Patrick Brown on the Emphas.is Book Publishing Platform By his own account, Patrick Brown is a stubborn man. Undeterred by beatings, police detentions or exotic illnesses, he has spent most of the past decade obsessively documenting the illegal trade of endangered species. Almost as great a task, however, has been trying to sell his project, "Trading in Extinction," to book publishers on four continents. Many turned him down because of what they perceived as unpalatable subject matter. Others just demanded he pay for the privilege of being published. "One publisher didn't even want to see the work," he said. He just wanted to know if I had $30,000. I didn't have it, because I spent my entire life savings producing this body of work."" The experience left him frustrated and demoralized - but still determined. His luck changed when Emphas.is, the photography crowd-sourcing Web site, invited him to participate in its book publishing venture which began Monday. The photographers Peter Dench and William Daniels are also featured. The founders of Emphas.is Publishing - Karim Ben Khelifa, Tina Ahrens and Walter Tjantele - are trying to fill a void for photographers trying to publish documentary and photojournalism projects. "The publishing world today is not really sympathetic to photojournalists and probably with good reason," Mr. Ben Khelifa said. I think publishers do what they can, but photojournalism is a small niche. And that makes it hard for them to get the return. The goal of Emphas.is Publishing is to help photographers produce books affordably while retaining full editorial and design control. Emphas.is will assist in financing, printing, shipping, warehousing, distribution and promotion. All production costs will be raised in advance by pre-selling 100 limited-edition signed volumes, packaged with an archival photographic print, for $100. Larger prints and other services, like workshops, may also be used to defray production costs. Printed in Italy, a typical press run would be 1,000 copies. The remaining 900 books will also be pre-sold or made available through bookstores, social networks and the Emphas.is Web site. Mr. Brown, who is represented by Panos Pictures and won a World Press Award in 2004, does not see himself as an animal activist. He wears leather shoes and enjoys a good steak. But the story of the exotic animal trade was not being told when he started a decade ago. The profits were enormous - for the smugglers, not for him - with rhinoceros horns selling for more per ounce than gold. If enough people pre-order Mr. Brown's book, he will have completed what he set out to do 10 years ago: expose the devastating effects of the trade on endangered animal species. Much more attention has been paid to the issue since he started, and he said he hopes that as enforcement increases, smugglers will look elsewhere. "A smuggler is a smuggler," Mr. Brown said. He doesn't care whether it's half a tiger, guns or heroin. At the end of the day, it's all about making a profit.