[FM Discuss] berlin pricing

[Derek Holzer]

Hi Adam,

I think Chris did a fine job summing up my points, to whit:

> --Know your costs,
> --Try to understand the value you are providing
> --Run the operation efficiently and effectively,
> --Plan for sustainability. 

adam hyde wrote:

> Profit : selling the books for more than the price it costs to produce
> them.

Knowing what it costs to produce them would help you price/suggest 
donation accordingly. People's time (including your own) should figure 
into that.

> first priority, as far as I am concerned, is to find $ to hold more
> sprints.

A fine priority!

> I know of at least one : FLOSS Manuals but there are _many_ others. Many
> not for profits have no paid employees. 

Is that required by the FLOSS Manuals charter? ;-)


> I have the feeling you expect book sales to generate a lot of revenue.
> This is not the case anywhere in the industry. 

As with the music industry and all the others. Nope, not expecting 
anybody to get rich writing FLOSS Manuals. My points are more about 
finding a realistic figure (not out of thin air) for pricing the 
physical copies.

>> "You can die of exposure."
> I dont get this last point...

Criticism of "Berlin pricing" and whether people can actually live on it 
aside, I've repeated this phrase "you can die from exposure" to many 
curators etc over the last year who have asked me to do workshops, 
performances, installations etc for next to nothing because the symbolic 
value of being able to call something "art" and get "exposure" from it 
is supposedly greater than the need to pay rent.

As an aside for non-native English speakers on this list: "exposure" is 
also what happens when you leave someone out in the wilderness with no 
food, water or heat for a long enough time... ;-)

Application to FLOSS Manuals: don't sell yourself short, because the 
"exposure" is already there in terms of the website.

best!
Derek




-- 
::: derek holzer ::: http://blog.myspace.com/macumbista ::: 
http://www.vimeo.com/macumbista :::
---Oblique Strategy # 78:
"Go outside.  Shut the door."