Here’s a sneak peek of a project that I’m way overdue finishing. I’m hoping to get to the printers this week to have a 2012 calendar available before it’s 2013. I’ve got folks proofreading and swatting technical flies, so these two pages may change. The cover shows Tower Rock in the autumn. I’ve tried to pick photos that you won’t mind looking at for a month at a time. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)
World’s longest suspension pipeline bridge
March is a pastoral look at what is said to be the world’s longest suspension pipeline bridge. The other months will have photographs taken in Altenburg, Wittenberg and Frohna. Every once in awhile I slip up and let some real facts show up in a caption, but I try to keep the same breezy style you find here.
The calendar, like my book, Tower Rock: “A Demon That Devours Travelers,” will be available at the Altenburg Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to tell you when it’s available. Carla Jordan and the folks at the museum have been great to let me dabble in publishing before I try to do some bigger projects I have on the list.
COOL A CALENDAR, now I guess I will have to get busy and produce a calendar for the the rest of us…My brownie does take a pretty good snap shot you know, and do see some intersting things.
I look forward to seeing this and maybe, just maybe I will open the famliy vault and buy one!
I think walking across the bridge would be a big deal…never really thought about it when I was a UTE, but that does look interesting!
Anyone out there done that?
My next project is probably going to be a photo book on the pipeline. I have most of the pictures assembled; I just have to write the copy.
I have photos from underneath it; from the air over it and from the east and west sides.
It will NOT have any photos taken by me from the middle of the span looking down at the river.
If YOU want to shoot it from that angle, I’ll loan you a camera.
I’ll give you the same instruction I gave a guy who threatened to jump off a bridge in Florida. He had called the paper to tell us he was going to do it. When I got there, a cop said he wanted to talk to the press, so I was nominated to try to talk him down.
He didn’t believe that I wasn’t a cop, so I told him that I would give him my two-way radio and he could talk to the clerk at the paper who took his call to confirm who I was. “The only thing is, you have to promise me that you’ll set my radio on the railing if you DO decide to jump. If I lose it, I have to pay for it.”
Besides the Altenburg Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum, will it also be available through Amazon?
The short answer, not at this time. The long answer, I hope to have any books available on Amazon or other online service. Before I went to a lot of trouble, I wanted to find out if there was a demand for this kind of product.
My next project is to start uploading photos to an online reprint service. I get requests for prints from time to time and am not really set up to handle them. If I can make the process easy and affordable, I hope to at least break even on the monthly service charges.
I know it’s a hassle to have to deal with snail mail, but the museum folks will make it as painless as possible until I can get something better working.
Thanks for asking, though.
When are you going to put a Cape Girardeau calendar together? I would love one of those.
I’m taking little baby steps. I’d love to put out some Cape books and the like, but there’s only so many hours in a day.
The big problem for me at this stage is distribution. Until I can get online sales working, it’s a hassle to try to get shop owners to carry books. Most of them don’t want to buy the books in bulk from you and hope that they’ll sell.
You, on the other hand, can’t afford to tie up a bunch of money in putting them in stores and hoping that the store will remember to send you your share of the sale. It’s a hassle for both of you.
I found out when I tried to sell advertising for this blog that I’m not a salesman. I’m finding out that my circulation and distribution skills were at their highest point when I was pitching papers in puddles.
I’m just a guy who likes to take pictures and separate them with a few words here and there.
my bro and his wife live in altenburg so i sent her over to the museum today to pick up your book for my mom, she was on her way to work so no telling when she’ll get around to it. soon i hope. will we see the calendar be4 2013
I’m hoping you’ll see it in about a week in time for 2012. I’m already about two weeks behind what was already a late start. Normally you want calendars on the shelf by October. I didn’t even consider putting one out until mid-November.
I’m having some folks proof the copy. As soon as they all check in, I’ll send the file to Son Matt to work out some niggling technical matters, then I journey to a Cape printer. They said it should take about five days. I don’t know how much they’re backed up with holiday printing, so I’m really hoping for a fast turnaround.
Next year I’ll have a clue what I’m doing and will have several different flavors available by fall.
Ken, you’re a ham, right? Me, too. I’m also a BCB/MW DXer. Check out Scott Fybush’s tower calendars: http://store.fybush.com.
A lot of people would call me a ham, but I am, indeed, a holder of an amateur radio license. I’m K0KLS, although I’m not active (on the radio or in any other way).
Wow, great idea he has autographing his calendars.
I’m not sure my signature would enhance the value of it.
Sort of like the theory that you should never have a watch engraved because you might need to pawn it some day (or the rule that the only safe name to have tattooed on your body is MOM).
Ken,
I love the first picture of looking thru the autumn leaves to see Tower Rock. Can’t wait to see the rest of your calendar. I’m sure it will be an awesome way to keep track of 2012.
Good luck!