Publishing my first book
My biggest project to date has to be the creation of my coffee table book, Hidden in Plain Sight, Wildlife of Manitoba. It’s a project that took me close to seven months to complete, even knowing that I already had a huge inventory of photographs to use in it; photographs that I had captured over the last 14 years. So, in a way, this project has been years and years in the making. :)
The concept behind this book was brought to light by questions from other Winnipeggers like, “Where do you find all these animals?” or “How are you so lucky to find all these animals?” The surprising part about those questions is that the majority of my wildlife photos are captured within the city of Winnipeg. Due to financial, time, and responsibility limitations, I stick to local spots in the city for the most part. Very rarely do I travel to far off places for photographs. The wildlife that I see and photograph is quite accessible, so it's unfortunate that most people don't see it.
The main reason that I can find this wildlife is because I’m looking specifically for it, while most people aren’t. I figured that could be a good driving force behind the concept of this book; to simply showcase the incredible diversity of animals that can be found all around the very city I live in. A diversity that I believe most Winnipeggers aren't aware of.
With that being said, I knew that I also wanted to include my favourite stories that accompany the capturing of these photographs. One of my favourite things about wildlife photography is the stories I walk away with and the experiences I’m fortunate enough to have. I receive great feedback from those who follow my work, telling me that they love reading the stories just as much as they love viewing the photographs. That surprises me, because years ago, I never would’ve seen myself as much of a storyteller. Or even as a writer.
I had made personal coffee table books in the past, so the process was somewhat familiar to me. That was a good jumping-off point at least. It allowed me to see what a photo book would look like with a hard cover and gave me an idea of what the dimensions and page count would feel like in my hands. It also allowed me to see what my photographs would look like in print.
My book design process
Logo design
Before I could even start on the book, I knew that I needed to develop a visual identity for my brand. As a graphic designer, I didn't feel I could possibly publish a book without a proper visual identity for my business. I delayed the development of a logo and visual identity at the very beginning of my business journey because I first wanted to test the waters to see if I even had a product that could sell. At this point, I felt I did.
I began with the logo portion of my brand. I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted, so I hit the ground running. Funnily, I did a bunch of sketching and discovered pretty quickly that I didn't want to go the route that I thought I did.
Essentially, I wanted a logo that covered the three subjects that I photograph most: mammals, birds, and flora. So in my logo, I included a feather and leaf circling around a paw print. See below for images of my process.
Once I had a black and white brand mark that I was pleased with, I worked on the typography, then the colour. I still intend on developing some supporting graphics to accompany these brand assets, but it's all a work in progress. This journey hasn't gone the way a logo and brand design typically would, I'll be honest.
Book design planning
There were many considerations that I had to be mindful of while designing this book. I had to consider things like which photos I actually wanted in this book, whether I wanted a horizontal, vertical, or square book, what type of paper I would use, what type of binding I wanted, who could print and bind them, and the kicker, what’s required when publishing a book, among many other things. Publishing the book was my ultimate goal.
There were a number of variables that would affect the project and the finished product. Enough so that one could reach analysis paralysis if they weren’t careful. So, as I began to feel overwhelmed, I thought I’d start laying out a book and figure things out as I went. That way I could balance logical thinking with creative thinking.
I would occasionally use lunch hours at my day job to source printers, solve logistical problems, or write out my stories, and I’d spend my evenings working on the design of the book itself. It seemed to be the most effective process for me.
Photo selection
As a full-time graphic designer, working on the creative side of this book was something I could geek out on. First and foremost though, I had to decide on which photos to choose. This was the most time consuming part of the book by far. I had to leaf through thousands of my photographs and flag them one-by-one or place them into my design document. I had to be hyper critical of whether or not a photo was worthy of being in my book. I had flagged a ton of photos that I liked, so to narrow it down to my favourite 80 photos was very difficult.
After many days of doing only this task, I decided that I had a broad selection of photos in my document to choose from. Maybe a few hundred.
Of those images, I first decided which ones had a story tied to them and assigned those stories a two page spread. Each spread would contain one photo and one story. Based on the length of my book, I decided eight stories was appropriate.
Further photo edits
During the photo selection phase, I noticed that despite having edited each of the photos already, I decided that some of the edits could be improved. I reduced graininess in some, cloned out some spots like sensor dust and other extraneous spots, and brightened the shadows in others. After years of making my own personal photo books, I learned that if a photo is a little dark on screen, it's going to print even darker. On screen, images are backlit by the light of a monitor, causing shadowed areas to look a touch brighter. The same image printed will appear even darker, so I brightened the shadowed areas for any photos that already seemed a bit dark on screen.
Image placement
After a lot of deliberation on which images to include in the book, I began moving each image around the book from spread to spread to determine which images both contrasted and complimented one another. My vision was that people would view each image on a spread separately, so that no images would be overlooked. I considered things like overall image colour (saturated or unsaturated), colour temperature (cold or warm), complexity of the image (heavily textured or smooth), species (mammal, songbird, or bird of prey, etc.), eye and body direction (facing left, right, or head on), etc.
Once I felt all of the images were paired nicely, I reorganized the spreads to make sure there wasn't too much repetition from one spread to the next and then I evenly distributed the story spreads throughout the book.
Copy refinement
Now everything was in position, so it was time to refine my stories and add some details like captions to each image. This process took a little longer than I expected. I discovered that some species of animals that I've photographed are a challenge to identify, so a bit of additional research was involved. And for those animals that are more sensitive, I would share a very general location like "Winnipeg" or "Manitoba."
Further research on publishing process
As I approached what I thought was the completion of the book design and the copy, I dug a little deeper into the logistics of publishing. This was a very important step before committing to printing. A requirement for publishing a book and selling it is acquiring an ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Without one, I wouldn't have any chance of getting the book into stores. So, I did some research and learned how to apply for an ISBN. Here's where I caught a snag. In order to apply for an ISBN, I needed to have a registered business. At that point, I hadn't registered. So off I went to then figure out how to register as a business.
Registering as a business and reserving a business name
I figured I'd just, you know, register as a business. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Before one can register as a business in Manitoba, they first have to reserve a business name with the Manitoba companies office. If I remember correctly, it wasn't overly complicated or very expensive. Maybe about $40-$60 dollars. But the challenge for me was that this all took time and I was eager to have my books to sell at a couple of markets.
The purpose of the business name reservation is for the Companies Office to first assess other businesses in the area to see if your proposed name could end up being confused with another business. Luckily, my name was deemed okay for use.
NOW I was ready to register as a business. Again, it wasn't terribly expensive and it also wasn't very complicated. But, it did take more time. Had I figured these things out in advance, I could've planned better, because I ended up not having any books to sell at my summer markets. It was unfortunate, but a good learning experience.
Purchasing a barcode
At this point, I had finally completed all steps required to purchase a barcode to use on my book, allowing it to potentially be sold in stores. To do so, I found a website that would allow me to purchase one. Again, it was a small fee to acquire a barcode file. It costed roughly $20?
Final touches on the book design
I was finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with this project. I had a book design file that looked like a fairly polished book, I registered my business, acquired an ISBN, and even my copy writing was very close to finished. I continued with reviewing the book over and over again, then asked my partner to review it. We each found improvements that could be made. Plus, I simultaneously reached out to my sister during this process, because she conveniently happens to be a copy editor (https://soapstoneediting.com/). She reviewed every piece of copy in the book and gave numerous suggestions on how to improve the clarity and accuracy of the book.
Printing the book
It took me awhile to decide on a printer, so I was glad that I started this process early on. There are many variables associated with printing in terms of cost of printing, size, cover type, paper stock offerings, etc. I couldn't quite find what I had in mind in Manitoba, so I began looking elsewhere in Canada and eventually found a company called Mixam in Toronto, Ontario. They seemed to offer exactly what I was looking for in a printed book.
The upload process was both smooth and intimidating, in my opinion. Their website was very clear in the way it previewed your print files and allowed me to see visually that all of my uploaded pages were of the correct dimensions, were in the correct order, etc. It was only intimidating because I had to trust that I had everything in my design file setup correctly before committing to a hefty printing cost. There was no correspondence with a printing professional during the process. After carefully reviewing the preview files, I decided I felt confident that it was all there, in the correct order, and with the correct dimensions, so I submitted the files and waited.
A short time later, they were delivered to my door, boxed up all neatly and ready for distribution and sale. That was a whole different problem to solve, but a welcomed one.
Procrastination tried to rear its ugly head during this project so many times! I worked on this book from winter to late summer of 2025 and on so many days, I found myself wanting to do something else. I could've spent time with my partner, taken photographs, played golf, gone cycling, etc. Instead I reminded myself that this project would never reach completion unless I stayed focused, so that's what I did.
Thanks a lot for reading!
Dale
*This blog post is not to be seen as legal advice of any sort. Be sure to speak to a professional if you have questions about the book publishing process.
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