Hugh MacLeod
Cartoons drawn on the back of business cards
March 10, 2005
OK, having second thoughts.… ermmmmmm…
What “blogging” t-shirt should I debut with?
This one (“Was it good for you?”) or this one? (“I’m blogging this”)?
Can we please have a concensus?
The other 3 choices I’m fine with.
Thanks.
I'm a cartoonist.
I sell limited-edition prints.
I wrote a book.
I'm CEO of Stormhoek USA, which markets South African wine in the States.
I also draw private commissions.
Prints |
Opening | Current |
|---|---|---|
Bluetrain |
$900 | |
We Need to Talk |
$650 | |
Portfolio #2 |
$300 | |
NY NY |
$275 |
“Was it good for you?”
Was it good for you?
Less cursing = more sales (at least for me!) Not too sure about wearing a shirt with the word fuck on it.
If I may suggest… I think a better idea would be for you to open a “store” with Cafepress. http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/
Most of the major syndicates use them, as do many online cartoonists. You don’t need to invest in inventory, the quality of the merchandise is good, and you can offer an unlimited number of different images.
PLUS, since many people are concerned about the swearing on a t-shirt, they could opt for getting the gag on a mug or mouse pad or any one of dozens of different products…calendars, books, clocks, even thongs! It’s all made-to-order.
The downside is that the products are a bit pricey to begin with (you set the price above what they charge), but they’re good quality and they have excellent customer service. They once screwed up a part of my order, redid the items involved, overnighted it out to me and let me keep two t-shirts without charge.
No hassle with printers, no outlay of money, no shipping… Not a bad deal and given the type of work you do and the quantity of merchandise-worthy gags you have, I’d highly recommend it.
I’ve heard nothing but bad things about cafe press.
I hear the quaility sucks. No good if you can’t control the quality.
Also, these shirts will have their own “gapingvoid” labels. Very cool…
They got a bad reputation starting out because of their t-shirts, but they have since changed the process. Sure, it’s still not quite as good as silk screening, but they wear fine now. It’s the other things beyond t-shirts that most interest me anyway. You don’t have to sell the t-shirts. You could do your own and create other merchandise to sell from there. You could also test the popularity of certain images and then have the most popular ones made up in t-shirts.
Cafe Press has a 100% guarantee, so anybody who isn’t happy can get their money back. So I don’t see quality as a problem. As I’ve said, I’ve ordered many things from them and have been happy.
My own experience (I’ve been amongst cartoonists for many years now), is that the people who complain loud about Cafe Press are typically people who created a store there and couldn’t sell anything. You must have a very large and strong fan base to make it work.
Look, it’s not like I own stock in CP or anything. The gags you’ve chosen just aren’t my cup of tea, and I wouldn’t want the t-shirts. I’d love a mug with the pickaxe, though.
Just an idea.
I’d buy either one (and will probably buy both eventually), but for the debut, I’ll vote for “Was it good for you.”
My 2
“Was it good for you?” is my choice.
why are you publihing the first shirts with the geekiest ones possible?!?! you ahve a lot of cool cartoons — but the ones about blogging etc are pretty damn geeky, especailyl to wear. you will get typecast like those shirts that say “cd /dev/beer” or whatever. is that what you want?
this one? oh fuck off
whatever the decision is, You make em nice and fluffy, (you know best, not cheapest) and I’d like to sell them on the back of my wine bottles.
It has to be ‘read my blog’ — I wanna wear that…classic.
Speaking of tees — have you seen what these guys are up to?
Spamshirt
http://www.spamshirt.com
Yeah, I’m going to do “Was it good for you?”…
It’s really simple– the more people buy t-shirts, the faster new designs are released.
Talk about incentive [KER-CHIIIING!!!!].
Good for you
Have you tried or looked at http://www.zazzle.com/
A collegue of mine uses them and loves the quality.
I too love the idea of picking any of artworks for a t-shirt (or mug), ordering them (even for a bit more money), and having you get paid. Think many of us would buy quite a few.
One more vote for “Was it good for you?” though I would buy both.