The Online Photographer

I have been advised, hectored and nagged (okay, just advised, but those guys know who they are) to name a specific dollar goal for the Help TOP Move Print Offer, which is in reality (I'm told) a capital campaign.

The problem is, we really have no idea until they start how well any TOP sale will do. Our lowest-grossing sale earned less than $800 and the highest-grossing sale earned $136,000. It's impossible to predict. So it seems sort of pointless to name dollar goals.

But I can at least specify some levels of goals.

So here they are:

Goal level 1: If the campaign raises: $800…it would buy: a new ergonomic desk chair. $800 is way too much for a chair, which is why I don't own said chair now. GOAL REACHED!

Goal level 2: If the campaign raises: $2,000…it would buy: a new ergonomic desk chair and a new sit-stand desk. GOAL REACHED!

Goal level 3: If the campaign raises: $10,000–14,000…it would buy: an ergonomic chair and a sit-stand desk and an office redecoration/reconfiguration. No bigger, true, but the planner thinks we can shoehorn in a 36" wide desk for temp help as well as a medium-sized set of flat files. The office would be purpose-built and pretty, with cabinetry similar to that in a nice kitchen. And hopefully the cost could be 40–60% recoverable in the value of the house—an attractive home office being a moderately desirable feature in a home. GOAL REACHED!

Goal level 4: If the campaign raises: $35–45,000…it would buy: Remodeling the front of the house to double the size of TOP World HQ, to 250 sq. ft. SEE UPDATE

Goal level 5:If the campaign raises: $55–80,000…it would buy: that house down the street with an 8X–10X bigger office for TOP (the whole lower floor).

Goal level 6: If the campaign raises: $450,000…it would buy: A particular vacant lot near the edge of town that I saw when I was driving around and a custom-made single-story house with a billiards room and a spacious office. (I know. I'm just being funny now.)

Goal level 7: If the campaign raises: $6 million…it would buy: Retirement. I'd move to Normandy and tool around in an antique Jaguar and have a maid service come in and make my bed. This is probably a counterproductive goal level to all but a few of the most disgruntled TOP haters...because it would mean the end of TOP. So as soon as the dollar total exceeds, say, $2 million, people who like TOP  should probably ease up on buying anything further!

So anyway, good news. Based on Day 1, we have already reached the first two goal levels and are two-thirds of the way to the third-level goal. Our experience has been that about half the sales happen in the first day of the sale, so the chances of reaching Goal #3 seem a strong possibility.

This is very nice, and is giving me things to look forward to and making me happy. I have really wanted and needed a new desk. So BIG thanks!

Now that's enough of this. Back to photography very soon.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
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David Dyer-Bennet: "A number of the high-bucks Kickstarter campaigns I've followed used this sort of set of levels. The Veronica Mars movie for example talked about how the fight scene at reunion could be anything from harsh words to a full-out brawl (and we got the full brawl; it did look expensive to shoot). Since you're selling prints, rather than just asking for contributions to the project, it's sort of a different thing anyway; at least some people will buy just for the prints without much consideration for the project. But it's interesting to me and no doubt others. And I'm amused at your high-end goals, yes."

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! TOP's host, chief writer, editor, comment moderator, researcher, general factotum, functionary, drudge, and broompusher (me, that would be) is trying to shift digs—i.e. improve the physical plant of mighty yet tiny TOP World Headquarters.

I've written up all the gory details in posts past. The short-short version is that there's a house for sale down the street that has space for a much bigger home office, which would completely solve the stresses and strains of my current (outgrown) space. If I can raise the down payment I can buy the place. Even falling short of that, though, there are less drastic ways this sale will still greatly help improve the office-space situation.

We therefore herewith and hereby launch the great and grand "Help TOP Move" Print Offer—seven prints (count 'em, seven), all Mike originals, all printed by Ctein, offered for purchase starting now and for the next five days.

As regular readers know, we take orders in advance for five days only and then print to fulfill the orders we've gotten. Once the orders close, that's it—and this is no sales gimmick, it's real, based on the way we operate these sales.

To make the proposed move feasible requires this to be one of TOP's more successful sales, so if you've ever thought about buying a TOP print, now's a good time. Every single dollar this sale can bring in will directly and materially improve my life and future economic stability and the growth and health of TOP. Even buying a single one of the $39 prints matters. Heck, if everyone did that (there is no possibility of that) I'd be able to buy the house outright! Please don't underestimate the value and importance of your contribution. (I certainly won't.)

The Old Soo Line Station (bonus print)

Now about the photographs...

Bodies of water have always been a thematic motif of my photography. All of these pictures save two are taken of, on, or near water. (And you'll notice the other two nonetheless prominently feature water, albeit in one of its non-liquid forms!)

Dogs, another favored motif, feature in only one of the pictures, but that's because I restrained myself.  :-)

Because this is a fundraiser, this is our first tiered sale:

First-tier prints

• At the FIRST TIER you have three choices for $39* each, or you can buy all three for $99*. These prints are 5x7" images on 8x10" paper. Ctein was able to get the shipping and handling down to only $10 per order, for any number of prints, to anywhere in the world, international or domestic. (Because who wants to pay $20 shipping on a $39 print?)

The two middle-tier prints

• In the MIDDLE TIER we have two offerings for you at $170* each, one B&W and one color. These are roughly 9x12" images on 11x17" paper. S&H is $25 per order for any number of prints, to anywhere in the world.

Top-tier panorama

Bonus: As a special bonus for any yeoman (or yeowoman!) stalwart TOP sustainer/supporter who purchases all six prints, which can include either size of the panorama—you'll also receive a FREE 13x20" image on 17x22" paper of "The Old Soo Line Station." The only way to get this photograph is to buy the full set—you can't order it separately.

Editioning: The larger size of the panorama will be limited to this sale only. And "The Old Soo Line Station" has never been printed before and will never be printed again at any size. All the prints of each of those two that are sold in this sale will be numbered.

About the Prints: All the prints are signed on the front by Mike and on the back by Ctein. Except for the panoramas, all the prints are on Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique fiber-base paper, printed with Epson Ultrachrome K-3 inks on an Epson 3880 printer, and are shipped flat. The panoramas are printed on Epson Semimatte RC paper with Epson Ultrachrome K-3 inks on an Epson 9800 printer and are shipped rolled.

Ordering: [Sale ended 4/7/14 at 7:00. Thanks to all who participated!]

And, as ever, we really hope you like the print(s). And very sincerely: Thanks!

Mike

4-yr.-old Zander and Mike, earlier in the journey

*Ctein is administrating this sale from California, so California residents will also pay sales tax.

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

GKFroelich: "If I buy your Miata, can I get the bonus print?  ;-)  "

Mike replies: Sounds reasonable, but actually, I couldn't do that. The reason is, it's important to do what you say you're going to do. If I say it's only available in this sale and only available to people who buy all the prints, then I can't really go skulking around giving them away under the table, can I? That's not fair to the people who get theirs the above-board, through-regular-channels way.

However, this does make me think of something very interesting. It's quite possible that no one will buy the entire suite of prints during this sale—and therefore no one will be entitled to a bonus print.

What that means—if you follow me—is that this could be the world's first limited edition print that's limited to an edition of ZERO.

LOL (like there's any other way to laugh). But seriously, think about it. Is there any way around that? I don't think there is.

And I've said I'll never print the picture again at any size after this sale. Could I go back on that? I don't think so. Not without being intentionally dishonorable.

Granted, most limited editions include several "artist's proofs" which would not be numbered and would not normally be considered for sale commercially. And, in fact, I have two prints of the "Old Soo Line Station" picture that were indeed used as proofs—one a little cooler, one a little warmer—that Ctein sent to me for approval. The warmer one is presumably identical to the one offered in the sale, since I didn't see anything more that needed to be done to it and I approved it as it was.

Sometimes artists cheat on this a little on "limited editions" by running off some number of finished prints and just calling them artist's proofs. But, strictly speaking again, there are, in actuality, just the two proofs. (Unless Ctein kept one or more at his end, in California.)

So the complete edition, all in, would be limited to zero with two artist's proofs.

So would that make the proofs worth more, or worth nothing? I think I could make the case either way. LOL again!

Maybe after the sale is over, if no one qualifies for the bonus print, I'll put the two artist's proofs on Ebay and let people bid on them. But they wouldn't be part of the limited edition, because the edition would be limited to zero prints.

This is blowin' my mind, as the hippies used to say.  :-)

UPDATE: Right after I posted this—in fact as I was writing it—two orders for the full set came in. (Thanks, Jeffrey and Hugh!) So as of now it's an edition of two with two artist's proofs.

But the above is still very interesting, isn't it? —Mike