Publishing and Binding Tips
Order Yearbooks Late-Save Money-Preserve Spring Memories
by Randy Dodson on 01/05/12
Just suppose that you could submit your yearbook software for publication in April when you know how many books you have sold! Big money saver! Especially if the yearbook is comparable in price to--or even less than--the volume pricing other publishers offer only with early order dates. While saving on the overall cost of your yearbooks, you could also be preserving those spring memories!
All this is possible when you publish with RMD of NC, Inc.--and more! We'll even publish additional yearbooks later at the same per-yearbook price--if you need them for late buyers!
How to Maintain Quality and Still Economize on Your Yearbook
by Randy Dodson on 01/05/12
A number of elements influence the cost of your yearbook. Here are suggestions for economizing on your yearbook:
1. Avoid long-term contracts for more favorable pricing. These make it hard to take advantage of better products and prices next year. If you are already in a long-term contract, it may be worth paying the cancellation penalty to make a change. Investigate and find out.
2. Consider a soft-cover yearbook rather than a hardback yearbook--if appropriate to your grade levels or to your school --obviously less expensive.
3. Choose a publisher that allows a later order date--preferably in spring--when you know better how many yearbooks you have sold.
4. Add an extra page or two of activities to help sales. Students like to see themselves in something more than the student yearbook class picture. The more yearbook pictures in which they appear, the more important having a yearbook becomes to them.
5. Be sure that yearbook software is included in the price of the book, not extra.
6. Do some pages in black and white. Yes! They work well for ads and autograph pages. However, be certain there is no other color on the page or you will pay full-color price for the page.
7. Consider foil-stamped yearbook covers. They are beautiful, and you can do some creative artwork with foil stamp and have a truly custom yearbook cover--not a cookie-cutter cover with your school name added to it. This works especially well for smaller schools with limited enrollment. However, if you need at least 100 yearbooks, custom full-color covers will be almost the same price.
8. Free yearbook shipping should always be included in the cost of your yearbook.
A 60-page, full-color, full-bleed, hardbound yearbook should cost between $20 - $25. Even if you only do 50 yearbooks!
Beware of Guaranteeing a Number of Yearbooks Too Early
by Randy Dodson on 01/05/12
At some point during the school year the publisher is going to ask you to contract for a specific number of yearbooks. That number will determine the cost of each yearbook, i.e. the more yearbooks you guarantee the less the price per yearbook. Beware of volume discounts when required too early in the school year. This calls for some risky speculation, even if you have several previous-year yearbook-sales records to consider. You can find yourself with leftover yearbooks--or with too few to accommodate late buyers. With some publishers, a minimum order is required as early as October. That can really be risky.
What to do with leftover yearbooks? Put them on sale? That doesn't make the students--and especially parents--who paid full price very happy. It could even make some delay their purchase the next year in order to take advantage of a sale price.
As we attend conferences, the number one cost that we hear yearbook sponsors complain about is leftover yearbooks.
Choose a publisher that allows a later order date--preferably in the spring--when you know better how many yearbooks you have sold.
Here at RMD of NC, Inc. we will let you order in the spring when you know the number of books you have sold! Money saver! Yes, and with a later submission date to enable you to include spring activities--perhaps even the prom!
Not only that, we will print additional yearbooks, if you need them, at the same per-yearbook price.
Saving on the Cost of Your Yearbooks
by Randy Dodson on 01/05/12
Your first thought for yearbook savings may be to take advantage of volume discounts offered by some publishers or to reduce the number of pages in your yearbook. Believe it or not, the publisher's price per yearbook and the number of yearbook pages are not your only yearbook cost considerations. They may not even be the most important! For example, volume discounts may reduce the cost per yearbook, but if the school or college then fails to sell that full number of yearbooks, the cost of those unsold yearbooks may exceed the expected savings. In the same way, while deleting a page may save on the cost of printing, adding another page or two of activities may even increase yearbook sales to students pictured there.
Actually, the order date and the submission date for the publication of your yearbook can be more important than the volume discount per yearbook. Later order dates allow you to order only the number of yearbooks actually sold. (You usually will sell a maximum of 60% of the student body. The number can be much less depending on the economical status of the families and, also, the economical conditions of the time).
How to Save Money on School Yearbooks
by Randy Dodson on 01/05/12
RMD of NC, Inc. is unique in that, besides making a profit, we really want to help more families be able to buy a yearbook. That means keeping the yearbook cost as low as possible. We don't require long-term contracts. We do have the best yearbook software in the industry, LUMAPIX::YEARBOOK FUSION.
The purpose of your yearbook is always to provide families with tangible memories of the school year. Often, though, the higher the cost of the yearbook, the fewer the number of families who can afford it. Reducing the cost of your yearbook can increase the number of buyers and thus enjoyment for more families for years to come--and saving on your yearbook can be accomplished in a number of ways without compromising the quality of your yearbook.
