Black Cat Photo Book in 3 Forms in K-POP Style New possibilities for earth-friendly on-demand publishing!

2024.09.10 16:45

株式会社ミンガコ

Mingako Corporation (Location: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Keiko Hasegawa) has published "Beautiful 52 'Kuro Neko' Kuro Neko Bara" in three forms with different cover designs on September 6, 2024 (Kuro Neko Day).

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Three forms to choose from, possible because it is an on-demand publication

The book, "All Black Cats," a collection of 52 black cats gathered through submissions, is published in three formats with the same text and different bindings.

Following the style of K-POP album releases, we challenged ourselves to publish more customized content in book form. This book was published using Booko, which allows users to create a book using a web-based template and publish a paper book from a single copy.

Books created with Booko can be published on-demand at Amazon and other sites in a one-stop shop.

The only cost is the template fee (19,800 yen + tax), and there is no publishing fee.

Furthermore, since Booko is an on-demand publishing service (books are printed, bound, and delivered after being ordered), it is possible to publish books in three different formats with different bindings.

Publication in three different formats with different bindings

Popularity of the three forms was determined by preliminary voting.

The impetus for publishing the book in three formats came from a survey poll on X (formerly Twitter). The three rough drafts of the cover design were all so good that we "couldn't decide" and called for a vote on X.

Voting for the cover design with X

The result was that proposal B was the most popular, but the owners of 52 black cats responded that they were happy to see their cats on the cover. As for the binding, Proposal B has more impact and design. But the owner, who is the book's biggest fan, preferred proposal A. So, taking advantage of the characteristics of on-demand publishing, we decided to publish the book in three forms.

■The designer's creativity is not wasted.

All three proposals were "hard to throw away" designs.

Usually, in book design, designers come up with two or three ideas for the binding design.

However, they have to narrow it down to one proposal, and the rest are destined to be "kept".

This trial has the advantage that the designer's creativity will remain as a form.

Cat photographer Masayuki Oki is also a member of the jury.

Masayuki Oki, whose best-selling photo collections "Desperate Cats" and "Too Bad Cats" were published in the past, will serve as a judge for the competition.

What two black cats did the cat photographer, who is active in the media, events, and solo exhibitions, choose?

This book is not a collection of influencer cats or celebrity cats, but a collection of photos submitted by many owners.

Furthermore, the black cat photos are of the highest level of difficulty. We asked Masayuki Oki, a professional cat photographer, to select and critique two cats with "fleeting expressions" and "ridiculously cute" cats that can be captured only by their owners.