Getting published

Kitch

Greetings all, I'm a new member seeking advice. I'm actually an aspiring digital illustrator/artist that started a tarot project at the beginning of this year in my studies. I came across this forum while furthering my research, and am amazed at how established this community is.

Anyway, I'm starting to consider options for publishing and am wondering whether anyone can recommend certain tarot publishers to look into?

Unfortunately, I can't release any examples of my work at this stage due to copyrights and the like (it's a pretty unique concept), but I hope to have it finalised by the end of the year.

I also noticed you're giving a presentation in Australia next month, Major Tom. Are you covering any publishing matters in your talk?
 

Rusty Neon

Kitch said:
Greetings all, I'm a new member seeking advice. I'm actually an aspiring digital illustrator/artist that started a tarot project at the beginning of this year in my studies. I came across this forum while furthering my research, and am amazed at how established this community is.

There's certainly a potential market for well-done digital graphics decks as witnessed by the success of ho-hum quality digital graphics decks: e.g., Gilded Tarot: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/gilded/
 

Astra

Aw, c'mon, RN, Gilded isn't that bad. And sniping isn't much fun to see, either.

Kitch, there are only three main publishers currently; Llewellyn, US Games, and Lo Scarabeo. At this point, although you can submit to the first two, they generally tend to commission the decks they want. Lo Scarabeo carries its own staff of artists, and don't buy much, if anything, from the outside. There are several threads around that go into the current market in depth, so do some hunting through the past year. (Hudson Gray or Major Tom can probably give you some specific threads to search, but I'd have to try keyword searching)

The upshot is that unless you know somebody, or several somebodies, the chances are slim that someone will actually be ready to buy the deck. If you put it out on the market and it enjoys some success without them, you may eventually get an offer to buy the rights

A number of book publishers may be interested, if the deck is offered as a companion to a book, and you have credentials in the area you're writing about, and they think the combination will sell. A good agent helps here, too.

Oddly enough, one of the best ways you can go with a new deck is to start showing the images on a site. Yes, there can be copyright problems, but an initial limited offering to collectors who've had time to start drooling over the deck may give you an edge.

Talk to Cirom about this - Gilded is a mass-market deck, and a substantial part of it was onsite long before actual publication.

I went with self-publishing for the WorldTree deck, as have most of the people here who've created decks and gotten them out. The up-front investment is higher, but if you have time to wait for sales to expand, the potential rewards are actually higher - if you have a deck that non-collectors will become interested in. That, of course, is the gamble that publishers make on every deck they introduce. I think if I keep mine out on the market for long enough, and do some real marketing on the internet (should have been done last fall, but got suspended while I took care of my mother ful time for eight months), I've got a shot at some good long term sales. If I'm wrong, then I'm out the money I invested. If I'd found a publisher, it would have been much safer, economically, but it didn't seem likely.
 

Kitch

Cheers Astra, I've been looking into Llewellyn and US Games, moreso Llewellyn. I did notice the Lo Scarabeo branding (on the Egyptian tarot, if i remember correctly) when looking in local stores (although they don't have much variation around Perth - I assume most decks are ordered).

I'll probably showcase some of my work over the next few months, depending on progress and if I can get a website running. My deck is mainly aimed at non-collectors, being a modernised tarot with a hint of humour, so was considering a personal print run as well as publishing. But despite the change in theme, the card origins and connotations stay true.
 

jmd

In addition to Major Tom will also be at least three other people attending who have had decks published, including Kat Black (Golden Tarot) and Kay Steventon (Spiral and Celestial Tarot), and a third I intend on announcing shortly.

So, apart from the shere publishing and marketing, there may also be opportunity to discuss various other aspects that may be of interest.

And of course, some others at the Conference have also had self-published decks, such as Oryelle.

Looking forward to meeting you there too!
 

Kitch

At this stage I'm still considering transport and accommodation, but endeavouring to attend. Are there still many spots left for said workshops?
 

MeeWah

Kitch: On behalf of Aeclectic Tarot, welcome!!

Looking forward to meeting at Conference & to seeing some of your work :)
 

HudsonGray

Welcome Kitch! You can always consider self publishing as an option also.

Take a look through the archives in the Tarot Deck Creation here & then do searches on words like 'publishing' or 'deck creation' on this site, that'll pull more out of the deeper archives (they go further back than just the three pages shown).

We have a number of deck creators here who have gotten their decks out into the market, either through the big publishers, or by self publishing, so if you have questions just ask.
 

cirom

Rusty Neon said:
There's certainly a potential market for well-done digital graphics decks as witnessed by the success of ho-hum quality digital graphics decks: e.g., Gilded Tarot: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/gilded/

There you go again, you just can't resist another snipe can you, and you still claim this is just your right to excercise your opinion. And people ask why I've decided to never do another deck, who needs this.
 

Major Tom

Kitch said:
I also noticed you're giving a presentation in Australia next month, Major Tom. Are you covering any publishing matters in your talk?

Hi Kitch, welcome aboard and thanks for asking. :)

I plan on covering a full range of considerations and encouragements for those either thinking about or actually producing their own Tarot decks. Publishing matters are certainly a part of it. I'll be focusing more on self-publishing issues than on the major publishers. I suspect there's still plenty of room left for my workshops. ;)

As Jmd points out there will be plenty of opportunities at the conference for learning about publishing issues.

I look forward to meeting you there and perhaps seeing some of your work.