Hi All
I have a small favour to ask. I need some sage advice regarding a project I have just completed. A number of years ago I self-published a small instructional booklet outlining my method of coating fixed-out baryta paper with platinum/palladium and other alt. process solutions. I sent a number of copies to people here and there, some as far away as Australia and Finland. In return for the booklet and shipping costs I asked for people to either send $20 to my Paypal account or a to send me a print made with the technique. Some chose the former, others the latter.
Well, I have just completed an update of the booklet. This time however, I am considering making the entire text available as a PDF download. The updated version now contains photos illustrating the various steps involved and even a link to a short video on my site where I demonstrate the heart of the procedure.
I am wondering what sort of access to the file I should provide. I could of course link it to my site and simply offer it for free to anyone who wants to download it. My goal after all is to spread the word about the technique so that people everywhere can try it. However, it is a 20+ page document illustrating a technique that took me a couple of years to perfect. The booklet and the video take up space on a website account I am paying for as well. So the entrepreneur in me says charge a nominal fee per download ($5? $10?). Going even further down this road, why even make it available as a PDF? Why not pitch it to one of the various magazines out there that publish this sort of thing (I'd have to edit it down of course to something much shorter). I could at least make a few bucks from it that way.
I don't know. I did not develop the method to make money from it. I just wanted pt/pd prints on baryta paper. My first instinct is to just share the information and be done with it. But my wallet says I should at least make some kind of effort to recoup the costs.
What say you?
I have a small favour to ask. I need some sage advice regarding a project I have just completed. A number of years ago I self-published a small instructional booklet outlining my method of coating fixed-out baryta paper with platinum/palladium and other alt. process solutions. I sent a number of copies to people here and there, some as far away as Australia and Finland. In return for the booklet and shipping costs I asked for people to either send $20 to my Paypal account or a to send me a print made with the technique. Some chose the former, others the latter.
Well, I have just completed an update of the booklet. This time however, I am considering making the entire text available as a PDF download. The updated version now contains photos illustrating the various steps involved and even a link to a short video on my site where I demonstrate the heart of the procedure.
I am wondering what sort of access to the file I should provide. I could of course link it to my site and simply offer it for free to anyone who wants to download it. My goal after all is to spread the word about the technique so that people everywhere can try it. However, it is a 20+ page document illustrating a technique that took me a couple of years to perfect. The booklet and the video take up space on a website account I am paying for as well. So the entrepreneur in me says charge a nominal fee per download ($5? $10?). Going even further down this road, why even make it available as a PDF? Why not pitch it to one of the various magazines out there that publish this sort of thing (I'd have to edit it down of course to something much shorter). I could at least make a few bucks from it that way.
I don't know. I did not develop the method to make money from it. I just wanted pt/pd prints on baryta paper. My first instinct is to just share the information and be done with it. But my wallet says I should at least make some kind of effort to recoup the costs.
What say you?