Excellent response!
I don't think that many people in the TIGER community have any perception of
the tremendous effort and commitment it takes to produce a calendar or
magazine
Sometimes it's easier to snipe and moan and in most cases the people who do
shout the loudest are those that contribute the least?
But then we don't live in a perfect world?
I could produce a full colour calendar for roughly 2/3000 £
Say $5000
STOC would be happy to produce a calendar for 1999-it's to late for 1998! A
multi tiger club calendar is certainly the way to go
Would CAT,STOA,TE/AE and all the host of tiger clubs make a financial
contribution?---remember I have the largest TIGER/ALPINE archive on this
planet!
Now what was it Dorothy said?
Oh yes I remember ---"I don't think we are in Kansas any more!!!!!
"
Best wishes David
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net On Behalf Of Schotland
Sent: 06 November 1997 14:15
To: alpines@autox.team.net; tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: Sunbeam Calendars
Hi Chris,
Sorry for the novel, but...
It takes about $10,000+/- to produce a color calendar and many months
of production, planning and promotion. A '98 calendar is out of the
question for a number of reasons: TE/AE doesn't have enough up
front $; a '98 calendar would have to have been on sale by August '97
or so for us to have any chance of the club recouping itsmoney (the calendar
market dries up after Christmas); to have a calendar out by Aug. '97,
we would have had to start soliciting photos no later than February,
accepting them no later than early May. Production, printing and
shipping takes 2-3 months.
Soliciting orders many months in advance of publication is great in
theory, but we feel wouldn't work in practice. A small percentage of people
would go for it, but for the most part people want instant
gratification. In the past, we have solicited orders no more than 2
months in advance of publication and we felt (and still do feel) that
was pushing it.
For the '95 and '97 calendars we shopped vigorously for printing
prices and all came in 20-30% higher than we ended up paying to have
it printed in the Czech Republic. Robert Jaarsma, my calendar
project partner, has been using a printer over there for 10years
with generall quite good results. We saved a lot, but it was much
harder to control quality. (Robert and I don't speak very good Czech,
but his business partner does.) You probably noticed in both calendars
that some of the colors were off slightly, other photos were a little out
of focus, a couple of captions were swapped. Some of this was due to
quality of photos/negatives we received, but more often than not, it
was our printer not taking the time or not knowing how to do things
right. Their equipment isn't quite as sophisticated as the best here and
a proof here isn't the same as a proof there (what you see isn't always
what you get - can you say "pull and pray"?). Overall, quality was
passable. Would we print it Czech again? The jury's out.
Unfortunately, given the relatively small market for calendars and how
much people are willing to pay, we were forced to produce to a price.
The passionate Sunbeamers will pay $20 for a really high quality color
calendar without thinking twice, but the vast majority will not (the
squeeze a nickel 'til it screams crowd). At $10 or $12, depending on
how many you purchased in one shot (or $12 - $14 overseas), we felt
we were at the limit of what people were willing to spend and still feel
that way.
A multi-club calendar production effort sounds good, but Robert and I
subscribe to the old adage "too many cooks spoil the soup." It's
tough enough to put out a good product, but adding egos and
politics is a little more than we can handle. If someone other
club wants to coordinate a multi-club calendar, go for it and TE/AE
will probably contribute.
Getting help with marketing was tough. Most clubs gave us "comp"
ads, but getting clubs with parts businesses to sell calendars for us
was even tougher. Only CAT Parts bought a bunch to peddle for us.
THANKS GUYS! Some of the bigger clubs (SAOC (UK) and The Imp
Club (UK)) were not receptive or couldn't help because of timing
problems (STOC). We probably have some room for improvement on this
front. The calendar was designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of
Sunbeamers and we felt it did, but the market is still quite small
any way you slice it.
Frankly, Robert and I are a little burned out on the calendar bit at
the moment. A 2000 calendar in time for SUNI III in '99 is a
possibility though. Chris, Robert and I will look you up in about
one year to help us out.
David Duncanson of STOC (UK) said his club was thinking of doing a
'98 calendar, but I guess they blew it off when they found out how
high the up front cost would be and how much money they could
potentially lose. Comments David?
I recently saw an ad in Tiger Tales for a '98 calendar being produced
by the New Zealand Sunbeam Club. Details were scant (don't even know
if it's color) and the price pretty steep at $20. Maybe someone on
the list can post details/ordering info? Any Kiwis out there who can
give us some insight on the quality of the product? Chris, if you really
want a '98 Sunbeam calendar, it looks like this is your only choice.
Cheers,
Gary Schotland
co-producer, '95 & '97 TE/AE Sunbeam calendars
> This is very unfortunate. I have thoroughly enjoyed my calendar and it
> remains a topic of discussion at the office. Almost everyone asks
> about the cars pictured. What would it take to produce the calendar?
> Couldn't you get some up-front money by taking subscription orders? Is
> anyone out there involved in the printing industry that might be able
> to lend a hand? I would really like to see a '98 calendar and am
> willing to devote my time to seeing it produced.
>
> Chris
> '98 Calendar-less
>
>
>
> ______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
> Subject: Re: Miss November/Sunbeam Calendars
> Author: "Schotland" <schotbus@cyberenet.net> at Internet-usa
> Date: 11/5/97 2:40 PM
>
>
> > > Hey, I just turned the page on my Tigers East/Alpines East calendar and
what
> > > did I see?
> >
> > Yes, a fine picture for the month. Anyone know if there are any plans for
a
> '98
> > calendar?
> >
> > Regards, Bob Douglas
>
> None planned for '98. Maybe '99 or '00. The club's gotta get the
> bank balance pumped up a bit before we do another one. These
> projects are very capital intensive.
>
> Gary Schotland
> co-producer, '95 & '97 TE/AE Sunbeam Calendars
>
>
>
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