Most of you know I’ve been selling on Etsy for quite some time. I actually have three shops on Etsy; Retro Divas, Tickled Pink, and Mark My Words. Each of these have a different type of product, mainly because I have craft ADHD and can’t stick to just one thing. I’ve been approached to sell wholesale, and to put things in brick-n-mortors on cosignment, but this time last year, I was aapproached by a company that wanted to represent me and my Mark My Words line, Penny Lane Publishing. Basically, they would have exclusive rights to my art, be able to sell prints to their customers (Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target, Hobby Lobby, to name a few) and to consumers through their website. They would also be able to license my art to companies who would want them for a purpose other than prints. You can imagine how thrilled I was!
I had always dreamed about licensing my art, admiring Kelly Rae Roberts and how successful she has been with her partnership with Demdaco (and now many others), but knowing Kelly Rae worked directly with the company licensing her work, it made me question if having an “agent” was the way I wanted to go, or if I should try to pursue licensing deals on my own. I knew it would be more work if I did it on my own, but that would also mean cutting out the middle man. After some deliberation, I decided to turn Penny Lane down.
Then the work began. I started reading about licensing, wrote letters to comapnies, sent a package of samples to Demdaco.. all of this in my off hours, on top of trying to stay on top of shipping orders out that I was getting from Etsy and keeping my consignments stocked. I quickly realized that I can’t do it all and do it all well. Maybe if I didn’t have a 8-5 job I could do it, but I could see that it was too much. I began to rethink Penny Lane’s offer and called a couple of the artists that have signed with Penny Lane. They were so helpful and encouraging, willing to answer any question I asked, and they didn’t have one bad thing to say about Penny Lane. In fact, they LOVED Penny Lane. They had also just signed David Bromstad of HGTV fame, so they must be legit, right? Knowing all this made me realize I’d made a mistake. Would Penny Lane still want me after turning them down?
I had originally told them that I wanted to pursue licensing on my own and they said they understood. This time, I told them how much I learned about licensing and how much work I found was involved . I told them if they were still interested in my art, that I’d love the opportunity to be one of their artists. They were very nice and quickly sent me the paperwork and in October of last year, I became an artist of Penny Lane Publishing!
Since signing, the first group of prints became available in late February and can be seen and bought on their website. I get reports (and checks!) for the prints I sell and have been really pleased with the quantity so far. Also, Penny Lane sent me 50 copies of each print, as written in the contract. I’ll be placing these in my shop on Etsy soon.
So, that brings us to today. After standing in the rain watching the Little League opening ceremony for an hour, I quickly find my Yankee Little Leaguer, Brandon, and we jump in the car out of the rain. I check my phone to see what messages I had and find I had an email message from Penny Lane. They have been contacted by a company called Crossroads who wants to license three of my designs to place on their candles!! Are you kidding me?! I immediately call Mom and she says she actually has Crossroads candles in her shop (The Cross-Eyed Cat in New Castle). Apparently they have two kinds of jar candles, one that just has a Crossroads label and one that has a picture on it. I snagged a picture from their website to show how the candle “may” look. I’m guessing at this point, of course.. BUT, you can see for yourself when Mom is able to order them and have them on her shelf at the Cross-Eyed Cat. Woohoo! My first licensing deal!
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