Daniel Huffman gives us a behind-the-scenes look at “the ‘selling mappy goods’ side of the business, in my tradition of being open about my finances. I can’t say whether my experience is typical, but you might find it interesting if you’re thinking about selling mappy things.”
Previously: The Logistics of Selling Maps.
On behalf of the Independent Map Artists (previously), Daniel Huffman is launching an experiment: a map of the month club.
For a one-time subscription fee of $200, folks can get new mappy goods sent to them each month for five months (so, $40 per month). People can explore items from multiple artists, and I hope it will help bring new attention to my colleagues—support that these individual mappers might not otherwise get if they were not part of a group. Picking out individual interesting maps can be hard, so we’re making it easy for people to receive an assortment.
That fee includes shipping. The product page lists some of what the subscription is likely to include. It’s a one-time deal, a single five-month package, for now, but may continue if it proves successful. Signups close on June 15.
Mark Esper spent one and a half years drawing a map of Great Britain, Ireland and the dependencies (Isle of Man, Channel Islands). He describes how he did it in this blog post. “In its finished form, this map contains over 280 cities, as well as a countless number of castles, ruins, and other buildings scattered over the map. All 21 National Parks are labeled, 12 different languages are present: English, Guernésiais, Jèrriais, French, Auregnais, Serquiais, Cornish, Manx, Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic, and all major bodies of water are labeled.” He’s selling it as a 24×36-inch print. “In the future, I plan on continuing to draw countries, states, continents and other regions of the world in a similar level of detail.”
Lots of little companies and individuals making and selling maps; the Independent Map Sellers page lists a bunch of them in one handy place. “Interested in buying something special for the map enthusiasts in your life (or yourself)? Skip the giant companies and go straight to the source: there are loads of skilled, independent cartographers out there whose work you can buy!” [Daniel Huffman]
