As a collection of work from different photographers, in different continents, Covid Street was always intended to give its creators a boost in challenging times. With that in mind, as we move toward the last few weeks of submissions (for real this time) I thought it time to see how much more we could do for contributors.
I opened and began to edit the Contributor’s FAQ, but was pleased to see there was very little I needed to add because we were clear, right from the start, that we would be sharing people’s instagram names as part of their image captions.
There will still need to be a caption and a story, like a traditional photo book, but the reader can easily pick up their phone and follow you.
Having recently had a success publishing a the digital edition copy of Perrier Award winner Tim Key‘s brilliant lockdown-themed book He used Thought as a Wife, I realised that we could also offer a digital edition – at least on tablets – with clickable links.
We can – and will – also include a QR code with the print edition, again to make it quicker and easier for readers to find-and-follow.
What is the timeline?
A question you might reasonably ask, especially if you’ve been with us from the beginning, over a year ago now!
The answer is this; the London Book Fair has been delayed until June 29th 2021 for obvious reasons, but the plan is to hold it as a physical event. We want to present a complete ready-to-print laid out book to distributors then.
Working back, that means – even working at lightning speed (as far as print publishing goes) – we need to have made our final editorial selection by May 10th.
So this gives us an opportunity to wrap the story of the book up with a final chapter featuring events of Spring 2021, which in the UK means a gradual loosening of lockdown (even as I type I’m allowed to meet up to 6 people again but I’m choosing to work on this book).
In other countries things are not the same, and we are keen to move forward so we can support both the COVAX scheme and those creatives who need help.
If you’ve submitted before, or not, now would be a great time to send us your pictures and to share the submissions link with people you know so we can tell the whole story, from queue to buy toilet roll, through silent streets, to – hopefully – a new chapter.