Tue, January 25th, 2005 by your_waitress
In the current post about the server issues, a few people suggested setting up a Photoblogs.org Print Shop. It wouldn't help the current problems, but might be helpful for a long term revenue source. That is why I posted it seperately, per Brandon's suggestion in that thread. Is this doable and feasable? Are enough people interested in spending some time and effort to actually make it work? Here are a few questions that come to mind:
Where would it be located? host, server, etc.
Who would run/manage it? Brandon already has too much on his plate.
How would it be set up? Selling only prints, or perhaps a revamp of the calendar idea could be added.
Where would the money go? All to help Photoblogs.org stay afloat, or some back to the memebers.
I personally, like the idea, and would gladly donate a print or two with the intention of the profits going to Photoblogs.org. Also, in the future maybe donations of a certain amount to Photoblogs.org could get a free print, to encourage others outside the community to buy/donate as well?
I'm sure you all have much more to add, so discuss!
January 25th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
Count me in. I'll donate prints and time...setting up the gallery, that sort of stuff.
January 25th, 2005 at 7:52 pm
Personally I think the money should go back to Brandon to help run the site as an ongoing appreciation, we could also consider giving a percentage to charity.
For most people the only effort would be donating a hi-res file or two, we should figure out a way to make the shop do the rest. I'm not too up on all these store front sites but it seems to me there should be somewhere we can have prints made to order and shipped for a cut of the price. We would just need to manage the inventory and finances.
January 25th, 2005 at 7:54 pm
also, I know a lot of people have 'buy a print' links on their sites and we wouldn't want to mess with that but perhaps in the long run this store front could be seen as a way for us all to benefit by selling prints more directly, still donating some of our favourites to the photoblogs.org account.
January 26th, 2005 at 4:25 am
i'll be happy to donate prints!
January 26th, 2005 at 8:11 am
I'd love to donate some prints...
January 26th, 2005 at 8:14 am
i'll be happy to donate prints too !
January 26th, 2005 at 12:09 pm
Im with Miles on this one. Dont know if anyone will buy my crappy work, but Im def. down to donate anything i can. dont really want to make any money - so i will donate to charity/photoblogs.org...
January 26th, 2005 at 12:59 pm
I would glady help in any way possible but it will take a while to setup a photoshop.... maybe first, you can just start off by just selling the hi-res photos and leave it up to the purchaser to find a printer... of course, all this takes more server space and money -dang it !
For the current server issues, I think Brandon should setup a paypal so we can all donate right away !!!
January 26th, 2005 at 1:19 pm
hey, i work at a print shop that does digital photographic prints. we do all kinds of stuff for studios and freelancers. we can even print inkjet to canvas and stretch it on a frame. looks amazing.
if interested, drop me a line and i'll shoot back some example pricing. i could probably swing you a discount.
January 26th, 2005 at 2:02 pm
What this needs to get of the ground is a point person. Someone to run it. As Heather said in the other thread, it's pretty involved. Someone needs to communicate with donors and buyers, update the site, get photos printed and ship them out, manage the books and banking side of it, and heaven know what else.
It's complicated and time-consuming to the point where the person should probably be paid something, a percentage of sales that would built into the price of the prints, which could be purchased in various sizes depending on how hi-res the original is. I know some will say that ALL of the money should go to support Photoblogs.org, but when someone is being paid to do something they tend to do a better job, and what's good for the Print Shop is good for Photoblogs.org imho.
This person would probably not design the site itself. That task would probably either be done by Brandon or another volunteer. It should be similar in appearance to other sites in the Photoblogs.org online empire.
Thoughts? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?
January 26th, 2005 at 3:03 pm
I'm all for donating prints.
We could consider using a service like http://www.CafePress.com. I use them for the company I work for, though not the prints. I'd be happy to spearhead this and work out a deal with CafePress. We could even have Photoblogs.org printed on products for sale.
January 26th, 2005 at 3:20 pm
Before anything uses the Photoblogs.org logo/name/etc I need to approve it first.
January 26th, 2005 at 3:25 pm
Of course!
Everything would be done per your approval. Didn't mean for my post to sound like doing stuff outside of Photoblogs.org.
January 26th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
I will gladly donate hi-res files. Some money too, to support photoblogs.org if there were an economical way to make that even from this far corner of the world.
January 26th, 2005 at 5:44 pm
I used to deal with CafePress but I was extremely dissapointed with the quality of their calendars. Low print quality and white margins on the side of some images even throught I used full bleed.
I have been extremely pleased with the posters produced by Zazzle.
January 27th, 2005 at 10:23 am
To keep things simple, it makes sense to me to have the original photographer create the print themselves, and then send it along to Brandon for sale/auction/whatever (along with a low-res file to advetise it online). This way everyone has complete power over the quality of his or her own print and isn't disappointed if some service screws up the color, tone, etc.
Then, when the prints go on sale, just be sure to make it clear how the prints were made (c-prints, silver, inkjet, type of ink, type of paper, etc.) and let the buyer use that info when deciding whether or not to buy.
my .02
-n
January 27th, 2005 at 10:56 am
I think Nick is heading in the right direction. One of my goals with Photoblogs.org is to give you all as much control as possible. That way you can do things how you like and I don't get overloaded with more work than I can handle.
As I think about this more, I'm envisioning a system where you mark a setting in your Photoblogs.org profile saying that you're selling prints. Then we have a site like prints.photoblogs.org (or whatever) where everyone's prints are somehow listed.
I know this would require a bit of programming, but I think I can set up a simple, minimal system at first and just continue to build on it over time.
Photoblogs.org would get a percentage of the sales and you would get more exposure for your prints. Now, the big important question is: Will enough people buy the prints to make this a worthwhile effort?
January 27th, 2005 at 11:16 am
That sounds good. Simpler is always better, and I always like to control what my prints look like.
The question is, are you then holding us on our honor to forward a percentage of our sales to you? Or vice-versa? Or is there a way, through something like paypal, to divide a payment between two parties?
-n
January 27th, 2005 at 11:38 am
Controlling the print quality is the way to go, i.e. the NY Times photos store.
However there are several issues:
1. Since it's mostly photobloggers visiting Photoblogs.org, who's going to buy the prints? How will others know about the availability of prints through the new print site?
2. Managing prints from the photobloggers will be a nightmare. Far easier to manage digital files and make prints on demand.
3. Someone needs to review each submission. Can't make objectionable prints available to the public.
4. There are added costs by having photobloggers make their prints and shipping them to the fulfillment location. The payback is free advertising but if this becomes successful, the out-of-pocket expenses for the author (photoblogger)will climb. One possible solution is to have part of the sale go back to the author.
Selling prints is a great idea, but the logistics and operational part of this could become more of a job than what Brandon wants.
If we're sure there's an audience for prints, what's needed is a company that's already handling prints to do the following:
1. Build the store and shopping cart.
2. Store prints/files from authors.
3. Make high quality prints w/mat and frame options.
4. Fulfillment and shipping.
5. Customer service.
January 27th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
Hmmm...I have a feeling that a company is a bit more than Brandon wants to take on. I think, ultimately, it would be simpler to take all the quality control and pricing issues and put them into the hands of the photoblogger. The photoblogger could decide whethr he or she wants to sell prints through their own site, and then decide if they want to list through photoblogs.org. I would envision a photoblogger choosing one or two pics to list exclusively through photoblogs.org, and then divide the price of the print somehow between photoblogs.org and the photoblogger. Or something like that... I think it's important that all quality and customer service go through the photoblogger.
Another model to check out might be Blind Spot's edition sales. Their prices are probably higher then most people here would charge, and they're more exclusive, but I think the idea is similar to what's being discussed here:
http://tinyurl.com/57cuf
-n
January 27th, 2005 at 2:56 pm
It's only my point of view as a developer, but I think it's not worth to build any print phop for photoblogs.org (in terms of benefits to the site and the community). There are many factors involved in a project like this, as Michael and others said above, and it would certainly raise not only the costs related to bandwidth and server load, which is exactly the thing we wanted to avoid, but it would probably need a huge inversion in money and efforts to cover the logistics, store management, etc...
I think is Brandon who has to evaluate all the posibilities and decide about this issue, but assuming the response people is having with the fund drive campaign, the print shop option seems completely unnecesary and complicated to me. And if you want to sell prints, you always could do it directly from your own photoblog.
Regards and congratulations to everyone involved.
January 28th, 2005 at 7:57 am
Can I ask how much bandwidth/traffic is currently being generated?
January 28th, 2005 at 8:39 am
The current fund drive was an overwhelmingly success!
Selling prints as an long term revenue source doesn't seem viable, given the success of the fund drive. Brandon could probably do a fund drive once a year to cover his projected operational costs.
However, I also like the idea of members being responsible for their own prints. Once possibility is to still build the print site, and that site would show the available prints for sale by members. The link would take the user to the members' site and the sale & transaction would take place there. A percentage, anywhere between 20% - 50% after print & shipping costs, would go back to Photoblogs.org. The print site becomes a centralized "store" for members. Brandon could also use the revenue generated by this store to promote and advertise the site.
January 28th, 2005 at 8:44 am
In the 2nd paragraph, "Selling prints as an long term revenue source doesn't seem viable..." was an error, I meant "Selling prints as a long term revenue source needn't be an option, given the success of the fund drive." My bad.
January 28th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
I agree with Michael on point #2. If people are submitting actual prints (as opposed to digital files) there will be a problem with consistent quality. Also, it would be nice to have size choices when ordering. That would only work smoothly if the person doing the fulfillment was bringing digital files to a place and having them made to order.
On his point #3, I'd be more worried about people submitting boring content rather than objectionable content. Ideally, the Print Shop would approach photobloggers for specific photos which have strong artistic merit, and the site would offer a small choice selection that could change each month.
I don't think we need to find a company to do this, but we do need a dedicated person who would run it like a company in that they have a system and a routine that makes it a success.
January 28th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
if the print shop uses only 'selected' images that sounds a bit different from the earlier discussion. everyone who wants to donate a print or two should be able to, imho. perhaps there could be various sections such as most popluar, editors choice, newly submitted as well as specific categories pertaining to the subjects. also, limiting the number of prints per member submitted might help raise the quality of the images. this could also be done on a timeframe, say each member can only submit one image every 3 months. i'm sure we all would want our best images represented.
as i said above i think this is a great idea, however it should include as many members as possible.
April 13th, 2008 at 1:16 am
That sounds good. Simpler is always better, and I always like to control what my prints look like.