2822: Credit in the Straight World
I have a lot of weekend commentary to go, but it's all I can do to trudge through it all in person, much less as an online report. After playing with and failing to reduce the filesizes of the videos I took, I sorted and mailed out DVDs [too much data for CDs] of the wedding to the newlyweds and to the bride's parents--don't know the groom's, or I would've sent them a copy, too. I guess I could send one to my folks, but I kinda want to send something else with it, and I don't know what... that itself shouldn't stop me, though, and I should just send the disc and be done with it, rather than--oh--wait for my mother's birthday [the 1st].
I feel like I could do so much, but I'm limited by this sense of priority--I should be making money but am not due to circumstances beyond my control [if only I were a certified scanner technician, also...! =p RIGHT], so I feel compelled to put my attention into moneymakers first. Seems like that would be DJP stuff, but ashuraou gets first pick [as it's his first job, rather than second], and ...well, I don't think I'm at liberty to say what I was going to put here, though, if any of y'all see an Operation Darkness strategy guide in your local game stores, pick one up, peas? ::^^:: [1]
So, back to ePay. Trouble is, I'm down to stock that apparently nobody wants =/ I've slashed the prices on my Half stock, too, but there's only so far I can slash before it's unprofitable [$.75 + $3.00 shipping allowance for a book that's $7.50 to ship = might as well recycle the thing!].
There's also the sampler I really ought to have tweaked and put on the market by now, but I also think, "Well, if I just get off my ass, I can finish the WHOLE book, which would be cheaper overall vs. a kind of slapdash comic-size artbook that's going to be $6.50-ish at its barebones cost--and who really wants to pay more than like $4 for even an oversize one?" [Chime in if you like--I know I myself have purchased $10 doujin, but because I recognize what goes into it.]
This is the allure of [and difficulty in] getting a contract with a major publisher, vs. this sort of vanity press stuff. I look at all of these mainstream comics I'm trying to offload, printed at a cost where $2.95 MSRP was a profit, and it's sort of discouraging, even considering that doujin--by its nature--has to be either lower-quality [stapled photocopies] or higher-cost [Lulu]. Are consumers going to take this into account when thinking of buying my stuff? I don't mean to sound... mean about it,* but if people are so miserly as to be put off by even a $2.95 shelf price, it seems defeating to make one that's $6.50+, especially if I'm not going to attend conventions and pimp my goods like all the other, better 同人店.
*one of those "pretty ways to say ugly things" again
Out of fairness, though, this isn't the economy to be blowing lots of money on unnecessary things, nor do people want to hang onto certain kinds of things forever [or Chars and I wouldn't be selling the stuff I'm listing]. Also, I had to add this obnoxious border to the sampler to make it comic-size, vs. the book size I designed it to be, and I don't really like it that much, nor do I feel like sitting there and revising thirty-two pages to make it comic size without the border. UNGH, setbacks XB We'll see what the week holds, though.
[1] Edit: Saying this, it seems the next guide is ready for work =D いいタイミングですね？
I feel like I could do so much, but I'm limited by this sense of priority--I should be making money but am not due to circumstances beyond my control [if only I were a certified scanner technician, also...! =p RIGHT], so I feel compelled to put my attention into moneymakers first. Seems like that would be DJP stuff, but ashuraou gets first pick [as it's his first job, rather than second], and ...well, I don't think I'm at liberty to say what I was going to put here, though, if any of y'all see an Operation Darkness strategy guide in your local game stores, pick one up, peas? ::^^:: [1]
So, back to ePay. Trouble is, I'm down to stock that apparently nobody wants =/ I've slashed the prices on my Half stock, too, but there's only so far I can slash before it's unprofitable [$.75 + $3.00 shipping allowance for a book that's $7.50 to ship = might as well recycle the thing!].
There's also the sampler I really ought to have tweaked and put on the market by now, but I also think, "Well, if I just get off my ass, I can finish the WHOLE book, which would be cheaper overall vs. a kind of slapdash comic-size artbook that's going to be $6.50-ish at its barebones cost--and who really wants to pay more than like $4 for even an oversize one?" [Chime in if you like--I know I myself have purchased $10 doujin, but because I recognize what goes into it.]
This is the allure of [and difficulty in] getting a contract with a major publisher, vs. this sort of vanity press stuff. I look at all of these mainstream comics I'm trying to offload, printed at a cost where $2.95 MSRP was a profit, and it's sort of discouraging, even considering that doujin--by its nature--has to be either lower-quality [stapled photocopies] or higher-cost [Lulu]. Are consumers going to take this into account when thinking of buying my stuff? I don't mean to sound... mean about it,* but if people are so miserly as to be put off by even a $2.95 shelf price, it seems defeating to make one that's $6.50+, especially if I'm not going to attend conventions and pimp my goods like all the other, better 同人店.
*one of those "pretty ways to say ugly things" again
Out of fairness, though, this isn't the economy to be blowing lots of money on unnecessary things, nor do people want to hang onto certain kinds of things forever [or Chars and I wouldn't be selling the stuff I'm listing]. Also, I had to add this obnoxious border to the sampler to make it comic-size, vs. the book size I designed it to be, and I don't really like it that much, nor do I feel like sitting there and revising thirty-two pages to make it comic size without the border. UNGH, setbacks XB We'll see what the week holds, though.
[1] Edit: Saying this, it seems the next guide is ready for work =D いいタイミングですね？