Selling on your own platform vs. MyFonts or other distributors

Winston Scully
Winston Scully Posts: 16
in Type Business
Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum, this is actually my first post. I've made one display typeface, but I'm giving it away for free currently. When I start to sell, I really want to be solely focused on distributing through my website, and pushing people their to buy typefaces. Most of the people I talk with on a business level agree with this approach, but I wanted to ask:

What benefits have you found in selling fonts on platforms other than your own?

How has it affected your foundry / brand?

Do platforms like MyFonts apply discounts to your type without your consent?

Comments

  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    Do platforms like MyFonts apply discounts to your type without your consent?
    No. You pick your own pricing. There are limits to how discounts work, but MyFonts doesn’t decide when they happen or how deep they are — you do.

    I recommend searching here for threads about MyFonts and reading through the Type Business category. You’ll find lots of insight and personal experience about selling through distributors.
  • Florian Hardwig
    Florian Hardwig Posts: 269
    See also the pros and cons of going it alone vs. working with MyFonts, as seen by MyFonts.


  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    edited November 2015
    Two other resources:
    1. The Type Foundries Today report includes a survey in which various foundries describe what is involved in running your own font business. This includes the other tasks that surround production and sales, beyond creating a shop of your own.
    2. 7 years ago, I wrote a summary of a type designer’s sales options. It’s old, and missing vital stuff about webfont and other licensing, but many of the principles are still valid. Some useful comments there too. I’ll update this guide someday soon.
    I hope these are helpful, but they are still views that are limited to specific corners of the field. I encourage other TD members to chime in with their own perspective if they haven’t had a chance in other threads.
  • Dusan Jelesijevic
    Dusan Jelesijevic Posts: 66
    This question is for those designers and foundries that sell their fonts on those two ways: through vendors and through their website.

    I'm wondering if anyone has ever do the calculation based on period of i.e. an quarter or year – what is the percentage of customers who purchased your fonts directly from your website?
  • Dusan Jelesijevic
    Dusan Jelesijevic Posts: 66
    Thanks for sharing your stats  :)
  • Jess McCarty
    Jess McCarty Posts: 97
    My self-hosted sales are 10.5% of my overall sales, ytd.

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