[BPB] Boards.ie Photography Yearbook 2009 - Planning stage - [!! POLL ADDED !!]

CabanSail

Rather than leave until later in the year, when it all becomes a rush to get deliveries before Christmas and get the money to Santa Strike Force, we should probably get things moving now.

To start things off lets have a look at the way the last book was organised & see how we can improve things for this year. I am not saying anything was wrong last year but it was a totally new project that sort of evolved as it went along. Knowing what we do now, what would we change?

Do those who did specific roles last year want to repeat the fine job they did?

Any other suggestions are welcome.

I will sticky this until we have worked out where we are going then replace it with another thread for the implementation.

whyulittle

I may be submitting an image.

Good, I was going to bring this up the other day, but thought I'd be shot for doing it so early.

I don't imagine I will be available to do it this year, so somebody is going to have to step forward to put it together. It's easy do, honest!

EDIT: We sold 210 copies of the 2008 volume at the last check.

ThOnda

I may be submitting an image.

Well, I am back on-line, so you can expect in few days time what I remember about the last year project. And I am open to be involved, if there are no objections.
I have to warn that I cannot help with graphic design and promoting of the book. However I would like to get more involved in communication with all participants.

One thing is clear - we need one test print before we make the book available for sale.

CabanSail

I may be submitting an image.

whyulittle wrote: »

Good, I was going to bring this up the other day, but thought I'd be shot for doing it so early.

Seems early but really it's not. We should be looking at a delivery date & working back from that. I would suggest that the delivery date should be about the early/middle of November. This would mean having it ready for ordering in the middle of October. This would mean that submission of images would be in late August.

Cabaal

I may be submitting an image.

Instead of having people go through threads for the info why not setup a section on the boards photobook website (if its still running?) outlining the requirments etc, make it one stop shop for info and leave the threads for discussions only.

If some info changes the site can easily be changed accordingly so we don't have conflicting info in threads anymore

If the domain is still active and needs hosting I'm happy to provide some to whoever wants to manage it for what its worth
[EDIT] If the domain has lapsed I'm sure its worth reging a new one that could be used each year, again I'd be happy help out with this too as I did feck all work last year cause I was busy as hell

trishw78

I may be submitting an image.

Seriously 'great minds...' and all that I was thinking about this as we were taking down the exhibition.

I'd love to involved this year.

CabanSail

I may be submitting an image.

One thing I have been thinking about is that we should have a much bigger launch this year to get some more media coverage.

ThOnda

I may be submitting an image.

Well, we have results from last year and that definitely helps to attract more attention.

sineadw

I may be submitting an image.

One think I'd say is to maybe get a small print run done rather than Blurb. If we could get 300 I'm sure we'd do that no problem? Its just - when I was doing the gallery stint for the boards exhibition we shifted quite a few books and DeVore (or was it Simon or Danny) pointed out that we could be shifting yearbooks instead. They could be available to buy at all Boards socials.. And the print quality would be better.

Just throwing that in there

Anyway, I'm more than wiling to help in any capacity I can

Mycroft H

I may be submitting an image.

By the late summer i'll be on holidays and in the autumn i'll be dossing in first year college so i'll be willing to put the shoulder to the wheel and help this time round.....

What was the format for submitting images last year?

challengemaster

I may be submitting an image.

I'll help too, even if it's just by submitting a photo again

Buzz Lightyear

I may be submitting an image.

I missed out on last years as I felt I had nothing ready, but would be more than happy to help out in what ever way I can with this years book.

While I agree with sineads proposal that we should have some stock to sell at various boards events, this also requires cash. Even if we looked at stock of 100 books, at a cost of say 15 euro each, this would require us to get 'savings' of one and a half grand ! As with any venture we would be bound to get more promises of purchases than actual purchases from those who submit images. I would therefore propose that images be submitted with a donation towards the costs of printing this stock, this would help to ensure that nobody is out of pocket to the tune of the stock. I say donation, to reflect the circumstances of some people. If say an image entry's suggested donation was €10, an allowance could be made in this figure to allow for a couple of people whose private circumstances wouldn't permit this sum. Anything left over in this allowance could go straight into the fund.


I assume the proceeds would be going towards the great cause of Santa's Strike Force again.

Pigwidgeon

I may be submitting an image.

Like landyman I'll be in first year of college, possibly even doing photography, so I'll have more time to help out with this one. Although I'm not the most computer literate person, I would be willing to do what I could, even just putting up flyers anywhere and everywhere, every little bit helps!

Have to say, knowing the deadline(ish) well in advance, it'll give me that push I need to get out with my camera a lot during the summer!

rahtkennades

I may be submitting an image.

I agree with the idea of getting a 'stock' of books for further sale, and I like Buzz's idea of having a portion of the price to go for purchasing 'stock'.

Does anybody know anybody in the printing business that could look at a previous book and give a quote for a minimum order? I'm sure a charitable donation of services would be welcomed by everybody involved, even if this meant a partial reduction in printing costs.

A difficulty with doing it as a single print run is that it reduces the ability of people to purchase more than one copy, and makes distribution much more difficult. One advantage of online publishing last year was that people could order the books themselves and not worry about having to meet somebody to collect etc. They could also easily order extra copies afterwards, or tell their friends and family who could also order.

Perhaps if it was published online again, and as Buzz suggests, a portion of the cost went to purchasing a batch of books for further sale at exhibitions/meets/the launch night, this would be a compromise?

Thoie

I may be submitting an image.

I'm happy to help with/do spreadsheets again this year if required, but won't insist if anyone else wants to do it. Due to a change in my circumstances I'm not at the delivery spot very often these days, but I'm sure if needed stuff could be delivered there again and I can pick it up in advance of a launch. Again, if someone else has something more suitable, I'm good with that

dakar

I may be submitting an image.

I really enjoyed the whole process last year and will happily contribute any way I can this time around. I'll have a think about how the experience could be improved cos this thread has caught me on the hop a bit!

melekalikimaka

I may be submitting an image.

more than happy to lend a hand this time round

Cabaal

I may be submitting an image.

So we can perhaps get a start on things ahead of time can somebody tell me who owns boardsyearbook.com which was reged last November by somebody here, I did a whois and found their personal site which is http://cooligmartin.net/ but I still have no idea who owns it here

ThOnda

I may be submitting an image.

Brilliant, I am glad that so many people are interested. I cannot wait to see another book.

Thoie

I may be submitting an image.

Cabaal wrote: »

So we can perhaps get a start on things ahead of time can somebody tell me who owns boardsyearbook.com

cooligphoto was the name of the user who said (s)he'd done it.

CabanSail

I may be submitting an image.

I did look into getting a book published locally. IIRC the minimum print run required was 3000 books, which is a huge leap from what we sold last year.

The IPF publish a yearbook too (submissions close June 30) which sells for €15 a copy. the quality is good but it's mainly B&W. Quite a few of the colour submissions are printed in Mono. Last year I had 2 images accepted, one was B&W the other Colour but both were printed in B&W.

PixelTrawler

Count me in...

Main problem last year was the book was not a "quality product".

I mean speaking objectively, if I bought that book without being involved id be disappointed the quite a few of the photos came out poorly.

Agreed with an earlier posted blurb may not be the way to go again

Morrisseeee

I may be submitting an image.

Really liked being involved last year & more than happy to help out again this year. (Can't believe Santa is just around the corner, nooooooooo!! ).

quite a few of the photos came out poorly.

....that might be because some of us (incl. me) were NEW to photography, and this was our 1st 'publishing' !!, or they mightn't have chosen their best photo (ie. landscape orientation of the book).
I must add that I didn't think the printing of the book & the whole package last year was that bad. The prints were only 10*8, so I can't see much improvement there (quality wise), I think the problem was darkness/brightness of the prints.

artyeva

I may be submitting an image.

apart from trying to get one of my own images in the book i'd be happy to help out - but as i live on the complete other side of the country to dublin i'm not sure exactly how much help i can be :rolleyes:

what about trying to find another venue somewhere down here for the exhibition once it's finished in dublin?? just an idea. not sure bout the logistics but i've loads of spare time on my hands at the moment and wouldn't mind spending some time on it. there's a few places in galway, sligo and mayo that i'm sure would be suitable and might get some extra awareness/sales/interest going.

.Longshanks.

I may be submitting an image.

I wasn't around these sections last year, but i love the idea and be happy to help out if i can....

CabanSail

I may be submitting an image.

artyeva wrote: »

what about trying to find another venue somewhere down here for the exhibition once it's finished in dublin?? just an idea. not sure bout the logistics but i've loads of spare time on my hands at the moment and wouldn't mind spending some time on it. there's a few places in galway, sligo and mayo that i'm sure would be suitable and might get some extra awareness/sales/interest going.

This thread is about the Yearbook. The Exhibition was a separate project, which has now finished & the prints have all gone their own ways.

melekalikimaka

I may be submitting an image.

this is gonna grow...

will it stil be a free for all... or a voting system to get in?

artyeva

I may be submitting an image.

CabanSail wrote: »

This thread is about the Yearbook. The Exhibition was a separate project, which has now finished & the prints have all gone their own ways.

ok - ha ha whoops - don't hurt me, i'm new!? don't know where i got the idea that the exhibition was a tie-in with the book makes sense to me though. people come see the stuff and get the chance to buy them in book form :rolleyes:

offer of help still stands

rahtkennades

I may be submitting an image.

melekalikimaka wrote: »

this is gonna grow...

will it stil be a free for all... or a voting system to get in?

The free for all seemed to work out okay in the end last year I thought?

melekalikimaka

I may be submitting an image.

aye but it was big at the end... and will only grow. also if we want to push it further... the standard may need to be pushed up. i dunno, i just dont wanna book with 200 pics from every punter off boards who passes this thread

ThOnda

I may be submitting an image.

I thought that we are making the book because we want to, because we want to see our picture printed in book and to appreciate synergy here on Boards.ie. Not to mention the SSF donations.
I have already begun to summarise last year's time-line, so we can have something to begin with. Just keep your offers and ideas coming, we can only make it better this year!