Route map Funding

"JohnB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

burt said:

I've just spent about six months getting a series of rides designed,
researched, ridden and photographed, only for the local authority, South
Gloucestershire (motto "not riddled with competence"😉 to withdraw their

firm

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

promise to produce the maps.

Does anyone have experience of getting funding for this kind of project?

It

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

will require about £6,000 to get the artwork done and printing of

sufficient

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

copies on tear-proof paper.

If the product has commercial viability then wouldn't a bank loan cover
the initial outlay?

there is a problem with commercial viability: in my experience, people won't
buy cycle maps or walking maps, and distribution is a nightmare, which isn't
a problem if they are free.

Quoted message said:

John B

burt said:

I've just spent about six months getting a series of rides designed,
researched, ridden and photographed, only for the local authority, South
Gloucestershire (motto "not riddled with competence"😉 to withdraw their firm
promise to produce the maps.

Does anyone have experience of getting funding for this kind of project? It
will require about £6,000 to get the artwork done and printing of sufficient
copies on tear-proof paper.

If the product has commercial viability then wouldn't a bank loan cover
the initial outlay?

John B

in message <[email hidden]>, JohnB ([email hidden]'😉

Quoted message said:

burt said:

I've just spent about six months getting a series of rides designed,
researched, ridden and photographed, only for the local authority,
South Gloucestershire (motto "not riddled with competence"😉 to
withdraw their firm promise to produce the maps.

Does anyone have experience of getting funding for this kind of
project? It will require about £6,000 to get the artwork done and
printing of sufficient copies on tear-proof paper.

If the product has commercial viability then wouldn't a bank loan
cover the initial outlay?

It would cost very little to produce a website, and very little to get
it hosted.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; All in all you're just another hick in the mall
-- Drink C'lloid

Quoted message said:

Have you thought about publishing on the web instead of hardcopy. Free
access to everyone. You may be able to get some advertising revenue from
local businesses to help fund the site. (B&B's on the routes, etc).

Cheers,
Dave

Actually, have you thought about publishing electronically......

Perhaps as a multimedia project using something like Macromedia Director?
You may then be able to sell the discs at a modest profit. and as Dave
suggests raise a little through advertising revenue...

"burt" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've just spent about six months getting a series of rides designed,
researched, ridden and photographed, only for the local authority, South
Gloucestershire (motto "not riddled with competence"😉 to withdraw their

firm

Quoted message said:

promise to produce the maps.

Does anyone have experience of getting funding for this kind of project?

It

Quoted message said:

will require about £6,000 to get the artwork done and printing of

sufficient

Quoted message said:

copies on tear-proof paper.

--
cheers

Rich

Have you thought about publishing on the web instead of hardcopy. Free
access to everyone. You may be able to get some advertising revenue from
local businesses to help fund the site. (B&B's on the routes, etc).

Cheers,
Dave

LaoFuZhi said:

Quoted message said:

Have you thought about publishing on the web instead of hardcopy. Free
access to everyone. You may be able to get some advertising revenue from
local businesses to help fund the site. (B&B's on the routes, etc).

Cheers,
Dave

Actually, have you thought about publishing electronically......

Perhaps as a multimedia project using something like Macromedia Director?
You may then be able to sell the discs at a modest profit. and as Dave
suggests raise a little through advertising revenue...

Thing is though, you really want to have hte route map in your paws, for
when you're using it, and preferably on paper that doesn't fall apart at
the merest hint of dampness...

--

Velvet

David Barnes said:

Have you thought about publishing on the web instead of hardcopy. Free
access to everyone.

Not meaning to be negative, but you would have to license any OS mapping
from the OS. No real idea of the costs, but it can't be cheap.

burt said:

I've just spent about six months getting a series of rides designed,
researched, ridden and photographed, only for the local authority, South
Gloucestershire (motto "not riddled with competence"😉 to withdraw their firm
promise to produce the maps.

Does anyone have experience of getting funding for this kind of project? It
will require about £6,000 to get the artwork done and printing of sufficient
copies on tear-proof paper.

Might it be possible to raise your 6K by sponsorship from
the pubs, hotels, cafes, LBSs etc on the routes?

--
jc

Remove the -not from email

in message <[email hidden]>, John Hearns

(') said:

David Barnes said:

Have you thought about publishing on the web instead of hardcopy.
Free access to everyone.

Not meaning to be negative, but you would have to license any OS
mapping from the OS. No real idea of the costs, but it can't be cheap.

It's horrendous. You cannot afford to use OS maps. But that doesn't mean
you can't use maps. Take a GPS, ride your route, plot the track on a
PC, make a sketch map from it. That's your own copyright and no-one can
challenge it.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

See one nuclear war, you've seen them all.

Quoted message said:

Thing is though, you really want to have hte route map in your paws, for
when you're using it, and preferably on paper that doesn't fall apart at
the merest hint of dampness...

That's a point of course.... easy enough to have a print option on the
presentation but not everyone has, or wants a laminator.....

burt:

Quoted message said:

there is a problem with commercial viability: in my experience, people

won't

Quoted message said:

buy cycle maps or walking maps, and distribution is a nightmare, which

isn't

Quoted message said:

a problem if they are free.

Sounds like you need to approach a commercial publisher - they'll soon tell
you whether the idea is commercially viable or not. Have you tried other
tourist organisations in your area? Or even national organisations such as
the National Trust. Maybe even the CTC might be interested.

I'd definitely avoid the vanity publishing route if I were you - unless you
want to end up with a room full of unsold copies and your wallet six grand
the lighter.

d.

davek said:

burt:

Quoted message said:

there is a problem with commercial viability: in my experience, people

won't

Quoted message said:

buy cycle maps or walking maps, and distribution is a nightmare, which

isn't

Quoted message said:

a problem if they are free.

Sounds like you need to approach a commercial publisher - they'll soon tell
you whether the idea is commercially viable or not. Have you tried other
tourist organisations in your area? Or even national organisations such as
the National Trust. Maybe even the CTC might be interested.

I work for several publishers and there are regularly approaches by
people with ideas for cycle routes.
Unfortunately the market is not good for such publicatons unless there
is something that makes them stand out. Routes on their own do not sell
well, but when linked into trails around other tourist attractions then
they do better. They may also be linked to other subjects such as tea
rooms or similar.
Distribution is also a very difficult and if they are local area maps
(and not part of a regional or national series), then dealing direct
with outlets may be necessary instead of using a wholesaler. Beware -
some book chains give very limited buying powers to local managers.

John B

"Jeremy Collins" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

burt said:

I've just spent about six months getting a series of rides designed,
researched, ridden and photographed, only for the local authority, South
Gloucestershire (motto "not riddled with competence"😉 to withdraw their

firm

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

promise to produce the maps.

Does anyone have experience of getting funding for this kind of project?

It

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

will require about £6,000 to get the artwork done and printing of

sufficient

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

copies on tear-proof paper.

Might it be possible to raise your 6K by sponsorship from
the pubs, hotels, cafes, LBSs etc on the routes?

Thanks Jeremy, a v +ve idea.

--
cheers

Rich

Quoted message said:

--
jc

Remove the -not from email

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, John Hearns

(') said:

David Barnes said:

Have you thought about publishing on the web instead of hardcopy.
Free access to everyone.

Not meaning to be negative, but you would have to license any OS
mapping from the OS. No real idea of the costs, but it can't be cheap.

It's horrendous. You cannot afford to use OS maps. But that doesn't mean
you can't use maps. Take a GPS, ride your route, plot the track on a
PC, make a sketch map from it. That's your own copyright and no-one can
challenge it.

It's apparently a lot less horrendous than it used to be to the point of
actually being managable for people like singletrack to do even before the
magazine took off.

Russ