Publisher Defined

One of the common questions asked today is - What is a Publisher or a Distributor? These are great questions because the line is now significantly blurred and many artists are in fact their own publisher and/or distributor.

However, some of the basic definitions and expectations apply. See if you can see what you are currently doing in the definitions below.

Photo by the Author - Havanna, Cuba

A “Publisher” is an individual or company who contracts with an artist to reproduce their work in forms acceptable to the artist. The publisher ensures that the artist is compensated, usually by a royalty on each reproduction sold. The publisher arranges for and finances the printing of the reproductions, promotional literature and advertising to announce the release of the work. The publisher will then arrange to have the work distributed.

A “Distributor” is usually a company engaged in the business of marketing reproductions and will have an established clientele. The distributor will hire and train sales representatives to call on galleries or other outlets to solicit sales for reproductions. The distributor will look after shipping, invoicing, collection of payments, storage of some or all of the work and will compensate the sales force out of it’s share of the returns. Many distributors represent the work in their catalogues, on-line services, trade fairs and private exhibitions. Quite often the publisher and distributor will be the same company, however many distributors deal directly with an artist who has produced their own work just as they would any other publisher.

Comments welcome!

The Menu

As per last weeks post - I wanted to take time to spell out a possible menu of services that artists may want and expect from a publisher distributor and I am hoping that if anyone reads this, they might respond with ideas and comments.

Some of the possible menu items might be:

• Your own website (developed for you by the Publisher and promoted by them- but also directly available to you for update, edit and promotion)
• A "Portal" website where your existing website - tied to the publisher for promotion can be exposed.
• Printing services - a place where you can get your printing of reproductions done at a reasonable price allowing you to wholesale and retail your work.
• Framing services - as above - the access to low-cost materials, labour and options to allow you to re-sell your work
• Fulfillment services - a place where you can count on the publisher to package, ship and ensure delivery for you of your work to a client.
• Show Services - rental of trade show booths, available to you for local or national shows, shipping, framing, display and graphic material support. All the logistics to assist you in getting to and from a show venue and successfully displaying and selling your work - originals and/or reproductions.
• Wholesale Distribution Services -where the publisher/distributor would stock some of your popular reproductions and sell them to retailers providing you with a commission.
• Art Licensing - the opportunity for you to have someone represent you and arrange for license contracts with manufacturers etc - where the publisher would oversee and negotiate the contract on your behalf - ensure your royalties and/or fees were collected and paid to you and ensure the terms of the contract were adhered to.
• Digital Services - Someone to work with to capture your work, digitize it at high quality and help you archive it as well as re-size as necessary for various projects.

Anyway - I am sure there are more - but here is a beginning list. Hopeing to hear from you!

Artist Services - Look for more from Publishers

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the current relationship between artists, their reproduction publishers and distributors - and the changing market landscape.
If indeed the person who buys art and art reproductions wants to get closer to the artist - to have a more direct contact - then that will mean a changing relationship between artist and distributor.

What sort of form could that take? One thing that seems obvious is that there will need to be a closer connection - where the artist and the publisher/distributor are working together as part of a team - not as two separate entities with their own role.

Another obvious is that it will have to be clear to the art buyer that the relationship is a close one and that they will not benefit from trying to "go around" a publisher/distributor to the artist - or even the other way in search of a better price or better service etc.

That means the team approach will include some key elements around pricing, contractual obligations by both artist and publisher/distributor, and a good understanding of what each brings to the market as a strength and ability.

This will by necessity be different for each artist. Many artists simply do not enjoy, nor wish to have much business contact with buyers around the business aspect of their artwork. However, there are others that enjoy this aspect of their career. As a result, individual and customized relationships will be developed with the publisher/distributor providing a list of services they can perform on behalf of the artist and the artist choosing from that menu.

I see an exciting time ahead and great opportunities for artists. I also see many of the current publishers having to reduce the amount of artists they work with in order to be able to provide a quality service to those remaining.

I noticed that thevgroove.com has a recent artist interview with Yukon artist Lynn Blaikie. I am sure many of you would find it interesting.