From the Editor by Craig Stark #15, 29 March 2004

Though bookselling is becoming increasingly competitive, there remain proven strategies for staying ahead of the competition, and I suspect that this will always be the case no matter how intense things get. The reality is that most booksellers do the bare minimum no matter what venue they sell in. Descriptions of books are most often brief, and if a picture is needed, it's just as often snapped quickly and uploaded as is. Attention to detail is the exception.

But what isn't widely appreciated is that taking somewhat more trouble on the front end of selling can have dramatic results on the back end, especially in photography. There's much more to this than buying a good digital camera. How pictures are taken and subsequently edited matters hugely.

In previous issues we've discussed what to take pictures of - namely, the importance of identifying flashpoints and capitalizing on them in the picture taking process. We've also talked about book cosmetology, how to make books camera presentable. Today we're going to look at the actual picture taking process and suggest a specific method for taking pictures that will ultimately pop in your presentations.