Last year I put some effort in to creating a 2009 Mountain Adventures Calendar. This wasn’t without masses of support from several of the the blog’s authors; providing their awesome photographs and stories. A big shout of gratitude to you all!
But, after the layout was completed (a sample month is shown below) I started down the rocky road to the printers…
To say the printing costs were high would be only part of the story. The main issue is “how many do I print”? Printing more means a lower unit cost – most of the printing costs are related to setting up the print job, not the paper consumables etc. However, there are quite a few risks associated with setting the size of the print run; ending up with a garage full of boxes of unsold calendars (and a large unrecovered debt) if I print too many, not having enough printed to meet demand, setting an unrealistic price, etc.
So, not wanting to let what seems like a great idea escape completely – many of the pictures on the blog are fantastic and deserve to get published – here’s the first step of the plan for 2010. It requires your help, just two clicks below…
Would you buy a Mountain Adventures Calendar?
- Yes (56%, 19 Votes)
- No (29%, 10 Votes)
- Not sure (12%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 34
Loading ...This survey will let me get a better idea of how many to print. Simple. Plus, if you have any other details you’d like to share, please leave a comment below or use the Feedback form to do so.
Just so you have some idea of what the finished product would be like, here are some of the key features:
- January to December 2010,
- 26 gorgeous full colour pages,
- 24 high resolution photographs from adventures in,
- Many of the countries (France, USA, UK, Canada, etc.) featured on this blog – each highlighted with a map,
- A double page booklet design. That is, two landscape pages (full page photograph at the top, large calendar for lots of personal notes at the bottom) providing a portrait layout with a stapled centre,
- High quality glossy art paper,
- Notable UK holidays, events, dates and moon phases,
- Hopefully a price of less than ยฃ10 if volumes makes this possible.
Please note, none of these details are definite yet and may change when I create the 2010 calendar.
Sample Month
Can you drop the months and replace them with years? That way I can get one calender to see out the decade. Oh and a price drop as well please, ยฃ1 per year seems expensive to me ๐ฏ
I know ยฃ10 for an annual calendar sounds reasonable, but it’s a bit more than I would pay, as I have a diary/calandar on my PDA and rarely look at a paper calendar; that said, if the pix really were excellent, I might consider it. Furthermore, if only a tiny % of the people who view the blog bought, surely the price could be nearer ยฃ5?
Yeah, you are right – “if only a tiny %’age … bought” – but that is the big “if” I’m trying to assess… ๐ So far it’s not that clear, of the hundreds to view this page very few have actually voted (and it’s only two clicks!), plus, not all of them have said yes. ๐
Hey Pete, I’ll have one………….. I love the idea :love: :love: , and lets face it a tenner gets you nothing nowadays ……………………………… oh I forgot, about 678,905 Barclays shares. ๐
If only we had joined the Euro zone when we had the chance!
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good joke Pete……….
No joke – it would be ace – all that changing money to visit France would be a thing of the past! Plus, crucially, our money would 50% more valuable right now!!! ๐
I thort politics was banned from this site โ ๐
Is this politics?
You’re running the site, if you can’t tell us what you think is/is not politics then we will have to get Tish to make up your mind for you.
As for the Euro. No chance. We now have so much government debt after bailing the bank out we will not meet the European central bank criteria for at least 25 years.
This is definitely politics so you guys better stop!
And if I ever hear of anyone suggesting we might join the euro zone then I’ll have to sack them!!!
I see Pete has had his mind made up ๐
My friend has just put together a book via the web… you place pictures in a template and add captions… they send it back to you… I think it is relatively expensive, but there may be a reduction on bulk order. I think a bound book of your most treasured group images would be lovely to own. The problem with calendars is they last a year (if they don’t fall off the wall)… the sample page has a glorious image…
I’d love to see a book with a few anecdotes and memories attached. Your voyages are awesome and should be published in some form… You could do one a year… and then all look back when you are 90 together…
๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฎ
I think the idea is good, but after lots of reserch a few years ago, I shelved the project because of costs. And at that time I had lots of contacts in the printing industry. One of the main problems is distribution to shops etc. as they need to make profit on all their sales. Also, now-a-days there are so many good free adventure calendars given away with mags. The photos need to inspire you to go and do the route or go to the area, which many of your photos may do if carefully selected.
I tend to get given a few calendars each year, so would not buy it for myself but would consider buying it as a gift for someone else. The price does seem top end, so perhaps people would be more inclined to buy if there was a donation made to a suitable charity?
Great idea, but you need to find the niche in the market. How about cakes in an adventurous setting?!
A cream horn on a snow capped peak and a vanilla slice hanging from a stalactite?