[sdiy] Publishing Electronotes (was Marketplace Question)

[Tom Bugs]

I too have watched, read & followed for some time.

Reading the figures suggested recently via MW, they struck me as 
unworkable - risky for all.
Too high means excess risk for any potential investor &, thus, no 
movement on the whole project, thus no funds for Bernie *&* no 
relinquishing of the responsibility.

The spin I would give - keep expectations low, but pay one person or a 
small team & do it gradually. A lot of Don's suggestions chime with me - 
especially about breaking it down into less of a gargantuan task.
Sorry to note that I am not the person to do this!

I personally don't hold much faith in crowd funding (though note some do 
work well) - coming instead from the view that someone has to prospect & 
invest in a project, risk time/money/effort - by setting realistically 
low goals (/break-even) much can be achieved!
And I would also suggest not trying to involve too many people in the 
'work'.

Some numbers I played around with:
Someone employed to scan and/or oversee - give a annual wage budget of, 
say,  £8k / $12k - that's 640hrs at £12.50/$18.75 - split into 20hrs per 
week that's 32wks - strikes me as a reasonable side-job. No getting rich 
but perhaps a nice little job for someone.
You're not going to get everything scanned in year 1, of course!
Budget in something for tech/websites too, of course.
I know I am skirting round the technical aspects of scanning but that is 
eminently do-able.

Now, look at potential sales - again, keep expectations low to reduce risk.
100 sales per year at £100 brings in c.£10k - which covers the above!
But what about the cut for Bernie? OK, make that 200 sales - £10k p/a 
for Bernie.
[of course that doesn't in any way match the figures suggested on MW]

With regards to the existing paper copies - if they're NOW in sellable 
state, then sell them! Either direct with minimal fuss, or as a bulk to 
a distro - they'd clearly go without much stress.
But if the paper copies aren't in such a state, eg. needing much sorting 
or prep work - well, maybe you have to realistically cut your losses.

With sincere & positive spirit!
Tom

On 04/11/2020 20:11, Donald Tillman wrote:
> On Nov 3, 2020, at 12:34 PM, Bernard Arthur Hutchins, Jr <bah13 at cornell.edu> wrote:
>> READ - then comment -PLEASE.  Reading comprehension PLEASE.
>>
>> I was ONLY interested to see if the Marketplace allowed people whom I might (as a courtesy) direct there to connect a willing buyer to a set of USED Electronotes (Ben says OK), not to reopen an uninformed, assuming, impractical, largely debunked discussion of how to supposedy provide new copies etc. ( I regret not letting the sleeping dog alone. )  No suggestions please, unless you have ACTUALLY READ ALL the links and understood them (and, I suppose – have money to invest).
> Bernie,
>
> I *have* read and understood all that.  And I agree that republishing 6500 pages of complex technical material is a gargantuan task that nobody in their right mind would want to attempt.
>
> But that's not what I suggested.
>
> Again... I am proposing to recruit an editorial team (from here or Muff Wiggler) and publish a regular-sized book of selected Electronotes articles on a particular topic, do it up nice, and see how the book does in the market.  If successful, turn another topic into the next book.
>
> The important part is that you, Bernie, would not be doing the work, other than advise and approval.
>
> I know *exactly* how to do publication-quality plots and schematics.  It's not difficult.  And we could put together a set of tools to assist in much of the work.
>
> ---
>
> Second proposal:
>
> Would you, Bernie, consider allowing others to republish Electronotes material on their own, in the form described above, with a percentage of the revenue going to you?
>
> ---
>
> My overall point is that this stuff is culturally, technically, and historically important, the modular synthesizer renaissance has created a demand, there are very few books out on this topic, the current state of EN distribution is mostly inaccessible, and there's money to be made.
>
> ---
>
> And one more...
>
> What if there was a publishing company that specialized in upscale books on electronic music?
>
>    -- Don
> --
> Donald Tillman, Palo Alto, California
> http://www.till.com
>
>
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