2008 Woodie Awards
Yearbook hits financial struggles
The org faces a crucial vote at the LB on Tuesday to secure a needed $5,400. Editors have already decreased the circulation from 500 to 300
By: Ari Ofsevit
Issue date: 4/28/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 3 next >
When the Macalester yearbook, The Mac, was first rejuvenated this fall, the editors thought that they might sell 500 copies. With only 208 sold and a $5,400 shortfall, they are now scrambling for further allocations from Macalester College Student Government (MCSG), but remain confident that the yearbook will go to the printer on time on May 22.
With publication set for August and mailing of preordered books for September, the yearbook will be the school's first traditional one in nearly 40 years.
The total number of yearbooks printed will be 300, a goal which the co-editors, Ruth Chiu '06 and Jon Koenig '06, say is more reasonable.
The yearbook's fate is not set in stone, but Koenig and Chiu appeared upbeat about its future. “We are still on schedule, we just need to tie down this funding—that's the hurdle we need to get over,” Koenig said.
“The one thing we do know is that there will be a yearbook and people shouldn't worry,” Chiu added.
The funding, however, amounts to a rather daunting sum. When books are published, the first to roll off the presses is the most expensive, and each successive book is cheaper. Thus, when 500 books were on order, each would have cost $40.
Once the order dropped to 300 books, the cost for each jumped to nearly $60, but Chiu said that at that price it would be a daunting task to sell the books.
“A lot of people think that $40 is too expensive anyway…if we'd had more enthusiasm and less skepticism we could have sold them at a higher price…but people have shown that they wouldn't pay [a higher price],” Chiu said.
The price charged will increase to $45 on May 2. Chiu and Koenig expect that a publicity push during commencement will result in higher sales.
Still, the yearbook needs $5,400 in order to pay the higher publishing costs. While the yearbook received $5,000 when it was chartered as a student organization last semester most of these funds have been spent to set up the yearbook office and operation.
With publication set for August and mailing of preordered books for September, the yearbook will be the school's first traditional one in nearly 40 years.
The total number of yearbooks printed will be 300, a goal which the co-editors, Ruth Chiu '06 and Jon Koenig '06, say is more reasonable.
The yearbook's fate is not set in stone, but Koenig and Chiu appeared upbeat about its future. “We are still on schedule, we just need to tie down this funding—that's the hurdle we need to get over,” Koenig said.
“The one thing we do know is that there will be a yearbook and people shouldn't worry,” Chiu added.
The funding, however, amounts to a rather daunting sum. When books are published, the first to roll off the presses is the most expensive, and each successive book is cheaper. Thus, when 500 books were on order, each would have cost $40.
Once the order dropped to 300 books, the cost for each jumped to nearly $60, but Chiu said that at that price it would be a daunting task to sell the books.
“A lot of people think that $40 is too expensive anyway…if we'd had more enthusiasm and less skepticism we could have sold them at a higher price…but people have shown that they wouldn't pay [a higher price],” Chiu said.
The price charged will increase to $45 on May 2. Chiu and Koenig expect that a publicity push during commencement will result in higher sales.
Still, the yearbook needs $5,400 in order to pay the higher publishing costs. While the yearbook received $5,000 when it was chartered as a student organization last semester most of these funds have been spent to set up the yearbook office and operation.
Be the first to comment on this story