Comic Genesis Forums

Some Friends have suggested that I begin merchandizing my strip. I have not given this serious thought since I don't really know my strips popularity yet. I'll be doing a paid advertisement at Theater Hopper soon, so I hope to get some readers from that.

However, I was wondering what experiences people have had with CafePress. I also wonder if there are alternatives. I'd love to make an "Uber Bean Coffee Mug" but whenever I draw them in my strip, they are shades of blue not white as Cafe Press does.

Shooting for the moon, I'd love to publish via LuLu someday. That will also give me a platform to share short stories as well.

Still, I can't afford to lose money. I don't expect to strike a gold mine, but I don't want any cafepress type deal to be a money pit.

THOUGHTS?

cafepress doesn't cost anything, does it? i thought they just made the stuff to order and then sent you a check...

I hear their shirts aren't so hot. Supposedly the images crack and yellow. Kinda like iron-ons as opposed to screen printing.

I wouldn't sell anything unless you have a large readership. Maybe take a poll from readers to see if they'd even buy anything.

How much merchandise do you buy from the other comics you read?

Probably not much merchandise.

You have to think about it as such, and if you're going to pursue it, you have to judge for yourself if that the .01% of readers that will/may buy merchandise is large enough to justify the effort.

I've been using cafepress since my comic started, around 2002ish. So far, I've really liked them (I just wish they gave me more of the cut).

The benefit of cafepress is that it doesn't cost anything up front. The disadvantage of cafepress is that because it doesn't cost anything up front, they take their 'cut' out of everything you buy. You probably won't be able to make anything more than a few dollars per item (Just to make them reasonably priced).

I bought, from my own store, in 2002 a hat, a sweatshirt, a t-shirt, posters, two coffee mugs (the regular ceramic and the metal one), two mousepads, and some stickers and other things I can't think of.

I'm wearing the hat now. I was wearing the sweatshirt yesterday. The sweatshirt and the t-shirt are still in excellent condition. With the exception that the sweatshirt (Being that grey shade) has faded everywhere except where the logo goes. But that's not a big deal to me. The rest of the stuff has held up very well. So I tend to say they have high quality products as long as you take care of them.

Although, they might have changed some things since I used them in 2002. Not really sure.

I sell about $20-40 worth of stuff per year. So it was kind of a surprise when I got a check in the mail out of the blue from people buying my stuff.

Another cool thing about it is that you can use them to make your own t-shirts and stuff for yourself too.

But anyway, hope that info helps.

My homesite http://www.taymation.com has been using CafePress for awhile now. The good thing I find about them is that you can offer up some test stuff to see if anyone goes for it. This is especially nice if you're not sure if you have the type of readers who want to buy things.

However, I personally like to go to local printshops. I have one near to my house that does great work for a little less than CafePress charges. Also, if I want to do a limited run, I can make a bigger deal out of it than I could with a CafePress site.

Though that way, you DO also lose the ability to take credit cards and the shopping-cart software. Makes it all a little more complicated for you.

Cafepress is like alot of things in the webcomic world, as either a hit or a miss. Some artists make a good deal of cash on the side thanks to Cafepress or Lulu, but very few people honestly want to give up that much of their hard-earned money. In fact, as far as popular comics go the only person i've ever heard of using cafepress is Scott Kurtz (PvP comics).

In my personal experience i've done prints of t-shirts and other apparel with nearby print-shops, and while i'll say I made a good deal of money in the end the sheer amount of effort I had to put in practically killed me. In general *most* webcomic artists want to draw for a living, not crunch numbers and shop for the best deal .. which is what you get stuck with when you do all the merchandising yourself. It's just a personal preference, and all..

My honest opionion? Cafepress sucks.

Even so, I use it. It's free and fairly easy to use. I haven't had any issues with the products I've bought from them. They like really big images though, and that can get annoying. You really shouldn't take a shop on comicgenesis if you want a really big shop with tons of items and lots of purcases, but other than that it suits fine..

Well thanks for the opinions. I was planning on polling readers next month to see what they're interested in.

For $50 you can get a basic screen printing kit and make your own shirts. If you sell your shirts for as much as you would on Cafe Press, the kit would pay for itself in 5-10 shirts. A single screen will print hundreds of shirts.

I'm getting a pretty good deal at the local print shop on campus for comics. I can print digest sized comics (half a letter sized page) for $1.08 each. At $1 profit each, I can pay off the print run by selling half the comics.

You don't get rich, but then you never intended to.

Screen printing yourself is an awesome idea. The chemicals involved can be a little bit of a pain (multi-stage photochemical for realistic prints, and two-part painting for a single color. =p)

What you do get from it is a new hobby, though. ;3
I currently have 2 shirts I screen-printed myself, and I love them to death. It's not that hard to startup, and once you get the hang of it, multicolor printing is a snap. (alignment is a pain, though =p)

The screens are generally just wood frames with a thin fabric screen on them that you paint on, so if you get pre-assembled frames (hinges already attached) you can leave your stuff attached to the base and just swap screens, foregoing the re-alignment process. =p

It can be a little time-consuming, but in the end, it's your work and sweat that goes into it, and your shirt that comes out of it. Really satisfying to get a shirt out of a press that you personally created. ^.^

For beginners, I suggest using the 2 chemical paint-on process* and sticking with one color. (doing multi-color paint-on can be frustrating)

The biggest cost in the end will probably be your inks, since you want a good quality ink that won't crack, yellow, or fade prematurely. Just remember to read the instructions!!!

*Red and blue chemicals, the ones you paint your image and let dry, apply your mask, then wash the image chemical out to form a negative. ^.^

---Churusaa

That's essentially the way I'm doing it, except I'm using sticker paper instead of the blue, drawing fluid. (I'd never opened it so I never realized it was blue!) Painting over the sticker paper lets you make really sharp edges compared to just painting.

Trivia: you can buy the materials to make a screen from Walmart and a lumber yard. 8' White pine 1x2"s cost about $1 each. The screen is a monofilament cloth you can buy for $6 a yard. A framing saw, miter box, staple gun, staples and some wood glue will make you a frame. You can buy regular hinges (not the cool, screen printing hinges that let you change out the frames) for like $1 a pair. A little time and finger power is required to stretch the screen tight enough that it doesn't bunch up. Basically, I can make a frame for less than half the price of buying one.

the only thing I don't like about screenprinting is the registration issue and the fact that emulsion doesn't come out of clothes >_> or shoes >_> or off doors....ame thing with the ink...spilling sucks, spilling on you sucks most

Cafepress and spreadshirt use a highquality iron on proccess (just fancy heat transfer is all) Screen printing is nicer, lasts longer, and is so much more fun when you do it yourself.

also michaels sells a kit for like $30 I think faub complete with one screen

also dick blick sells supplies for it too

hmm... The one I got was $50. Guess I got ripped off.

Since I'm a college student who does not have a garage and moves from place to place often, I think that silk-screening is probably not an option. Besides, it sounds messy.

Cafepress: Okay (I personallyhave never had a problem, my CP shirts fare better thru time than more expensive, offline shirts) quality, NO initial investment, no risk to you, you retain rights to the images and can sell 'em elsewhere. More expensive than other places.

But for almost no effort, you can't beat it.

Stay away from the Black shirts for a while until they perfect their printing methods.

D.J. Coffman has a good article about getting shirts printed here:

Shirts made $imple

-Chris

faub wrote:hmm... The one I got was $50. Guess I got ripped off.

but michaels always has the 40% off coupon in it's paper