New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

srmeaney · 2005-07-13 00:43:42

How about we all pitch in a family recipe: New Mars Can get off their butts and publish it, Profits send a couple kids to the ISS.

Damper
Ingredients
Self Raising flour 2 Cups
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
Milk 7-8 ounces fluid

extras
dried mixed fruit 1-2 cups

Method
1 Mix ingredients together in big bowl
2. Put in greased tin
3. Bake in Oven 25-30 minutes at 200-230 degrees C (400-450 F)

Rxke · 2005-07-13 02:43:35

Oh, no... Not another recipe topic...

Seems like *every* single forum has one, what's up with that?

clark · 2005-07-13 03:34:32

Wow. That's a pretty neat idea.

Might I suggest that instead of reaching for the stars, we reach for the Moon instead, as it were?

You would need in the neighborhood of 40 million dollars in book sales profit to do what you propose srmeaney. And that only sends two kids.

What about making the prize sub-orbital trips. For the same price (assuming you meet the profit margin of 40 million) we could send hundreds of kids.

This would tie in nicely with the X-prize and various private sub-orbital companies. Team up with telescope companies, science fiction media groups (sci-fi channel?), etc. There is some great PR value here.

A truly ambitious project though would be to create a youth group, like the boy scouts, girls scouts, etc. Except this one is focused on "space". Space Scouts?

Rxke · 2005-07-13 04:00:31

But how many people are going to buy yet another cookbook?

Go to a second-hand bookstore, and they have loads of the typical cookbooks by famous people, from the tv-series, theXXX diet,... They sell to the fans, but inevitably the majority ends up in the sale bins.

Same with a MarsSciety Cookbook. It looks like a nice idea, but first of all, making a *good* cookbook ain't cheap. Lots of colorpictures, for starters.
And pictures taken by a pro. Ever tried to photograph food and make it look good? Not simple.
Prepared by a good cook, to make it look good...
and so on.

And only a handful of spacegeeks will buy it, and that's a small audience, sad to say.

Good idea, but expensive to set up, and potentially a loss-operation.

srmeaney · 2005-07-13 04:14:43

What about making the prize sub-orbital trips. For the same price (assuming you meet the profit margin of 40 million) we could send hundreds of kids.

Talk is cheap, so is a cookbook with no pictures.

besides, if we publish and 'sell it' over the internet for two dollars what is cheaper. You could even set it up as the i-cook file to be downloaded. Translated by helpful persons who frequent this board, we might even pull together a billion dollars world wide? A billion dollars to pack a shuttle with a pack of school kids and send them to the ISS. Left over funds could cover a couple of New Mars Scholarships for Science...

Besides, It's Ethical.

clark · 2005-07-13 05:30:42

At $2 profit, just profit mind you, you would have to sell 500 million units to reach 1 billion dollars.

srmeaney, I like the concept, but you may be a little too optimistic by throwing these kinds of numbers out.

I don't believe that any group could sell 500 million units of cookbooks with the goal to send a Space Shuttle full of kids to the ISS. The practical considerations aside, it is just reaching to far, to fast.

Aim a little lower.

C M Edwards · 2005-07-13 07:49:08

Unfortunately, srmeaney, your numbers are too optimistic.

To sell a cookbook, you have to be able to print a cookbook. Bookstores will stock a small amount on commission, but that requires the books be pre-printed in lots of at least 50. Printing books and shipping them is expensive, and we would need to do it in lots.

For example, say you can print and ship and distribute a lot of 50 books at an average price of $7 US each. If you sell at $20 each, that would require you to sell 20 books per lot just to avoid a loss. That can be done, but then the profit from the next 20 books sold has to go into printing the next lot if you want to keep selling books. That means you're only receiving the profit from 10 book sales in every lot. Up to $200 per lot can be yours. The rest goes back into your operation.

You could raise prices to make up for this, but that will reduce overall sales. 1000 books sold is reasonable if your cookbooks are very popular. 10000 is spectacular. Slightly higher efficiency can be had by conducting sales online (not everything has to be shipped in lots, meaning fewer lost sales), but this can only bring in about $4000 for every 1000 books sold.

It can be done, but the returns are closer to the operating budget of the Mars Society than the operating budget of the ISS.

dicktice · 2005-07-13 11:19:27

Forget making any money: Just publish on the Internet, and for your reward become famous/infamous.

srmeaney · 2005-07-13 22:46:50

You three are banished to earth forever...

clark · 2005-07-14 06:54:45

That's what I love about you, your people skills.

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-14 11:40:48

Worst idea ever. We'd make more money charging people to watch some youthful good looking Mars aspiring people walking around a hab all day, 24/7.

I'll sign up! :;):

clark · 2005-07-14 12:10:42

good looking and Mars aspiring?

You are an optimist.

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-14 12:33:59

Oh, they exist, I could pick out at least one person from every MDRS ever done.

srmeaney · 2005-07-21 07:49:07

Still dont see recipies from contributors...

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#1 2005-07-13 00:43:42

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#2 2005-07-13 02:43:35

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#3 2005-07-13 03:34:32

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#4 2005-07-13 04:00:31

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#5 2005-07-13 04:14:43

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#6 2005-07-13 05:30:42

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#7 2005-07-13 07:49:08

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#8 2005-07-13 11:19:27

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#9 2005-07-13 22:46:50

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#10 2005-07-14 06:54:45

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#11 2005-07-14 11:40:48

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#12 2005-07-14 12:10:42

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#13 2005-07-14 12:33:59

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

#14 2005-07-21 07:49:07

Re: New Mars Recipe Book - A fundraiser to send Children to the ISS

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