Saturday, September 1, 2012

The Long Tail - The Economics Of Art For Artists

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To survive and prosper as a writer, painter, musician, actor, filmmaker, or any other kind of artist, requires either of course Good Luck or a solid comprehension of intellectual asset economics. While hard work and determination can help you get the latter, of course Good Luck can only be bestowed by the gods.

The Long Tail - The Economics Of Art For Artists

So, to dive right in, artists make intellectual property. Sometimes its books or images, sometimes its screenplays or films, sometimes its radio shows or training manuals for other artists. The key thing is that artists "capture" information in a tangible, deliverable, sellable form. The asset artists create is just as real as the kind that real estate agents buy. Walt Disney built a magic kingdom from intellectual asset he commissioned and exploited for decades. The kingdom lives on long after Disney has moved on to greener pastures.

In the old days, artists had very small way to very large markets. A young Kipling or Jane Austen would deliver their article to a publisher, pray for acceptance, and if thorough would live off the revenues paid. Large publishers, studios and report fellowships used to enjoy many protections. It was high-priced to yield and ship product, and folks had small choice but to buy what they sold because they couldn't find whatever else. This meant an artist had to have the reserve of a 'big gun' to survive in most cases.

That world has turned upside down. Publishers, report Labels, Movie Studios and others are having a very hard time production a living because artists can and do go directly to the public. The "giants" who used to combine the work of thousands of artists are now facing millions of creative professionals who are flooding the shop with more article than they can effectively compete with.

For artists, then, the strategy of getting a report deal, a studio contract, or having your book purchased by a publisher may not work anymore. You may end up paying a stiff division of your sales (40%-90%) for folks who of course aren't very productive at selling much of your work. Their control over your work, and their inability to sell it, may succeed in you, the artist, having to go get a "real job" to pay the bills. Even if you are Stephen King, or "The Greatful Dead" you may have to give up the opinion of "being discovered".

Which brings us to the long tail.

If a writer takes three months to write and issue a book that sells 150 copies its first month for behalf per book, he earns 00. If next month he only sells 50 books, he gets an supplementary 0. That's 00 in two months. In just a few months he might get to the point where he sells just two books a month, generating a month. But if that book can do that year after year, the artist makes 0 per year from that intellectual property.

If a writer writes a second book after the first, and mirror's the "success" of the first, he'll end up with other 00, and other 0 per year. If he does four books a year, that's 00, and the following year other thousand. If he does the same thing next year, he'll earn 00 and 00 more. If he does it again the third year, he'll make 00, and 00 more. In five years he'll have something like 20 products, generating 00 in passive revenue. Actually, the wage is likely to be much better than that for the author. Because the flourishing originate of each book can and should be used to promote the other things he's written. Which means the per month for old books should be much more. Citizen who buy a book called "Cooking for Kids" are likely to buy "Cooking for Teens" some day.

This long "tail" of wage after the introductory issue of a goods is needful to the survival of all working artists ranging from writers and filmmakers to musicians and actors. That "tail" of wage is of course that which will let artists pay their bills year after year. The object of the game is not the "big break' but the ongoing wage stream.

There are exact tips and tricks to creating a "long tail" for your intellectual property.

Be prolific and make sure your products cross sell one another. Writers should get their books and scripts out the door as paying concerns as soon as possible. Musicians can yield records, songs, and even riffs licensed for use in films and on websites. Filmmakers can sell not only their films, but their stock footage. The key thing is to get your work into the shop and working for you as swiftly as possible. Too much time on any project, or waiting too long for an agent, publisher, or producer to "recognize your talent" can cost you your work as an artist. Have a website and an email address listed on all your products. Make it so every man who stumbles across you or your work can find you again in seconds.

Make sure your distribution and sales clarification is good at getting your products to people, and that it costs you small or nothing when products don't sell. Lulu.com, Createspace.com, Kunaki.com, Cafepress.com and a hundred other fellowships have no-cost solutions for getting your products to customers online. They also, currently, are of course good at giving you your money every singular month. That's a pretty prominent thing for an artist. We are often hurt by slow payment of royalties.

Think hard before you effort to get your products in Brick and Mortar stores. Book stores, poster shops, the local Dvd store or music shop has high costs and in order to sell your goods they'll have to pass some of those costs on to you. You will earn far less per item sold and getting your money could be a drag. Also, if they can't sell your work, they won't want to ship it back at their cost. If you of course want to get your stuff into a given shop, get a few thousand loyal customers and ask some of them to go to the shop to buy it. Ordinarily you can assume that if a store gets 200 requests for a given item, they'll find a way to buy it from you.

Do allow your article to be "licensed" by publishers, distributors, report labels, etc. Just be very wary of "exclusives" which preclude you from selling your own work, or of "net" deals where you get a division of what's left over after costs. Maybe nothing will be left over. 5% of Gross is often better than 15% of Net. If you do decree to do an "exclusive" distribution agreement, put in a clause that gives you the rights to your asset back after a set duration of time. Put in a clause that lets you terminate the compact if sales fall below a specified value. Make sure your website address and experience information appear on your product. Sometimes these kinds of clauses are hard to add, but realize that failing to add them may make your most "successful" goods your least profitable. Remember that many products have started out "author published" and been licensed by mainstream publishers, report labels, distributors. What Color Is Your Parachute is one example of a book that was author-published then went mainstream. When your goods is already profitable and had already found a solid buyer base, you are in a position to ask for some extra things in your contracts.

The key thing to remember, as an artist, is that you don't live and die by the one big sale. You have a career, like other professionals, and its the work you do over that work that matters. Its worth your time and effort to find your niche, assemble a collection of folks who like your work, and to commit to producing new article every day. In a sense, each work you create becomes a lottery marker with a guaranteed payoff. Some will pay big, some will pay little, but over all they'll insure you're the big winner.

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