As of today, I'm officially unemployed! Cindy makes good money, but I'll need at least a part time job to cover the bills and luxuries. What to do? Go to school and get a degree, I suppose.
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I would love to write for a living - but could I be prolific enough? Could I sell enough? Even if I wrote like crazy, it could take years to build up the necessary inertia money-wise. I do plan to get my ass in gear and get writing, asap.
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I'll need something on the side. A home-based business would be good, or maybe I can make money with one of my ideas.
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Like this one - Great Illustrated Classics is a series of books adapted for kids - there are nearly 70 in all (you can purchase all 66 for $400.00) and they feature the whole story alternating 1 page of text, with 1 page of art depicting the scene.
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Unlike many "books for kids", the art used in Great Illustrated Classics is very good - I've always liked it. If I hadn't loved the books so much as a kid, I would have taken them apart and hung the pages as art.
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I came across a display of these books a few weeks ago at a drugstore of all places, and I spent a good 10 minutes flipping through them. The art was still damn good, even from my grown-up viewpoint (this opinion is tinged more than a bit with nostalgia, I'll admit).
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My question for those of you familiar with the books is, if (ahem!) someone licensed the art and offered them as prints (say, 16x20) at a reasonable price - (just the print, or framed and matted) - are there enough nostalgic adults out there who would buy them?
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I'd only print them after they were ordered, so overhead would be pretty low...
Good question. i know i would be interested in something like that from MY childhood-I'm not sure i'm familiar with the particular ones you are talking about, I'd have to actually see a sample to know.
ReplyDeleteNew parents would probally be a good market to explore- parents love "doing a baby-room with a theme that will last into the tween years before having to re-decorate for a pre-teen/teen young adult.
Well, I think you already know I would buy one, but I can't say for certain that we control a large demographic here.
ReplyDeleteOk, DeviantArt.com offers a great print service. You pay $25 dollars a year as a subscription. Then, the price per print depends on the size and type of paper. Basically, you get 50% of the profits.
ReplyDeleteSo, if you decide to do an 8X10 canvas print that would cost $40 per print to make, you set the price at say $80, and would make $20 for every print sold.
Of course, the biggest problem you have is you don't own the rights to any of that artwork, so you couldn't reproduce and sell it legally. Also, art has very little intrinsic value, and what people are willing to pay varies incredibly. My stepson has said he'd pay about $50 for one of my paintings...Whereas personally, I wouldn't pay $5 for it..which is less than the cost of the canvas and paint.
Sorry, just read the bit about licencing them. duh.
ReplyDeleteWell guess that mkes 2 of us unemployed. My worry would be getting in legal trouble...the amount you would want to sell to make the amount of money you would need would probably put you on someones radar....
ReplyDeletegood luck!!
Sunny - I looked for an example of the art for a good long while online, and could not come up with any - the cover art is easy to find an example of, but the art inside is of a completely different style, so no luck.
ReplyDeleteIL - Yes! You wanted 30 of them, right? I've got you down for 30. Let me know if you need more.
Paulius - DeviantArt.com, good to know!
Paulius - Yes, I would have the license to the art before I ever tried such a thing.
Heather - I would definitely get the license to the art! I would need the larger, original art to work from anyway. The books are only about 5 x 3.5, and would not enlarge very well.
Thanks for your input, guys!
Um, may I ask, is Cindy happy with her work?
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