Colin Finlay, Regis Lefebure, Maki Kawakita, Lou Manna, Among Others, Join liveBooks Program to Promote “Best Online Portfolio System in the Business”
San Francisco, CA. – March 22, 2005 – liveBooks, Inc., a leading provider of Website-based image portfolio software, has announced an exciting new program that will bring many of the world’s most respected photographers together to help the company promote the benefits of its technology to photographers worldwide. The “liveBooks Ambassadors” program is a consortium of world-class photographers created to emphasize the importance of a well-designed, easy-to-navigate Website portfolio to increase their business in a market environment that relies heavily on the Internet for information and available services.
liveBooks is a software tool that gives professional photographers the ability to showcase their work online in the form of highly-stylized and personalized portfolios. The combination of its Flash technology and easy-to-use Drag-and- Drop portfolio-building system provides the creative freedom and flexibility to add new portfolios of work to their Website as well as delete, add or edit existing portfolios quickly and easily. This gives photographers the added benefit of selling their services online in a safe, creative and comfortable environment that invites prospective clients to visit and view
“Before sharing images and ideas over the Internet, photographers knew who was viewing their portfolio because they were either sent by mail or hand delivered,” said Michael Costuros, Founder of liveBooks, Inc. “Today, however, Art Directors, Art Buyers and other potential clients are viewing – and judging – your work online without a photographer’s knowledge and it is imperative that they put their best foot forward by making their online presentation as attractive and robust as possible.
liveBooks provides that aesthetic appeal while giving photographers the convenience of maintaining and updating their portfolios at will, with simplicity and ease,” Mr. Costuros added.
“The time I used to spend compiling a print portfolio that properly represented my photography was enormous,” said Colin Finlay, a world renowned photojournalist and advertising photographer in Los Angeles.” Having a Web- based portfolio that represents the same emphasis and quality to my work is even more essential on the Internet. I used to know and control who was viewing my work. Today, if my portfolio is not easy to navigate and doesn’t truly represent my work, I could be losing jobs I didn’t even know existed,” Mr. Finlay continued. “With liveBooks, I know I’m putting my best foot forward at all times and have the ability to literally change or update my portfolios on the fly. In this business, that is crucial to my success.”
“liveBooks has literally changed the way I will market myself in the future,” says Lou Manna, a well known food and still life photographer based in New York. “My Website will now become the cornerstone for my promotions that will drive Art Directors and other prospective clients directly to my site. For the first time I feel like my Website is pitching my photography even when I’m not around or aware of who is viewing my work,” Mr. Manna added.
“I received a tremendous response to an email blast I sent promoting my new Website and one response in particular is parlaying into a 1-day, $10,000 portraits and lifestyles assignment,” said Regis Lefebure, one of the top auto racing photographers in the world. “I needed to make a big push and using the liveBooks site to further my career has been tremendous for highlighting my work. “The unique visits for the first four weeks were simply off the charts: 275 to 400 unique visitors a day. “This is simply the best online portfolio site in the business,” concluded Lefebure.
“The images on my liveBooks Website are large, bright and amazingly easy to update,” explains Maki Kawakita, one of he most sought-after fashion photographers in the business. “Once I saw the difference in the overall presentation between my existing Website and the liveBooks site, I knew immediately that this was an amazing business and marketing tool I simply had to have,” added Ms. Kawakita.
liveBooks 4.0 (version 5.0 is expected to be available in late Spring, 2006) is composed of two parts – the webSite and the editSuite. The webSite presents huge, high-quality images that download very quickly, in easy-to-navigate portfolios while the editSuite is a collection of editing tools that give photographers complete control over the content on their Website. What’s more, liveBooks 4.0 editSuite gives photographers the ability to update and edit all of their Website content in minutes.
In addition to the large images the software allows photographers to present on the webSite, the true differentiator between LiveBooks and perceived competitors is the lightBox tool built into the editSuite software. Now, for the first time, photographers can respond to client job requests with customized portfolios in real time.
The lightBox tool shows all the images in a photographer’s portfolio as it is currently presented on the webSite. To add, delete, or re-sequence the book, photographers simply drag-and-drop the images in whatever sequence they want them to appear in the portfolio. Multiple editing modes, such as Insert, Swap, Full Page, or Single Image make this process very easy, intuitive and even fun. To publish the changes live, simply click the save button and it’s done. All portfolios are now “live” and seen in the sequence desired by the photographer.
LiveBooks, Inc. has made liveBooks 4.0 available in three different and affordable packages in order to meet the needs of every level of photographer. liveBooks Folio provides the perfect blend of features and functionality for photo enthusiasts at a price of $950; liveBooks 4.0 Lite offers tools specifically for emerging professionals and serious hobbyists at a cost of $1,900 while liveBooks 4.0 Pro offers larger images and advanced marketing tools for professional photographers at a cost of $3,500. Installment and leasing plans are available for either package, ensuring that LiveBooks can fit into any photographer’s budget.
About LiveBooks, Inc.
LiveBooks, Inc. is the leader in on-demand Website creation, management and
marketing services for photographers requiring a rich, image-intensive online
presence. As creative professionals ourselves, the LiveBooks team understands
the passion behind our customers’ work and their need to easily upload, edit,
market, send and sell images within a Website they can create within minutes
without the need for programming or design skills. The LiveBooks Website
supports photographers’ creative vision with full-screen, high-quality images
that download quickly, an intuitive navigation system based on input from photo
buyers, and a professional design aesthetic to help develop their business. For
more information, log onto http://www.livebooks.com
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