[Trombone-l] Church music, tbn solos

[John Burton]

I'm not  an arranger or publisher, but I'm wondering if on-line publishing might be a profitable answer to the small-time (low-volume) publisher. 
 
For example, selling a PDF of your arrangement, collect via PayPal.  All you need is a bank account to work with to collect the money.  An on-line store is quite inexpensive to set up, and naturally depending on how much you charge for your charts may pay for itself with one or two sales per month.  
 
The greatest up-side to this whole thing is this.  No inventory!  You don't need to print your charts, just 'print' them to a PDF and put that PDF on-line.  PayPal and your bank do all the legwork, transferring all the money, changing Euros into Dollars (or vice versa).  So all you do is write music, cash cheques and take a bow.
 
In fact, I'll bet you could use this tool to move copies of your charts to brick-and-mortar publishers for them to sell to the masses..
 
Just a thought, but from the standpoint of a consumer, I much prefer on-line sources of arrangements.  It satisfies my need for "right now" service and allows me to search with e-tools much more effectively.  'course it's harder to 'return' a PDF if it for whatever reason doesn't meet my needs.  But ....  I guess on-line is less expensive and happier dealing anyway.
 
Naturally, your mileage may vary...
 
               --==jb==--
 
~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= 
john burton 
Bach 50B3 
Bass Trombone, Charleston NeoPhonic Orchestra 
South Charleston, West Virginia 

________________________________

From: trombone-l-bounces at maillists.samford.edu on behalf of Raymond Horton
Sent: Thu 5/11/2006 3:02 PM
To: Thomas Ervin
Cc: trombone-l at server5.samford.edu; Stan Pethel
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Church music, tbn solos



I appreciate the advice.  You are probably right.  But I am not a
business person, and really don't want to fool with it.  .  I just want
to make them available to the most people with the least stress.

I do the initial engraving in Finale, the publisher would just have to
edit and make them conform to standards.

I don't think I will make a ton of money either way from this either
way, but, you could be right.  On the other hand, if there really were a
big market for good sacred solo books for trombone and piano, the Bill
Pierce books would still be in print.

Ray

Thomas Ervin wrote:

> *Ray, publish them yourself, as I did. Or we should talk about me
> publishing them for you.
>
> Folks will say "It's easy to get them printed; it's harder to get them
> sold." They are almost entirely correct. It is a challenge now to get
> any publisher to invest in printing, say, 1000 sets, promise you
> not-very-much per item sold, advertise, push them onto store shelves,
> do all that bookkeeping.
>
> It was a music publisher who advised me to publish my own. I spend a
> bit more time licking my own stamps, but the profit margin is much
> higher and one gets to write to nice people. The trombone market is
> not a difficult target. Resellers will include Hickeys and Robt King.
> An occasional ad in ITJ, OTJ classifieds, and appearances on eBay and
> AmazonStores will all help. A website is a good idea too. Get them
> reviewed by somebody at ITJ.
>
> I'd be confident that the church market is also not a difficult target
> to find, but I do not know that segment of the business. I *think* you
> will sell more to trombonists like us, than to church libraries, but
> I've been wrong now and then.
>
> Printing is cheap. If your capital is severely limited then print 50
> sets at first. I'll buy your first set if you'll let me. Once you can
> afford to print 1000, the unit cost is wonderfully cheap. Proofread
> them carefully!
> *
> *Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Church Music for Trbn Quartet
> *Along this line, I have almost completed a set of sacred solo
> arrangements for trombone and piano. My publisher for trombone
> ensembles, Cimarron Music, wants to publish it but I am unhappy with
> sales there. What publishers would you expect to see such a collection
> published by?
> Raymond Horton
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Tom Ervin, Professor of Music
> University of Arizona (Music 133) (alt: with street address)
> PO Box 210004 MUSIC, Univ Arizona
> Tucson AZ 85721 1017 North Olive Road
> Tucson AZ 85719-0506
> 520/621-7021
> <ervint at u.arizona.edu>
> <http://tom-ervin.com> (website)
> <http://cdbaby.com/cd/tomervin>

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