May 4th, 2008 Why Participate?

The following is a copy of the cover letter sent to art department professors that accompanied our Silversalts08 flyer. This letter will answer many of your questions, and it might bring up new suggestions we had not anticipated. Please comment below if you have ideas.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dear Professor,

Enclosed with this letter is a flyer for your photography students. Please post it in an appropriate place where the photo classes will see it.

We are offering your students an opportunity to be published in an annual review of black-and-white photography from college programs across the country. It will be interesting to compare the work from different regions, from urban settings like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, to more rural colleges in cities like Casper, Wyoming, Emporia, Kansas, and Boone, North Carolina.

Silversalts08 is the inaugural issue of the series, and we hope that you will help us make it a resounding success. The book will be sold online through our Web site, Amazon.com, Powells.com, and others, as well as through retailers like Borders, Barnes & Noble, and smaller local booksellers. We will also contact the campus bookstores in each college we solicit for submissions.

In addition to the printed book, we will publish an electronic version online at our Web site (www.silversalts.org). Each artist will have a page dedicated solely to him or her; the published piece will be the focus, and the artist can also upload additional work. Students may opt out if they choose not to display their work online, but this promotional opportunity is free and hard to pass up.

Every piece chosen for the book will be attributed both to the artist and the school he or she attends. A directory in the back of the book (and online) will list all the participants and their schools, including the Web URL of the art department. These features will highlight not just the quality of the photography but also the programs of study. Silversalts offers a terrific opportunity for your students to learn about self-promotion and gives you a chance to promote your school.

The character of work we are most interested in publishing in this initial issue are single images, ones that were most enjoyed during critiques and/or student shows. High-quality prints of all subject matter and genres will, hopefully, be represented. Naturally, well-printed work is important, but in selecting the best images we will consider work that might demonstrate a less-than-expert level of darkroom technique if it has other sufficiently intriguing merits.

Our plan is to print the best 100 submissions we receive. However, should response be overwhelming, we may increase the size of the book proportionately. Every artist who submits work will receive a free copy of the book and a discount of 33% off the cover price on additional copies. The book will be a high-quality 9×12 coffee-table book in black and white – a work everyone will be proud to be a part of.

The submission date for work is June 15, and the publication date is scheduled for August 15. Late-arriving entries may be considered but the chances of selection are much slimmer. We are asking for a nominal submission fee of $20 to ensure that students take their submissions seriously and to partly defray costs. Since the cover price of the book is targeted to be $35 or more, the submission fee amounts to a half-price purchase of a great book of photos, so there is really no reason for an aspiring photographer not to participate.

All the details of the submission process are found online at our Web site, including the entry form. We have included a printed form for you. If you would make some photocopies and post them by the flyer, we would be very grateful. As you can see, there are very few limitations to the scope of work we will accept: only process (true black and white wet-process prints) and format (up to 8×10 prints) are stipulated. We believe we will see an amazing variety of subjects and techniques as a result.

Finally, we want to point out that the artists will retain full rights to their work. We are asking only First North American Serial and Electronic Rights, which covers our first publication of the photograph in the book and on our Web site. All other rights are the artist’s, ensuring that all sales and compensation for their work is entirely theirs.

Thank you for reading this lengthy letter. We hope you are excited about the upcoming publication of Silversalts08 and will encourage your students to participate.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Lake
Art Editor, Silversalts Publishing
Christopher Lake
Technical Editor, Silversalts Publishing