Always Square

I have been thinking about photography books a lot lately.After all, it's a source of income for me and I'm always looking for ways to market the books. But I have been noticing that there isn't much of a variety in photo books, is there? Basically, you have the same square, horizontal, and vertical format. Some are really awesome and beautiful and some are VERY suspect. As much as I love looking at the books produced by others these days (not all of them, of course), it's just amazing to see that there does not look as if there is a publisher willing to take a risk (at least not one of the big ones), to do something completely different. It's so conservative! I know, it's a tough and expensive business - but in theory, the medium photo book could offer so much more than, well, just photos. Where are the experiments? Where are the fun shapes, and experimental photography? Would an album of a years worth of receipts (more stuff to dust) be an interesting read? Maybe not, but I would love to see some different shapes.

Or wouldn't it be interesting to have a book designed with both sides bound that when you open the pages it would tell two different stories but with mirror reflections of self in each story? Another good idea would be a rolled book. I don't know these all sound pretty wacky, but the book has been pretty standard since those monks with the gold leaf. I think its time we change it up!