First off, I don't get the hobbyist argument for low prices (or as many reselling hobbyists claim to be their right, for free merchandise).  Not at all.  I guess a lot of people won't be doing their hobby for a while, but then it's not their meat and potatoes or health care at risk after all.

Every hobby I've had required me to pay for the cost of the materials and learning I needed to do the hobby:  needlework (quite costly for supplies), any artistic hobby, building miniatures (same), off road biking, dogs, scrapbooking, computers, cooking, sewing - you name it.  There are many huge industries built on manufacturing and marketing stuff for hobbies.  It seems that only with graphics hobbies has there arisen this bizarre idea that everything should be free or very cheap for the special category of hobbyists.  I have never made any distinction in my prices or usage terms between professional designers and hobbyists who buy my work and I have a steady, long clientele in both the hobbyist and commercial use buyers.  I make a modest living at what I do and it has gone up, increasing still this year, albeit not as much as last year. 

I also do not spend money on Poser products to "play with" any more, LOL.  Rather than raise my prices, I have curbed my own spending on useless stuff that will sit around on my hard drive forever and from which I can't make any money myself.  I spend money only on the most useful and valuable tools and services I need in my business.   The Poser market is glutted with duplications and knock offs and built in obsolescence and clumsy products competing with space with really great products.  I haven't bought a Poser product for almost 6 months and I find that I don't even miss it.  The time I might have squandered on Poser products went into building digital painting skills and dreaming up better products of my own and my monthly income from 2d products has increased this year.  I haven't felt a pinch yet, although that's not to say that I won't suffer income reduction during our oncoming economic tsunami.  I imagine I will because I've had many flatt-ass broke times in my life.  But some people will weather this storm and it won't be by producing more of the same old same old and being at the mercy of the big brokerages who don't give a damn about them.  Maintaining and building my own personal site traffic and taking personal care of my customers is a better way of spending my hours than playing with Poser dollies.  If I have to work harder, it's produced a better outcome.  I've always been on this trajectory anyway.  Hobby?  I do not have hobbies.  I have burning passions and goals and I'm perfectly willing to constantly change and raise my game in order to cultivate them and make a living.

Everybody will have to improve to stay in any game.  That's a given.  But that doesn't mean that I will benefit by selling my work dirt cheap or raising the prices either.  There's middle ground.

I do my best to insure a wide range of the highest quality, unique products with high value for a moderate price and frequent structured discounts.  I can't do better with lower prices.  But I CAN do better in terms of quality and appeal.  This economy will surely see a dramatic change in the buying patterns of the public, just as there will be a similar change in the producers in every area.  Some producers and some buyers are going to fall out of the buying cycle.  And some will get better at what they do.  I plan to be in the category of those that get better no matter what. I don't need to get rich, I just need to make money to survive and get better at my craft.

Frankly, there's a hugely bloated marketplace with tons of stuff in it that very few people will buy or even give a second glance.  Just a trip through the mall (which I can tolerate for only the occasional hour) makes me wonder who's going to buy all this crap?  Not me, that's for sure.  99% of it wouldn't add a titch to the quality of my life.  Maybe . . .people will wise up and begin to buy only what really adds to their lives?  Tons of "hobbyists" got into the image resource business on a shoestring and don't yet have the skills and experience to weather a big pinch like the one we're facing.  If you can't produce yourself out of the mountains of crap through compelling prodicts with high qualtiy, an economic downturn means you gotta do something else. A lot of people are going to stop buying stuff they don't really need and a lot of people are not going to be able to continue to flood the market with knock offs and products that aren't worth their price.  For sure that's the grass roots free market at work.  I only have to make sure that my products are worth every penny.  Then I'll get the pennies.

I'm in this for the long haul and my goal is just to keep coming up with something enough people will want to buy . . .no matter what.  I'm giving great value already but the thing that will go up for me in this crunch is the quality and appeal of the products, not the prices.  My prices are not going way down either.  If I find fewer customers, I'll suck it up and just make something even more compelling next week.  And the week after that.  And when the economy changes again, as it surely will, I'll emerge with a whole lot more skill than I have today.  Meanwhile, I gain by spending less on stuff I don't even miss.

That's my answer to the spiralling price pressure in both directions:  I KNOW my products are going to get better, the prices aren't moving much in either direction.

 

 

Dana Sitarzewski
Jaguarwoman Designs
http://www.jaguarwoman.com