There is a current explosion in the art & photobook market due to the emergence of the internet and the turn to digital photography. This offers all sorts of possibilities for independent photographers.

In this interview at The PhotoBook Darius Himes, the co-founder and editor of Radius Books, says that the new print-on-demand phenomenon has placed the ability to “publish” directly in the hands of photographers. The consequence is that it gets photographers to think outside of the box of photography and to think in relation to the book as a separate entity.

In this post on his blog Hines says referring to book competition by Blurb:

A book, in general, is a very democratic and accessible vehicle to disseminate ideas, in the form of either text or images—two primary advantages are that books require no electricity and can be returned to again and again, unlike an exhibition, for instance, or the Internet.Creating a successful book involves editing and sequencing and design all in light and in line with an overriding concept which has to be determined ahead of time. Asking yourself ahead of time, “Who is this book for?” and “What am I trying to accomplish with this book?” is extremely important.he three categories of this years’ contest—Fine-Art, Editorial and Commercial—are designed to encourage photographers to think about books the way publishers do. Let me restate that: the categories require that photographers think like publishers.