I used to sell notecards, and they were often matted by people and framed. The problem for me was that they weren't worth the effort or the time. Now I'm getting requests for small prints that can be matted and framed. So here's what I'm thinking - a line of 5 x 7 prints that are matted on 8 x 10. I could print two on a letter-size sheet and cut it in half and mat them on pre-cut mats.
I have a lot of these mats leftover from days of selling in front of the Met. Something like $20 a print (which is really where the market on the web is at). Same paper, same profiles etc. that I use for the larger prints.
It might be worth trying - because frankly I'm still barely scraping by here and I'm seriously contemplating a part-time job of some kind next year unless there is a dramatic improvement in that thing they call cashflow, i.e. money.
Since matting is still the time consuming aspect of this - though for small prints it isn't that bad - I wonder whether they should be matted or not. I wonder. I could put up a large selection of smaller prints in a day or two so it's in time for the holidays for sure. Hmmm... What do you think?
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On a tech. note, I'm going to need some sort of cheap RIP just to layout two prints on a page since the 4800 won't print on anything smaller than letter size paper.
8 comments:
I suspect it is all about the price. And if that's the case - then I won't mat them; and I'll put a digital signature on it. And just make it easy on myself.
The PS idea is good. Didn't even think of it. Thanks.
Michael - what would you pay for an "unmatted" 5 x 7 print? Personally - I like smaller prints but figured that if you could buy them all at smaller sizes than maybe the bigger ones wouldn't sell.
But they might be good just to give people ideas of print quality etc. as well.
InDesign will do too...
$20 sounds about right, I think "ready to hang"
(matted) is nicer and convenient for the customer
That's what I'm going to try: $20 Matted. InDesign might be easier at that.
I'm also going to have to charge more for shipping / handling than I do now. I eat the loss for shipping on large orders; but no way to do that for small ones.
The thing about the web that does continue to intrigue me is that if you've got a decent display system (which I do now) - I should be able to add something like 100 prints at this price / size in a day or two.
I agree with Michael, I wouldn't do all of them at the small size. Maybe just a selection to start off to test the water.
I was thinking of a selection of maybe 30 small ones - but I'll tell you what will happen - whatever isn't offered at that size will be what someone wants...
Mark my words :)
It reminds me of my card experience. I think I was selling them for $5 and it was generally not worth the labor - but then you know what happened??? Someone wanted - I don't remember the exact number but it was hundreds, possibly 400.
And here's what was interesting to me - instead of being a windfall - it was a week of pure hell printing; letting them dry; the printer acted up...
So we'll see. I am willing to give anything a try before heading off to work in the patent office. Isn't this the 100 year anniversary of Einsteins' first important paper? I think it all happened for him in 1905.
I began working on this today and will have it in effect in a day or two. I'll concentrate on the prints that I think hold up at the smaller size.
Craig - that's part of it. The other question is how much effort (time) to print, mat, package, bookkeep, make the shipping label, figure postage etc. It's the little things that eat up time.
The stuff that I send out Fedex is the easiest since it can all be done on line and - but too expensive for small prints - so one of the things I have to do if this does take off is set up an account with the post office so I can print my own postage and drop things in local mailbox.
Anything having to go through the post office itself involves waiting on line and is a big pain. I know the PO has this on their website - but I haven't looked into it.
I have a backlog of pre-cut 5 x 7 mats from LightImpressions - so I can use those to start with - but I'll also need to find a cheaper supplier of mats for this to make any sense.
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