Calendars

I sell calendars on the unmentionable place you mentioned.
http://www.zazzle.com/waganupa/gifts?cg=196092640914219119

I'd like to sell them here also.

Countdown to thread closure... 3 2 1......

Calendars would be great !!

It would be nice to have calendars really soon in advance of the new year.

Calendars are a fabulous idea. That way we wouldn't have to go to the "Z" store.

I tried calendars at one point and didn't sell but about 3 of them. This was back in the days before POD - I ordered them and sold them from the gallery. Do people even still use wall calendars?

Yes I think expanding to calendars is a great idea!

Calendars would only be good for its marketing value, the profit margin is not going to be very high unless you mark them up to the point where very few will be able to afford them. I go to Amazon and I see a bunch of calendars for around $10 each. FAA's cost to print 12 images and bind them would probably be 3 times that already. The only real way calendars would be profitable (and still at a small margin) is having a single calendar design printed and sold in large volumes. I don't see calendars happening anytime soon. -W

I offer calendars since last fall.

Like FAA, it's POD. The positive thing is, that it is free, including free ISBN numbers, and you get listed in many online shops, like Amazon.

Not so good: the calendars are rather expensive, and your share is not overwhelming, but you have no financial risk.

For the short time, I'm quite satisfied with the results.

Here are my calendars: http://www.colinutzphotography.com/calendars-kalender-2016/

Colin Utz
http://colinutzphotography.com

Nice idea for visual purpose. But I don't use paper calendar, I use an e - calendar

I would love wall calendars (stitched - not spiral bound) and I would love the weekly planner (also called engagement calendars and planners) which has one photo/image on the left side and the week of days listed on the right side. I'd like hardcover/spiral bound on those. Those are my wishes! :) (and my customers want them and have been asking for them for years!)

too expensive to print and resell....

I used to buy calendars as a poor college student when they would go on clearance toward the end of January. It was an inexpensive way to get lots of cheap art prints. Not sure how many people would pay an arm and a leg for them today unless they were devout fans of an artist's work. I don't know anyone who uses wall calendars anymore.

"Do people even still use wall calendars?"

Cynthia, yep.....me. :) . Classify me as "old school" I guess, but it's a visual reminder for me as I annotate my monthly bills and due dates on the calendar in the squares for specific dates.. Just updated the one hanging in our kitchen for July. :)

We didn't use paper calendars at work, so when the system went down, we were helpless to do anything, lol. I guess if you use a calendar on your phone, then you're covered. I use a big paper calendar above my desk and use a fat marker to jot down anything I don't want to forget, which keeps it in front of my face.

If it weren't for paper calendars, my son wouldn't know what to give me for holiday gifts, lol. One year it's cats, the next year it's dogs, etc. Love him to pieces, of course. He knows what I like.

Ditto completely on what Jai said!!

I'd love it if we could offer weekly planners. Great way to advertise our work and maybe generate sales of large prints. I think it would be fun to go through the selection process also. One problem with making calendars is choosing just one image to reflect that month's seasonal look.

I have sold calendars for the last 4 years, my first year I pre-ordered them so I wouldn't get stuck if they didn't sell...I wait for the good sales so I can sell them at a reasonable price and still make a profit. Otherwise, you need to order a large qty. to get the printing price down enough so folks will buy them. Folks give them as Christmas gifts, since they know no one else will be giving them the same thing...

I make calendars every year, and sell them in person, they are very popular!

I did them for a couple of years at a couple different POD sites. They retailed for anywhere from $17-$28 and I was surprised to have sold quite a few (20 or 30, if I recall). Profit was low, but I see them as a giant business card people hang on their wall for 12 months. :-) Would love to see them here, since I always get requests for them. Of course, I would want to be able to design them myself so that my url could be on each image, or each calendar page, otherwise the "business card" effect is lost.

Heck, if I could design them as promotional pieces, I might even order some to have on hand. Of course, I will probably do that anyway if they aren't offered here.

I design mine and order one of each (I usually offer two choices) and show those to people, they order what they like and once I have a large enough order I put my order in. It's cheaper shipping wise when you get a large order and if you have a really large order you can get discounts.

When I created a thread showing my calendars at another website about a year ago, the moderator closed the thread very quickly, since it promoted another website.

I am surprised that this topic has made it this long.

Expect a topic closure shortly, .... unless something has changed from when I last did this.

@Robert

FAA doesn't offer calendars.

I print and resell at shows. I'm able to get them for between $4 and $6 each shipped. I've mentioned it on other threads. Plus I use Kickstarter to get the initial funds to print a batch of 50-75. I got 75 last year and sold all but one, which I use for display at the moment to take pre-orders for the 2016 one.

promoting your web site and name on each page sounds a good idea!

Interesting thread. I would have thought calendars were obsolete. But reading some of your posts makes me reconsider. Thanks!

I've been selling a series of calendars called Life Lessons for many years, both in person at markets and on "that other" POD. I do very well with them. I usually start selling them in person in September or so but this year I noticed another local photographer selling plenty of them throughout the year.

@Robert ... FAA doesn't offer calendars.

Yes, of course, I am acutely aware of this. The one and only time that I ever mentioned the calendars that I made at another website in this forum, ... my discussion thread was closed very quickly, before I got even one reply. This thread that links to another website that makes calendars has gone on for quite a few replies now.

I was merely making an observation about how times have apparently changed here, or the moderator is working on number 15 of her 30 commissions and does not have time to clear up the double standard between now and some months ago.

I would prefer journals over calendars. But sadly, the days left in the lifespan for each of these is numbered. There is an aop for that.

I would like to have the option to make calendars too as POD. Mostly, I would like to be able to choose from a range of design options and then purchase them to give as gifts or as promotional items. The cost would have to be reasonable though. With other options, such as the vast selection at calendars.com, it would be difficult to compete unless calendars were really competatively priced.

On the question of if people still use wall calendars, that is definitely a "yes" in my house where we have three of them.

At the cost of other things here on FAA - I don't think calendars would do well. I'd like to be proven wrong.

Oh, the other mod has time and is paying attention. He is just not sure on the application of said rule since we don't currently offer calendars.

I would like it if FAA were to offer calendars. We have I-pads and laptops but find paper calendars still are better.

I know lots of people (including me) who still use paper calendars, but many of them have family calendars that use pictures of family members. I make a family calendar every year and give it to my children and grandchildren for Christmas. They look forward to seeing each year's new edition. Obviously they won't be buying a fine art calendar.

okay so on average everyone would like to get say $18 profit on a 5 x 8 or 8 x 8 print yet you want to offer calendars which have 12 - 8 x 10 or larger images on them with at best an $18 profit margin .please enlighten me as to the marketing niche i am missing .

I posted a link with my work on the other site and got told we aren't allowed to say the Z word on here.
I don't have calenders but I have totes but I posted before faa got them. I was a newb. and was sharing links when other people posted theirs.
I won't make that mistake again :(
I'm nosey so when people post links on other sites I look lol
good time to post yours Robert no one's looking hurry :)

@Tom, I see them as a marketing vehicle, not a revenue generator.

When it comes down to it unless you are selling a LOT of calendars they probably are not a revenue generator in and of themselves. I could see some value in offering them in the theory of generating sales. Conversely, I can see them as a way of offering 12 very inexpensive and frameable prints. Personally, I will not be in the calendar business because of the latter thought.

Then again, I am not all that sure I am an art on product kind of guy beyond cell phone covers and pillows.

Cell phone covers are a way of introducing art to the younger generation and at least in theory could generate future sales. At the very least with a $20 markup I am not disapointed when I get the sales email.

Pillows I see complimenting a large art piece so I do offer those.

The rest I am still iffy about. Personally, IMO at some point you can go too far with the commercialization of the art. If that line gets crossed then I think the large print of the same image can be devalued. I don't know where that line is but at no time will you see my art on key chains or mouse pads unless it is as an advertisement for my site. Frankly, I have no earthly idea where that line in the sand is and I also know there are a lot of people that make good money selling art on products. One great thing about this site is I can pick and choose what markets to play in.

Not interested in calenders for all the same reasons already mentioned.

I'd like to see mugs and mouse pads before anything else.

I don't care what they slap my photos on as long as the money trickles in. I suppose if I took myself or my photography seriously it might matter but I do not and so it does not.

I agree with you JC. I had purchased some calendars from that Z place right before a gallery night this year and then realized that it would be 12 images..(well 13 counting the cover).. for someone to get off with and possibly cut them and make smaller framed prints from.. I'm not ok with that when you can only sell a calender for so much. I decided if they like an image in the calendar, they can buy the original work if available.

As for the commercialization you mentioned, I am feeling that way some but at least we do have a choice in it. I am at the moment offering some totes and pillows for some pieces but don't know how long I will be doing so. Devaluation is a word that has ran through my head a few times, (pertaining to what is right for me). I gave it a shot with the other items but I am really not keen on the idea of my name getting cropped off my works and once again, you can only price a tote and pillow on here for so much. I am not however, opposed to purchasing myself the ones I like and offering them. I am wondering how good the totes look especially.

Calendars are one of the oldest possibilities for artists - especially photographers - to bring their work on the walls of people, who would never ever buy an original, or even a print. And itīs one of the few possibilities for artists to get published at all.

I donīt agree with the argument, that you are offering 12 very cheap prints. I see it as a great marketing instrument, you donīt have to pay for, but you get money for it. And you skyrocket your web-presence, because you are automatically listed in all online book stores.

Yes, your margin is rather slim, but with the right publisher in your back, you have no financial risk, especially if you already have the pictures for some calendars. Not to mention free ISBN numbers for all calendars and for different sizes.

http://www.colinutzphotography.com/calendars-kalender-2016

Colin Utz