Writing a Book... About Bike Lanes

December 2021

Have you ever thought about writing a book? If you have, I figured you might be interested in what it takes to create and self publish a book, so before I recycle all the test prints, I thought I'd document the process it took to write Bike Lanes, my first book. I've always had an interest in taking photos to convey best practice in the transportation planning, but until recently most were captured by pulling my cell phone out of my pocket as I was riding along and grabbing a quick 'snap' of something interesting. This worked great as you can quickly capture opportunities as they arise, and as all photos were essentially chance encounters or simply random pictures of infrastructure, the collection just naturally built itself up and you can view that over on my flickr page. While the flickr albums are a great resource, the photos were rarely engaging or of a high quality (they are getting better). Fast forward to Covid, and with some interesting projects entering construction, and too much time on my hands thinking about how I could best share them, I started thinking about "proper" photography for want of a better word. 

If you're not interested in camera tech and gear, skip the next few paragraphs, but I'm sure some are. I've had somewhat nice cameras in the past, but since the iPhone camera got pretty good, I was never that into it that I needed anything better, but now I had time and a purpose so it was time to step back into the camera game. With numerous internet reviews read and too many YouTube videos watched, I started to narrow down the search for a nice camera, balancing the pros and cons of different models, features, megapixels, sensor sizes, etc. I landed on a Fujifilm X-E4 which is super compact (for what it is and of course depending not he lens attached), and the selling point, the tactile controls that mean I don't have to mess too much with the menu systems which were always something that frustrated me with "proper" cameras. I was drawn to the small size, classic looks, the shutter speed dial and aperture ring on the lenses. If it's nice to use, you're more likely to use, and that has proven to be true. Interesting side story, Fuji cameras prior to this one generally came with some kind of grip, but they decided to remove it for this model, going all minimal I guess, but it made the camera a little slippy, particularly with the larger zoom attached. I found a small stick-on grip made by flipbac and promptly ordered. Then shortly after, using the camera in the first few weeks for a site visit in New Westminster, I came back to find the grip in the mail, with a return address to the very street I was taking photos on. Small world, the grips make a huge difference. Fuji should have stuck with them on this camera.

iPhone photos of the Fujifilm X-E4 with the XF18mm F1.4 attached

A camera bag might seem like a pretty trivial thing to go along with the camera, I don't know if I should even get into the search for a camera bag, but finding something that's easily and quickly accessible on the bike was a bit of a process. On the photography forums, there seems to be a running joke that you can never have enough camera bags and there's never a perfect one, but I think I'm done now. For those interested, I ended up with a Shimoda Explore V2 25L for when I need to take more stuff, and a Moment 6L Rugged Sling for trips with just the camera and a few snacks and bike tools. Both are excellent products that work for what I need and are pretty waterproof which is also important in BC. Neither is cheap, but they're both very well designed. I've now taken to swapping the camera cube in the big bag out for the sling bag which aligns well with the side access, and means if I take the big bag on a trip for a coupe of days, I can take the smaller bag too for local trips at my destination.  For example, we (my wife and I) did multiple 2-3 day bike trips to Victoria over the summer with a backpack and another bag on the bike, but while in town I could just take the small sling bag out. Victoria has some excellent bike facilities and a level of ridership that means I rarely have to wait too long for a good shot with people actually riding in it... coincidence...

The ultimate camera bag/s solution for quick access on the bike

Should we get into the lenses too? ​The camera came with a 27mm F2.8 prime which is super compact, this is great and you can fit the camera in a coat pocket but one fixed focal length wasn't ideal for everything. I figured to start, I needed some flexibility and added the Fuji 16-80mm F4 which provides a pretty decent zoom range and I figured of a good enough quality for this amateur. It was great for a while, then while out one day and wanting to travel light, I stuck with just the 27mm F2.8 and some of the images I got from that really blew me away with the level of detail it was able to provide, so in my head, the prime lens was delivering much higher quality, and that led me to want a prime with longer focal length. The 50mm F2 was purchased on the basis of very good reviews, and it is a great lens that can create excellent images. I was also growing on the lighter and more compact lens setup for carrying on the bike. Most of the images in the book were captured with these lenses. One more recent purchase has been a wider prime, the new 18mm F1.4, something I think might help me with my next project... This is supposed to be a step up in quality again and I debated if this was overkill for my needs, but if nothing else, any excuse for bad images will be on me! It's big for a prime lens, but the image quality is top notch for this camera system. All this gear has been a significant investment, but hey, no foreign vacations or bike purchases recently...

iPhone Images of the more substantial Fuji Lenses, XF16-80mm F4, XF 18mm F1.4, XF 50mm F2, and XF 27mm F2.8

Back to the book making... ever since I started the blog many years ago, I had the thought in the back of my mind that I might one day write a book and have had many ideas floating around in the back of my head, but I was always too busy and it was such a commitment. This process has done nothing to change that view btw, much respect to anyone that has written a book. At first I just wanted some nicer images of our projects, something I could share on twitter or the blog, but again watching too many YouTube videos on photography drew me to the world of photo books. That seemed like an interesting and more lasting way to share the images that would otherwise get lost after a few hours on social media, and the idea of a photo book started to take shape. In most examples of photo books that I saw, the photo was the main thing and there would often be just a short description at the side, sometimes it was just the photo. I felt this book could be educational as well as just sharing images of infrastructure. In the end I landed somewhere between conventional text heavy book and photo book. The images were coming together and I was trying to think how they could be weaved together to tell a story, or given the subject matter, educate people about bike lanes and related things, while at the same time providing something more visual than a regular book. Something more accessible to more people that might impart a little lasting knowledge or inspiration. 

Adding a little bit of text to some photos wouldn't be that hard right... Wrong... I didn't have the time or desire to approach publishing companies with an idea, and I was kind of developing an image in my head of what this would become and didn't want to be swayed from that. there was also a good chance I might waste a lot of time with no interest. I also didn't want to be indebted to others, I wanted to do this on my own terms in my own time. Through yet more YouTube videos I stumbled across some related to a self publishing company called Blurb by Dan Milnor who works for Blurb. With Blurb, all the work is on your shoulders, but you can essentially self publish your own vision without any interference from others. This is both a good and bad thing... on the one hand Bike Lanes is entirely my own work, from the photos to the writing to the layout and cover art if you can call it that. On the other hand, text editing is an incredibly time consuming process, and if you're going to put something in print, you want to be pretty confident in what you're saying. Some may disagree, I'm sure a certain Danish urban designer will disagree with my section on bi-directional bike lanes, but I maintain that they sometimes provide advantages. Some strongly oppose the use of multi-use pathways, but sometimes it's just the most practical and feasible way to implement a facility separate from traffic in certain circumstances, of course there's many circumstances where they're not appropriate... I come at this book from a perspective of someone that works day to day to plan and design bike networks and bike facility solutions that are actually constructible and politically acceptable. Back to the book, it needed to be clear and reasonably concise, it needed to get the point across in an impactful and hopefully thought provoking way without me sounding obnoxious! Thanks to my wife for pointing out where this was the case! Despite many many rewrites, spelling and grammar checks, there's still some that made it through... Hey that's the joy of self publishing. Maybe they'll get fixed if I ever do a second edition! For now think of it as the slightly flawed first edition that'll be worth a lot of money in years to come!

I thought these were final edits at the time... there were so many more... I also decided I preferred matte paper...

Back to the text and the general narrative of the book. I liked the idea of a photobook that you could flick through and see some nice images. I like the idea that you could pick it up open the book and learn something very quickly for a single page. So with every photo, it conveys a simple message, but then I wanted to dive a little deeper into each message and explain it a little further. This brought me to the question of who this book was for. Was it for people like myself that work in the field of bike facility planning and design, well maybe, they're likely familiar with everything in the book, but at the least it would provide some nice examples that they could draw upon. Sometimes we can also work in a bit of a bubble surrounding ourselves with like minded people and assume everyone is aware of the nuances with bike facility planning and design, then I'll see a brand new door zone bike lane and realize that not everybody working in the industry has the same appreciation of bike facility needs that others do. If it could help out a few more engineers to understand the basic principles that's a good thing right. The industry and designs are evolving so rapidly and not everyone is so passionate that they spend every waking hour studying this stuff. On the other hand there are advocates that do live this stuff, will it help them? Maybe not, but sharing it with new members of their committees could impart some insights. For City staff or Council, again, I think the book could help them realize what other cities are doing and gain a greater appreciation of cycling and its benefits, and how they might build safe bicycle infrastructure in their communities. Getting the level of detail right took time, hopefully you got (or will get) something out of it. Content was added and removed, then more removed, and more removed until there was no fluff or unnecessary statements or language. Finding the balance was a challenge, and as I read and reread it, more things seemed unnecessary for the purpose of the book which really is to introduce someone to bike facility planning and design principles. It started off as photos, but become about the message that goes with each. At one point I started getting into the details, but then where do you draw the line, there were many details that were removed to keep this book pretty high level. I might do something in the future that gets into the details...

Even this simple first page, the title changed a million times, the level of detail changed a million times

I had some text and some images, but how to structure it? Each image corresponds with an idea or thought so if you looked at the image and you read the title on each page it quickly gives you an understanding of the important principles of bike lane planning and design. While each page stands on it's own, combined they form a greater narrative. If you read just the contents page you'd very quickly have an appreciation for the important elements of bike facility planning and design. As I pulled the book together, there were occasions where a principle was important but I didn't have a picture to convey the intent, and this is where the photography bit became a new experience. Previously, I was just snapping pictures as I was riding along, now I needed intentional images, and it turns out photography requires a lot of patience and a lot of trips to hopefully get a shot worthy of what I was trying to do. Try getting a shot of bikes in a Skytrain Bike Parkade when few people are taking transit because of Covid... For the most part I think I got some good shots, I might change a few if there's ever a second edition. Patience is even more necessary where cycling demand in the City where i'm taking photographs hasn't reached Victoria levels yet. Then it's a waiting game for the right person to come along and hope you get the shot. Do you give up after 30 mins with only someone in hi-viz, or wait a few more just in case the cargo bike mom with kids in the front comes along... 

With the content nearing completion it needed to be "designed" for want of a better word. Time to learn that... I used Affinity Publisher, a very low cost alternative to Adobe's InDesign and far more intuitive and simple to use to me at least. Here's a bullet list of some of the considerations as I pulled the book together:

• Page order: The narrative in the book has to make sense if you read it in order, so I went through a few iterations of moving things back and forward, but generally ended up as planning principles, design principles, then supporting elements at the end.
• Formatting and Layout: I tried lots of different things here... different fonts, different spacing, images that filled the page, images that had a large and small border, just trying things that I'd seen elsewhere. I ended up using full page images as these had more impact on me when looking at the hard copies. for the titles on each page, the more standard fonts weren't having the impact I wanted so I found a script style font that I felt worked well to grab your attention and make you think about it, then reverted to a traditional font for the body text. The paint line that appears at the edge of the image was a late addition, the hard edge of the photo just felt a bit bare, and the sketch paint line tied it to the handwritten font of the title somewhat. A whole bunch of trial and error.
• Colour: Or lack of, The book is black and white, this for me had a few benefits, pulling a cohesive book together with colours that align well with each other is a whole other learning process, and I might go there if I do another, but black and white makes it easier to provide a cohesive look. But for me there's also just something about the simplicity of a black and white image, it kind of removes distraction and lets you focus on the subject.
• Page size: Further to the full page images, I also felt they also had more impact with a larger page size, so I opted for a 10"x8" book size. This of course costs more than smaller books, but I felt the difference was worth it, and I'd combat the price increase another way...
• Book Type: This essentially means paper type, and there are a lot of options to choose from. As cost varies significantly by paper type, there were two ways to keep the cost close to something most people would be willing to pay. The first one was to limit the number of pages in the book as cost is calculated per page. For myself, I wanted something nice to hold, a coffee table type experience, so I wanted to do a proper photo book with nice paper, but the cost is considerable so that was one reason for keeping the page numbers in check, but this is still expensive. For that reason, I also chose a trade book option. Trade books are the type of book you seen on most bookshop shelves, they have a much thinner paper and are intended for low cost mass production. Blurb still provides this on a print on demand basis.
• Cover Art: The first test book had a photo of people riding on the cover but it tuns out using people on the cover is essentially using their image for marketing and would require a model release. As they were just riding by, no chance of that. Using people inside the book is considered editorial and considered acceptable use if they are in a public place. So the cover evolved to an initial design using bike symbols, then I ended up changing that to a photo of the bike symbol, and the front and back cover essentially look like a bi-directional bike lane with yellow line forming the spine. I like it and its quite eye catching. I played about with how to actually add the Bike Lanes title, in the end opting for a design that kind of looks like it's just cleaned up asphalt.

The process of deciding all this required multiple test prints to gain that appreciation of layout and image size, the images also look different on different paper types, I tried regular photo paper, high quality photo papers, glossy, matte, and the trade book standard papers. I actually prefer the way the images look on matte papers so the trade books worked well, albeit the images can look a little darker, especially if you're not sitting in good light. The Matte photo paper is really nice but expensive!

I originally had text on the back cover, but opted to keep it simple, apologies that it's bi-directional...

So with a final version in my hands, actually several final versions in all the paper types, the quality is just as good as any other book you'd buy in a store, even better I guess with the photo book versions. It was time to make it available for sale. How much do you charge for a book? A photo book? A coffee table book? a half photo book/half text book? When selling through Blurb, there is a base cost for printing which you can't go below, then you can add as much (or as little) profit on top as you like. That's fine if you just want to sell through the Blurb website, but they also give you an option to sell through Ingram, the main global book distributor. You can do both, and this is how I've set it up, but you can't have a sale price on Blurb less than the distributor list price.

The distributor wants a cut of the sale price, which is of course fair, and they have three levels of that cut that you can select, with the incentive that if you provide a greater cut, you'll see wider distribution. The problem is... the larger the cut, the higher the price needs to be, as it's the percentage of list price, not the profit. For this reason I opted for the middle option and hoped it would see some level of distribution. This still adds quite a bit to the price.

I'm sure anyone thinking of pursuing their own project will be interested in the numbers. It's not exactly a secret, you could go onto the Blurb site and work out all this information. Taking the standard quality soft cover version as an example, the 96 page 10"x8" black and white trade book has a base cost of $12.31, the middle range distributer cut (or discount as they call it) is 36% which is off the list price, so you have to work backwards from that. With a list price of $25 which I think is reasonable for a book, if you buy from somewhere other than Blurb, Blurb still take their $12.31, the distributor takes 36% or $9, I take the remaining $3.69. If you buy from Blurb, because I can't select a lower list price, I make $12.69 on each sale, so it's actually better for me per book, but there's less chance of somebody stumbling across it there versus more popular online bookshops (I'm not sure if it'll ever appear on shelves as a hard copy). I debated selling it for less only through Blurb, but the opportunity to see it appear in other stores was something I was keen to experiment with. How easy is it to self publish and sell your own book. To date I have seen it in a few online stores including Amazon, Barns & Noble, and several other random online book shops including some as far afield as South Korea and South Africa. Interestingly some of them, for example, as shown below have 104 books available, but I'm pretty sure they haven't purchased 104 copies. I also see third party sellers on Amazon trying to sell it way above list price which I don't quite understand, other than profiteering from the gullible.

Who would pay more than they need to?

104 available eh?

For the photo book version, to sell it through the distribution network, the list price would have to be extortionate when factoring in the discount so it's only available through Blurb and I make a small profit on it, less actually than the standard quality versions. I really just wanted that for myself, but it's interesting to see how people value those higher quality versions. In terms of total sales, a struggling author never reveals the hard numbers, but I'm seeing steady sales. At the outset, if more than just my parents bought a copy I would have been happy. We're far beyond that milestone! To date, about 20% of sales have been High Quality Hard Covers, 5% High Quality Soft Covers, 20% Standard Quality Hard Covers and 55% Standard Quality Soft Covers. The High Quality Soft Cover is my favourite one and the version I'll keep as my personal copy.

The marketing thing is more challenging I guess for self published authors as it's all on your own shoulders. So far there's been at least a few orders each week. I'm not a fan of ramming it down everyones necks or social media feeds every other day, but maybe that's necessary if you really want to sell a lot. I think creating this actually distracted me from social media to the point I'm more reluctant to use it these days. Except you're probably reading this after me sharing it on social media... For now I'm happy with the book I wrote. There was a lot of doubt about hitting the publish button, and even for days after hitting publish, I'd pick up the book wondering if it was worthy of the list price or even being on sale. On each occasion I felt like, yep, this is pretty good, and at the least, it was in line with what I wanted to create. 

Ferry coming into to dock, we did several bike trips down to Victoria over the summer

Photo book projects can vary from days to months to years from some of the examples I looked at. This one essentially took me from April when I bought the camera to October when I hit publish, so around six months. What does it take? Planning vacations to take in my projects over on the Island. Weekend rides to get images of local facilities. Evenings and weekends figuring out the publishing software and trying to learn or rather figure out what looks good, lots of trial and error, printing test books that come two weeks later, when I've already made a bunch of changes. The mundane task of editing the text again and again and again until you stop finding typos, bad grammar, and everything reads concisely and is understandable to the layperson. That's not a complaint, I enjoyed every minute of it, the photography bit at least is all riding bikes... and we all know how much fun that is... especially on the beach... but it's definitely a process putting a book together and has been a great learning experience.

Trip to Tofino with a stop at our Metral Drive project in Nanaimo with continuous sidewalks and bike paths

If you read all that, thanks for taking the time. If you're interested in purchasing a copy of the book, there are four versions of varying costs based on the cover and paper quality. Click the image below which will take you to Blurb, or click the Book link in the navigation menu.

It's also available as an ebook via Blurb which you can find here.