Let's Make A Book!

The View From Your Window feature began on May 22, 2006 as a week-long experiment, and your photos immediately poured in by the hundreds. A reader wrote, "More with those window views! - maybe a weekly feature?" I replied, "Certainly not a weekly feature."  On May 30, I declared the project over.

But you kept e-mailing me your windows, and we kept posting them. On June 12, I capitulated. The now-daily feature has become one of the most popular on the Dish, and we still receive hundreds of photos every week, now selected by Chris Bodenner.

So, after nearly 3 years, and well over a thousand published, we've decided to compile all your best windows into a book. A photo book? In this economy? And didn't you call the publishing industry "one of the shallowest, dumbest and most archaic in the U.S" - two years ago?  You bet, now more than ever. That's why we've decided to bypass the publishing houses altogether and experiment with print-on-demand. We're going to try to publish the book independently, through no established publishing house, as an experiment in blog-based, print-on-demand publishing.

But we still need your help. The goal for the book is to gather windows from as many parts of the world as possible. We've already compiled photos from about 100 countries, but we want to get as close to the 200 mark as we can - and all 50 US states.

Below is a list of locations we need the most (but feel free to send in views from any of the obscure reaches of the globe). Also, if you had e-mailed me a unique view from more than a year ago, please resend - in the largest file format you have.

Albania, Algeria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Monaco, Mozambique, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

Also, we'd like to have more candidates from AR, ID, KS, MS, OK, RI, SD, WV, WI, and WY.

While there is no single standard for a window view, we tend to adhere to a few guidelines. The window frame should be visible. Photos from car windows, trains, or airplanes are only allowed in very, very rare instances. Vertical photographs are also rarely accepted. No rainbows, children, or animals. The point of the project is not to document snow fall in New Orleans, the aftermath of a hurricane in the South Pacific, or a beautiful sunset in the Arizona desert. The best window views are those depicting what you see everyday when you look outside. So show us - and every other reader - your world. Don't pretty it up; just show it as it is - a glimpse through the looking glass of a blog, at the world its readers live in.

(Image: New Orleans, Louisiana, 9.03 am)