Update: Stretch Goal and Planning for Shape of the Crowd Volume 10

My photography zine of the Asheville D.I.Y. music scene will release it's 10th volume next year, and I've been planning a stretch goal as far back as June of 2022: a full 120+ page photobook. Shape of the Crowd has always been funded by reader and D.I.Y. business donations, and any donations totaling more than the cost to produce and distribute the zine have always been tallied in a "zine fund" which is pulled from to cover the costs of future volumes. Slowly over time this accrues on average a few hundred dollars per volume. The first time the zine fund was emptied was to fund a solo photography exhibition of my Asheville live music work, which was shown at Harvest Records in Asheville, NC that same June of 2022. Small prints from that exhibition are now distributed for free at random with some copies of Shape of the Crowd. You can see documentation of that exhibition here. 

Shape of the Crowd Volume 10 is envisioned currently as a 120 page 9"x6" bound paperback photobook. It would most likely be in black and white, as most of my photography is, and it is more cost efficient. This volume would span the entirety of my career in D.I.Y. music photography, from 2019 to 2024, 6 years of history.

Appraisal of a photobook was done by Hemlock Printers, which I was drawn to after purchasing a copy of Phil Elverum's 2022 photobook "Microphones (details and context)", printed by Hemlock. They appraised the job as being worth $1602 for 100 9"x6" 120 page books at the time, though this total may change by the time production begins. I am also currently researching opportunities to print with small businesses locally if affordable. I am interested in keeping Shape of the Crowd 10 donation-based even in this unique form, though the cost to print and the amount of work it will require, along with undoubtedly much higher shipping costs, could change how I execute the distribution. I may collect donations as pre-orders before shipping to see if I can increase the number of copies printed, the number of pages, or any other quality of the final product. All of this is speculative, as the most likely release date is June or July of 2024. 

If you're interested in supporting this project, you can subscribe to get notified any time a new volume of Shape of the Crowd releases so you never miss a volume, and if you're missing any previous volumes, you can order them as well. I have also considered releasing the covers of each zine as full sized posters, or partnering with my good friend Joey Wilson at Mythic Merch to do a shirt run of some sort. All will depend on interest. 

Lastly, the eventual release of SOTC10 will probably give me a good excuse to overhaul and standardize the way the zines are designed and distributed. Not much is set in stone, but issues of notifications and online ordering will probably be solved by streamlining via 3rd party systems and functionality on this website in anticipation of this release.

All of this is more brainstorming than anything, and is both open to feedback and subject to change.