I Thought Making a Book Would Be the Hard Part: What I've Learnt From Self-Publishing My First Photobook

When I started working on This Is Skinhead, I knew that putting together a photobook wasn't going to be particularly straightforward. I'd spent over a year photographing people, travelling around, collecting personal archives and speaking to people about their experiences within skinhead culture. There was a lot to think about, particularly when it came to bringing everything together into something that worked as a book rather than just a collection of photographs.

At the time, I assumed that would be the difficult part. I thought that once I'd finished the editing, sorted the design and sent everything off to the printers, I'd be able to sit back and enjoy the fact that I'd finally made a book.

As it turns out, that was a fairly optimistic way of looking at things.

The actual process of making the book was probably the easiest part of the whole experience. What I hadn't really considered was just how much work would come afterwards, particularly when you're publishing something independently and don't have a team of people dealing with everything behind the scenes.

Over the past few weeks, I've found myself becoming a photographer, publisher, marketing department, customer service representative and part-time postal worker. Our living room has spent a considerable amount of time looking like a warehouse, and I've learnt far more about postage than I ever wanted to know.

That said, it's also been an incredibly rewarding experience. The response to the book has been far better than I could have anticipated, and it's opened up opportunities that I wouldn't have expected when I first started the project.

Now that things have settled down slightly, I thought I'd share a few things I've learnt along the way.

THIS IS SKINHEAD. / INDEPENDENT PHOTOBOOK

The book behind this story.

My 90-page, full-colour documentary photobook exploring contemporary skinhead culture. Independently published, £20.

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Postage is going to cost you more than you think

When I was planning the book, I spent a lot of time thinking about printing costs. I wanted to make sure I could produce something I was happy with while keeping it affordable for the people buying it. What I didn't spend nearly enough time considering was just how much money would be involved in actually getting the finished books to people.

So far, postage has cost me literally thousands of pounds. Obviously, a lot of that is covered by what customers pay for delivery, but it's still a substantial amount of money to manage, particularly when you're sending books internationally.

There's also the time involved, which is something I hadn't really factored in.

I've lost count of the number of trips I've made to the Post Office carrying bags full of parcels. On more than one occasion, I've found myself standing at the counter for the best part of an hour while someone scans through all my Click & Drop postage.

You can imagine how popular that makes me with the people waiting behind me.

Someone has popped in to send a birthday card, and I've turned up with what looks like the entire stockroom of a small bookshop. I do feel a bit sorry for them, although there's not a great deal I can do about it.

If I were starting again, I'd spend considerably more time planning the shipping side of things before taking orders. It's not particularly exciting, but it's an important part of making sure you can actually fulfil everything you've sold.

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Accept help when people offer it

I've made a point of describing This Is Skinhead as independently published, because that's exactly what it is. There hasn't been a publishing house financing the project or a distribution company handling everything for me.

However, that doesn't mean I've done absolutely everything on my own.

My wife has been a massive help throughout the process. She's a qualified bookkeeper, which has been a fuck load of help when it comes to keeping track of the financial side of things. She's also modelled for the book and spent countless hours helping me pack orders.

Towards the end of the pre-release period, we had hundreds of orders waiting to be packed, and getting them ready to send had effectively become a full-time job. Most evenings were spent sitting in the living room surrounded by books, envelopes and packaging materials, trying to work our way through everything.

It wasn't exactly how I'd imagined spending the weeks leading up to the release of my first photobook, but there we were.

I've also been fortunate to have people contribute their time, photographs and experiences to the project, along with others who have helped promote it or put me in touch with people who might be interested.

I think it's important to recognise that there's a difference between publishing something independently and trying to do absolutely everything yourself. You can retain creative control over your work while still accepting that other people have helped make it possible.

And when you're sitting on the floor surrounded by several hundred envelopes, an extra pair of hands is very much appreciated.

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The kindness of complete strangers can make a massive difference

One of the things that has surprised me most has been the amount of positivity towards the book, particularly from people I've never met.

When you've spent such a long time working on something, it's difficult to know how other people are going to respond to it. You're so familiar with the photographs, the stories and the design that you eventually lose some perspective on how the finished thing might look to somebody seeing it for the first time.

I obviously hoped people would be interested, but I didn't expect the level of support the book has received.

People have bought copies, shared photographs, recommended it to others and taken the time to send messages saying how much they've enjoyed it. There hasn't been one particular message that stands out above everything else; it's more the overall response that's meant so much.

There have certainly been days when I've felt exhausted by the whole process, particularly when I've been trying to keep on top of orders, emails, stock and everything else. Getting a message from somebody who's received their copy and enjoyed it can make a surprisingly big difference.

Another moment that really brought home how far the project had come was receiving my first international wholesale order. I'd spent so much time concentrating on selling the book directly that having a shop in another country want to stock it felt like a real milestone.

Then another international order followed very quickly afterwards.

That was quite a strange feeling, knowing that something I'd put together myself was now being sold in shops outside the UK.

I don't think I'll ever get bored of that.

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You have to get over the feeling that you're annoying everyone

This has probably been one of the biggest personal challenges for me.

I'm quite comfortable talking to people about photography and the projects I'm working on, but promoting something I've made and asking people to spend money on it is a completely different experience.

For a while, every time I posted about the book, I had this feeling that I was probably annoying everyone who followed me. It felt as though I was constantly asking people to buy something, and I wasn't particularly comfortable with that.

What I've gradually had to understand is that I'm not asking people to give me money for nothing. I've spent a considerable amount of time making a book, and people are choosing to buy it because it's something they're genuinely interested in.

That might sound obvious, but it took me a while to get my head around.

I've also realised that just because I've posted about the book repeatedly, it doesn't mean everyone has seen those posts. Social media moves quickly, and most people aren't paying anywhere near as much attention to what I'm doing as I sometimes imagine.

Something I've mentioned twenty times might be completely new to somebody else.

It's still a bit uncomfortable at times, particularly when sales slow down and you start wondering whether you should be posting more or giving people a break. But I've come to accept that promoting your own work is simply part of publishing it independently.

Nobody else is going to do all of that for you, and there's not much point spending over a year making something if you're then too embarrassed to tell people it exists.

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Remember how old you are

This is probably the least useful piece of publishing advice you'll ever receive, but it's something I feel quite strongly about after the past few weeks.

If you're planning to pack hundreds of orders yourself, I would strongly recommend finding somewhere comfortable to do it.

Sitting cross-legged on the living room floor for hours might seem perfectly reasonable when you first start, but your knees and back will eventually have something to say about it.

I've spent more time sitting on the floor packing envelopes recently than I care to admit, and getting back up afterwards has occasionally been a bit of an ordeal.

I'm not entirely sure when I reached the age where sitting on the floor became a physical challenge, but apparently I'm there.

Next time, I think I'll invest in a proper packing table.

It would probably be cheaper than replacing my knees.

THIS IS SKINHEAD. / INDEPENDENT PHOTOBOOK

See what all the work became.

My 90-page, full-colour documentary photobook exploring contemporary skinhead culture. Independently published, £20.

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One final thing: Remember to actually enjoy it

It's easy to spend so much time worrying about everything that needs doing that you forget to appreciate what you've achieved.

I've certainly been guilty of that.

Throughout the whole process, there always seemed to be something else to think about. Before publication, I was worrying about whether I'd ordered enough books, whether everything would arrive on time and whether people would actually buy them.

As it happened, I hadn't ordered nearly enough copies.

The first two print runs sold out before the official release, and there were periods when I had no stock left despite orders still coming in at a rate of hundreds a day. It's obviously a brilliant position to be in, but it's also fairly stressful when you're trying to keep customers updated and get more copies printed as quickly as possible.

If I could change one thing about the whole process, it would probably be ordering considerably more books in the first place.

Although I can almost guarantee that if I'd done that, I'd now be sitting in a living room full of unsold copies wondering what the fuck I'd been thinking.

Despite the difficulties, publishing This Is Skinhead has been one of the most rewarding things I've done with my photography.

Seeing the book go through multiple print runs, finding out that shops abroad want to stock it and hearing from people who've connected with the work has been genuinely brilliant. It's also been nice to see the project develop into something that exists beyond my own photographs and the people directly involved.

Would I self-publish another book? Absolutely.

There are plenty of things I'd approach differently, and I'd certainly be better prepared for the practical side of things, but I wouldn't change the decision to publish it independently.

If you're a photographer who's been considering making a book of your own work, I'd encourage you to look into it properly. Be realistic about the costs, speak to people who've done it before and understand that there's a lot more involved than simply sending some photographs to a printer.

But don't assume you need a publishing house behind you before you can make something worthwhile.

And when you finally get that finished book in your hands, take a moment to enjoy it before you start worrying about everything else.

You've made a fucking book, after all.

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This Is Skinhead is my independently published, 90-page photobook documenting contemporary skinhead culture through photography, personal archives and first-hand accounts spanning six decades.

You can find out more or order a copy at tomwilkins.co.uk.