I'm still waiting to see what my bottom line is this year, before i decide about doing horse shows in 2009.
However, i am pondering some prices for my CD packages, just in case i carry on. Might just have to concidering the economic problems these days. A quick history first i think, so you can see were i came up with my CD's. In 2004 i went web sales only, no more onsite. With onsite sales, I made a little money after paying staff, re stocking paper and ink and fixing equipment, constantly. In 2004 and 2005, i made $0.000 dollars. In 2006 i was on my way to my third break even season. I have always offered one CD deal, which is a single show package, were in you could buy all of the pictures from 1 show for $30.00. This would range from 2-8 shots, depending on were i was, division type, etc. This sold modestly, maybe 5-6 per season. Not wanting to have 3 loosing season in a row, in an act of pure desperation, around late fall, i offered on my site, a full year CD were in you could buy ALL of the photos i took, for $50.00. Don't ask were i pulled that number out from, but I did.:-) Anyway i recieved a fair amount of response to this, and managed to make a profit, by years end. I carried on with the two packages up to the present, as it seems this is were my final profits seem to come latley. What i now would like to do is either change the package a bit or keep it the same and raise the price. Some of these year deals can involve 70-80 shots and to go through each 1 and do the CD can take up to 2 hours, plus time spent at the show, downloading etc. - Keep CD the same and raise the price to $80 to $100.00 - Change CD to a pick your favorite 10 or 12 shots and leave price the same. I know i have dug a hole here with a cheap price for so long, and times are a bit tough right now, although that does not seem to effect the horsey crowd, They always are buying something some were.:-) I think the CD's are a worth while thing to keep doing, as it offers up a potential sale, when the pictures are not quite what they want for a print, but good enough to own for email, showing friends and family, if that makes sense.At least this is what i have heard from the buyers. Nice photo i shot, but riders body not quite right or horse, just a tad off square, but to them its worth having those as files, not prints. I'm the only one around that offers these two deals. Some offer a show deal, similar to mine, up to three shots from 1 day, but they charge $80.00, then $10-00 to 15.00 per additional shot. I have been told by a number of past customers, even though all the other photog's take nice shots, they will buy from me, just because of my lower prices. So.....you can see my dilema. Any thoughts, tips, curses for basically giving my stuff away,.\\ Dave -- Equine Photography www.caughtinmotion.com http://brooksinthecountry.blogspot.com/ Ontario Canada -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
