Hello all,
I'm Béla Frank, running Frank Fonts. I've been an avid reader of Typedrawers for years. Recently, I was accepted to this great community - thank you! - and this is my first post here, I believe.
I released my own designs through different resellers over the years. Since 2018 I've been running my own foundry and self-publishing my new typefaces. I've always been dealing only with my own designs.
Now, I'm about to become a distributor which is something completely new to me. I'm planning to team-up with others and license their yet-unreleased type designs with exclusive rights to distribute them through my foundry.
I have some faint ideas about what I'd do, but I also hope there's more I can learn from you. I was wondering if there's any insight, advice, experience your could share? What's the best way to ensure that both parties make the most out of this? Is it a flat-fee or percentage after every sale or a mix of both? Is there a well-tried way to do this or everyone has different models?
Any response would be a great help, I believe.
Thank you!
Ps.: I edited the post so it's more clear now what I'm interested in now, I hope.
Comments
Thanks for your reply. I'm afraid I was too vague in my original post or it's just my English failing me.
I'm not interested in ripping off and releasing any designs from any competitors.
I am planning to release someone else's yet un-released original design with their agreement. I'd license the rights to distribute the fonts exclusively from them. I'm planning to become a distributor.
What I'm looking for is business insight.
I understood what you meant. I think that what you're talking about is actually becoming a publisher, which might be the cause of the confusion.
I think that the best way to ensure trust is to pay a percentage of the gross sale of the license. It would be adjusted gross if you grant permission to a distributor (a larger non-foundry reseller like fontspring, myfonts, Adobe, etc) and they pay you royalties you'd only be responsible for a percentage of what you get. If you are granted permission to modify the fonts and you have a sale that includes labor you should itemize it separately so it doesn't confuse matters.
I'd offer one rate for exclusive distribution and another for non-exclusive, or have a good reason it needs to be exclusive.
- Joyce
Thank you for your comment. There are things that you mention and I considered already and others that I found sort of confusing before. Your comment helps a lot to move forward, it is really helpful!
Thanks again!
- Béla