This photo has NOTHING to do with this post, but I hate NOT having a photo on a post and well, you must admit that my Jack is the cutest thing ever!
I’m really glad that I can share what I’m learning from my experience in shopping for the perfect album. I wanted to share a few more that came up from my album post too!
1. Pricing. It’s hard to determine what’s the best method and how to mark up your products. I found a great article on this and can’t find it now. Oh well.
I’ve heard a few different ways to do this. One of those is that people take the cost of the album to them, and mark it up by 2.5 to 3.3 – and that would equal about % of your cost for the total like if you wanted to figure up 40% then multiply by 2.5 – or something like that! I’m sure clients or potential clients reading this are gasping at the thought of my potential markup, but let’s be honest! There is a huge markup on everything we buy including furniture, cars, clothing. It’s the nature of the business. And, if you think of it as the customer is buying the book at your cost, but paying the markup for your service of beautiful prints that show your style and talent as well as any design work you do, then this post shouldn’t be that hard to swallow for potential clients.
You may want to do like me. I created a spreadsheet where I can visually see a cost comparison on my cost vs. my markup. Then, I can see how much I’m making off the album. I’m also so anal that I even have a column where I take out a percentage that is going into savings to pay taxes on my product sale. Then, I REALLY see how much I’m taking home. You can use your “markup” column to figure out if this is a good profit for yourself.
I’m all about not making things complicated. I could figure in how long it takes to make one page and multiply it by the ratio of blah, blah, blah. I just don’t do that. I don’t have time for that!
You may agree with my method and you may not. Heck…it’s all about what works for you!
And…I found the article! Here.
2. Someone asked me how I decide how many images can go in a book.
I struggled with this for some time. I’d look at other books out there and try to average how many image by how many pages. It got a little crazy! So, my goal is to make sure my clients “TRUST” me and my design judgement. I won’t dare stick it to them by putting as few images on pages as possible so they are forced to spend more money on more pages. I just won’t do that. If they see my sample books that typically have 10 pages or 20 spreads, then, they can get an idea of what I do!
I have decided the best method is to design the album how I see best fit based on the number of pages – that I will recommend at about 30 to 60 to start. Then, we will meet to review the first draft. This just takes out the guessing game of them trying to figure out the best photos and what they want to see. It’s overwhelming! If I can make that easy for them, then I will. Design, then go through that first draft. After that meeting, I will apply any changes I need to make based on their notes and requests. From there, we get one more review in PDF format emailed to them. After that last review, they can have more changes, but my design billable rate is $100 per hour. So, if we can get a beautiful book designed in three passes we’re doing pretty darned good!
If you’re struggling with album design, I haven’t found a GREAT online builder yet. I’m testing one from Graphi Studio hopefully next week. But, for now, I stick with the amazing Photoshop Templates that you can purchase at Pink Ink Studios. I also make a few of my own up as I see fit. Design is fast for me. Really, I can design a book in like two days if I put my mind to it. It comes naturally to me. The thought of outsourcing it just isn’t even on my mind. I went to school for design and frankly, I love doing it!
So, there’s a little informative Saturday morning post for you. Not sure if it helps you, but always feel free to join the forums at Pink Ink Studios and share and ask questions there. We have a lot of photographers that participate there and have a lot of experience and ideas!
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by Holly
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