Smolan Readies Customized Obama Title

By Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 5/21/2009 5:00:00 AM

In what the parties are calling the most ambitious effort to date involving a print-on-demand color project, photographer Rick Smolan is teaming up with Hewlett-Packard to publish customized editions of The Obama Time Capsule. The coffee table book will feature photos and text documenting President Obama’s run to the White House plus his administration’s first 100 days in office, augmented with pictures from customers. Smolan, a photojournalist who founded Against All Odds Productions (which specializes in global-scale photography projects) and created the Day in a Life and America 24/7 series, said the books will have nine areas where customers can load their own pictures and text into the book.

Time Capsule will be sold only through Amazon where customers who order the title click on a link, fill out some questions and the load their material into the book. HP has built a Web-based platform to facilitate production of the book and will print the customized editions on Indigo presses located at printers around the country. From the time material is downloaded to the time the book is shipped is expected to be two to three weeks. HP v-p Andrew Bolwell said the company became involved with the project because HP is interested in "showing what is possible."

Smolan believes Time Capsule has the potential to become the first customized-book bestseller, noting that his previous illustrated series have sold more than 5 million copies. And similar to those series, Time Capsule has been made feasible through contribution of time and resources from a variety of partners including HP, Amazon, Google, AOL and Blurb.