Tutorial Authors.....
 

Please don't take this the wrong way...This is just my opinion.
Why don't you guys publish your tutorials in book form??
Just curious as to why no one has and this is my reason....

Sharon Peters, Corina Tettinger, Leah Fairbanks (to name a few) Have books out with methods and tutorials for many different types of beads in one book. The plus for me...
1. Many things to learn in one book
2. Book is published...no printing from a measly computer printer
3. Price is about $12-$18

E-Tutorials are now running $20- $30 for a single tutorial.
Then for most of us who can't bring a laptop to the torch we have to go to lulu and print ( I won't waste a $30 cartridge of ink) and so printing one of these books is about $20-$30 depending on size...and so now were out $60 for a 14-20 page book.
I used to buy sooo many tutorials and I love them to death but the price now for one ....I just can't justify spending that type of money and then having to print it out.
I'm sure there are many that feel the same way but are afraid to speak up.
So if your going to continue charging over $20 for your books, why not just get them published so that the cost is cheaper for everyone all around. Or is there more to it???
I'm not sure what goes on for publishing a book but I find it a shame that some people including me can't get in on some of these books because of the price.
Just my opinion...do what you want with it in your mind but no flaming please!

I love tutorials and have purchased several. However, I hate having to use my computer while I'm near the torch...some concerns about flying glass, plus it's just not convenient for me. I just print in black & white, and try my best. I hate adding the cost of color ink to the cost of the tutorial, so I just deal with it. I must admit that I love my books (Corina Tettinger, Cindy Jenkins, and many others). I love the convenience of the books, and consequently purchase more books, than online tutorials...I would be second in line for more COLOR books, books, books!!!! I will add that I usually take my books when I'm going to medical and other appointments, and more times than not, someone will look over in amazement. It has led to a number of bead sales, and general interest in lampworking.

That being said, I assume that publishing a book can't be easy or inexpensive, so I'm not incredibly hopeful! Just wanted to offer my two cents...for whatever they are worth.
: - )

I hear what you're saying and I agree with a lot of it. I can only speak for myself. I never intended my tutorial to be printed, however I'm told it prints very well. I think publishing it in book form would have been a huge undertaking unless I uploaded it to lulu and had them sell it for me printed. I have noticed that prices are going up for tutorials. I tried to keep my price low and I hope people that purchased mine felt it was priced fairly.

Amy, I recently purchased your tutorial and thought it was reasonably priced...and I thank you! It's a wonderful tut, and I appreciate that you and others are sharing your knowledge. It would just be awesome to be able to purchase it in colored book form...

Thanks! I totally get what you're saying. However, without this whole E-book thing I highly doubt my tutorial would have ever been written....ya know?

Yeah, I do know, and I really do understand. I'm sure everybody does. It is just frustrating, but it won't stop me from buying more tutorials!!!!! I love all of my teachers!!! MUA!!!!

Well some of them are getting page heavy for an E-book. :lol:

Hum...I wonder what the cost (and cost-effectiveness for both creator and buying customer) would be to do the "lulu" thing...

I'm really close to having my first "for sale" Tut (Skull Murrini) ready; I'd go the book way if it made it easier for those buying it and the cost wasn't way huge! Anyone have an idea what the cost runs?

De

Generally speaking, I think pricing is key. I don't flinch too much if an Ebook runs about $20 (+ / - ) $1.... I have been shying away from online tuts that run much higher than that. That's just me. $13 - $17 is very reasonable. I don't have any of your tutorial's Kandice, but I'm headed to your website to see what ya got! : - )))

I actually considered this. But i could not find a place to get the book printed for an affordable price.

I do think i will offer the E-books for a few bucks extra and print and bond them myself.
I have professional printers and spiral bindingd and glue binding machines as well.

I am just not sure if people would prefer this over purchasing an onlien E-book, cause this is much faster.

I do try to combine several techniques in 1 E-book.
I am intersted in what others think about this. :)

Thanks for bringing it up.

Of to bed now.

I for one would spend a little extra for a good quality printed / spiral bound book!!!!! I hope others will pipe in here! I think this is an important subject.

And yes.....thank you Reenie for starting this conversation!

Thanks for raising this Reenie. I agree entirely. I have stopped buying e-books as it is such an expense for one technique. A compilaton of tuts for the same price or less is a much better way to go.

I don't want to offend anyone. I have really appreciated and enjoyed the tuts I bought in the past, but, when I add up the cost it is astronomical.

I rather the PDF... only because I dont have to pay postage. And postage is hugely expensive! I print mine and if I want to take it to the torch I also laminate it. You can put the PDF on a thumb drive and take it to the printers and they will print it and spiral bind it very cheap. But I still like being able to laminate them. If you take paper to the torch and a rod pops it will set the page on fire (ask me how I know! #-o).... If its laminated its all fine.
And the PDF is rather instant.... LOL ;)

I offer my Kumihimo bracelet tutorial in both PDF and printed. I get more orders for the PDF because it's cheaper by a few dollars. But every so often (like yesterday) I get an order for the bound book.

J.

Thought I would chime in regarding printing books vs. e-books. My "real" job is in the printing industry!! I love my books that I have purchased and my e-books but, there is quite a bigger process between the two that the end user does not see! With an e-book it is right there for you to have. Instant gratification!! Usually the price to the end user is reasonable right? Right!

But, for the author having a book printed and bound to sell takes a lot more time & money. In most cases, the author has to buy a set quantity, i.e. 100, 250 etc. in order to keep the cost reasonable to the end user. The more they buy the cheaper the final book can retail for. Then proofing, not only the text but the cover, pictures etc. When you are purchasing a larger quantity, and spending $1000+ up front before you even sell one - you are going to want it just right!

Either way, it can be expensive!

A couple of things I have done with my e-tuts is print them out and three hole punch them and put into a binder. I have laminated them sometimes and I have also used those page protectors if there is a specific page I want to use at the torch I have it in a page protector. If you don't want to use all the ink in your printer, like someone before me suggested is to put it on a thumb drive and take to your local printer, kinkos, office depot to name a few. Or, print out only the pages that you think have the most important information on them and save the pdf file somewhere safe, that you can reference as you need it!

Just my two cents worth :grin:
Kristy

my question would be why not self publish through something like createspace-avoid the fees, but let the reader get the printed versions?

My only concern is this. If it's in a book form would people feel they could sell them later down the road. Like Corina's etc.

Here: from she who knows :roll:

When I did the Lampwork Etc tutorials book, I went with the
LEAST expensive book publishing option I could find. This
turned out to be Lulu.com. The book has always been sold at
actual cost - which is now $19.40. It is 62 full color pages
(the average LONG tutorial is anywhere from 25 to 50 full
pages - although I personally feel that this is due to authors
having no real constraints on file size. Most of these
tutorials could be easily squeezed down into much less
pages if they had to be).

If I were to make up a tutorial, as an author, my goal would
be to make as much money from it as possible.

So lets say I make up a tutorial on how to make a round
bead. I work real hard, put together a PDF file, and sell it
to you for $10.You buy it, I email it out the second I get
your payment, and our transaction is completed. Minus
paypal and etsy fees, I've made about $9.50. I sell 100
this way, I've made $950.00.

If I do the same as a book, the minimum cost is going to be
about $15. I'm going to want to make a LITTLE money on
this, so I'll add on about $5.00. Now the book is up to
$20.00. Adding in my paypal and etsy fees adds another .50
or so to the price. Shipping and handling add another $5.00
or so onto the price (pre set per the book seller). If I sell
100 of these, I've made about $500.00.

I've also had to listen to customers call me and complain
that their book was taking too long to arrive/got lost/was
damaged by UPS/the cover ripped/etc. All because this is a
PHYSICAL thing I'm selling. Even though it was bought
through another vendor, mine is still the name on the cover,
and when people complain about the service or quality, my
name is always the one that's going to come up.

Hope that helps a bit.

Of course they would, and they should too. It's a physical thing.
That's like saying you can't sell your torch if you've already
used it to make beads.

I've had a few tuts printed by lulu. When I do get a lulu book I usually have at least 4 or 5 tuts printed in one book and this hasn't been too expensive.

I appreciate the input guys. You all know I love your tutorials but man oh man when they started at $15 or so...it was okay but now I'm seeing some that are $25, $27.50 and even If I took them to Kinkos and got them printed at what 15 cents a sheet that still runs around $40 for a book.
I'm not trying to be mean or anything but I wish there was a way to where this was cheaper. There are so many people that are missing out on some great stuff and it would be great to figure out how you could make money and they can save at the same time.

I'm the one that likes printed books because they last longer and the pages are thicker and also the pictures are clearer. For me to get all that from lulu...I'd be paying a hefty amount.

Nancy...I've done the tutorials together in one book. But now both ends are getting more expensive.
Maybe we can research a way to do this....

Chrissy,

I am interested in having you print and bond this latest tutorial Rainbow colors in silver, how much would that cost? Thanks in advance :-),

Carol

I made a book and printing is really expensive. Selling them and sending the books overseas it expensive too.
I think Lulu quality is not the sort of book I would prefer. I have been thinking of making a book with combined tutorials, but then you have to think of a way to pay all the writers and have legal papers to get all permission. and you have to find a way to finance it upfront.
another way would be to write your own tutorials, but then you must be a wizard. ;-)

The making of a book is a lot of work and you have to know your way in a program like Quark of Indesign. I really like to make a book, but it is difficult to overcome all the foot angles and you have to have the cash to finance it.

i'm not too sure about your prices on books - Corina's book cost me $75 (it was worth it), and i seldom pay less than $30 for any book i buy

i've paid as little as $7 for an online tut - bargain

ive got a lazer printer - i think i get about 2000 pages for a set of cartidges that cost me $150

I love both my books and e-tutorials. I snuggle up with the books and use them for reference and inspiration. Sometimes I even take notes! I print out two copies of electronic tutorials - one to go in a folder and the other to scribble on and take with me when I torch as they are usually on a project-by-project basis. Having a soft copy means I can print off another if I mess it up too badly or set fire to it. (Haven't so so yet, but it's a possibility!!!) Also, it costs nothing to have a PDF sent to the other side of the world from most of you and shipping costs can be prohibitive.

i'm not too sure about your prices on books - Corina's book cost me $75 (it was worth it), and i seldom pay less than $30 for any book i buy

i've paid as little as $7 for an online tut - bargain

ive got a lazer printer - i think i get about 2000 pages for a set of cartidges that cost me $150

Hi Irene,

I guess you are talking about me, as i have just released my second E-book which cost $ 27,50

Yes it is a higher priced E-book and i thought about what to price it for.
But in my case i cover at least 10 techniques. Which comes down to $ 2,75 and in my opinion that's not a lot of money.

I really researched to option of getting my E-book printed. And the cheapest company was located in the US. I needed to order 250 books and with shipping to the Netherlands it would have cost me around $ 40,- a book customs not included.

When i want to make a profit on the book i would have to price it at $ 60 + shipping. Shipping overseas is expensive.

I would do it in an heartbeat if i would know for sure i would be able to sell all 250 books within 6 months ( preferable 3 months )

Cause this is a big investment to undertake.

The books that are $ 15-$ 18 are small booklets with not a lot of pages. Or at least that's my experence.

Carol, i will contact you directly. I need to print a copy and bind it and weight it to know what shipping would be. ;-)

Reading this I can't help but say, "What value knowledge?"

Seems to me that everyone will lose with the suggestion of making the tutorials into books. The cost will go up quite a bit for each tutorial and the authors will not want to incur the startup costs of printing with an uncertain market.

Is there another solution? Could the tutorial writers have a "printer version" no frills, just instructions and a few pictures? Could some of those pictures be in black and white and get across the same information? Perhaps an insert at the end of the tutorial that could be printed separately?

Disclaimer - my comments are not aimed at any one artist. Just my general opinions for what they are worth (about 2 cents:))

I think it is a valid and intriguing subject.......at Amazon you can buy Passing the Flame for $59, Karen Leonardo's book for $16.49, The Glass Bead Workshop by Jeri L. Warhaftig for $16.47. All in a glorious bound, full color glossy book that you can keep near your torch to reference. Most with plenty of new techniques, and you can re-sell it for near what you paid when you no longer have a use for it. An extremely good value for your dollar. Taking all this in consideration, I would think Corrrina's book would end up pennies per technique.

So, as much as I appreciate online tuts, I do think some of the pricing is very high, especially since you still have to pay to print it out. After you add that in, it often becomes out priced for many. I won't take my laptop to the torch, and how many can remember from reading a tut on the screen, every step at the torch, especially if it's a new technique? Highly unlikely, so realistically, printing it out is usually necessary.

I think it's a business decision on where you choose to market and sell your tut. One can sell a ton at a lower rate, or less at a higher rate. ( Or if you're very lucky a ton at a high rate :)). If you choose to price it high, you are making the decision to sell it to that segment of the market that are willing to pay your higher price. The rest may stick to the lower priced offerings.

Personally, it's very unlikely I would ever pay over $25 for an online tut. But I'm sure many will. It's supply and demand. And just as you can price your beads as you wish, tuts certainly follow the same reasoning. That said, I sure wish the prices would stay more reasonable :))