|
At long last! Well actually.... funny thing is it hasn't been that terribly long. Now some might say 4 months to put a magazine together is way way too long... but to say 4 months to throw around the idea of a magazine, pull people together and utilize a lot of new means to launch something, and have a finished product in 4 months with a healthy share of them SOLD before they were printed and I'd say you've already succeeded.
So anyway - as earlier mailings indicated I no doubt will focus on getting copies out to those doing events that are on our heels. Cover / Featured photog Mitzi Valenzuela is on this list but I'm going to talk about her anyway. A few days ago she'd sent me a note indicating how many copies of this thing she wanted to get her hands on for VLV13 and Lone Star Round Up. Needless to say I'm already planning those shipments. I've also got another healthy amount earmarked for some folks hitting Lone Star with booths of their own, and models on hand to sign the buggers.... Here's the thing. It will probably go pretty well, the set up is too perfect to move a mess of these. My worry? Yes I said worry.... My worry is that Mitzi will blow through what I am sending her in Vegas alone. Fine, send her more for Austin the following week. No problem there either, but based on how it goes, these two events could put larger than expected dent in the spare copies I had printed up. I actually am doing a burlesque festival of my own next weekend, a MICRO event compared to VLV13 and Lone Star and my "set up" to move copies is not as dialed in as the others... but if I find I move a bunch myself there... and initial reports come back from Vegas and then Austin that we indeed did very well... you will all hear me hitting a bit of a panic button of "don't short sell these" don't discount, hell even hold on to some...
What I am also going to ask is that with the copies, extra copies, I want to hold the line on wholesale at $6.
Two reasons for this. First THEY ARE HEAVY, the cartons hold 40 copies and weigh 30lbs each... I did some research on that, even UPS ground means it will take on average $1 per book from me to you. So when I say $6 I'm talking $6 including shipping... so in reality $5. At $5 each there would be enough profit in there that I could stage for one of two scenarios... first build up a bit of a reserve for printing #2, just in case we don't pre-sell as well. I do expect to do better with ad income (rates went up but anyone who advertised in #1 can keep getting those rates) but I wonder how many times we can "lean" on people to buy copies. Part of why I say this is that another revelation... looking at pre-sales reports... The Photogs destroyed the models in sales... a bit opposite what I thought might happen. So where as a fresh crop of models each time would bring fresh pre-sales... I can't assume next time around we photogs could do so well. We need to get the models more into promoting. The other reason to build up a bit of a financial war chest is that if they fly too fast and interest maintains, we may be served to do a reprinting to meet demand, and that would be a tough one to figure out... as in would it be worth it to do so. Might be you run more of issue #2 and see if inquiries for #1 keep up or slow down and decide then.
OK some of you may have models who are in the issue who will be attending VLV13 or LSRU.
I have printed and should have at the same time as the magazines... these cards:
Chat with your gals, ask if they'd like to have some of these and I will send them along with your copies.
WORKING IT
OK, I know in another recent note to some of you I began talking about, well I've been talking about it all along... but talking about how Retro Lovely could make some things easier for us. I noted that I had contacted this place in Pennsylvania, just north of the capitol. This big old factory where they used to make sleighs.. now an antique co-op and also home to Jimmy's Soda Fountain and this arcade filled with all manner of goodness.
It was a nice weekend here in the mid-atlantic and I decided to get out and do some recon, it had been a while since I was up there and wanted to size it up, get some shots for planning. OH MAN! I get dizzy thinking about what can be done here! This guy has been building the most amazing "set" for some time now... you know how you see a place and start "looking for the shot"? I think I need to plan a few visits here as I will NOT do it justice in just one. It may well be an army of a crew needs to descend upon the place, several models, several photogs, several MUA.... it's just too juicy... Any eastcoasters within 3 hours of Harrisburg PA, maybe we should talk... I am also thinking some serious models too for this one. Now the juicy part is the guy who owns the place has apparently been imagining promo materials for his place for some time now, calendars, postcards.... you get the idea.. so it's very possible, if I do it just so... I could end up with a very sweet little piece of freelance work. (Jimmy himself writes for a gaming magazine, has been talking cross promotions, he's sold old arcade games to some of the guys on the Howard Stern show... so he is dialed in)
And yes, that is a 3D viewing machine with THE one and only Betty Page...did not have time to check that out, but holy mother of pinup tie-ins....
(click image for a full gallery from the sledworks)
So I put a casting call out on Model Mayhem. Got a few hits from gals who have NO IDEA what pinup means. BUT, one model did reply and here if she doesn't work with this auto dealer near me. So she gives me the name of the guy who handles the events and all that. I was hoping to network some cool cars for some shoots. I sent the guy a link to Retro Lovely, my site and so on and he replied in pretty short order for me to call him. Later that evening I gave him a ring and started to chat. What I thought was going to be a conversation of me seeing if I could convince them to allow me to use their cars in some photo shoots ended up more like they've been thinking about doing a calendar for some time and were looking for the right person to do that. I am going to wait until after I send them a copy of Retro Lovely but again here I see the signs of a freelance job materializing and this is exactly the sort of thing I contend can happen easier for us, if we use Retro Lovely as that calling card.
On calling cards, yesterday on the way home from the sledworks I had to stop for gas. At the store right there was this gorgeous yellow '57 Chevy. Dude was sitting in the car. Business card in hand I walked over, "Hey, great ride, would you consider having it used in a photo with a pinup model?" (note I NEVER tell anyone I can get something printed... you just never know right? and I don't want to be obligated anyway). Well the guy was all over this, it was hard for me to peel away from him actually.... but by the time I had gotten home, an hour later... I was checking some emails and saw a few orders had hit the store while I was away... as I am always curious where they come from I noted on the one order for 2 copies was a message from the guy with the '57 Chevy...
You just never know....
M |
