Planning is in full swing for
preseason buying for the wholesale gift shows and markets. I’m lucky to be
hooked up with a really great sales rep, Karen Sobolesky and Company.
Karen and her team are creative, sincere, professional and rep a bunch of
really cool lines. I’ve decided to build a wholesale line of my work and
reprint the Alaska Animal Alphabet book, print a new line of children’s art
prints, design and illustrate a new Alaska children’s activity book, offer new
releases of my Art Quilt Patterns along with a couple more of my creations for
the wholesale gift market. The souvenir gift market in Alaska is very strong
and with proper profit margin planning, creating for selling wholesale is a lot
of fun. With a good sales rep it’s also a lot less work for me than me trying to
regularly sell retail or only have my work on consignment at Galleries. I still need to put
together my wholesale order sheets for Karen and design some custom foil labels for
the art prints and books but I’ve had my hands full getting all of the creative
components designed and "sample ready" for her showroom. Several of my original designs I’ve decided
to scrap. Sometimes right after I finish an illustration or design I really
love the work but I've learned I need to have a “cooling off period” and try and look objectively
at the work when considering if it will be a good seller for the retail market. Even then, nothing is a sure thing. I’m reviewing the budget and timeline with my printer in Hong Kong for the reprinting of the hard
bound Alaska ABC book. The over sea printing costs make it much more cost effective for
me to be able to wholesale a professional, hard bound book that will have a reasonable retail
price of around $10 each. The activity book, the art prints and patterns are
all printed here in Alaska –an important point to most souvenir shoppers. I’m a
bit out of practice juggling all of the new deadlines for the various projects
I have going on but would rather be working on the wholesale line than packing
boxes for the move! 
A Birch Tree at Gus' X-Country meet today near the APU Mosley Sports Center. The colors were so vibrant they made me happy but made my eyes water!
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2 comments:
When WEsley was born I brought her home from the hospital and had a stack of books waiting for her by my bed. I read to her every day, until she could read for herself. And now she is a writer. Good for you for bringing new books to the world! I would have totally bought this one for Wes. Her favorite alphabet book was One Yellow Lion, I still have it. Such a great book.
She also had a great loon book that came with a little stuffed loon. Still have that to. We keep our books around here forever!
BTW, I did try to check out your facebook page but I had to log in as a member, not one, so I couldn't see how fabulous it is!
wow cindy talk about busy....hope the wholesale is good to you all the best with the reprint! and the move!! wow hope the new studio space is great, can't wait to see it :))
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