> Hi,

> What's the best desktop publishing solution
> for designing a catalog?

> What's the specific formula for printing a
> test run at the lowest possible price?

> Thanks in advance,

> - Boyd

Boyd,

The software I use is Pagemaker 6.5, but if the catalog was just a basic black & white, you could use just about anything that a printer could shoot film off of. For a color catalog you would need Quark or Pagemaker...something you could create color separations from.

As far as the minimum number of catalogs you would need to do a test...The magic number is '30' or 30 responses. Once you have accumulated 30 responses from any list or customer segment, that will give you a pretty accurate read of how responsive your list or customer segment is. Obviously 30 responses on a mailing of 100 catalogs is much better that 30 responses on 10,000. But you need to reach 30 responses to get an accurate feel for the list.

Now as far how mnay catalogs you should have printed...it depends on how what size the catalog is and how many pages. The 'x' factor is the paper cost.

As I said previously I know I can get 10,000 64 page black & white catalogs printed on newsprint for about .15 each. How many would 5,000 cost? probably .20 to .25 each. But who knows, right now printers are pretty hungry for work and may cut some pretty good deals on low quantities. One word about quotes from printers...they are literally all over the board. One printer may be 2.5x the price of the least expensive printer for exactly the same specs. Remember, when mailing you need to follow bulk mail rules and do a minimum of 200 at a crack.

I'm not saying that doing a catalog is easy...there is a lot of detail work involved but for the entrepreneur that isn't afraid of spending a little money and doing a little work, cataloging is still a very profitable field.

Take care,

Mike W.