This article attempts to thread insights and learnings through a decade of research and practice on centring artists’ publishing as a collaborative method for qualitative research. The article focuses on a discussion of three case study works. These are 1) On Innards Publication (2015), 2) Non-Sequitur (2021), and 3) Re: Infinite Dialogue (2023). In all three projects, the book has been a central concern in collaborating with a broad range of practitioners across fields of art, design, architecture, media and beyond. Analysis and discussion subsequently considers the unique qualities of artists’ publishing in relation to positioning the book as a third space and boundary object. The insights can be useful for the research community in engaging in complex research contexts and the scaffolding for centring the relational position of the book as a method to engage with diverse communities, practices and knowledges, and mediating and remediating the hierarchies involved.