Deal sites

joshuamauldin

Has anyone allowed their work to appear on bundle/deal sites? If so, what was the result for you?

The upsides here are volume of installs, and a boost for a guy who isn't that great at marketing (yet). Could be helpful since this is my first commercial release. 

Downsides seem to be that I'd get less per sale, and they don't currently seem to have any info on assigning licenses (my latest is available for desktop and web). Should a a first timer care about that?

What else should I consider before pulling the trigger?

Thanks!

James Puckett

I think deal sites for design assets encourage bad design. Designers who use this stuff are often thoughtlessly chasing trends, and by using lots of stock, they devalue the design profession by turning it into something any intern can do. I don’t think that’s good for my customers or myself.

Ray Larabie

It can be lucrative. There are bundle companies which specialize in marketing to customers that mainstream font distributors (Fontspring, MyFonts, Fonts.com) don't cater to. Scrapbookers, photographers, hobbyists. This type of customer probably doesn't need to purchase a specific font for a specific job. They likely want a bunch of interesting fonts at hand to experiment with. Your typical bundle customer is only interested in display typefaces. When thematic sets are made available, the script, graffiti, sci-fi, military, railway and cartoon fonts go gangbusters while text sales are flat. Since they're not typographers or professional designers, they probably can't differentiate text fonts, hence they have little value. I doubt that there's a lot of crossover between the bundle customers and the mainstream font distributor's customers. Is the bundle customer someone who might have purchased your fonts through a mainstream font distributor? Maybe not. That's the main consideration for me. When bundle sellers come to me and tell me that they cater to graphic designers, I'm not so interested. In those cases, I might go with limited selections from larger typeface families.
Ask to see the license terms that the customer will see. They're usually austere but I've seem some outrageous do what thou whilt agreements.

Winston Scully

I agree with James. Typically bundles are a HUGE devaluation of digital products, and it most definitely encourages bad design.

"A $400 dollar value for only $20!" ...yeah, okay.

It comes down to the exposure vs. money discussion, and I personally don't think it's worth the exposure. Some of those customer's first interaction with your type will be a devalued product, I just feel that it sets a bad precedent for future business. They may always expect a discount, which is never a good thing.

My current frustration is with the typefaces being sold on Creative Market. I call it "Pinterest calligraphy." It's an overly trendy fad where people are cashing in on the naivete of designers that aren't very educated about type.