[FM Discuss] berlin pricing

[adam hyde]

hey

ok, I think we are more or less on the same page. I never want to hold
the 'exposure' carrot infront of anyone as I was subject to that as an
artist too. As my career progressed as an artist I found that the carrot
on the end of the stick just got bigger but was still unobtainable.

So, here I am in agreement.

However, where I dont agree is with regard to marking up books for sale
as a reliable, sustainable, or ideologically aligned (with our aims)
practice.

I do like the idea of a 'suggested minimum donation'.  

I may be too finely focusing in on this issue though, and probably need
to zoom out a little and think about these bigger points you and chris
bring up...

so i go get a beer and do that now ;)

adam



On Sun, 2009-07-05 at 20:04 +0200, Derek Holzer wrote:
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
-- 
Adam Hyde
Founder FLOSS Manuals
German mobile : + 49 15 2230 54563
Email : adam at flossmanuals.net
irc: irc.freenode.net #flossmanuals

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