Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Ideas are easy. It’s the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.” ―
One of the questions that I’m often asked after “How do I pronounce my name?” or “Where do I find models?” is: “Where do you get the ideas for your books and blog posts?” Let’s take a look at my idea sources one by one:
The Categories
Book ideas: Sometimes the ideas originate with the publisher, but most times they come from me. One book idea came from a conversation I had with an old friend and (eventual) collaborator who suggested the concept for Part-time Glamour Photography, Full-time Income that was probably the easiest, successful book pitch I even made. There’s a post about how all that happened around here someplace.
Not all book publisher’s suggestions work out for me. I was approached by a book publisher who is well known for their series of beginner (rhymes with “gummies.”) to write a book about digital black and white photography. They asked me to prepare an outline based on their guidelines, which I did. Then they asked me to write a sample chapter, something I’d never been asked to do in my 37 other published books. This chapter was based on the approved outline and was guided by their more-than-suggestions but their editorial board didn’t like it. When they asked that I write another sample chapter, I declined their offer telling them them, “I had already seen that movie, and Lucy always pulls the football away.”
I was once asked to ghost write a book. The publisher had a contract with a famous photographer who couldn’t write and who would supply the photographs. I was asked to write a book around them. Maybe you’ve read books like that but didn’t know that was the way it was produced? According to Amazon, “Eighty percent of ‘big name’ books are ghostwritten…” The publisher wouldn’t tell me who the photographer was until I signed a contract so I asked if I could get a byline like many ghost writers get with my name on the cover (smaller than Mr. X’s, of course) as “with Joe Farace” but they declined, so I declined. Writing a book is a lot of work and I didn’t want to help somebody else get (more) famous without some kind of recognition, in addition to the money of course.
How I Made this photograph: The 24.1-megapixel Canon EOS Rebel SL3 was also known as the EOS Kiss X10 in Japan and the EOS 200D Mark II in Australia and Asia. I made this image of the O;Brien Park gazebo at 8:41 PM with the EF-S18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM kit lens. The handheld exposure was 1/60 sec at f/5 and ISO 25,600! Not bad for a sensor that measures 22.3 x 14.9mm. The JPEG file was enhanced with Vivenza and the Bi-Color filter that’s part of Color Efex.
Magazine ideas: When I was writing magazine articles during the final days of one of the few remaining, non-Association-based print photo magazines, the editor told me what topics to write each month. It was no fun but I did what was asked and worked hard at making it my own while trying to free myself from the influence of the sales department who often would “suggest” products to be featired. Since COVID this market has totally dried up for me.
Getting the ideas…
…on the other hand, is a different process. For me, ideas for both book and blog posts come from two main sources: First, there are ideas that are based on projects, professional or personal, that I am working on at the time. That may be why I wrote so much, especially in my early days, about 3D Photography and later wrote about infrared photography, both film and digital. These were photograph interests and projects that I was involved in and was enjoying. Second and this might sound odd, ideas would just pop in my head when I was doing something mindless, such as taking a walk or, as silly as it sounds, taking a shower. This blog topic, for example was a “shower idea” and many ideas, not just ones related to writing happen when I’m soaping up!
Blog Ideas: This was actually the impetus that got me to write this post. Since expanding the blog to seven—actually eight because of the special posts for Patreon members±— posts a week has been a challenge to come up with idea for new posts every day. This challenge was the impetus for me to create Joe’s Book Club that I publish more or less every other Saturday because I enjoy reading and wanted to include book reviews on photography, automobiles and whatever fiction or non-fiction book I happened to be reading at the time. From time to time, I also include some insights on what it’s like to write books The number of page views I received for book club posts surprised me and prompted me to create Joe’s Movie Club that, in turn, got me to add a video version for my You Tube channel. where you can also watch my Pixels, Grain and Cookies podcast with Barry Staver.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy me to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50,) please click here. And if you do, thanks so much.