|
|
|
|
justthemaid
Oct 3, 2007, 4:06 PM
Post #1 of 15
(472 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 11, 2004
Posts: 777
|
Apologies for the long post.
So I'm a stained glass artist for a living. Due to health problems (work related) over the last 2 years I've scaled back to part time and I'm concentrating more on my fine art and art shows and less on commercial commissions.
My master plan... Produce a small book of my artwork to sell at my shows so I can supplement my income not that I can't do this full time any more. Seems like a $20 picture book will be easier to sell than a $500 stained glass window and I'm still selling my art. I've spoken with one photographer who did the same. He now makes more $ off his books than his actual art.
I spend months learning how to shoot a good stained glass photo (not easy). I'm already in for over $3000.00 in photography, scans (I'm shooting medium format film) and lay-up.
Now I'm getting the bid for the actual printing.
Estimate: $7000.00 (about $6.00 per book)
Yikes I say...and that's the buddy price from a friend. (The photographer paid $14,000.00) Needless to say- I don't have $7000.00 laying around and at the moment I can't handle the financial strain of another monthly payment on a bank loan.
My options:
1) Borrow from mommy and daddy. Mom's on board. Dad's on the fence.
Pro: All the profits are mine and the unit cost is low. Con: Expensive at first. Not sure that I can realistically pay the parents back any time in the next 10 years.
2) Self publish digitally on line.
Pro: You can order small amounts. Con: Kinda high per unit price (around $12.00)and the quality isn't nearly as good. Bindings sometimes fall apart too.
3) Get someone to publish it for me.
There are companies that only publish stained glass books. Problem- they mostly want instructional and pattern books and won't touch a "vanity" book with a 10-foot pole. I would have to re-write the book as an instructional book on my techniques. (Not appealing).
4) Hire a ghost writer friend (with a literary agent) to publish it under his name.
This solution leaves me with a few people with their fingers in the pie and may make it more difficult to obtain and sell copies at my shows but the distribution will be wider.
5) Just wait. Hold off. Gather funds. Print up a few digital copies and see how they sell before committing.
6) Ditch the whole starving artist thing thing and become a stained glass photographer. (There are like 3 in the whole country).
Your thoughts??
|
|
|
|
|
imnotclever
Oct 3, 2007, 4:30 PM
Post #2 of 15
(461 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 8, 2003
Posts: 10000
|
#2 AND #6. As a guess.
Are you selling these at shows? How many do you expect to sell at one time? Is there a minimum production run you need? How long would it take to get more printed up either web or option #1?
Could you get by on #2 enough and pocket some of the profits enough to get you to the point of being able to do #1?
|
|
|
|
|
justthemaid
Oct 3, 2007, 6:02 PM
Post #3 of 15
(448 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 11, 2004
Posts: 777
|
imnotclever wrote: #2 AND #6. As a guess. Are you selling these at shows?
Yes. And eventually off my website.
In reply to: How many do you expect to sell at one time?
Haven't got a clue. I have only the one photographer as a reference. He says he made back his investment in one year. I do a lot less shows than him though.
In reply to: Is there a minimum production run you need?
Printed (non-digital)...yes. It's totally inpractical to run less than 1500 copies and the per unit price drops drastically after 2000.
In reply to: How long would it take to get more printed up either web or option #1?
Once it's set up it doesn't take long. Couple weeks at most. Option #1 would leave me with a several-year supply I think and an enormous profit margin after I sell the first 500 books.
Digital only takes a few days. Could order small batches and have them shipped as I needed them.
In reply to: Could you get by on #2 enough and pocket some of the profits enough to get you to the point of being able to do #1?
Probably lucky just to break even with op#2, but it would give me an idea of how many copies I can realistically sell in a year. I also have some major concerns about the quality of the online self-publish books.
Option 6 (although I was quasi-joking) is also a major investment. I've been using borrowed camera eqipment for the last year.
(This post was edited by justthemaid on Oct 3, 2007, 6:13 PM)
|
|
|
|
|
microbarn
Oct 3, 2007, 9:25 PM
Post #4 of 15
(415 views)
Shortcut
Registered: May 12, 2004
Posts: 5920
|
I like 5 then 3 then 1.
I know you said 3 wasn't really possible, but you don't know what you will get until you ask. It won't hurt to hear a no. You will still be in the same place as now.
Is the book done or just the photos?
If the book is done, then things would be easier because you could let the book sell itself.
|
|
|
|
|
justthemaid
Oct 3, 2007, 9:54 PM
Post #5 of 15
(406 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 11, 2004
Posts: 777
|
The photography is done and scanned to digital.
The written part will be done in 2 weeks. The whole book will be on a disc and ready to print in about 3 weeks.
I make about 30-40% of my income for the entire year doing X-mas shows. It would be nice to have something ready to sell by Thanksgiving.
That's the only bummer about the waiting scenario or having someone else publish it for me.. No $ for a year.
(This post was edited by justthemaid on Oct 3, 2007, 9:55 PM)
|
|
|
|
|
hiyapokey
Oct 3, 2007, 11:04 PM
Post #6 of 15
(391 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jul 6, 2006
Posts: 315
|
Take some pictures of other artists work in a certain stained glass genre. Then sell that work to the publishing company as a coffee table book for impressionist stained glass or whatever it is. If you can get some credibility with the publisher as a photographer then they may be more willing to publish a book of your personal work, as well as having better opportunities for your other options. Then if none of that works out as pointed out before you still have the other options available to you.
|
|
|
|
|
rmsusa
Oct 3, 2007, 11:34 PM
Post #7 of 15
(379 views)
Shortcut
Registered: May 24, 2004
Posts: 1017
|
Do you really believe you can sell a bunch of these at shows and elsewhere? You have to answer this one yourself. If you do, I'd advise borrowing the money somehow and going first class. Being really cheap won't get you anywhere in business.
Your costs:
$7000 @ $6/book => 1000 books (rounding)
$3000 photography => $3/book
Rounding a lot and using a bigger number:
Total direct costs: $10/book.
Your gross margin on 1000 books@$20: $10,000
Interest on $8,000 for a year @ 10% = $800.
If you can sell 80 books in a year, you've paid interest costs. If you sell all 1000 you've paid everything off, you've got a SMALL amount of money in your pocket ($1200)and you have 1000 books out there promoting your work, which probably means lots more art to work on. If you sell 500, you're still in debt, but with 500 books out there, you'll probably be making more money.
Think in terms of additional revenue, not your current situation.
If you borrow at credit card rates, you'll be slightly negative, but not significantly.
It all depends on how much YOU believe in the project. Like most start-ups, this requires a leap of faith. If it works, you're doing OK. If it totally fails, you're $8K in debt. Chances are, you'll be somewhere in between. I haven't seen either the artwork or the photography, so can't offer an opinion.
Make the decision yourself, stick to it and follow through.
|
|
|
|
|
justthemaid
Oct 4, 2007, 12:34 AM
Post #8 of 15
(371 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 11, 2004
Posts: 777
|
rmsusa wrote: Do you really believe you can sell a bunch of these at shows and elsewhere? You have to answer this one yourself. If you do, I'd advise borrowing the money somehow and going first class. Being really cheap won't get you anywhere in business. Your costs: $7000 @ $6/book => 1000 books (rounding) $3000 photography => $3/book Rounding a lot and using a bigger number: Total direct costs: $10/book Your gross margin on 1000 books@$20: $10,000 Interest on $8,000 for a year @ 10% = $800.
Actually it's a bit better than that. For another $350 I can double the # of copies I get to 2000 books. No interest on a parental loan.
I'm certain my customers would buy the books. A lot of people visit my booth year after year, but don't have the $ or windows to hang one of my actual pieces. Just how many a year will sell is the big ?.
I initially got the idea because every other customer that stands at the booth and looks at my photo album asks "How much is this??"
In reply to: If you can sell 80 books in a year, you've paid interest costs. If you sell all 1000 you've paid everything off, you've got a SMALL amount of money in your pocket ($1200)and you have 1000 books out there promoting your work, which probably means lots more art to work on. If you sell 500, you're still in debt, but with 500 books out there, you'll probably be making more money. Think in terms of additional revenue, not your current situation. If you borrow at credit card rates, you'll be slightly negative, but not significantly. It all depends on how much YOU believe in the project. Like most start-ups, this requires a leap of faith. If it works, you're doing OK. If it totally fails, you're $8K in debt. Chances are, you'll be somewhere in between. I haven't seen either the artwork or the photography, so can't offer an opinion.
I see it as the ol' "gotta spend $ to make $" syndrome. I'm encouraged by the luck the photographer had with the same idea but a bit freaked about the gamble with how long it might take me to turn it around since I don't do shows full time.
I don't have the disc from my scans to show you guys right now, but the photos came out awesome. I'll post some regular pics later of anyone gives a rat's ass.
|
|
|
|
|
microbarn
Oct 4, 2007, 11:56 AM
Post #9 of 15
(348 views)
Shortcut
Registered: May 12, 2004
Posts: 5920
|
justthemaid wrote: Option 6 (although I was quasi-joking) is also a major investment. I've been using borrowed camera eqipment for the last year.[/quote you could borrow the equipment, but pay them for it. Essentially, rent the equipment from your friend for the first couple of times you do the photography. Then, you can buy your own stuff after the first couple of shoots.
|
|
|
|
|
justthemaid
Oct 4, 2007, 2:57 PM
Post #10 of 15
(335 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 11, 2004
Posts: 777
|
I definitely intend to buy my own medium format film camera. The pics just look too good. ( I won't get into the technicalities of why digital sucks for stained glass). They're the equivalent of about a 50 megapixel digital camera by the time you scan the slides.
...and I feel so cool being all "old school". Setting up my giant circa 1970's Pentax on a 40 lb. tripod.
Quick!- Someone send me a beret. Stat!
The book publisher liked my photos so much I'm working off $800.00 of my scanning bill photographing a few of her windows. I consider that a compliment from someone who looks at images all day long and probably has a pretty discerning eye.
|
|
|
|
|
justthemaid
Oct 4, 2007, 3:27 PM
Post #11 of 15
(319 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 11, 2004
Posts: 777
|
These are just crappy digitals I took for my photobucket.
|
|
|
|
|
maww
Oct 4, 2007, 3:44 PM
Post #12 of 15
(315 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 4, 2004
Posts: 3253
|
Have you talked to anyone else who is in your field and has published a book? If you can find someone who has done what you want to do and they've had success doing it - then simply do it the way they did and you'll succeed.
There's a lot of other considerations that would factor in my decision if I were you but as someone earlier said (forgive me as I forgot this person's name) - you've got to decide for yourself.
Everything requires a leap of faith - just make sure you've got a plan. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
Have you considered microloans? Microenterprise is growing in the US and you may have a non-profit org in your 'hood that can help you. Sorry I don't know where you live or I could probably direct you to one.
|
|
|
|
|
justthemaid
Oct 4, 2007, 4:14 PM
Post #13 of 15
(306 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 11, 2004
Posts: 777
|
maww wrote: Have you talked to anyone else who is in your field and has published a book? If you can find someone who has done what you want to do and they've had success doing it - then simply do it the way they did and you'll succeed.
About a week ago I fired off some e-mails to a few artist/authors who have actually done this. I don't know any of them personally and haven't had any responses yet. I also noticed the books I have in my personal collection all seem to have copyrights before 1990. I suspect with the advent of the digital age it has gotten much harder to get art books published.
90% of all the literary agents I researched state in their ads: "We do not accept art books."
In reply to: Everything requires a leap of faith - just make sure you've got a plan. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
The plan will be decided this week.
In reply to: Have you considered microloans? .......
Not yet
(This post was edited by justthemaid on Oct 4, 2007, 4:14 PM)
|
|
|
|
|
maww
Oct 5, 2007, 4:45 PM
Post #14 of 15
(277 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 4, 2004
Posts: 3253
|
Just an FYI, if you are looking for more self-publishing print-on-demand options, look around at writersweekly.com.
Angela is the head of that operation and she's got some fantastic info for you.
She's a wonderful writer & a terrific person.
|
|
|
|
|
happiegrrrl
Oct 5, 2007, 7:32 PM
Post #15 of 15
(270 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 25, 2004
Posts: 4660
|
You could always start out with the print-on-demand books, to see just what the reaction will be when people actually can plunk money.
That would allow you to get some books ready and in your booth in time for holiday - no other way is going to have that quick enough turnaround...
It will also allow you to 'test' your book - listen to the comments people make, and if necessary, make adjustments where needed.
You'll get an idea on the numbers that sell.
Small investment - print out a small number to have on hand at your next show(keeping a few in reserve for the ones who really need it now....). if possible, set up a system where they can order it on the spot, which allows you to stock a lower inventory. People who are traveling might be happier to order and have it delivered to home instead of carrying around too - at holiday, this is true. And also - they can order to have shipped to the gift recipient....
This all will allow you to have a better idea at how feasible a project your book is, in going to a publisher, or in getting your father off the fence.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
