Sunday, February 7, 2010

A New Football for Charlie Brown

In my endless quest to fulfill the fantasy of effortless online sales, I have created a Zazzle store! The Zazzle concept is a little different, and not at all suitable for selling pottery; but as I am also an amateur photographer, I decided to give it a shot. After all, those images are not doing me any good sitting on my hard drive, amirite? And selling them as prints requires a whole 'nother level of commitment in terms of ancillary purchases, not to mention the cost of the prints themselves, and keeping them organized. But Zazzle is a way to make them available that, once set up, doesn't require any further effort from me. 

Here's how it works: I upload images, and choose products which can be made from them: tote bags, keychains, refrigerator magnets, mousepads, and, funnily enough, coffee mugs, and a boatload of other stuff. Shoppers purchase items customized with an artist's imagery, but not actually made by an artist. The artist gets a royalty, which is not very damn much, but read the part about the images "just sitting on my hard drive" again. (I admit to feeling a tiny pinch of guilt over participating in the sales of mass-produced crap, of which there is already plenty in the world.

Here's the good part. If nothing sells, I am out absolutely nothing. I am still in possession of the images & the right to use them. All I've lost is a morning at the computer. 

Wish me luck. This time I"ll kick that football from here to Australia! 

4 comments:

That Lynn Girl said...

Go for it! Best of luck to you! We have a couple things at Cafe Press, same system as Zazzle, I reckon. Doesn't hurt a bit. :-)

Lori Watts said...

Lynn -- What is your cafe press link? I'd love to see it.

Got It From My Mama said...

Enjoyed your post good luck

Mainevillageweaverscottishlion said...

Lori, Scottish Lion has a cafe press link too
I put it at the bottom of our Scottish Lion and Friends Blog