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March 2, 2009

print update: only four left!

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[UPDATE: I’m happy to report that the “We Need To Talk” pre-sales are all already sold out. The design goes to print some­time in the next week or so, and the plan is to get the edi­tions sent out to their buyers toward the end of the month. Thanks Again!]

Dear Crazy, Deran­ged Fools,
I’m happy to report that the orders for my latest edi­tion, “We Need To Talk” have gone very well. So much so that, besi­des what I’m kee­ping for myself, we only have four of them left! If you’re inte­res­ted in acqui­ring one, please send me an email to gaping­void­prints, Thanks. All the usual details– price, ship­ping etc can be found here etc etc.
So I’ve been in the fine art print busi­ness thing for about two months. Here are my notes:
1. I sup­pose the first thing I’ll say about it is, yes, I am UTTERLY AMAZED about how well it’s going so far. Sure, I never star­ted this ven­ture with any inten­tion of fai­ling, but still, the res­ponse has been off the scale. I have honestly never seen anything like it. I’m kinda shell-shocked, to be honest, but in a good way…
2. I am truly gra­te­ful for everything; it would be insane not to be. Still, in the back of my mind, I am won­de­ring to myself, is this just Beginner’s Luck? How long will it last? Could it all come crashing down tomo­rrow? I’ve seen that hap­pen before, and it’s not pretty. Oh well, make hay while the sun shi­nes, I sup­pose; that’s all you can really do.
3. I’m VERY glad I made the deci­sion, early on in the game, to not to spare any expen­ses in the pro­duc­tion depart­ment. The finest inks, the finest papers, the finest prin­ters etc etc. When the Blue­train prints arri­ved last week for me to sign, I remem­ber ope­ning the box and just being INSTANTLY STUNNED by how well they tur­ned out, how plea­sing both to the eye and to the touch. It was a truly happy, satisf­ying moment for me.
4. Choo­sing which design to turn into a print is actually pretty nerve-wracking. Pro­du­cing an edi­tion costs seve­ral thou­sand dollars, and no mat­ter how good you think your gut ins­tinct or mar­ket research is, YOU SIMPLY DON’T KNOW what peo­ple are going to do [ver­sus what peo­ple SAY they’re going to do] until your money’s already been spent; until it’s too late to change you mind. “We Need To Talk”, is actually a pretty good exam­ple of “nerve-wracking”. It was a risky– it’s not exactly a mes­sage you’d want to give your wife for her birth­day, nor a mes­sage you’d want to hang in your office in order to moti­vate the troops. That being said, it has a cer­tain edge to it, which some peo­ple really relate to on a vis­ce­ral level. Besi­des that, I had some strong, per­so­nal rea­sons for wan­ting it made into a print, so I made the call. I’m just glad it all ended well.
5. I fully expect these prints to one day be worth MANY TIMES what they’re selling for now. Which is why I hold onto a few of each edi­tion– I’d be crazy not to. Art can be a very risky invest­ment, of course, but when it pays off, it pays off EXTREMELY well. Loo­king at it from a bru­tally objec­tive stand­point– do the math: My equity as an artist is worth a LOT more today than it was, say, five or ten years ago. I see no rea­son why that trend won’t con­ti­nue, at least for the fore­seea­ble future. What stocks in your port­fo­lio can you say the same about? Just askin’…
6. All the expe­rience I got set­ting up English Cut in 2005 – 2006 is sud­denly paying off. We have a lot in com­mon: a small, high-end, niche mar­ket, a blog to keep up, with a LOT Of emails to deal with. But this time, I’m not behol­den to some­body else’s pro­duct. This stuff is all mine, now. I’m quite exci­ted, frankly.
7. Pro­bably the most salient piece of advice I came away with from Le Web in Decem­ber came from Gary Vay­nerchuk: “If you have a great pro­duct, and you love your cus­to­mers, you WILL suc­ceed, end of story”. I totally get that. That being said, I believe the lat­ter is much har­der than the for­mer, on an exe­cu­tio­nal level. Love is great, but Love is hard. Make of that what you will.
Thanks Again, As Always, for Your Love & Sup­port.
Yours In Crazy, Deran­ged Foo­lish­ness,
Hugh MacLeod

Tags: English Cut, gapingvoid Prints, Gary Vaynerchuk, Hugh MacLeod, Le Web, Limited Edition Prints, We Need To Talk Print

4 Responses to “print update: only four left!”

1. pat says:

   March 2, 2009 at 9:15 PM

   For those of us who work a day job so we can afford to be a crazy, deran­ged fool doing what we love, I think your crazy deran­ged fool image would sell to us, as a t-shirt, print etc. The fool’s equi­va­lent of the blue mons­ter.
   Pat
2. Anna says:

   March 3, 2009 at 6:03 PM

   Con­gra­tu­la­tions Hugh on your suc­cess, you com­ple­tely deserve it. It’s very ins­pi­ring, actually, for your fellow CDFs (well me at least!!). Heaps of luck for your con­ti­nuing endea­vours which we’ll be follo­wing with heaps of support.
3. Steve Averill says:

   March 4, 2009 at 12:56 AM

   Con­gra­tu­la­tions Hugh! You have done something that is very ins­pi­ring to any of us wan­ting to com­bine art and com­merce successfully.
4. Carl Frederik Waage Beck says:

   March 5, 2009 at 1:59 AM

   Con­gra­tu­la­tions on the print Hugh!
   I am very ins­pi­red by your work.
   I think something needs to hap­pen in this opa­que mar­ket­place of art. I am won­de­ring if artists will ever be able to cross over the long tail and make it work. As it stands, pro­du­cing prints is a costly affair, pain­ting mate­rials are expen­sive etc.etc (not so for your bri­lliant busi­ness cards)
   best regards, Carl