Publishing licensing contract

Richard Monro · 02-12-2005, 08:23 PM

Michelle, the company I signed up with has national distribution. My contract is less than one year old. Since it takes approximately 6 months to get the sales catalogs made and shipped to the sales force, I was told to not to expect any results until after the first year. I was exhibited at the Las Vegas Art Show last year by the publisher (along with about 20 other artists). More interest was generated for my expressionistic figurative paintings and my florals than for my realistic figurative art. However, no sales yet. I have 2 years left to run on the contract with options to renew. Something should start to happen this year...I hope.

Lisa Brazell Cook · 02-12-2005, 10:53 PM

Yes, I am excited about this opportunity. I just sent them a CD portfolio (I have a thread about it somewhere) with a few prints, cover letter, artist statement, etc. I sent out 5 and four have responded favorably. I struggled at first with what size company to go with (small--more attention vs. Large--more buying power). But it has really seemed to come down to personality. (All the deals were about the same.)

I will be attending as a visitor, but the publisher I am actively negotiating with said that he would like to present some of my work there and maybe I could meet with some buyers. They are interested in mostly landscapes and florals like Richard said. I hope it doesn't take too long to get some sales.

My best friend and I are leaving our small southern town and combined 5 children to enjoy 4 days in Manhatten. We are staying at the Waldorf Astoria, near all the sights and shopping so I am not sure how much time we will actually spend at the expo.

Luckily, my husband is an attorney and did a we did a little research, but haven't had any problems with the contract.

I just sent the publisher a handful of originals which should arrive on Monday. I am eager to hear what they think of the real thing.

I will keep you posted.

Lisa

Linda Nelson · 02-13-2005, 01:38 AM

Lisa -

I would be greatly indebted to you to tell me about the show in March. I have my first meeting next week with an Artist's Publisher, and am very intrigued by the whole world of fine art as it is unveiling itself. I have some gallery friends going there, but would love to get the viewpoint of a fellow SOG member.

Thanks.

P.S. If I can be of help wth the little I've learned so far:

The artist's publisher I am meeting with comes with high recomendations. I have been told to beware, there are certainly a share of publishers/galleries who can really take advantage of you. So get some feedback on the various reputations from someone you'd trust.

Lisa Brazell Cook · 02-13-2005, 10:17 AM

I will be glad to share; I will tell you that all of the contracts that I received have a confidentiality clause, but since we are talking in such general terms, I don't think that there will be a problem.

This may be more information than you asked for, but I have been self- publishing for about a year and have done a lot of research, and learned alot during that time, but have a lot to learn. One of the biggest trends is the death of the limited editions market. Thanks to events in the 90's when folks were convinced to pay a lot of money for these as an investment then artists/publishers printing the same images as cheaper posters as well as the total flooding of the market, people have realized that there really is no "secondary market" for most prints. SO... that bubble has burst. Now, I believe that publishers are focusing more on the open editions, posters and LICENSING. There are those that have a problem with this "art for the masses" approach and wouldn't be caught dead having one of there images for sale at a bin in "Bed, Bath and Beyond". I am not one of those people. I like decorative art and can't afford much else myself.

I am going to try to attach my marketing pyramid (courtesy of Decor) so that you can see how I have tried to touch each consumer level without devaluing my work.

I can go on and on for hours. Feel free to e-mail me if you like.
Thank you again for the help and continued interest.

Michele Rushworth · 02-13-2005, 11:34 AM

Quote:

I am going to try to attach my marketing pyramid (courtesy of Decor) so that you can see how I have tried to touch each consumer level without devaluing my work.

This sounds very interesting, Lisa. Can you tell us more about what this is?

Linda Nelson · 02-13-2005, 03:55 PM

Sounds like you are well advanced down an opinion that I am coming to the same conclusion. I have been looking at self publishing and doing market research on the various retail places, so if you wanted to talk for hours I would listen to every second.

my email is : [email protected], and phone number is on my website www.heirloomportraits.net. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I won't comment on the kinkaid/redland artwork, but really admire their marketing prowess. It's nice to see the artist profit.

Great website and great work by the way. One thing I am embarking on is executing paintings in series, as you have. I have been told by galleries that that is beneficial, and clients often will by multiple prints within series. At this stage, I have conceived of a "program" of 12 different types of series. I have set these up on paper in a matrix. The plan is to paint paintings that fulfill two types of series (i.e. "children" and "music") - my thinking behind this is to be able to touch on as many submarkets with the smallest amount of paintings possible (hey, I only have so much time in each day). Thinking way ahead each series will have enough content to be a create a calendar or stationary series.

P.S. In my learning journey so far, I understand another 'outlet" you could channel your artwork could be to the cross stitch market (patterns for cross stitch) Don't know if you object to that on an artistic level, but just thought I'd throw it out there...