Pricing

One of the most challenging tasks as an artist running a business is to set the right price, whether it be for a service, or an item for sale. Let's take this from the top, shall we?

As an artist, you have the choice to either create work for the pure pleasure of it, or to create work for profit as well as the (hopefully) pure pleasure of it.  Let's face it... in this day and age, we find ourselves short on time, so creating art for fun is something I for one can't find the time for... I have a hard enough time finding the time to do my paying work!  I have dozens of projects just waiting in the wings for some free time to show up... projects that I know I would enjoy doing, but, with bills to pay, simply can't justify spending the time on.  So I find artistic projects that I can enjoy doing and get paid for, from my freelancing work to my comics and artwork.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to brand myself as HappyGlyphs Comics, and somehow keep everything under one roof.  This leads to trouble, though, since branding becomes a business and business comes with lots of paperwork.  The good news is that if you truly have a business, many of your expenses are tax deductible, which helps justify doing that artwork we enjoy doing.

However, as I've discussed in an earlier post, you can't deduct the cost of your goods (artwork, books, etc) until you actually sell them.  So, we have a couple of things to address: the initial price of goods, and a later discount on those goods.

First of all, you technically sell things to make a profit.  Any artist out there who has tried this is smirking right now, because let's face it... to get anywhere in this biz, many of us have had to work for free, or give stuff away, to get our names out there.  Once established, you can then try for that 'profit' stuff we've all heard about.  Selling services is one thing we can do, and selling stuff is the other.  But selling stuff usually involves an initial buying of stuff, such as paying for our art to be made as prints or into books or on t-shirts.  "How hard can this be?" you ask me.  "Just add a little extra to what you paid for the t-shirts, and that's your profit."

Not that easy.  You have to remember that your audience has an idea of what things should cost. They are not going to pay ten dollars for your comic book, or thirty dollars for your t-shirt.  You have to price competitively, which is why it is very difficult to run a small business using sites like Cafe Press or Lulu, two of the sites that I like, or the many other similar companies out there.

Your first problem is that, unless you are buying hundreds or thousands of items, you are going to be paying premium prices, prices that may already rival what your competition is selling.  For example, have you priced out the cost of a color comic book? If you are going Print on Demand, the cost of a small comic can be 3 or 4 dollars, the price that Marvel sells Spiderman for.  (and yes, Marvel is your competitor!) To make a profit, you are now asking your audience to pay more for your comic than they would for an established favorite like Spiderman.  This can work if you have lots of people out there that love your work, but remember, they have to find it first, and if it's on the web, they may have to pay shipping on top of that.  You're off to a rocky start already.

Now let's say that you've gone to a real printer, and printed a hundred comics all at a decent price so that you can make a profit and keep your audience happy.  A year goes by and you have a box of 80 comics sitting around, and you can't even deduct the price of those books yet, since they haven't sold.  Now you have to think about a sale.

At which point do you decide to sacrifice a profit just to reduce inventory and get that Cost of Goods Sold back? Well, that's up to you.  If you have new books coming out, then selling the old one at discount may be a good way to build up an audience.  If those books have been in your closet a few years now, then it's definitely time to reduce the price.  It's painful, but that's reality.  Even Disney has bargain bins, and remember... people love a bargain.  You may go a long way to improving customer satisfaction if that customer feels good about getting a bargain from you.

If you're just starting out in a small business, or considering it, this post may be disturbing.  And that's the best gift I can give you.  I don't want to discourage anyone, and frankly, us artistic types do what we have to, not what people tell us, but I promise you that unless you are some kind of world wonder, you will not succeed if you don't work smart.  Think before you act, and research, and most of all, start small.  Build up that audience before you go and try selling stuff. Show us what you got, first, and if we like it, we'll ask for merchandise.

There's a lot more we can discuss on this topic, so if I haven't covered something, please ask.  I'm always happy to answer (most) questions. :0)

And since we're on the subject, have I mentioned that I've upgraded the shop, and have many fine items for sale?

Take care,    JOHN :0)

Ghost Pirates Update



I really should write a blog about priorities, since you may be wondering how I choose what to work on and when. For instance, it's been a while since I've mentioned the Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, and with good reason.  I've been quite busy with other projects, and although I've been working on Ghost Pirates, I'm witholding the new material so that it doesn't spoil the ending.  Most of the story has been free online, but now that I'm putting together the final comic book, we don't want spoilers.

Also, as some of you may recall, Ghost Pirates started out as part of The Inquiring Minds comic strip, and so was not in comic book format.  You'd think I would have learned from 3 Knights in India, but no, I didn't.  More about that in my upcoming post about priorities.

Anyway, much of the early material from Ghost Pirates has been reformatted, digitally remastered, and in some cases redrawn.  I've also added new material to enhance the story or improve the layout, and have created my own 'handwriting' font to make the text consistent throughout.  Quite a lot of work, I must say, which explains the lack of recent updates.

I now have about 26 pages completely finished and am working on completing the book.  Originally it was to be 32 pages, with advertisements, a letters page, and a page for Fan Art, but it now looks like it could run longer than that.  I'm wondering if I should make it a two part series, or a larger comic book?  What do you think?  Any opinions?

As for the letters page and Fan Art pages, I already have one nice piece from a fellow artist.  I'll have to dig through my fan mail to see what applies to The Inquiring Minds, but meanwhile, take a chance to read through the archives, and send a letter in. Who knows, it may get published? :0)

And any cartoonists out there who'd like to have a shot at the Fan Art page, send me a small drawing of The Inquiring Minds, doing something pirate ride related.   Of course, how and what gets published are completely at my discretion, and the only compensation would be a copy of the comic book when published, and depends on space left in the final issue.
I'm really proud and excited to have another long term project coming close to completion!  Of course, that's just the art and writing... lots more to go, including some exciting news, I hope. :0)

Thanks,    JOHN :0)

MId Ohio Con 2011

This year, Wizard World took over the Mid Ohio Con, so it was supposed to be a whole 'nother show.  And it was... in a way.

Last year was a nice, fun show, but I didn't do as well as expected, or as well as I had at the Baltimore Comic Con.  I came again since it promised to be a different experience, but  I could have done better...  at least sales-wise.  The thing is, you have to look at the intangibles, such as meeting nice people, and enjoying the show itself, seeing friends, and seeing who stops at your booth, what they look at, and learning a bit about your audience.  

I met some great people... some of them very nice, interesting, and talkative, but few were what I would consider my 'audience'. Future audience, perhaps, but like last year, there was very little at this show that mentioned comic strips.  Movies, toys, comic books, yes, but comic strips, no.  Tom Batuik of Funky Winkerbean was there, which was a plus, but I didn't get a chance to get over his way.  It would have been nice to talk to him about comic strips, if he were willing.

It just isn't Comic Con without Stormtroopers. :0)

And there were few people who seemed to be looking for 'something different'.  There may have been, in Artist's Alley, but I wasn't in Artist's Alley this year, and more's the pity.  I had a Small Press booth, but I wasn't in a Small Press area... a few people even asked "What are you doing in this area?". 

The people who did stop by to talk or buy something I feel stumbled upon me, which is quite possible since I was surrounded by a guy selling t-shirts, a guy selling toys, and a guy selling old comic books.  Thankfully I was able to get the attention of some great people. but I feel like some people didn't make it down my alley, or if they did, they moved down it too fast, or were captivated by the t-shirts.  I did see several people who I felt definitely would have liked my material, but they never even saw it as they went by.

So am I over analysing things?  Perhaps, but hey, if you want to sell something, especially in this economy, it pays to know a little psychology.  And yes, perhaps the economy did affect things. I mostly sold only the small money items, such as my comic books.  This was the first time ever I didn't sell several of the big books.

Don't.  Blink.

So did I have a terrible time?  No, not at all.  I did, however, spend all my earnings on Fantastic Four collections, but hey, I got some great deals.  And I did meet some wonderful people, like the kid above in the Weeping Angel costume.  Most of the people in costumes seem like nice folk, and fun, and most of the people who bought my stuff were friendly and articulate.  I had a lot of fun, at times, but those times when no one stopped by were dreadful.  All shows have slow times, but today was really slow.

If I had written this yesterday morning, it would be all praise and exclamation points. After all, I finally sold out of The Inquiring Minds #1, and The Inquiring Minds: Funny Pages #1 did very well.  In fact, most of the people who stopped by were kids with their parents. 

I'll have to think long and hard about next year.  I do have big plans for HappyGlyphs, and depending how things go, I may have to do a lot of shows to support those plans.

We'll see!    JOHN :0)