- Joined
- May 25, 2011
- Messages
- 854
Im looking for some input on an idea that Ive been tossing around for sometime now. There are no wrong answers and it wont hurt my feelings (not even a little bit) if you think my idea isnt a good one in fact thoughts like that will help me make a decision.
First a little background:
I have chronic Lyme disease and am disabled because of it. Speaking frankly: I hate being disabled and would far prefer that I was able to work again. At this point I dont know if that will ever happen and even if my health improved to the point that I could go back to work, it isnt likely that Id find a decent job (after being ill for so many years). There is also the age factor Im not getting younger and I really doubt Ill ever have the ability to work 12-15 hours per day again.
I do have sporadic times when Im feeling better and can do something, although any physical activity makes me ill for days at a time. Sometimes these good times are for several hours at a time, and sometimes they are only for a few minutes. I have no way of telling when Ill feel better or how long that feeling will last. I should also add that it is still very common for me to feel horrible for days on end.
Another issue is that my sleeping patterns are a total mess. Sometimes I just cannot sleep, and others I will sleep for 18 hours straight. It is a royal pain in the you-know-what, but not a major issue when one isnt able to work.
That said, Ive long searched for a means of being productive, while allowing for the fact that I am not who I once was. I have no choice but to work around my illness if I am capable of doing even that.
Because of that simple fact, any feasible means of garnering an income is going to be limited to self employment of some sort. No company would put up with my illness for long, and I dont blame them. I dont like putting up with it, but I dont have a choice.
This is not about my illness though; Ive long accepted the fact that I now have limitations and am constantly trying to figure out a means for getting around those limitations. So onto the idea .. and your thoughts.
Electronic literature seems to be here to stay and is growing fairly quickly. I dont recall the latest stats, but it seems as though E-books (and E-magazines) are taking a bigger chunk out of the sales pie each year.
I am familiar with the difficulties in selling a book, as I have authored a book that was published. It didnt do well if money and sales is the goal earning me a few hundred dollars or so. I just dont have the money to put in an advertising campaign and no publisher is going to spend a lot on someone unknown it just doesnt happen.
Still, there are success stories of some unknown person doing well with electronic media and there are built in advantages with the success of things like the kindle reader.
It is very inexpensive to publish an electronic book; in fact I believe I can publish (through Amazon) for free.
The authors margins are much higher when self-publishing through Amazon (or some of the others) since the author sets the price (of their book/magazine) and the source (Amazon) collects the sales amount and deducts the authors cut and sends that cut to the author once it totals a specific amount.
The physical book I wrote had a cost of $16.95 brand new. Of that amount, I received something along the lines of 80 cents (or so I forgot the actual amount).
It is my understanding that an electronic book is sold for the price that I set and the source takes their fee from that price. Supposedly, a price of $6 would net me something around $2 (for each item sold). I do need to update my research into this portion of the idea, but I believe that is probably still close to being accurate.
So here is the idea
I love photography and happen to live in southern New Jersey. I live within an hours drive of some of the more famous beaches on the east coast and Atlantic City. New Jersey gets a ton of visitors every year mostly during the summer time and mostly along the coast.
So I was thinking of publishing an E-magazine, probably one issue every two-three months, featuring pictures of southern New Jersey. There is a lot to see in NJ and most of it goes unnoticed by the tourists as theyre heading to the vacation spots on the shore.
Id also like to do one or two articles (each issue) on local areas perhaps a famous location, perhaps some of the local lore. Id do some research for the article and a few interviews if needed.
Id also like to feature one or two Mom & Pop style restaurants complete with pictures of their signature dish. Id like to interview the owners and do a small write-up about the business.
I want to include the restaurants because I believe it offers value to the magazine, and Id like to get the restaurants to let me include a coupon (printable) in the E-magazine. Id prefer that the coupon be for a percentage (or amount) off with the next purchase from that restaurant.
I would not charge the restaurant for the write-up, nor would I have advertising. I want this to be a very easy sale (to the restaurant) and I dont want to clutter up the magazine with advertisements.
I would be open to including other types of Mom & Pop businesses for a write-up and a coupon; providing they fit within the south jersey concept.
Most of the magazine would be pictures with just a short write-up describing the picture and the location.
That sums up my intent for the magazine.
There are roughly 8 million people living in New Jersey, with several more million living in the surrounding area. That doesnt account for the areas further away, but the shore area (in NJ) draws a significant number of people from distances of hundreds of miles.
The target audience should be fairly large; assuming that anyone with an interest in southern New Jersey is a member of the target audience.
Assuming a potential target audience of just 10 million people, and assuming that only 10% of that targeted audience is willing to purchase an online magazine, we still have a fairly well targeted audience of 1 million people. If we assume that 10% of that 1 million actually stumbled upon the opportunity to purchase the magazine, Id have the opportunity of selling a magazine to 100,000 people. And if I actually sold a magazine to 10% of those who had the opportunity; that would be 10,000 magazines sold per magazine release.
That all works out to a possible $20,000 every 2-3 months if the numbers (above) are remotely close. (Based on earning $2 for each magazine sold)
Not too shabby for doing something that I love doing, and I think I could do during those times when Im feeling better. Id be thrilled if the numbers were half that only 5,000 copies sold each edition.
Is it possible?
I dont know. It seems possible and the state does have a large draw. Pictures remain popular and I suspect people will pay to see nice pictures of things they are interested in.
Other possible benefits as far as I am concerned:
With sales of the magazine, I increase the opportunity of someone wanting to purchase one of my photographs. I havent accounted for any numbers, but I would assume that some people would inquire about purchasing some of the pictures: especially if I specifically mention that the pictures can be purchased.
The positives:
Very low start-up costs. I dont believe this would cost me anything other than gas. I already own the cameras and the software and the computer. I also have contacts within the restaurant realm and am very familiar with the area I want to concentrate on. The area is fairly small about 6 or 7 of the southern counties in NJ. There are a lot of opportunities with regards to Mom & Pop style businesses and Im not asking them for anything but their time and the opportunity to photograph a signature item.
The negatives:
My illness is a big one, but I think I can manage to work around that since the only deadline is my own.
Getting heard is another big one. That could be somewhat overcome by the fact that the state is a big draw so there are a lot of searches for New Jersey and south jersey.
The timeline; I will have to stockpile pictures so each new edition isnt outdated by the time it arrives. For example: a fall edition would likely feature a local winery, so those pictures would need to be taken earlier in the year. The other fall shots would have to be taken either at the last possible moment, or the prior fall.
Legal issues: I dont know of any, but Im certain there are some.
I think Ive covered the basics as far as I can tell.
Id really like your input the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tell me what you think; does my idea have merit, is it doomed because Ive overlooked something? If you think it will work please tell me why. If you think it wont work I beg you to tell me why.
Id like to have as much information as I possibly can, and Id like to take a look at everything before I make a decision to jump (or not).
First a little background:
I have chronic Lyme disease and am disabled because of it. Speaking frankly: I hate being disabled and would far prefer that I was able to work again. At this point I dont know if that will ever happen and even if my health improved to the point that I could go back to work, it isnt likely that Id find a decent job (after being ill for so many years). There is also the age factor Im not getting younger and I really doubt Ill ever have the ability to work 12-15 hours per day again.
I do have sporadic times when Im feeling better and can do something, although any physical activity makes me ill for days at a time. Sometimes these good times are for several hours at a time, and sometimes they are only for a few minutes. I have no way of telling when Ill feel better or how long that feeling will last. I should also add that it is still very common for me to feel horrible for days on end.
Another issue is that my sleeping patterns are a total mess. Sometimes I just cannot sleep, and others I will sleep for 18 hours straight. It is a royal pain in the you-know-what, but not a major issue when one isnt able to work.
That said, Ive long searched for a means of being productive, while allowing for the fact that I am not who I once was. I have no choice but to work around my illness if I am capable of doing even that.
Because of that simple fact, any feasible means of garnering an income is going to be limited to self employment of some sort. No company would put up with my illness for long, and I dont blame them. I dont like putting up with it, but I dont have a choice.
This is not about my illness though; Ive long accepted the fact that I now have limitations and am constantly trying to figure out a means for getting around those limitations. So onto the idea .. and your thoughts.
Electronic literature seems to be here to stay and is growing fairly quickly. I dont recall the latest stats, but it seems as though E-books (and E-magazines) are taking a bigger chunk out of the sales pie each year.
I am familiar with the difficulties in selling a book, as I have authored a book that was published. It didnt do well if money and sales is the goal earning me a few hundred dollars or so. I just dont have the money to put in an advertising campaign and no publisher is going to spend a lot on someone unknown it just doesnt happen.
Still, there are success stories of some unknown person doing well with electronic media and there are built in advantages with the success of things like the kindle reader.
It is very inexpensive to publish an electronic book; in fact I believe I can publish (through Amazon) for free.
The authors margins are much higher when self-publishing through Amazon (or some of the others) since the author sets the price (of their book/magazine) and the source (Amazon) collects the sales amount and deducts the authors cut and sends that cut to the author once it totals a specific amount.
The physical book I wrote had a cost of $16.95 brand new. Of that amount, I received something along the lines of 80 cents (or so I forgot the actual amount).
It is my understanding that an electronic book is sold for the price that I set and the source takes their fee from that price. Supposedly, a price of $6 would net me something around $2 (for each item sold). I do need to update my research into this portion of the idea, but I believe that is probably still close to being accurate.
So here is the idea
I love photography and happen to live in southern New Jersey. I live within an hours drive of some of the more famous beaches on the east coast and Atlantic City. New Jersey gets a ton of visitors every year mostly during the summer time and mostly along the coast.
So I was thinking of publishing an E-magazine, probably one issue every two-three months, featuring pictures of southern New Jersey. There is a lot to see in NJ and most of it goes unnoticed by the tourists as theyre heading to the vacation spots on the shore.
Id also like to do one or two articles (each issue) on local areas perhaps a famous location, perhaps some of the local lore. Id do some research for the article and a few interviews if needed.
Id also like to feature one or two Mom & Pop style restaurants complete with pictures of their signature dish. Id like to interview the owners and do a small write-up about the business.
I want to include the restaurants because I believe it offers value to the magazine, and Id like to get the restaurants to let me include a coupon (printable) in the E-magazine. Id prefer that the coupon be for a percentage (or amount) off with the next purchase from that restaurant.
I would not charge the restaurant for the write-up, nor would I have advertising. I want this to be a very easy sale (to the restaurant) and I dont want to clutter up the magazine with advertisements.
I would be open to including other types of Mom & Pop businesses for a write-up and a coupon; providing they fit within the south jersey concept.
Most of the magazine would be pictures with just a short write-up describing the picture and the location.
That sums up my intent for the magazine.
There are roughly 8 million people living in New Jersey, with several more million living in the surrounding area. That doesnt account for the areas further away, but the shore area (in NJ) draws a significant number of people from distances of hundreds of miles.
The target audience should be fairly large; assuming that anyone with an interest in southern New Jersey is a member of the target audience.
Assuming a potential target audience of just 10 million people, and assuming that only 10% of that targeted audience is willing to purchase an online magazine, we still have a fairly well targeted audience of 1 million people. If we assume that 10% of that 1 million actually stumbled upon the opportunity to purchase the magazine, Id have the opportunity of selling a magazine to 100,000 people. And if I actually sold a magazine to 10% of those who had the opportunity; that would be 10,000 magazines sold per magazine release.
That all works out to a possible $20,000 every 2-3 months if the numbers (above) are remotely close. (Based on earning $2 for each magazine sold)
Not too shabby for doing something that I love doing, and I think I could do during those times when Im feeling better. Id be thrilled if the numbers were half that only 5,000 copies sold each edition.
Is it possible?
I dont know. It seems possible and the state does have a large draw. Pictures remain popular and I suspect people will pay to see nice pictures of things they are interested in.
Other possible benefits as far as I am concerned:
With sales of the magazine, I increase the opportunity of someone wanting to purchase one of my photographs. I havent accounted for any numbers, but I would assume that some people would inquire about purchasing some of the pictures: especially if I specifically mention that the pictures can be purchased.
The positives:
Very low start-up costs. I dont believe this would cost me anything other than gas. I already own the cameras and the software and the computer. I also have contacts within the restaurant realm and am very familiar with the area I want to concentrate on. The area is fairly small about 6 or 7 of the southern counties in NJ. There are a lot of opportunities with regards to Mom & Pop style businesses and Im not asking them for anything but their time and the opportunity to photograph a signature item.
The negatives:
My illness is a big one, but I think I can manage to work around that since the only deadline is my own.
Getting heard is another big one. That could be somewhat overcome by the fact that the state is a big draw so there are a lot of searches for New Jersey and south jersey.
The timeline; I will have to stockpile pictures so each new edition isnt outdated by the time it arrives. For example: a fall edition would likely feature a local winery, so those pictures would need to be taken earlier in the year. The other fall shots would have to be taken either at the last possible moment, or the prior fall.
Legal issues: I dont know of any, but Im certain there are some.
I think Ive covered the basics as far as I can tell.
Id really like your input the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tell me what you think; does my idea have merit, is it doomed because Ive overlooked something? If you think it will work please tell me why. If you think it wont work I beg you to tell me why.
Id like to have as much information as I possibly can, and Id like to take a look at everything before I make a decision to jump (or not).
