Creating TCS Cookbook

[jenng]

I'm sure my imput swayed the two of you.

I am happy to hear what you decided though. Although picking out just two pictures of Spike is very difficult!

 

[valanhb]

Amy reminded me that we had decided not to include pictures for download consideration. I'm trying to preliminarily put the file into a PDF and see how bad it is.

Sorry we jumped the gun.

 

[jenng]

Drat. I was actually wondering about that, but I figured someone decided it would be fine. Either way is really okay.

 

[george'smom]

Originally posted by valanhb
Yikes! I had no idea it had gotten that big!!

I just ran a test, I took a 756K file and converted it to a PDF, and it became 1.38 MB.

So unfotunately, I am beginning to think that scrapping the bios and pictures will be the best thing at this point. I think we've created a monster here!!

 

[valanhb]

I did a "test run" on the file that Amy sent and the PDF is 3.12 MB with the cover included.

Brainstorm here....could we offer one with pictures and one without? It just....looks so bare!

For those with high speed internet I don't know that even 5 MB would be that big of a deal as long as we state what the size is up front, and how many pages it is (So people know what they are getting into and that it is worth the download time!). Any thoughts?

Again, I apologize for jumping the gun.

 

[purrfectcatlove]

I got a dumb question . The book is only to download only ??? Or are we talking of a real book in paper here ???

 

[valanhb]

Hedi, in order to keep our costs down to nothing the cookbook will be in download form only. Although you can always take it to Kinkos or something like that to have it printed and bound.

 

[purrfectcatlove]

Oh nooo . My printer is broken , so how would I be able to dwnload 1 book or even 3-4 books ? Dowload on a disk ? From there I go in a special store and let them print it out ??? Please help me

 

[jenng]

Originally posted by valanhb
Brainstorm here....could we offer one with pictures and one without? It just....looks so bare!

For those with high speed internet I don't know that even 5 MB would be that big of a deal as long as we state what the size is up front, and how many pages it is (So people know what they are getting into and that it is worth the download time!). Any thoughts?

I think that as long as you don't mind putting it together both ways that having a version with and a version without pictures is a good idea. Then for those that do have broadband and want the kitty pictures, they can have them, and those that have dial-up don't have to wait for pictures they may not want. I mean, you can still do it on dial-up, but I'd probably start it before I went to bed one night.

So anyway, I'm voting for both.

Originally posted by PurrfectCatlove

Oh nooo . My printer is broken , so how would I be able to dwnload 1 book or even 3-4 books ? Dowload on a disk ? From there I go in a special store and let them print it out ??? Please help me

I have the same problem Hedi. If you have a cd burner, you can always download the file to you computer, then burn it to cd. Then you can take it either to a friend's house that has a working printer or somewhere like Kinko's (as Heidi suggested) to be made into a book.

 

[valanhb]

One idea I have is breaking up the cookbook into 3-4 parts so that they will fit onto floppy disks for easy transport to another location. I'm checking with Mary Anne about the logistics of putting up that many versions of the cookbook on Meowhoo for download.

 

[rapunzel47]

Hmmm...thinking into the computer here...

File size isn't an issue for me, because I do have high-speed both at home and in my office, where I would print. So, from my own perspective, I'd really like to have pics.

If I were dealing with a dial-up connection, I would be tempted to do as jgaruba suggests, though for some that might eat up too much connect time, and I could see people deciding to give it a miss in that case. So, in anticipation of that situation, without pics makes more sense.

So...I would definitely support the idea of having both versions. Breaking it into smaller chunks, while a good idea in terms of making the download more manageable, might turn into an administrative nightmare, in terms of payment, claiming the sections, etc. though what the actual logistics of that might be I don't know, so maybe I'm all wet.

Bottom line...I'd go with whatever solution translates to the highest sales with the least administrative headache.

 

[momofmany]

We mailed out our family cookbook burned to CD. Of course if you do that you need a good CD burner and some time.

I agree - our family cookbook looked bare until you put pictures in it - and they ultimately made the book.

Sorry, brain dead from working too many hours since Friday and just don't have any ideas right now.

 

[valanhb]

It appears that if we can offer two versions - one for dial up and one for high-speed with pictures - that it would be OK to ask for pics?

Next question - since the pics won't be in every version, should we still ask for the donation or just for them to email the pics to me? The other problem is that now I have about 1 week to collect pics and put them in....would offering it for free make more people likely to submit pics?

I'll wait until tomorrow evening (Friday) for replies since I seriously jumped the gun on this last time. Feedback from anyone/everyone appreciated!!

 

[jenng]

Originally posted by valanhb
It appears that if we can offer two versions - one for dial up and one for high-speed with pictures - that it would be OK to ask for pics?

I think it's a good idea. It gives people a choice in it. Even those people with 56k modems can download the picture copy, if they're patient enough.

Originally posted by valanhb
Next question - since the pics won't be in every version, should we still ask for the donation or just for them to email the pics to me? The other problem is that now I have about 1 week to collect pics and put them in....would offering it for free make more people likely to submit pics?

This is a harder one... especially with the time constraint. And also, there's the 'issue' of... for example, if I wanted to send in pictures of my cat, but was only on a 56k modem and planned to get the non-picture version. I'm not sure if I'd want to pay for something I wasn't going to get to see... but then again, anyone that does want their cat in it will most likely download the picture copy. (Although this may not be safe to assume - it just makes sense to me.) Again, I don't know if I'm much help on this aspect of it. I would however like to submit a picture of Spike.

 

[valanhb]

Thanks for the input Jen. I think since it is short notice, and since there will be the two different versions, I'm just going to ask for people to send me pics with no donation necessary. I would imagine that most people who will send in pics will buy to cookbook anyway. So I will put up the notice in the Lounge.

Mary Anne said she doesn't think that hosting the two versions will be a problem at all.

 

[hissy]

Here is the text for the Meow Page- I still need kitchen kittens to help illustrate the page.

Please let me know what you think?

If you mix in the needs of homeless cats in another country, a community of cat lovers who meet electronically on a daily basis, you have the basic ingredients for the pet project of members of www.thecatsite.com. That project? A cookbook entitled “Cooking With Cattitude.†Where these members from across the globe have assembled their favorite recipes for both humans and pets in this impressive 150 page collection.

Not only the love of cats, but also the love of cooking drew many to contribute to this cookbook where ALL proceeds will go directly to the Cat Welfare Society of Israel. With a zest for organization, MomofMany- an industrious woman with a lot of cats (hence her board name) spearheaded this project, collecting the recipes and delegating assignments effectively along the way. Sifting through the recipes became the job of several hardy volunteers including Rapunzel47, jguaraba, to name a few... The volunteers spent hours cutting and folding the contents of recipes, as they edited and sometimes contacted the original authors with questions that arose, as this cookbook began to take shape.

At the core of the project was always the underlying theme to help CWSI keep its doors opened by making this cookbook into a downloadable “pay per view†(if you will). For a one-time fee of $5.00 you can own this cookbook and be privy to such recipes as South of the Border Meatballs, Autumn Soup or Tortellini Capri Salad, and for your cat, we have Kitten Glop, a nutritional supplement for orphaned kittens, or how about Sardine Soup or Mackeral Magic? Whatever takes your fancy, or tickles your taste buds you will find it among these cyber pages. We hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor-

 

[valanhb]

I like it Mary Anne! Love the cooking theme in the whole thing.

 

[rapunzel47]

Good blurb, Hissy! Covers the bases nicely.

Something just occurred to me. Maybe it would be an idea to include an option of a further donation to CWSI, when people are paying for their copy of the book? The book might be just the hook to reel in a few more bucks? Just a thought.

 

[hissy]

The button that will lead the people to the paypal will have the option of more than one donation with it- so if they are feeling charitable, they can donate any amount they wish-

 

[purrfectcatlove]

I think that is a great idea M.A. .

Question , What if some one take the $ 5.00 dollars book offer and burn it on a cd , that person can make from that cd 100 books if he/she wants to right ??? Have you thought about that ???