PATRONS ONLY! Advice needed! (Patreon)

Hi everyone,   I would love your clever brains and insightful opinions on a VacBook topic -- you can select as many boxes as you like for this poll, FYI. I'll be making a public poll as well, but I need to hear from you fine folks first (cuz ur special and important and I value your opinions, duh).

I've started (and scrapped) this message several times already, attempting to make it succinct -- but it's not working. So, screw it. It's a long one.  Thank you in advance for hanging in there with me on this one!

((((( I'd like to preface the below by saying that as my patrons, the discussion of PRICE POINTS for materials really doesn't ... APPLY to you. If you're a higher tier patron and you've been with me for more than 2 to 3 months (depending  on tier)at the time of printing / next month or so, you're automatically getting a copy. If you're on a lower tier, you'll be getting the same kind of discount code sweetness that we've explored before with Writing the Circus issues - don't quite know what that will look like yet, but I'm going to do you guys right, I promise.

It matters in terms of, if we make it 'x' way, with 'x' materials,  is it inaccessible / unaffordable for others? The idea is to only make a limited number -- like 200 -- [your copies being included in that number]; I'd like to move enough copies that I make back the money I put IN to the project, employing other artists; but this is also NOT  the only thing I do and I don't want to be constantly navigating re-prints and money being locked up in printing overhead. So, it's gonna be EXCLUSIVE, BAYBEE.)))))

Alright, carrying on:

I’ve been laying out the different photo essays for the VACUUM/VacBook project and I’ve arrived at several forks in the road. This is going to require a series of polls, and I'd really appreciate some feedback and dialogue on these questions.

1. I'm wondering if I should adjust course on the FORMAT / STYLE of this project: from one giant book, to several smaller instalments; and -

2. I've got questions. on the TYPE of high-quality materials I'm perusing for the project. I elaborate below, but in short I can't figure out if my autistic brain is just fixating on a particular (REALLY COOL) binding style, or if  a standard binding style is more than adequate for the kind of high-end Art Thing I'm trying to make. 

ELABORATION TIME/ DILEMMA #1: 

I was sharing the project with one of my co-stars on this TV show I'm working on out here (she's this lovely artist from South Africa), and she was like, "DUDE. There's SO MUCH STUFF HERE. You should divide them into smaller books ...!"

I honestly hadn't considered this before. My brain was like, "NO. MAKE ONE GIANT BOOK."  I'm torn.

SO THE QUESTION IS:  Should I divide this GIANT photobook of collected images & essays (130pgs)  into smaller sub-books of, for example, 1 or 2 photo series with 1 long-form essay?

[AKA, kind of like a high-end / art-book style of Writing the Circus; something like 40 pages in length].   

With the base costs & shipping costs, this could make it affordable to keep it hardcover, with the option of some fancy binding methods like 'LayFlat' (which I'll get into shortly.)

PROS:

• If I divided the photo series and essays into a series (e.g. VACUUM I, VACUUM II, VACUUM III), it would possibly be a more manageable size project to start edging into -- price/creation wise, content-wise, distribution-wise, all of it. (((And then I suppose after the individual ones are released, I could offer a collection where they're all in one place -- the giant book. Sometime down the road. Maybe.)))    
  
  This is the rough idea that I had for the (still-happening... lol) circus short story collections; this is also the rough idea that I am following for Writing the Circus (after there's 4 issues, those will be collected into a single volume, and new single editions will commence from there for the next collected volume; otherwise I'll be tearing out my non-existent hair at the printers forever LOL).
  
  So ... it's a format that's at least familiar to me, too. It's absolutely less terrifying/daunting.
  

CONS: 

• My original idea was to house all these ideas in one place. Dividing them into 3 sections would separate that out, obviously.

My pessimistic brain says that it "drags it out" a bit. What if I wanna start making other art? (Optimistic brain says: Don't be a dummy, you can make other art. Duh.)



ELABORATION TIME/ DILEMMA #2: MATERIALS

• I want this book to be hardcover. Softcover doesn't feel right.
  But hardcover is obviously a heavier material: it's pricier to make, and it's pricier to ship.
  
• PAGES / BINDING: Photo-quality paper with 'normal' binding? [vs.] Photo-quality paper with a kind of binding called 'LayFlat binding'.
  
  The *fancier* the paper, the higher the cost per page of the book, but the difference between 'normal' binding (you know, that gentle arc in the page from the centre line of the book as you open it -- that's called perfect binding) and 'LayFlat' binding is significant, in regards the final effect of a large image spread across two pages.
  
  The paper is also super thick -- almost like cardstock. It's really cool. I've made. a video that I'll show you folks.
  
  Layflat books can open totally flat without damaging the binding. This makes them ideal for page spreads (where an image prints across two facing pages). There is no centre gutter between the pages, like this (from the Blurb website). An 8" x 10" standard portrait-sized coffee table book would present a two-page image spread that looks like it's 16" x 20" if it's LayFlat binding. Beautiful. It would be like being able to leave this book open on your table and be able to change what stunning image you want to enjoy that day.  A 12" x 12" large square format book would look like a 1 foot x 2 foot (30 cm x 30cm --> 30cm x 60 cm) spread ... DAYUM.
  
  Here's what LayFlat binding can look like (from the Blurb website): 

And for comparison, this is what a photobook with Perfect Binding is like:

PROS:

• I don't wanna cut corners on quality of materials here; we're creating an art object:  I could create a 30 to 40-page 'instalment' like I described above for $65-$75/unit that has EXTREMELY LOVELY paper and what's called "LayFlat" binding which is just ...*chef's kiss*.
  

CONS:

• It's actually not possible to make the GIANT Vacbook with the LayFlat binding (130-150 pages) because the LayFlat option only can handle 110 pages max (the paper is real thick).
  
• I'm struggling a little bit thinking about making a SMALLER OBJECT for the SAME COST I projected for the original idea (larger book); my friend Jen Crane has verbally smacked me upside the head several times for this growing anxiety of mine, and I'm attempting to remind myself that buying 3 high quality prints from a photographer or artist could easily get one up to a $100 shopping cart, and a 30 to 40 page 'VacBook Instalment 1/2/3' would have 20+ images per book. So ... I'm ... trying to quiet the "Capitalism-Ruins-Everything Monster" yelling in my head that I'm being terrible for considering this by trying to find the volume knob on the "Art And The Time Required to Make It Is Worth Something It's Okay" voice.
  
  I need a minimum $20 markup on each unit to pay myself back for the photoshoots and studio rentals themselves; and then there's shipping on top of that for people. Let's call it a $100 Thing.      
  
  A 110-page 12" x 12" Giant VacBook would have a baseline cost of $100/unit. After a markup, it'd be a $120 Thing.   
  
  By contrast, a perfect bound (normal) photobook (hardcover, 30-40 pages, high quality paper) would be a base cost of $40/unit (8" x 10") to $65/unit (12" x 12"). With markup on there, let's say it's a $65/$70 Thing.

SO THERE WE HAVE IT.
Thanks for hanging in there, reading all of the above!!!
LEND ME YOUR THOUGHTS, PEOPLE!