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11/17/2006 04:30:22 PM · #1 |
With all this talk of photography and the IRS in another thread, it got me thinking about starting up a small side business (again). I made a rather heavy investment in digital equipment this year, and am looking for a way to possibly recoup some of my expenses.
I was thinking of going through my archives and possibly putting together a calendar of some sort (landscapes, wildlife, horticultural, etc)for sale in local businesses or via USPS. Does anyone have any experience and advice that they can share regarding calendars, such as printing/publishing costs, pitfalls to avoid, etc? Is this something that a Kinko's can do, or is there a better alternative? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. |
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11/18/2006 09:29:11 AM · #2 |
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11/18/2006 09:44:10 AM · #3 |
I'm going to watch this thread. Maybe someone will have some good info for us. I checked recently on costs at Kinko's and Staples. They were phenominally high. If you order a large quantity they will cut you a break but still way higher than you could sell them for. I ended up printing out one calendar on my printer and taking it to staples to be put together and it cost me an arm and a leg. (It was a 12 by12)
They ruined my cover and first page and then reprinted it from a scan on inferior paper. Took them over two hours, too. I still can't believe I paid them. :( |
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11/18/2006 10:48:27 AM · #4 |
| Another thread was talking about photobooks but it looks like this site also does calendars LULU and they look like they have reasonable prices. |
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11/18/2006 11:08:02 AM · #5 |
Unless you can sell a lot of calendars, you are likely to find yourself priced out of the market by the big guys.
In the meantime, however, here is a free calendar.
Dick
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11/18/2006 11:10:52 AM · #6 |
A few years ago Kinkos quoted me $25 per for a short run standard sized wall calendar of my own creation. To make a profit of course you'd have to get that well under what calendars usually run for in your local stores. Somewhere in the $5 range at least. That would require buying a huge number of calendars. Then the hard part becomes moving all those calendars. It's a lot like the card industry but even worse because the product becomes dated much much quicker.
Not to dissuade you though. There are thousands of printers out there and you can find deals on printing. How were you thinking of selling them?
EDIT: Oops... you already said how you were going to sell them. That's even more like selling cards. It's a lot of work for not so much return. I think I would look to a calendar company and trying to market images that way. Less frustrating in the end and you don't have the large outlay up front.
Message edited by author 2006-11-18 11:14:09. |
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11/18/2006 11:31:14 AM · #7 |
Remember that a calendar has a very short shelf life. Perhaps six weeks. no one bys a calendar after Feb. 1. And they can't be reused the next year.
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11/18/2006 03:36:50 PM · #8 |
I just released my 2007 calendar. Done through CafePress.
//www.samchadwickphoto.com/2007calendar.html
Happy to answer any questions, but the great bit is that they 'host and post'. You just have to get people to your page to buy it online!!
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11/18/2006 04:54:53 PM · #9 |
Here is mine for this year. I have two available and whilst they are sold in many stores...they are also available directly through me.
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06/06/2013 06:56:31 PM · #10 |
If you are interested to do a home business or small business then you can do online photo book publishing business. There are many sites available for that where you can put your photos and stories into a published storybook and earn income.You can even quickly and professionally publish a beautiful hardcover book as well as canvases, calendars, posters, greeting cards, individual scrapbook pages and earn money.
Message edited by author 2013-06-06 18:56:55. |
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06/07/2013 11:15:10 AM · #11 |
Info on Lulu.com and recommendation by a user.
I have used lulu.com for several years, and like them for many reasons. They are a print-on-demand service, so you have no minimum purchase quantities. You retain the copyright to your work. They provide an "author spotlight" page that showcases your works, and allows the public to download or purchase print versions.
//www.lulu.com/spotlight/tremain is my spotlight page (which is old - last year's calendars, etc.)
They use good quality paper and ink - very nice results. They also have been, in my experience, very good at working with you when there is a quality problem (for example, I got some copies where the cover on my Gift Of Hope book was chopping off some of the text (title, author) - they worked with me to get the issue corrected, and re-printed the bad books at no charge.)
They use a "production fee", which is based upon the size and type of published article plus their overhead. They give discounts on the production fee at certain quantity breakpoints. As the author, you can order your own work for the production fee plus s&h.
If you want to make a profit, you set a selling price higher than the production cost. Lulu takes the order (through your spotlight page), they collect the money, they drop-ship the item to the customer, and they give you 75% of the profit (selling price minus production fee) on a periodic basis - quarterly by check for the previous quarter if income > $20 or so. You can also have your earnings directly credited to PayPal, I believe - on a monthly basis.
They provide templates to help you with creating a calendar, book, etc.
Lulu.com has expanded, and now offers e-books, as well as the ability to see both print and e-books through amazon.com (complete with your own ISBN number!). I have not used that service, though - it works a bit differently. |
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06/07/2013 11:54:13 AM · #12 |
Calendar Business Comments
Been there. Done that. Production costs for an individual calendar are too high to make a reasonable profit. It is really hard to compete with the $4 Wal-Mart special, which have very nice pictures, but are on relatively thin paper. Folks won't spend $20 on your calendar when they can get a functional one at Wal-Mart for $4. Market price expectations are just too low vs. production costs.
However, there are some ways to make it work. If you can do a specialized / customized calendar for individuals or for an organization - for example, my Wild Flowers 2012 and Wetlands 2012 calendars were for the Little Rivers Wetland Project. I've done calendars for the Old Fort VW Club, and a Thunderbird club. The advantage here is either you're contributing an amount per calendar to the organization, and/or the calendar features potential buyers' cars (or pets, etc.). Because of that, folks are willing to pay more. I have also done one-off custom calendars, where an individual wants one of my calendars, but wants a picture of a specific item that the recipient particularly like (e.g., the Hot Rods calendar, except with a Hummer for one month). Lulu allows you to do that level of customization fairly easily, and there is no price difference.
My "share" of the profit on a $20 calendar is about $6. Another thing you can do is order your calendars at production fee cost, eat the s&h & tax, and keep whatever you can sell them for. Best scenario is to have a club pre-order the calendar, order them, and then deliver them to the next club meeting for folks to pick up.
I 100% agree about short shelf-life. Your inventory value drops to 0.00 by 15-Jan and maybe earlier, like 03-Jan. And, it is really tough to sell next year's calendar before 01-Nov, although taking orders is one way to do it.
The time to begin next year's calendar is NOW - if you have pictures you can use for summer, fall, and winter from last year / this year. If not, begin shooting now for the 2015 calendar. If you can't have your next year's calendar ready by 01-Sep of this year, you've missed the window of opportunity. Processing, shipping, etc., etc. all take a lot longer than you'd expect.
On writing off your photo equipment, check with your tax advisor - there are special rules on large money amount items that are expected to last many years. There are also some rules about how many years in a row you can claim a loss on a business before it is considered a "hobby" by the IRS.
Also, with lulu.com, you have to do your own promotion (or hire it done). The lulu.com web site has so many books, calendars, etc. that yours will most likely never been seen unless you can direct folks to it.
However, because lulu.com is such a huge site, if you google "Gift of Hope" Tremain (or the other way around), my book is the #1 hit. Same for Wetlands 2012 Tremain & my calendar.
I'm open to collaborating with folks on a calendar or photo book project.
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