Will this work? What do you think?

coppercoins

Taking suggestions and ideas on the following. The plan is partly in action, but I'm a little fuzzy on the logistics of the idea. Help me out if you so choose...

The idea surrounds the fact that if a person wants to attribute their own Lincoln cent die varieties they have to go to coppercoins and wade around through pictures that often cause delays for slower connections and are not of super high quality. Either that or they have to use CONECA's online variety listing which is at best difficult if not impossible to accurately use - no photos at all. Their only other choice is to send the coins in to CONECA or NCADD with a check or money order and have die numbers matched to the coins, which can take quite a while and eat up a lot of funds.

What I came up with is an 8.5X11 letter size book that would come out in "packets" of pages, about 100 in number, every two months over a four year period. The packets would be wrapped and mailed to subscribers who pay either semi-annually or annually. Included would be attribution pages of specific dies, one per page. The pakets would also include articles, news, pricing information, and other useful information to the die variety collector, so it wouldn't just be a grouping of pages for a book. The overall size of the book, when complete, would be around 3,000 pages, making it the single largest book in numismatic history.

Each attribution page would have specific information on one side so that collectors could attribute their own coins with reasonable accuracy. Marker photos, photos of the attributes, description of the markers, and other information specific to that die would be included. The pages would come out randomly within each packet so that collectors would be able to take the pages out of the packet and arrange them within the book in whatever order they wanted to. They would not be numbered, except by die number. The collector could put mintmark varieties first, sort them by die number only, disregard doubled dies altogether, backward date order...whatever makes their clock tick.

The back sides of the pages would have space for advertising. Ad space would be divided into 12 areas that are about business card size. Advertisers could purchase 1/12 page (business card), 1/6 page, 1/4 page, 1/2 page or full page ads. Multiple placements would be lower in price than single placements, and I could do the artwork for them at no extra charge. Since the expected distribution of this book is expected to be quite low (100-200 copies) advertising would be equally inexpensive - in fact so inexpensive that any collector could afford to place their information in the book. Ad rates would be as cheap as $11 per placement for multiple placements of business card size ads. The most expensive ad would be a single placement of a full page ad for $125.

Subscriber rates would be $69.95 for a year or $39.95 for a six-month period, postpaid. This is roughly comparable to 11 cents per page, which when you consider that every page would be 1200 DPI laser printed on 28Lb. Hammermill laser paper, it would be double the quality and about the same price as taking it to Kinko's and running photocopies.

So...the questions are:

1. If you are (or were) a Lincoln cent die variety collector, would you consider this for the price?

2. If you are a collector or dealer who has any need to advertise to people, would you advertise in something like this considering the distribution and price for ads?

3. Do you think this book is a good idea?

darktone

It sounds like alot of work and a major 4 year commitment. Is their enough demand to make it worth doing? mike

airplanenut

I think I'd have to agree with darktone--if there's such a small distribution, will an ad really be that effective?

Dennis88

Great idea!!!

Dennis

joeyuk

I love the idea as my focus is on Lincoln cent varieties. My only question is how complete the listing will be. I would like to be able to search rolls and have pictures of everything known to look for. Now if I am looking at a variety I have to flip thru a couple books because none seem to have all the major/expensive varieties. In any case I know I would purchase it as your photography skills and knowledge of Lincolns is impecable.

coppercoins

I'm planning on a 100-200 copy distribution. There are over 1,500 collectors of such coins, so there's at least a chance that the distribution will be higher. Additionally, the ad money is really small considering how much the dealers, slabbing companies, etc. pay to have ads in throw-away magazines, and this is a permanent book - it will not be thrown out. I am also advertising this idea in the book I currently have at press, so there's already some exposure for it. Additionally I will be sending info packets to the dealers/companies interested in advertising so they can see the quality of the output.

And finally, even if the distribution of this is only a dozen or so people, it's still worth doing because I was going to do it for myself anyway. Sometimes it's a chore to get on the site just to find some information and I would prefer to have a book to use. I started it for myself before deciding to commercialize it....so it will be done anyway - regardless of whether anyone buys it. The idea for ads and subscribers to receive it was secondary to the idea of doing it in the first place.

coppercoins

<< <i>I love the idea as my focus is on Lincoln cent varieties. My only question is how complete the listing will be. I would like to be able to search rolls and have pictures of everything known to look for. Now if I am looking at a variety I have to flip thru a couple books because none seem to have all the major/expensive varieties. In any case I know I would purchase it as your photography skills and knowledge of Lincolns is impecable. >>



The answer: 100% complete. Everything known will be included. That's the good thing about issuing the book in loose-leaf...I can place new discoveries in a packet and they can be filtered into the book as if they had always existed. Updates can be perpetual and always forthcoming, and the book will never be outdated....not as long as I am alive.

Another good thing about being the author, photographer, and publisher/distributor is that I can print only the number of copies I need to send and not have anything left over, and no overhead. If someone comes in later and orders back-issues, I can get the file out, print it, drill the holes, and send it out. No sweat.

mgoodm3

Personally, I would put it in to a fixed order to avoid confusion. The more chances you give people to screw up the worse. You need to provide order in their messy lives. Sounds like a great reference.

I think it would be worth your while to make a hard bound version of it. It could be multiple volumes across several date spreads. You would then catch non-hardcore collectors who just want a book and not a continuing subscription. They could also pick and choose the date spreads they want. It would be the ultimate Lincoln reference and should sell.

You could even make a hard bound version of just OMM's/RPM's, One of DD's, and such. Lots of ways to break it up.

coppercoins

Mgoodm3 - I appreciate the thought, but this is not a book that can be bound. It is dynamic in nature in that new dies can be added in as they are discovered. Binding it would make it no better than the books that already exist, unfinished at best.

Not placing the pages in a specific order keeps me from being bound to having to have every single die to photograph when the book is started. It's like buying a pack of baseball cards - they don't come in order, you do that part. And "screw it up?" There is no way to screw up a book that you put in any order you want to. It's your book. If you want the memorials first, wheats last, fine. If you want the doubled dies first, mintmarks last, that's fine too. Just like assembling baseball card sets in either team order or numerical order...doesn't matter how you do it.

cladking

It's a beautiful idea. It may be a little too far ahead of its time, though. There are many
people who'd be greatly interested in such a "book" and if advertising could keep the cost
as low as you project then it will sell at least some copies.

Personally, I'd be hugely interested in the memorial issues but the older ones I'd likely want
to take my chances on finding an issue on the secondary market at a lower price.

It would not only be a reflection of the growing interest in varieties, but would also spur add-
itional collecting.

topstuf

No no .....NO! Think BASEBALL CARDS!

Print up a series with each variety on a card. Add some bubble gum. Don't print more than 50 of one selected variety. THAT one will be worth THOUSANDS. (Not to mention an important limited edition collectible item for your family and friends reflecting the history of OUR GREAT NATION!)

Select some distributors and offer to BUY those 50 cards for $10,000 each.

Wheee!

Baley

My first thought was, I'd rather have it on a CD.
Paper is so... second millenium.

mozeppa

i for one would subscribe.

coppercoins

<< <i>My first thought was, I'd rather have it on a CD.
Paper is so... second millenium. >>



Except that copies of CDs are:

1. Not controllable.

2. complete as they are, and this book is dynamically arranged.

3. Require a computer. I already have a site, no CD required.

4. cannot be viewed without having a computer available, and I don't see many at shows.

wayneherndon

I'd sign up. One key would be the expectation of updates. It would be easy to swap out the pages with new ones if there was a change, correction or other new info.

It sounds a little heavy on the ads. With that many ads, potential advertisers will worry that they won't get noticed. I would suggest fewer and larger ads.

WH

JrGMan2004

Actually... what about providing it online in PDF format, so a subscriber could go to the net, get your file, then print it out themself and punch it and put it in a binder. That's what I'd prefer.

airplanenut

<< <i>Actually... what about providing it online in PDF format, so a subscriber could go to the net, get your file, then print it out themself and punch it and put it in a binder. That's what I'd prefer. >>

I think this is going to have enough pages that you wouldn't want to be printing this

Now that I think about it, not a bad idea... and you can then sell individual dates, etc., as they are made for people who aren't interested in subscribing to the whole series.

Jeremy

coppercoins

Not only that but creating it in any online format takes the control of copies out of my hands. I'm not greedy, but I do have the copyright on the material and think I deserve some compensation for what I create...which would not be the case if I made it freely available on the internet. In addition, if I offered it in a file format, people would be able to choose not to print the ads onto their sheets, which would remove the purpose of the ads. I do not like online formats for books, period.

Another problem is in the print quality - the print quality I am using is far better than what many people out there might have, and providing the files in good enough format to be printed would be very large.

millennium

If you are worried about copies, you are in trouble...What will stop one person from buying the book and making multiple copies with a scanner or a digital camera? I make copies of photos all the time for family members. (personal photos from poloroids, not copyrighted material)

airplanenut

<< <i>If you are worried about copies, you are in trouble...What will stop one person from buying the book and making multiple copies with a scanner or a digital camera? I make copies of photos all the time for family members. (personal photos from poloroids, not copyrighted material) >>

That's the case for all printed work. But it's a lot more work to copy 300 pages of text than to burn a CD

coppercoins

We are definitely getting off the beaten path here. People will make copies, and I'm sure of it - I just don't want to make it simple and easy for them. Additionally, the cost the subscriber pays for this is about the same cost as they would have to pay to burn copies and the quality is a lot higher. These pages are printed on thick, super smooth paper using laser toner at 1200 DPI. Very few people have this sort of capability in a home set-up.