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Okay, so someone has offered to assist in this process, so I need to gauge the level of interest.
Who here, if anyone, is interested in merchandise from The Pub? More specifically, what kinds of things would you want? (mug, T-shirt, backpack, hoodie, stickers, posters, mouse pads, etc...), and what would you want on that merchandise? Two possibilities that immediately come to mind are the recent new Woodward Academy logo, and my own personal logo (see my avatar to the left.)
I can, of course, do other graphics. These are just what's currently complete. Other things might take time to produce, depending on what they are. They wouldn't necessarily have to be related to Woodward Academy, either. Could be a Mystic Wolf Pub shirt, or a CAMP coffee mug, etc.
Just... let me know what you'd like, if anything.
Be aware that prices are going to be more expensive than buying a mass-produced mug from Walmart or Amazon.
Eric Storm
PS: Be aware this is separate from the somewhat stalled concept of hardcover versions of the Woodward books.
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I think I mentioned over a year ago I would be interested in this. Not sure if I had said it or I dreamed I said it. I think a Rihmor t-shirt would be awesome. Would have to a tiny bit of editing to remove that goofy text at the bottom but it would still be pretty cool, Or even a hoodie since my winter's are outrageously cold here.
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I would have to redesign this from the ground up, actually. I don't own the symbol that is used for the Rimohrs. While I have no problem using it as a freebie image here on the site, to do something that would make me money would be... well, potential legal trouble, which I'd like to avoid.
Having said that, you've seen what I did with the firebird. Making something similar to the current Rimohr logo wouldn't be too tough to do. Just take a bit of time.
Eric Storm
PS: What's wrong with my tagline, dammit??!!
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Well, if it was gained from a free program, or even a paid program. It has no copy writes on it.
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NOT true. EVERYTHING is copyrighted. The question is what rights were granted with its distribution. The rules on that can be quite tricky. And most image-based licenses have a stipulation about not being used in a product in such a way that the original image could be "reverse-engineered". The Rimohr logo, being a blatant display of that image, the original image could easily be pulled out of what I created, thus violating the license agreement (if that's what it states, and I have no idea what it would have stated.)
Eric Storm
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I'd be interested providing it didn't slow down your writing too much, honestly if I had to pick between buying your books or your merchandise I'd pick books every time
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To answer the first concern, I'll just point out that, during the three days it took me to create the new Woodward Academy logo, I wrote over 5,000 words. The two endeavors are not mutually exclusive, and they require completely different kinds of creativity.
As to books versus merchandise, depending on what, exactly, is on the merchandise, it is far, far easier to produce than a hardcopy book is. Hardcopy books require the entire story to be re-edited and retooled for the purposes of printing. For books that are hundreds of pages long, that takes a long time to get right. A graphic, depending on what it is, takes just a few days to weeks.
The two approaches, however, are not mutually exclusive, either. It's not an either/or, it's a "do you want this now, or do you only want the books?"
Eric Storm
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To be honest, physical books aren't that big a deal for me and I probably wouldn't buy them. I already assemble the stories into digital books so I can read them on my kindle paper white, and dropping in your new logo onto the covers of my kindle books probably isn't going to be a big deal for me either.
As to other merchandise, the only thing I'd probably consider buying is Woodward Academy merchandise. Ball cap or a glass/plastic cup or travel mug. I'm not really into coffee, so I'd probably skip plain old coffee mugs... I know, I'm in the minority on coffee. Although I like your other stories Eric, advertising to the public stories that involve preteen sexual situations isn't something I'd be comfortable doing. It's not the sex nor is it the teens, just the preteen sex that I wouldn't want to share publicly. So, I'd skip most of the merchandise except for Woodward Academy stuff.
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copyright law is very complicated lately when it comes to just about anything. and everything is copyright the moment you commit it to a medium, regardless of notice on it, unless you explicitly grant rights.
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I'd like to point out that I only have two stories with PRE-teen sex in them. Both are in the CAMP universe. All of my other stories have characters at least 13 years old... in fact, probably at least 14 years old. Most of my characters are in high school or older.
Just sayin'...
Eric Storm
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I draw a distinction between written non-consensual and real world non-consensual. There are people who cannot possibly give informed consent. None-the-less, fiction is fiction. We draw a distinction about having fantasies about killing some guy that pissed us off, but actually doing so is unquestionably not acceptable. Fantasy is not reality until some jerk is stupid enough to try carrying it out when they should know better. Did you know it was wrong when you did it is one of the common issues we address for insanity pleas. Establish they knew it was wrong and they have no legit defense. It is hard to establish you didn't know though. Good thing too.
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I'm... not sure the relevance of your post. We weren't discussing consent, we were discussing age. And while there is a group of idiots out there who regard certain ages as preventing the possibility of consent, the logic behind their position is fallacious at best, intentionally misleading at worst.
And none of it relates to whether you want any merchandise of any kind.
Eric Storm
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Oh. sorry. I thought this was a different topic.
Feel free to delete it.
I am tight with $$ lately. As is almost everyone. So I'd hope you would profit from selling such items but I would not be purchasing any.
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As far as any copy right issues are concerned, 9/10 companies will issue a C/D letter before any legal issue. Mostly because I highly doubt Eric will be making 10’s of thousands of dollars a month off the merchandise. Basically they say stop with a legit right to the image or whatever, and it’s stopped. 1/10 wont give a rats ass unless they are trying to copy you and fake it out on the market as the original marketer.
As for the issue with advertising teen or preteen sex, you aren’t. You are advertising a logo of a company from a store you visited online. What it’s from or what it represents means nothing to you. Or at least that’s what you would tell people that ask. The image was simply cool. 7/10 people won’t look into the product themselves unless they intend to buy it. 2/10 won’t actually read any of the stories. And 1/10 are a gamble.
Personally, unless the graphic itself is sexual, I am sure advertising it wouldn’t be a big deal. Plus I am sure Eric is smart enough not to connect the store with his website specifically for that reason. It could be viewed from an outsider that someone took the graphics and put them on merchandise to make a profit from someone else’s work.
Just sayin’.
Last edited by Elessar (2019-07-14 03:20:48)
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There's a substantive difference between what is legal, and what is ethical.
Eric Storm
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To stay on topic, I think it would be worth the risk to have product. If someone claims copyright, then apologize and remove that product. Ethically, well that is another story.
Eric Storm wrote:
There's a substantive difference between what is legal, and what is ethical.
Eric Storm
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I like the new Woodard logo but it's a bit colorful for something I'd want to wear. (I tend to dress pretty nuetral) it'd be a cool poster though. I do like the new wolfpub logo and your ES logo, if wear those plus maybe you could do something for Woodward in a similar style.
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I doubt that a black-and-white version of that logo would really look very good. But, as I said, clothing is not the only option. Stickers, posters, mugs, other things, are all options.
Eric Storm
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Okay, so update on the whole Rimohr logo issue: I went back and found the place I got the artwork from. The license stipulates it can be used for commercial or non-commercial art, which means I should be able to use it as the logo.
Still had to mess with it, though. It wasn't high enough resolution to be used on some larger items, so I had to convert it to a vector path, which can be resized at will without a loss of quality.
Eric Storm
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I wasn't suggesting making the current woodward logo to a black and white version, I was more thinking that if you felt like it was worth it you could design a simplified, different version of the logo in that type of line work style.
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I think the best I could do in that regard would be to take the center shield by itself. Since those are single-color graphics anyway, it would be easy to line-art it. The firebird simply requires too much in the way of detail.
Eric Storm
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