Typophile - Selling Through a Foundry: Pros and Cons, Preparation - Comments

hrant — Wed, 9 Feb 2005 11:50:40 -0800

But also note that quality isn't the only way to sell fonts...
Some of the most popular faces in use are in fact of quite poor quality.

hhp

dan_reynolds — Wed, 9 Feb 2005 11:32:17 -0800

>How does one determine whether a face is of high enough quality to be commerically viable

Just show it to anyone within the commercial system, or better yet send it to a foundry and wait for an answer! Some foundries will talk with you and give you an objective evaluation, if you ask for one. Some don't have time, or interest, in doing such things.

Showing the face around at a design conference can also help give you an idea of where your work lies, but not everyone will be [brutally] honest with you

grod — Wed, 9 Feb 2005 11:17:54 -0800

How does one determine whether a face is of high enough quality to be commerically viable or if it is either in need of revision or simply not sale worthy? Additionally, if a face falls into that last category, does one release it for free or hide it away in shame?

piccic — Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:34:10 -0700

Besides, it would not make sense to sell on your own your new Armenian typeface: you should team up with Hrant!

piccic — Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:31:44 -0700

I suspect most of the answer Sean seeked lies in what's motivating you at present time.
Considered I'm starting to learn right now how to design decent text faces, I'll give my anwers for the Ottomat release with Emigre (1994-96), but I'm not sure they can be of much value.

A) Printed copy (but we were in 1994). (With Thirstype I always used PDFs)
B) Just letters and numerals (but we were in 1994).
C) When I finished it the family was complete except bitmaps and hinting (I'm not into hinting).
D) For Ottomat, a good redesign of the "Bold" weigth and a lot of corrections.
E) Emigre

In the end, I like the idea of doing both things (even if my few releases are with foundries). With tools like PayPal or sites with MyFonts, you can do different attempts as well.
Right now I'm discussing this with chester.
I like the idea of finding ways to sell very "sectorial" faces as well as mainstream-aimed more usable ones.

Being part of a small type community like Thirsype is different than releasing with big foundries with little or no exposure (ITC, Agfa). Maybe this is one of the most important factors to consider.

union — Mon, 9 Aug 2004 14:36:34 -0700

Hi

In 2002 I decided to set up a website to sell my type, the result was unionfonts.com. I decided to invite others to join the site, so that my site was more then just a couple of faces. We now sell for 25 designers... but the catch is I am not one of them!

Setting up and running a foundry takes serious time and energy, and with so many hours going in to marketing the site and site maintance I have less time for making my fonts, which was the whole point of the site in the first place.

I think that it is important to realise the amount of hard work that goes in to building a type site and a customer base. You need to ask yourself if you want to spend your time designing type, or spliting your time between designing and marketing your type?

My first typeface will hopefully make it on to Union in the next couple of months. Finally!

Jim

pablohoney77 — Fri, 6 Aug 2004 12:46:03 -0700

how bout royalties? what is a fair percentage to get back from the foundry? i know that probably depends on several factors such as marketing, etc. what does one need to keep in mind when deciding what a fair percentage is. I noticed that MyFonts takes 35% commission, and all i know of their marketing is that they have a couple newsletters?? Another foundry I contacted has a 30% commission if you sell exclusively with them and 40% if you sell elsewhere. Here again all of the marketing is by means of email newsletters. I tried figgering out FontFont's royalty rates and i just got confused, maybe i'm not understanding how it all works. Any help???

anonymous — Thu, 6 May 2004 20:50:06 -0700

what the pros and cons of sending elderly to the institution for care?

Stephen Coles — Sat, 8 Feb 2003 19:52:16 -0800

Yes, it does. So I'm renaming it to something more appropriate. Hope you don't mind.

sean — Sat, 8 Feb 2003 19:19:32 -0800

Wow. This thread just keeps getting better.

Thanks Tamye.

-smc

tamye — Sat, 8 Feb 2003 17:57:32 -0800

Regarding Stuart's success with Font Diner: he does well as a small foundry with extremely low overhead. He is quite fortunate, and his timing was good. Font Diner was one of the first foundries to make use of the web. Stuart's got some marketing savvy, and his fonts serve a niche market. His case is not typical. Keep in mind that some of Stuart's typefaces are licensed by larger foundries like ITC... he doesn't distribute everything only at the Diner.

There is no one perfect way to submit fonts, or to market them yourself. I've worked for foundries and reviewed more submissions than I care to remember. My preferred method is to first look at a well-executed PDF specimen. If the PDF looks intriguing, I then want to open up a generated font file or FOG file to check out construction, see how much work needs to be done, etc. Flash files, gifs, links web showings, etc., are a real pain to review. Printed samples always seemed a waste of a good tree - I prefer digital delivery.

The one thing a reputable foundry or distributor can do for you is put your typefaces in printed catalogs, and do large mailings. Many type buyers still expect to see the goods well-presented on paper. A new designer/foundry doesn't necessarily have the means to print costly catalogs, and most certainly don't have a large targeted mailing list of eager type buyers.

Another factor to consider is that some type buyers, especially from large agencies, corporations, design firms, etc., prefer to purchase from as few sources as possible, and often become very loyal to a source that gives them good pricing and customer service. Some companies only allow their designers buy from approved sources.

However, some foundries become so large, or their marketing efforts dry up, that it's easy for a typeface to become buried. At that point, there's no reason to have your face in their library.

If you can get your typeface accepted by a reputable foundry, and you find the contract terms acceptable, and they are willing to put the time into helping perfect your fonts technically, then it's a good way to start. Being with a foundry can help build your name recognition so that you can go it on your own further down the road.

If you don't like the contract, or your fonts aren't accepted anyplace you like, try starting with your own showcase site. Go ahead and distribute through a place like myfonts where there is substantial traffic, the percentage taken is low, and you're not contractually obligated. But you need to be prepared to work your butt off and do as much marketing as you possibly can within your budget, and to have a good ecommerce solution, and to offer responsive tech support to every customer.

Make sure your fonts are technically good, and the character sets are as complete as possible, you have a suitable number of weights/variants as applicable, etc. Typophile is obviously a good way to get some constructive criticism, and to find someone willing to help you in the technical aspects of font development. It's worth it to pay someone who has technical expertise if you can't do it yourself.

hrant — Sat, 8 Feb 2003 15:24:34 -0800

> I am wondering at this point if a flash file might work for submission.

No.
PDF, or snailmailed tree pulp.

hhp

andreas — Sat, 8 Feb 2003 14:04:15 -0800

Nice to see that most experienced designers distribute their design through their own channels. But the problem is how the customer find YOU - or ME?

Could it be possible to build an independent type portal site, so every independent designer can show his own stuff in a short way. The advantage for the customers is to find fontdesigns (he never would find) easy like on Fontshop and Co.. If he likes a typeface, he have to contact the designer directly or use web channels like myfonts to buy.

To reduce costs for such a site all the promotion examples should be hold on the designers webspace.
To guarantee an constant site design every designer has to build his one elements by the site guidelines.

This site should be exclusive for individual designers in person only. - Not for license resellers! -

Could this idea work?

sean — Sat, 8 Feb 2003 12:25:32 -0800

Thanks for your input everyone. This has turned out pretty well in my eyes.

I think I am going to present my design before I am finished with it on the advice that the foundry will likely make certain requests to, in their eyes, make it more marketable. What do you think of that?

I feel now, as I did before, that it seems productive to sell an early design to learn about contracts, dos and donts etc. Also, I feel that as a designer progresses they are only going to get better. So they really have little to lose and a lot to gain in the beginning. It seems a good way to learn the ropes.

I am wondering at this point if a flash file might work for submission. Would a simple bit of animation be too much? A simple fade is all I am really thinking of.

Also, as general question, should a presentation be formal? What sort of things do foundries like to see in a submission? What should one never do?

-smc

eolson — Sat, 8 Feb 2003 11:27:00 -0800

Just to clarify here.
I

Selling Through a Foundry: Pros and Cons, Preparation

sean — Wed, 5 Feb 2003 20:34:44 -0800

To those who have had your type design accepted by a foundry - please be kind and answer a few easy questions.

A) What format did you submit your design idea in? i.e. PDF, Printed copy, paste up, actual file etc.
B) How complete did you feel your design was at the time? Be specific.
C) How complete was it really?
D) What would you differently if you could submit it again?
E) Where was this design accepted?

Please feel free to elaborate on any of these that you would like. Bragging is totally ok and short answers are good too.

Thank you very much for your time.

smc