There is a lot of bookplate competition out here these days -- when I first started back at the turn of the century (!!!!) there were only a couple of other bookplate sellers on line -- now there appear to be hundreds.
When I tried to purchase Antioch Bookplate, the President told me you can't make a living selling bookplates, so he was bundling it with the rest of the company (bookmarks, journals, other paper products). My answer was, I don't have to make a big living -- and I don't have to answer to a board of directors where I make a huge profit. AND I do have other things I design and sell.
But.. off went Antioch Bookplate Company, leaving me in the dust. I have a nice stock of inventory yet, so I'm not terribly worried. And some of my own designs which sell well.
And I recently changed the packaging -- I'd been looking for a long time for something to replace the plastic packaging Antioch used. I tried colored envelopes but they always looked like.. colored envelopes.
Christmas 2009 I started using plain brown wrappers with the bookplate on top, then added a twine to close it. Recycled, recyclable. This is all hand done, mind you. Heaven help me if Oprah ever features me (I think I'm safe).
What lies ahead is exciting -- more of what I'd love to hear from customers -- what designs are missing, what would you like?
No comments:
Post a Comment