eMoviePoster.com

From 1990 to 2004 we published FORTY THREE full-color books and auction catalogs, which contained around 10,000 of the finest movie posters and lobby cards known to exist, items that have auctioned for well over $50 million dollars. These were all printed with the absolute finest color printing there is on the highest quality paper stock, and every image was shot directly from the actual poster, so these serve as the ultimate reference to the greatest movie paper there is!

Why did we stop producing these in 2004? Blame it on the Internet, in three different ways:

1) Prior to the Internet, these books and catalogs were primarily the only way collectors could see these wonderful items in high quality images, so there was a vital need for them (and collectors had no problem paying $20 per book, and most declared it a "bargain", for what they received!), and we sold around 10,000 to 15,000 of each one. But once the Internet came along, we were able to share the items in our auctions with everyone who had a computer in huge quality scans, which virtually rendered that aspect of the books obsolete (the ability to see high quality images of great movie paper found nowhere else).

2) As soon as we would publish a new volume, people who bought it would scan some or most of the images and add them to websites (without contacting us), so WE would do all the work of finding and expensively photographing these rarities, and then others would take credit for what we had done. Of course, this further lowered our ability to sell the books, since people would steal and re-steal the images, and before long there were "everywhere".

3) The Internet also meant that Amazon would sell our books for 40% off the cover price (because they never had to make money on what they sell) so we lost the ability to sell our books at a discount to books all over the world, because they could not compete with Amazon. And because eBay became an easy way to re-sell used books, our books would turn up on eBay at really low prices, making it that much harder to sell them. Essentially, the world became a giant "lending library" where people can trade and re-trade books among themselves endlessly.

All this was great for buyers of the books, because it lowered prices greatly, but a side effect was that we could no longer sell enough books to break even, so we quit publishing them. So in a way, the Internet killed the goose that laid the golden eggs, because they made it so that we (and so many others) could no longer publish at all.

But you might ask, "I understand not publishing the reference books, but why stop the auction catalogs, which promote the auctions, and therefore seem to be worthwhile?" The answer to that is that auction catalogs, like holding live auctions in showrooms is outdated 20th Century technology that the Internet has rendered completely obsolete.

What do I mean? The catalogs were needed prior to the Internet, for the reasons I stated above, but now that we (and everyone else) can show incredibly large detailed scans of all items, the catalogs no longer serve that function (and it is an open secret that virtually no one actually buys auction catalogs for upcoming auctions anymore, and the auctions give almost all of them away for free, and many are briefly looked at and tossed away).

And having a showroom where all the items could be viewed has also been rendered completely obsolete by the Internet. Except for the most high profile "celebrity" auctions, hardly anyone attends any live auctions anymore, as it makes no sense to travel any distance to go to an auction when that same money could be spent bidding on items!

Yet many, many auctions still persist to printing catalogs and having live auctions, even though both are super expensive, and both have been rendered obsolete. If they were to realize that the only reason they are doing this is because "that is the way it has always been done" they could eliminate both, and then they could cease charging "buyers premiums" which turn many good buys into bad buys, and they would likely still come out ahead!

We won't hold our breath waiting for that to happen. But now you know exactly why we don't publish full-color books or auction catalogs anymore!