MacWorld Expo Review
Jan. 18th, 2008 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjYesterday I made my annual Mac-geek pilgrimage to the MacWorld Expo in SF, in company with the usual suspects (esp. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scotica). While I'm not immediately in the market for any of the hot new products, I did spend some time fondling the new Macbook Air and proclaim it eminently fondlable. The only major purchase I ended up getting was the upgrade to the Leopard operating system, although I fell slightly in lust with a project/contacts organization system that actually looks like my brain feels. (The name is, in fact, something like "Your Brain".) I lusted after several assorted pieces of luggage, all of which more or less duplicate functions that I already have luggage for, so they were safe to lust after.
And while in the middle of checking out one of the various POD (that's Print On Demand for the non-writerly readers)) companies, I suddenly had the belated flash of insight that the solution to getting Harpy Publications back up and running is to switch to a POD model with a company that handles all the order fulfillment. Since I'm primarily dealing with people who know the publications exist and simply want to obtain them, rather than a situation where I'm trying to go out and promote them to an unknowing public, this is pretty much an ideal solution. It does mean that I'd need to transform my literal paste-ups into pdf format, but that's a lot less effort than doing order fulfillment out of my living room. Of course, the POD solution doesn't cover the various songbooks -- specifically Dreamer and Songbook Pusher -- that wouldn't get reprinted even if I managed to sell out of the existing copies. But the historic stuff -- including some of the pamphlet-sized items -- could all be set up for POD. I think I've identified one of my projects for the year. A big advantage of leaving the printing and order fulfillment to a 3rd party is that I don't have to deal with a resale license or filling out sales tax forms. And a brief check of sample pricing indicates that the production costs are comparable to or lower than the run-them-off-at-the-xerox-shop costs.
Why I didn't twig on this idea long ago is a mystery to me.
scotica). While I'm not immediately in the market for any of the hot new products, I did spend some time fondling the new Macbook Air and proclaim it eminently fondlable. The only major purchase I ended up getting was the upgrade to the Leopard operating system, although I fell slightly in lust with a project/contacts organization system that actually looks like my brain feels. (The name is, in fact, something like "Your Brain".) I lusted after several assorted pieces of luggage, all of which more or less duplicate functions that I already have luggage for, so they were safe to lust after.And while in the middle of checking out one of the various POD (that's Print On Demand for the non-writerly readers)) companies, I suddenly had the belated flash of insight that the solution to getting Harpy Publications back up and running is to switch to a POD model with a company that handles all the order fulfillment. Since I'm primarily dealing with people who know the publications exist and simply want to obtain them, rather than a situation where I'm trying to go out and promote them to an unknowing public, this is pretty much an ideal solution. It does mean that I'd need to transform my literal paste-ups into pdf format, but that's a lot less effort than doing order fulfillment out of my living room. Of course, the POD solution doesn't cover the various songbooks -- specifically Dreamer and Songbook Pusher -- that wouldn't get reprinted even if I managed to sell out of the existing copies. But the historic stuff -- including some of the pamphlet-sized items -- could all be set up for POD. I think I've identified one of my projects for the year. A big advantage of leaving the printing and order fulfillment to a 3rd party is that I don't have to deal with a resale license or filling out sales tax forms. And a brief check of sample pricing indicates that the production costs are comparable to or lower than the run-them-off-at-the-xerox-shop costs.
Why I didn't twig on this idea long ago is a mystery to me.
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Date: 2008-01-18 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 10:04 pm (UTC)They're one of the companies lulu.com uses, and are - to the best of my knowledge - cheaper while giving you the same advantages.
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Date: 2008-01-19 01:08 am (UTC)'d sure like to get that featherlight laptop though!
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Date: 2008-01-19 01:42 am (UTC)Fingered the iphone and itouch. Wish the iphone was 16g too.
Looked at Parallel - needlework charting programs are only PC or OS9. If I really need to do fancy charting I may go that route.
Really liked the look of Project X - the best project management program I've seen so far.
Managed not to spend too much - just popped for a bluetooth ear bud since come July we will need to have hands free for in the car.
Need to check out more POD solutions too. I have 3 or 4 books - limited interest - about my family - that need to get written. I'll be curious to see which you choose.
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Date: 2008-01-19 03:51 am (UTC)The POD companies that were represented at MacWorld tend to be image-oriented ones: scrapbooks of the family vacation, baby books, etc. So not the sort I'd be using for the Welsh research journal and that sort of thing.