A quirky book of photos and interviews has rocketed to the top of the NY Times bestseller list, demonstrating once again the value of doing what interests you.
Julie Bosman at the NY Times reports on Brandon Stanton’s success with taking portraits and asking subjects both mild questions and questions “so personal they might make Oprah Winfrey blush. …
“Hundreds of his pictures and interviews have been compiled into a book, Humans of New York, which has become an instant publishing phenomenon. After its first week on sale last month, the book landed in the No. 1 spot on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-seller list. …
“Mr. Stanton grew up in an Atlanta suburb and attended the University of Georgia. After graduating as a film major, he found a job in Chicago as a trader, and on the weekends, he spent hours photographing that city.
“But after he was laid off in 2010, Mr. Stanton decided to shift to a completely new career. He moved to New York, where he didn’t know a single person. …
“After several months, he began moving in a different direction, interviewing his subjects and asking them about their lives, their struggles, their disappointments and their hopes.
“Most people brushed him off. … But his project gradually attracted an audience, mostly people in their 20s who left enthusiastic comments on his website. When his Facebook page had collected more than 200,000 followers, Mr. Stanton decided it was time to collect the pictures into a book.
“St. Martin’s Press, part of Macmillan, was the only publisher willing to print the book in hardcover.”
Good for St. Martin’s! Bet Stanton’s editor, Yaniv Soha, is laughing at all the naysayers now — laughing all the way to the bank.
More at the NY Times.
Photo: Brandon Stanton
The quote in the caption is presumably from the girl’s parents: “We ordered her those pants, and as soon as they arrived, she cut off the bottoms and made a pair of gloves.”
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