We couldn't do it.
It was too late.
Who would print it?
Then I received email after email asking if one was available, a usual occurrence even though the last Impossimal calendar was five years ago but this year I had more than usual. Not only that, I also had personal messages and photos of proud Impossimal calendar collectors sending me their images, I had Impossimal wedding photos, Impossimal cake photos and photos of Impossimals adorning walls worldwide and fan artwork of Impossimals on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
What was I to do?
So we sat down. Looked at all the options and quickly found there was very little at this late date. We had already contacted one of the biggest calendar publishers earlier this year and worked out quantities and delivery with a view to doing something next year but alas, we again were too late. To get a great deal on calendar production you need quantity and time, companies like the Calendar Club can keep costs down by doing that so calendars can retail for around the £12 mark on the high street, how could we compete at those prices?
We couldn't.
So we chose a different method and one of the only options available; publishing on demand. It's a higher cost option but the turn around is fast, it requires no external help and of course we get to select the content and layout. The downside is the product is more expensive as you cannot fix your own base price but generally better quality but it is more limited in its availability until you prove it's popularity. Always a big uphill battle for most self publishers but it was our best and only option.
Three weeks later after battling ISBN numbers, price fixing, website popularity battles, image compatibility, the fact they are printed in Germany and trademark eligibility (yes, I had to prove that the Impossimals were Impossimals and not Impossibles or Improbables!) the first calendars went online at Amazon.
It all went wrong.
Amazon, in their infinite wisdom only likes things that sell and unless you can prove that they will sell they will not visibly list it, also they choose the most expensive option. On the plus side being on Amazon gives a great web presence to start with but comes with a cost.
Alas they only allowed seven calendars a day to be listed, a mega kicking that the calendar didn't need.
A week on and more retailers have jumped on board, as this happens something unexpected happened too, the base price suddenly became competitive and started to tumble as websites battled to be the cheapest.
So after all the stop, starts and the randomness of availability I would like to thank everyone who has ordered a calendar so far and supported the Impossimals and in this case good causes too. Yes it's more expensive than others but they have been completely designed by myself and Jayne with images specially selected to be the best calendar so far and the quality is the best we could find.
Pricing and P&P we have no control over as each distributor takes their cut unfortunately so we have decided that each calendar produces a publishing profit to us of £1.08 of which ALL will go into a charity fund.
In an effort to further drive down the costs I have compiled a list of available outlets and you can also order the Impossimal 2016 calendar from Waterstones or any bookshop using the ISBN 9781325117253
You can also (occasionally!) find it on Amazon HERE
Waterstones HERE
But for sheer speed, availability and competitive pricing (ignore the out of stock, its printed on demand) look HERE at Speedy Hen, they seem to be the best at the moment.
We will continue to scour the Internet to find the best deals for you, if you need any help locating a copy just drop us a line and we will do our best.
Hope this helps and in the future we will try and do all this a little earlier and of course cheaper!
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