Print On Demand has changed the publishing business. While the cost per unit is definitely higher at the retail side, no one has to take the BIG risk of printing up 10,000+ units without guaranteed sales. The downside: not much profit to be made, so less interest in this as a commercial venture.
The real rub: see Warren's first post on this thread and the mention of "preferably free." Who in the boating industry these days has deep enough pockets to produce (time ain't cheap) a calender, pay something to the photographers for the use of their (great) images, do the layout, pay the printing costs (also not cheap)... so they can hand out a FREE :?: calendar?
I once produced a gorgeous custom Christmas card for a boat manufacturer that they could send to owners, potential buyers, and vendors. i was able to get their cost down to about $1.50 each for a couple thousand.
I have no doubt that there would be a handful of people here who would pay $20 for a gorgeous C-Dory calendar. Most wouldn't. If one were to pick 13 great images for a calender, there would certainly be at least 13 sales. :wink: Having done calenders in the past, I know how much work is involved in the production. i see this topic come up on various forums (boat, RV, motorcycle, etc, etc) this time of year. Even if one can come up with the (great) images, there is then the concern of "how to market" - does the forum allow sales of such items?
Having said all that, IF Bill and Mike were to approve of a project like this to be promoted ON this forum, I would be willing to ramrod the production (I know how many manhours this will really take). Proceeds to go to the forum. No one gets a freebie. Make it POD and that would take care of any shipping and handling work.
Of course, it would have been better to have done the pre-production work several months ago, but it could be set up to be an 18 month calender, starting next July. Damn, the more I write here, the more concern about shooting myself in the foot. Heck, this was Warren's idea... maybe HE wants to do all this work so he can pay $20 for a free calender? :roll: These days, I'm a trophy husband, author, and occasional tour boat captain... not sure I'm looking for another job. :wink:
Best wishes,
Jim B.