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Comment by tjr | Hacker News Reader

Is there really a market for selling 20,000 copies of a landscape photo calendar? If so, maybe photographers should get into the business of creating these themselves, and keeping all of the money rather than a tiny fee?

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I thought the same thing. The unknown that I came up with was distribution channels. How would I get these great calendars that I created into the hands of the people? Certainly not unsolvable, but much more work and much more risk (up front capital) than just creating a calendar.

For that matter, I'd be pretty happy if I could sell 200 copies of a calendar at ~$10/profit on each one. Hardly a full-time business, but it would turn my money-sucking photography hobby into something that covers buying some new equipment.

Many art websites offer the service (eg deviantart [1]) - the artist creates the pages, they print and ship it and profit is shared. Of course you can argue about the share model (at deviantart, 20% by default for the artist; you can set a higher price if you're a premium member and pocket the difference), but the business model is there.

[1] http://shop.deviantart.com/?qh=product:gifts/calendars&u...

The thing about that is that you would be competing with a company that is entrenched but properly doesn't "dig" tech at the level people here do -- and that can be used against them because the internet is the greatest single distribution channel ever conceived.

The biggest issue is that these a Christian theme calenders so they will be purchased by little old ladies who are afraid to use their credit cards on the internet, because the hackers might get it and steal their identity.

Then you're in the calendar publishing business, at which you have no expertise, instead of the photography business.

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