… you have been warned…
What do you know about coffee table books?
Note: This is a sticky post.
So, the good news is that my Supervisor has roped me in to work with the State Government on the production of a coffee table book on turtles.
But the bad news is that I do not have much experience in terms of putting together a coffee table book. Class magazines, yes. A Biodata magazine for all Chinese juniors on campus, yes. But not a coffee table book.
The good news is that the State Government will be paying me to work with them, as well as to put together the book (because I am just as under-qualified to actually write a book as the girl-next-door). I would be in charge of bringing forth my Supervisor’s knowledge, experience and ideas and putting them on print.
But the bad news is that I only have 2 months’ time!!
Would you like to share with me on what YOU understand about coffee table books? I thought it should have more pictures than words. Should it be like a pictorial essay? What size would be appropriate, A4 or A3 or square? How thick should it be? Font size?
Updated: Apparently, somebody has budgeted for a 128-page coffee table book (don’t ask me from where the money comes, I don’t know). And yes, we will be hunting high and low for lots of pictures :)
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#12 written by Hsin 5 years ago
Oh it worked! Here’s the original:
Hi Pelf,
This may turn out to be a long-ass diatribe, so my apologies first. Coffee table books (over here) are literally those hard-cover, giant sized books that are on coffee tables and on shelves in living rooms/home office rooms/home study rooms that are meant to look pretty for deco purposes with little depth of content. Though Josh’s idea of making the book into a shape of a penyu is rather interesting, coffee table books are usually all the same size (because uniformity for deco purposes is better ma…).
As for the content, it is generally true that coffee table books are just loaded with pictures, pictures and more pictures with short, descriptive (sometimes factual) passages about the pictures – especially with books that are centered around art or an artist. Coffee table books are meant for perusing and not studying but I’ve seen a few where the books become a huge history lesson filled with words from page to page.
IMO, coffee table books are like childrens’ learning picture books but for adults. Large pictures. Small font. Informative, but not overloaded. The first few pages should be mostly text, being a description of your subject, like an Introduction, etc. The better half of the book should be a little lighter on text. Having quaint anecdotes or facts (like a “Did You Know….?” box) about turtles on each page might be a good idea.
I could be totally way off course though ^_^.
There are a couple good photos on Flickr (see here.) that you could probably get for cheap, or even for free. Same goes for free image sites (see here). Otherwise, good luck! It sounds like a really good opportunity, and a good challenge to work with!
Much love.
pelf: WOW. The “Did you know” box idea sounds good to me, thanks heaps ;) You’ve got me into perspective now :)
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Your thingie won’t let me comment :(
pelf: AARGHH! The Spam catcher!! < -- or whatever you call it.