*lightbulb*

[cleolinda]

Okay. It's four in the morning, and I have had something of a brainstorm. I had some complaints about the handwritten annotation idea, because having only one copy means that no one but the buyer gets to see the notes. What if I use the footnote function on Word to annotate the online parodies? (Why the online? Because I haven't sold the rights to those to anyone else, unlike the the book parodies. And yes, they would be .rtf files so different operating systems could read them.) And rather than offer hard copies--which would kill the handy-dandy links in the parodies--what if I put them on a CD so that you could print them out if you wanted, but you could also click the links on the original files? And Cafe Press offers CDs as a merchandise option, so it's not something I'd have to deal with producing 100 copies of myself.

I don't know what to charge just yet--it'll depend on how much work ends up going into the thing, but I don't know that $15 for--hey, exactly 15 parodies. Huh--is a bad idea. The base cost at Cafe Press is $4.99, so I'd basically be making a $10 profit, which is pretty good. Again: thoughts?

(This doesn't preclude doing anything else. I'm just saying, it seems like a fairly good compromise on this particular idea.)

Comments

[sneaky-minx.livejournal.com]

I think a $1 a parody is totally reasonable, especially since you'd be turning a decent profit and it would help you out.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

I think it's a good idea. =)

[elisa0984.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an excellent idea.

[thunderhowl.livejournal.com]

$15 isn't a bad deal. I think I'd pick up a copy.

[imitatesfiction.livejournal.com]

Well, sounds like a very reasonable idea. And Cafepress ships internationally so yay!

[starlady42.livejournal.com]

[Zoidberg]I'll take eight![/Zoidberg]

Just kidding. But I would take three. Never too early to begin Christmas shopping. ;)

Know any good (comic?) artists? "Cover" art for each parody, featuring one of the jokes, might be fun and would add even more value. (I'm imagining a cartoon Keira Knightley pouting over not having sleeves, Harry/Hermione/Neville doing the O RLY? joke, etc.)

[aircrash.livejournal.com]

i like this idea!

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a good idea!

Also, if you are interested in starlady42's idea, my friend lberghol is an awesome illustrator who already does Harry Potter cartoon-y type stuff just for fun. Don't know if she'd want to do it, but we went to HS together and she's super-nice and might enjoy it. (She's also an actual real-life animator who does that stuff for a living.) I could always ask her for you.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

ETA: And I see she's on your friendslist already. :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Since there's profit involved, I kind of don't want to involve anyone else, you know? I'm afraid it would get sticky.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I was only thinking if she (or someone) were willing to do it for free/agree not to pursue any profit from it, just to help you out. But I can see why you'd be wary.

Well, you could always try out your own drawing skillz! :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was thinking about that. This is probably not the time to wish I had one of those digital drawing tablets that so many online artists use, though...

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Haha. You could get one and be like, "But see, I had to buy it, so that I could use it to sell the CDs so that I could make money and...oh."

I guess it's a Kinko's scanner or similar for now. Heh.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, I do have a scanner on my printer. I just have to use it for the first time...

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Oh, well that's handy at least! (And cheaper.) Yeah, scanners can be a bitch to use - my dad's scanner is really weird and you have to go through this odd sequence of stuff to use it. But it's also hooked up to a Mac and isn't originally an Apple product, so that could be part of it. Hopefully yours will be less complicated!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ravengirl/]

Ooo, I was going to suggest this idea because on Lulu they have a feature where when someone publishes a book you can download it as a pdf cheaper than buying an actual copy, but wasn't sure how easy that would be. I'd definitely be interested in this version, though!

[marcusisabadass.livejournal.com]

Hey -

I think I see what you're getting at. Next time you're at a bookstore, go check out the Sports section and look for Bill Simmons' "Now I can Die in Peace". It's a collection of his old columns but they've been footnoted. Works quite effectively.

Just don't all David Foster Wallace on us.

Come to think of it, Just go see Greg & Val as I KNOW Greg has a copy...

[catscorner.livejournal.com]

This is a great idea! I would totally buy one for myself and probably several as gifts.

[naeelah.livejournal.com]

I think that's a pretty good compromise. I don't know what the options are, but you could also look into just doing an e-book, instead of CDs. You could do an official one, but perhaps you could also just take payment via paypal and send people a PDF copy by sendspace (or similar service). The bad thing about that is people can just share the digital copy, even if you password protect it, but the good thing is that it won't cost you anything other than time. So you could make the price a flat $10, which might encourage more people to buy. (There's also the benefit of instant gratification.)

ETA: Lulu hosts your ebooks for free, so that might be the best way to go for electronic distribution. They just take 20% commission, afaik.

I don't know if you have access to a graphics tablet, but if you did, you could actually hand-write the notes onto the digital documents. That would possibly make a physical handwritten copy less special, so you might not want to do that if you want to ebay a copy. But it's an idea.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I deeply wish I had a graphics tablet (and have for a while), but now is not the time to go acquiring one, and I don't know anyone who has one, either. Walrusface. ;_;

And yeah, I could distribute it myself, even as just a zip file, but several people have told me they don't use PayPal. As much as it raises the price, I almost feel it's worth it to use Cafe Press as an intermediary so that I don't have to deal with bookkeeping myself. And that way, if something happens to your computer later on, you have a copy on CD.

[judith-s.livejournal.com]

You can always offer it both ways. $13 for ZIP file, and $15 for CD.

[annevo.livejournal.com]

I would ove it, especially since they do ship overseas!

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

I'd be down with that. As someone who often rents movies for the commentaries alone, I am totally interested in annotated versions and I don't think $15 is too much. Any good novel around here is usually at least $20 and most novels you only read the once. How many times have I read your parodies? Enough times to recite some of them word for word and for me to make a beeline too whenever I'm sick or sad. Plus, how is Cleo going to write more if she is bankrupt and living on the street or something? It's for a good cause. ;-)

[frabjouslinz.livejournal.com]

I'd buy that. I love your parodies. I send people to read them all the time, so this would be a good b-day present for some folks.

cyberspace Kraken!

[corkdorkdan.livejournal.com]

Cleo, this isn't related to your entry, just something I thought you'd find funny. The headline is what really got me:

New Kraken worm evading harpoons of antivirus programs (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080408-new-kraken-worm-evading-harpoons-of-antivirus-programs.html)

[nitedula.livejournal.com]

I'd buy it.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great idea.

[soundguy42.livejournal.com]

I would totally buy 3 or 4 for myself, and the obligatory friend gifts.

[kudzita.livejournal.com]

Sounds delightful! (Although I should probably buy myself another m15m book too..."lent" mine to a couple of friends about a year ago and, uh, haven't seen it since...)

[claddagh812.livejournal.com]

Great idea. You could even go up to $20 or $25 and I'd still think it a good deal.