Wise Turtle Publishing

So what does everybody about doing OVA merchandise through CafePress? There's no startup costs other than time, and I think it'd be pretty nifty to have OVA shirts and such.

Check it out http://www.cafepress.com/

(Clay's already doing better than one game company that had a shop on CafePress. They were selling shirts before they had anything out, and folded before putting out any books. Hmm. Wonder if they sold any shirts?)

I've actually considered this several times, but previous experience has led me to feel there's no market for t-shirts and collectables for small projects like comics and RPGs.

But, if I'm wrong, reply to this message! Would you buy OVA branded goods? What images from the book would you like to display on your back or morning cup of coffee?

If there's enough of a response, then I'll be sure to do something about it.

The OVA cover and logo both might be good. You could put the cover on the front of the shirt, and the web address on the back. And since Miho seems to have caught on as everybody's favorite character, maybe we could put her on a shirt too. Possibly a "rogue's gallery" of the sample characters from the book under the logo.

Just the logo with the web address underneath might be good for a mug. Or selected character shots beside the logo. (Again, Miho suggests herself.)

The reason I'm bringing up the logo so much is that OVA right now is a virtually unknown game, and shirts are good advertising.

Count me as the "Depends on the merchandise offered" guy. I'm not as much interested in t-shirts (got way too many of them anyway) as I would be in prints of the artwork. However, that would probably be more up to the artists themselves than Wise Turtle.

That's actually a good idea! I'd probably just let the artists make their own stores and combine it with an HTML storefront. That way they get the money from the proceeds. Maybe I could make them sign up their stores with a referalto me or some such. ^^

Joke T-shirts might be a good idea. There's probably a lot of good RPG Jokes you could make.

This is just a test, I hope to add artist prints and more items in the future, as well as a proper custom storefront:

http://www.cafepress.com/ova/

Just wanted to gauge reaction to the quality and type of products offered. ^^

Let me know what you think!

Looks nice

Looks really good, Clay! I'm gonna order me one of the shirts with the cover on it as soon as I can afford it.

Cool! Well, let me know before you do. I may revise it some. Graphic looks a bit small on the shirt because of Cafepress's 10 inch height max limit.

Also don't have the URL anywhere...think it'd be tacky or stupid on the back?

Not too bad a selection there. I'm still curious as to how a possible art print store will turn out and which illos would be offered, though.

Clay wrote:Also don't have the URL anywhere...think it'd be tacky or stupid on the back?

No, I don't think it'd look stupid. Maybe put "Wise Turtle Publishing" on the back, with the URL on the back. Have to make it pretty big, though. That way you get some of the "Wise Turtle Publishing? Who's that?" factor.

As far as tacky goes... Have you seen some of the shirts other game companies have put out?

I plan on buying a few of the notebooks. Maybe to write some of my campaign information in.

Cool. ^_^ I've been eyeing those and a tote bag myself...

I really ought to finish this thing up and make it public...but bigger things beckon I guess. *returns to OVA Mecha and Fantasy with a grumble*