Print preorders are up in the store. No guarantees I didn’t break half a billion things in the process. Went with Google Checkout because Paypal made signup a pain in the tail.
Tag Archives: merch
Update on prints, or "That’s why they’re so expensive!"
I mentioned the possibility of doing a print run for the Nuclear Weather Rock comic and then promptly didn’t mention it again outside the forum. This should remedy that.
I found a local place where I can get short runs of full color prints done for very reasonable prices. I can do a run of 15 prints at 11×17 inches for under $2 a piece (almost impossible everywhere else I looked) or 10 prints for like $2.10 each.
Aaaand if that were the only expense I’d sell ’em for $5 a piece and double my money and feel really good about myself.
But then beyond the print cost there’s the Paypal fees, and the shipping fees, and depending on how I ship the container fees and I can see why a poster costs $15 on some of these websites now. :(
If I can find a shipping method through the US Postal Service that will mail prints in a tube (including the tube) for under $2 a piece, I can do a print run of either 10 or 15 prints, charge $6+$2 shipping (or $8 total), and I only have to sell 6 (or 8 if I do 15) to break even. If I actually did sell all 10 (or 15) I’d actually make a profit on something I did for the comic for the first time ever.
(Unless you count that incredible $5.50 I’ve made from Cafepress in the last year. I can’t eat at McDonald’s for $5.50, so that doesn’t count.)
I could even do a run of 5 prints at $6+$2 shipping, and still break after selling 4 prints. It’s more likely that I’ll hit 4 prints, but less likely that I’ll make a profit, especially as the 5th print would be for my wall.
Now, if I can’t ship for $2 or less, then I’d have to ship USPS Priority Mail and they cost $4.05 per package to ship. At that point I break even (barely) selling exactly 5 prints for $10 (That’s $6 per print plus $4 for shipping) each. At $8 ($4 for the print and $4 for shipping) I have to sell 9 of a 10 print run or 12 of a 15 print run.
Aaaand so far, ideaphile peri-renna is the only one who’s expressed an interest in a print. So, well, it’s all up in the air but if anyone else is interested, I’d love to hear about it. Hell, I’ll sign up for you if that’ll up the interest.
Meanwhile, my respect for the big successful comics that actually make a profit doing this every day has gone up tremedously.
Been doing this half my life
JPGs do awful things to my art, especially when I insist on keeping the graphics under 100k. Here is a larger (300+k, dial-up-painful) version.
This image was so big when I was working on it that I couldn’t save it because I ran out of room on my scratch disk. I’ve got a print-quality version – might make a print out of it just so I can hang it up somewhere. Drop me a note if you’re interested in one as well.
All the crap I forgot to tell you, in one easy location.
- My x-ray is “clear”, meaning no broken foot, but still a big lump, so I’m trying to hunt down an MRI. Whee.
- I received my copy of the Webcomic Telethon Book over the weekend, and it’s really nice. 8.5" x 11 ", not overly thick, but with multiple comics per page so you get a really good review of what was in the telethon. Definitely worth your time, especially since the funds go back to the Red Cross.
- The Philadelphia Phillies did win their last game of the season, but so did Houston, so I’ll be getting a refund for my NLDS tickets sometime in the next few weeks (dammit!!). This year, I think I’ll be rooting for St. Louis through the postseason. And the Yankees, ’cause that’s what I do.
- Redesign of the site is about 2/3 of the way done.
- It’s October! That means we’re less than a month away from National Novel Writing Month . I’d really like to participate this year, so here’s the plan:
- Fill up the comic buffer between now and November so I don’t have to worry about it.
- Get some rough ideas thrown together on what I’m going to write about. (Feel free to throw suggestions in the forum.)
- Subscribe to the NaNoWriMo podcast feed and the feed for their news service (done) to stay psyched
- spend lots of quality time with my husband so he doesn’t disown me for taking on yet another project
That’s all for now, must go comic.
The Webcomic Hurricane Relief Telethon
The Webcomic Hurricane Relief Telethon Book is now available. If you’d like to be one of the lucky people to own the first book containing a printed Get Outta My Head comic, here’s your chance. I’m told it’s on page 42 :)