How to use this Page

Yesterday I went on a bit about my Cafe Press stuff. You'll forgive me, I hope. I was just excited to see how my alphabet art looked on products, and was thrilled that it actually looked pretty good. Because I've done some other art in the past that just doesn't work well on products (even though it might be wonderful as a children's book piece or whatever), and I'm getting a little smarter about "thinking product" when I do a design now.

So to continue with this theme, I checked out Zazzle. I've known about this site for a while but had never really investigated it before.

What I really really really like is that they have multiple options for some products, whereas Cafe Press only has one. For example, aprons:

Same thing with tote bags:




I've figured out I have a "thing" for tote bags. I don't know why, I just love them.
In addition to these two styles, they have others which are more colorful, as well as a beach bag, one with blue checks, etc. I just picked the ones that this design looked best on. But again, someone shopping can like your design then choose to have it applied to whichever bag they like.

And mugs!



Wowee, they have a lot of mug options. They have a whole bunch of different "inside" colors to choose from, as well as these cool travel mugs, some frosted ones, a pretty stein, etc. Really cool.

So I set up a little shop. BUT...

What I haven't figured out yet is how to rearrange the items. I don't think you can, actually. Which is not good. They just get put in there in whatever order you create them.

Also, I tried to make neckties, and it drove me crazy. Somehow I managed to do one the way I wanted to, but what it does is automatically "tile" your art over the whole entire tie. And its impossible to get it undone. Except that I managed it once, somehow, by clicking every button they have over and over until I made it do my bidding. So the tie thing is not so good.

But we like that it is FREE FREE FREE to set up a shop. So you can try it and not like it and have lost nothing. Cafe Press also has a FREE option, but there you may only put ONE image on one of each product, so its very limited. (You could have more than one image in the shop, but you can only list each product one time, so you have to pick and choose which item gets which image, if that makes sense.) You could always open more than one free shop, and some people do. Or you could upgrade to a paid shop and then the sky's the limit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another thing I want to talk about here is greeting cards. I know a lot of illustrators want to make greeting cards of their art and wonder about how and where to do it.
Both Zazzle and CafePress can do greeting cards. There's also Greeting Card Universe, and now Imagekind does cards as well.

Zazzle lets you put type on the back, so I put my © PaulaPertile and website address as well as the title of the art.
Zazzle also lets you choose a background color, whereas CafePress does not. For example, I uploaded the same art to both sites. Cafe Press automatically centers the art (which I don't like) but will allow you to adjust the size at least. But unless you "bleed" the art off the edges, it ends up just floating in the middle of the card.
Zazzle lets you adjust the art up or down a bit more, and also lets you pick a background color. So for these letters I chose black (I know... who sends a black greeting card? well, I would) and I like the way it looks. If I had wanted a black background (or other color) in Cafe Press I would have had to make a new art file in Photoshop, figure out what size to make it so that when it was shrunk down and centered it would fit the card proportion exactly. A lot of bother.

Here's what I mean:
My greeting card on Zazzle.


I've made it customizable, so people can add a greeting inside if they like. But that also means they can redesign the whole bloody thing, including taking off the © on the back. So I guess I'd better go back in a make it "fixed". Don't you think?
But I do like the black background. But I don't like that they put the Zazzle logo on the back.

Now on Cafe Press, here's the same card idea. (Actually its the notecard.)
I centered the art and left the background white because it was too hard to do a new art file and make it black. There's no place to put your name or anything. But the good thing is I don't think they put anything on the backside, although since I've never ordered cards from them I can't say for sure.

On Greeting Card Universe I've made a card, but am waiting "approval". That's the thing there...your card isn't instantly available. Someone behind the scenes has to decide its "OK" before it will show up on the site. Also, you have to upload your card art in a 5 x 7 inch format, exactly how you want it to be. So here's what I made, just for fun:



They let you put your name on the front, and let you choose different fonts and colors. I don't like that much, but its what they offer. They let you put a greeting on the inside too.
On the back they put the Greeting Card Universe logo. I've ordered cards from here that I've made, and I'm very happy with the quality.
And GCU is FREE as well, which is nice.

Then there's Imagekind.



This is a screen shot of the "create a card" interface. You choose an image in your gallery, then select the "make a greeting card" option from the pull-down menu. It lets you resize your image and crop it some. You can move it around, which is nice. I used this little Round Man image because he was already uploaded there.

The nice thing here is that they let you choose which kind of paper it prints on.
They also print a thumbnail of the image on the back of the card. And you can pick white or black for the "back of card" color.
You can also order boxed sets. (Cafe Press has a boxed set option too...not sure about Zazzle, GCU doesn't I'm pretty sure.)
Imagekind lets you do one gallery of images for free. They have a couple of paying options if you want to do more.


I imagine there are other places to do cards. These are the ones I know about, and now you know how much (or little!) I know about them. If anyone has more experience and would like to share, please do!!!!! We're all trying to figure this same issue out, so we might as well share info, don't you think?

I do think Cafe Press and Zazzle are good for making mock ups of test products if you're thinking of licensing things, or to make gifts, or self-promotional things. Its also nice when people just BUY something and you make some money!! I think the success with these places depends a LOT on what your images are. I know I've done pretty well with making some things and selling them on ebay at Christmas time (which is another whole post, for another day.)

If you're interested in doing this yourself, I encourage you to check out each place and give it a try. It does take a fair amount of time though to upload art, then figure out a description, then repeat that over and over and over again as you make your products.

One thing I've realized that I now have to do is make my prices match for similar products in the differerent sites. Some let you do a 'percentage' mark up, some let you decide a specific price, some are fixed. That's another whole headache to work out. This is where it would be nice to have an assistant! Someone to do this "grunt work" while you're off in the other room making new art.


So once again, here are the sites, if you want to have a visit:
Cafe Press
Zazzle
Greeting Card Universe
Imagekind
One more (important) thing: Make sure you read and understand each site's copyright and image-sharing policy and make sure you're OK with it before you upload anything. Some are a little bit "sketchy" in the "we may share your images" department. Like GCU is just slightly, maybe, loose with it, depending on how you interpret their terms, or how fussy you are about the issue. I have to go back and read Zazzle again. In the heat of the "ooooh, look at the cute tote bags!" moment I may have glazed over the nitty gritty. I'm just saying...be sure you know where you're putting your art before you "put" it.

Have fun!

Images are © Paula Pertile and may not be used or copied without permission.

Display Comments Add a Comment

The 1970’s marked the coming of age for Australian children’s literature, says YA writer Susanne Gervay. “There was a new breed of children’s authors and illustrators reflecting a confidence in an Australian identity and its landscape in all its diversity.” Contributing to the subsequent explosion of “best selling wickedly irreverent kids’ books” was the writers’ use of quirky Australian humor.

Among the writers of those “innovative, brazenly Australian” early books for children, Gervay cites Di Bates, a prolific writer who is still a bundle of energy. Bates produces a fortnightly online newsletter, Buzz Words, with industry news for writers, editors, illustrators and librarians. Subscribers also receive Books Buzz, a monthly compendium of reviews of new books by Australian children’s writers. Alliteration-loving Bates’ latest books are Big Bad Bruce and The Hold-Up Heroes.

Gervay’s own recent innovations in children’s literature are cross-media and inter-generational collaborations. After publishing frank and open YA books treating disability (Butterflies) and bullying (I Am Jack), her most recent book, That’s Why I Wrote This Song, was inspired by her rock musician daughter Tory’s lyrics and tune. Tory and Susanne now do speaking gigs together, and Susanne’s website features links to MySpace and YouTube. Her expertise on Cutting Edge YA Literature was featured in the July PaperTigers update. And here’s Aline’s recent blog post, with more details on Gervay’s cross-media innovations.

Display Comments Add a Comment