Jorge said:
Awww hell, I guess this is going to turn out into another MAS thread....
Mike, I have no beef with you, but what is it going to take for you to recognize what MAS did was wrong? You cannot possibly know how the rest of the subscribers, in addition to those whom MAS asked about the change, feel.
I dont understand this blind devotion and refusal to see the unethical behavior. I dont know how you judge your friends, but I judge mine by knowing that they have my best interest at heart and are not afraid to tell me when I am wrong. By writing the letter you did and prasing him, you are actually telling him it is ok to defraud people just because he is MAS.
Your admiration for MAS is commendable, but do net let it blind you to his faults.
Jorge,
I believe that Michael made a business mistake which threatens the existence of the series. With the exception of one individual every subscriber queried has prefered to see the series continue even if the limited edition numbers are raised. That's my take on it. It is a sucky situation. You see it as unethical and others do as well. But, I believe him when he says that this is what they have to do.
Let's think about this a little. How much profit do photo books make? I don't see a lot of people running up offering high quality photo books for sale. So, can we assume that the margins are relatively low to begin with? At least when they're printing their own books, the potential is there to sell some prints from the books. But they're not going to sell any Weston prints from this one. The didn't sell any of Edwards prints either. Kim Weston may make more off of the books than Michael and Paula. I imagine that the big auction houses will make more than Kim and Michael put together.
You're right that I can't know how the unasked subscribers feel, but neither can anyone else. I think that the situation sucks. But I learned a long time ago that whining about a situation doesn't make it better. Work makes it better.
We took a vote about threads earlier today. Even though less than100 people of the 6000 on Apug voted a decision was made to change the rules. That's a 1 in 60 sample. If Michael talked to a dozen subscribers out of a 100 that's a much larger sample. Is it large enough, maybe not. But that's why he's offered people the ability to return the books and cancel the subscriptions.
250 of the hardcovers at $100 each is $25k. My bet is that the $25k US won't even cover the printing costs. That leaves 750 books at, lets say an average of $32 each ($29 for sub, $35 for non sub). That's $24k additional assuming that there are only direct sales. Probably though 200-350 of those books will wind up in book stores that they will be wholesaled to for $12-15. That lowers things further say to $18k. Now out of this $43k, all of the bills will need to be paid, plus enough extra to cover the cost of getting the next edition on the press. Then there are trips to europe for press checks, etc It can't be much profit. My bet is that Michael isn't even paying himself $25 an hour for the work.
At 100 books at $100 that's $10k+ the other $18k that we talked about. I really don't see how they can break even. If they can't break even and pay the credit card bills they cannot produce more books. I could be wrong about the printing costs, but my bet is that I'm on the low side rather than the high side. Good printing is not cheap.
I spent 1990- 1995 in publishing and printing. With #1 paper and 600 lpi quadtones, these are expensive volumes. So these are the things that I base my thoughts on. That's how I can support Michael in this issue. There's basically no money to follow here. It's a thin margin with a 250 copy hardcover edition, it's a losing proposition with an edition of 100 if they are going to print books of the quality of the ones so far.
Mike
