Blumineck
patreon
A Question about Merch
🕑 Added 2024-01-24 09:46:46 +0000 UTCTL;DR: would you buy a cute plushy of my archer persona?
As my social media presence has grown, the topic of merch has come up a few times, but I’ve generally dismissed it because (and this may just be imposter syndrome talking) it often feels like it would be kind of… self-centred? Self-aggrandising? Something like that, anyway.
Aaanyway, fast forward to this week, and I’ve been contacted by a company that make themed plushies of all things, asking if I’d like to collaborate. Which feels like an incredibly weird thing to do/promote, but they’ve also mocked up a design concept, and it’s pretty cute:
So now I’m torn, because I think it would be a funny thing to exist and have hanging from a light in my house, but if they make them then I’d have to promote them and sell a few to recoup their costs.
So the question to you, I guess is: is it too weird? Would any of you want something like this? Or am I just getting carried away because someone put slightly more effort than normal into a change collab request?
Ground me or enable me: your choice!
Comments
Yes I would definitely buy one.
David Balcer-Whittle
Thanks for the advice! I think I’m a little too uncertain to commit to these at the moment, as cute as they are
TLDR: Yes would buy multiples. Just make sure you can personally approve of it before it's put into wider production, like have them send you a finished version of it before committing fully. If your gut instinct tells you no, look into some smaller things like stickers with artwork/pictures and quotes. Imposter Syndrome is a rough experience, but there's no denying people enjoy your content. It's pretty normal for content creators to fall victim to the little voice we all have in our heads that say "This is all a fluke and you're not worth this fuss people make", but you are dude. You make people smile and laugh, which right now for a lot of people across the whole world is a desperately needed thing. I literally never touched patreon before making an account to support you so yeah, I'd certainly buy an adorable archer plush for our DnD shelf and probably as gifts for several friends and family. I just echo the concerns shared by some of the others here; dig a bit into the company that is offering the collaboration and ensure you are receiving a good deal for a good product. See if other creators have had positive experiences and if you can get your mitts on some pictures of previous projects they finished to assess the quality. I'd also advise going over the contract to see if there is any sort of forced narrative promotion such as clauses that bar you from saying anything but praise, my sisters channel has run into that a few times and it's a bit dodgy. I'm sure if you were able to provide the manufacturers name, those of us with time on our hands would probably be happy to dig around and see what their production and business relationships have looked like. Same with coming up with important questions to ask. Such as what materials each part of the plush would be made of and if you'd get to approve it by receiving a first draft item before they go into any kind of production line. What happens if they don't sell enough to recoup production costs and if you are personally responsible for the gap etc. I've also known several people to sort of crowdfund prior to ordering plushies of their characters and setting a minimum threshold of pre-orders before giving the greenlight for production so perhaps ask about that as well. Again echoing others, stickers and smaller trinkets are a cheaper production and much easier to store. Nothing wrong with starting small to dip your toe in the water as it were.
