Rachel Hale’s proven audience all contributed to the book’s rise on the BookScan bestseller list. “It starts with Rachael’s photography, which is so appealing,” says Sand. He also believes decisions about the title and jacket paid dividends. “There was a lot of internal discussion about the title, since it was kind of unusual,” Sand recalls. “In the end we believed it would work with the photograph we selected for the jacket, and it appears that we were right.” Sand also credits compelling sales materials with getting the book sold into bookstores, museum stores and price clubs, and he notes that the quality of the printing and the sub-$20 price make the book a great value. “Many people, we believe, buy multiple copies as gifts.”
#37
I Was Cuba: Treasures From the Ramiro Fernández Collection
By Kevin Kwan
Interview by Peter Castro
Chronicle Books, October 2007
Hard cover, 304 Pages, $24.95
Tireless promotion of the book by the authors is one of the main reasons Kevin Kwan and Ramiro Fernández’s I Was Cuba has done so well, says Chronicle Books publicist Patti Quill. “Kevin and Ramiro organized events and appearances in many areas of the country with significant Cuban populations,” Quill says, adding that “Kevin and Ramiro have wonderful stories about people who have come to events for the book and end up buying multiple copies for their family and friends.” A visual narrative created by Kwan from Fernández’s enormous archive of images from nineteenth-century Cuba through the revolutionary period, the book opens up a culture for Americans who are curious about Cuba, and holds great appeal for Cuban-Americans who, like Fernåndez, long to know and preserve their heritage. This wide appeal, and the value of a 304-page hardcover book with an accessible price have also contributed greatly to the book’s success, Quill notes.
#9
100 Days of Photographs: Pivotal Events that Changed the World
By Nick Yapp
Foreword by Douglas Brinkley, Introduction by Chris Johns
National Geographic, October 2007
Hard cover, 320 pages, $35.00
Drawing on the National Geographic Society’s photography collection and Getty Images’ Hulton Archive, this book, it seems, could not help but do well. The collaboration between the two massive image collections was an event in and of itself, and the lofty goal of choosing 100 days in history (after the invention of photography) that have shaped the world undoubtedly intrigued history and photography buffs alike, not to mention the built-in National Geographic audience. Along with ads in the New York Times’ holiday book review, National Geographic, photo-eye, Library Journal and Booklist, 100 Days in Photographs was also reviewed in national media outlets like Vanity Fair and Outdoor Photographer, and received attention in more than 20 regional newspapers. The $35.00 price point for a book this large made it a great value during the 2007 holiday gift-buying season.
#25
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats
By Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio
Foreword by Marion Nestle
Ten Speed Press, November 2007
Paperback, 288 pages, $24.95
This paperback edition of Hungry Planet was released in 2007, continuing the success of this title, which was originally released in hard cover in 2005. To create this portrait of the different eating habits of people around the world, photographer Peter Menzel and his wife Faith D’Aluisio documented 30 families in 24 different countries. Menzel’s photographs and D’Aluisio’s profiles combine with statistics and topical essays to deliver an in-depth examination of global food trends, and its topicality has greatly aided the popularity of the book. “Its substantive text and timely, socio-political themes…. allowed it to gain major national attention in media outlets like NPR’s ‘All Things Considered,’ Associated Press, The New York Times, and Salon.com,’ says Ten Speed Press publicity manager Lisa Regul, noting that the book was also popular with booksellers, environmentalists and foodies, a testament to its wide appeal.
#29
Wise Women: A Celebration of Their Insights, Courage, and Beauty
By Joyce Tenneson
Bulfinch Press, April 2002
Paperback, 144 Pages, $19.99
While Joyce Tenneson’s images, the subject matter and a great initial publicity run started the hard cover version of Wise Women off remarkably in 2002, the accessibility of the paperback edition has kept it high on the BookScan bestseller list for photography. Featuring portraits of women who are between the ages of 65 and 100, as well as their stories and insights, Wise Women launched with a week’s worth of Today Show features inspired by the book. Bulfinch Press initially printed 10,000 copies, not knowing if all of them would sell. But the images and touching stories have made it something of a classic, says Hachette Book Group VP and marketing director Heather Fain, and the affordable paperback edition “has resulted in the largest volume of sales and recurring orders over the years,” she says. To date, the book has sold more than 150,000 copies between the two editions.
