blue_fusion
How much are you folks willing to pay for independently produced playing cards? Full disclosure: this is a loaded question. I have a couple of playing card designs I am considering having printed, and am interested in people's responses to my question. Plus it's always good to have a nice discussion.
Aside from being a tarot enthusiast, I am also a playing card enthusiast. One of the differences I noticed with the playing card collector world is that really cheap is the only way to go - they'd laugh at the idea of a $35 Lenormand deck. For the most part, for a crowdfunded playing card deck, $15 is the ceiling - and that's a really upper threshold. Most would prefer paying for much less than that.
I guess part of it is how people from both communities look at cards differently. Playing card collectors put more value on certain things like gold foil in the box, embossing, really good cardstock, etc - but they want this at a cheap price since, to them, playing cards are a disposable item (no matter how limited edition or collectible the cards are). They want premium card quality at a low cost. They're also very picky with printers. As an example, to them, cards from Makeplayingcards are of inferior-to-moderately adequate quality - while I have read good stuff about MPC's cardstock from tarot folks. I have read -people here gush over Printer Studio's linen cardstock - playing card collectors find it... meh. In fact, the community has only a limited number of preferred publishers (like, only 4) - although because of MPC's recent cardstock improvements, some people are warming up to it as an up an coming printer they might consider in the future.
This is why most independent playing card artists resort to really huge runs at really low costs per deck - it's the only way to achieve the costs the collectors want. But that's really risky too - imagine paying for the costs of 1,000 cards and you probably will only get a quarter of that sold even via crowdfunding.
To tarot, Lennie, and oracle, cartomancy, etc. folks, they put more value on the thought put in the imagery of the cards and execution of of the artwork. People seem more willing to pay more because they appreciate the effort the artist has put in the cards and how the cards are to be used long-term. But of course, it still should be within a certain price level (I don't think a lot would go for a $100 deck!).
So... if you were to purchase a playing card deck via a crowdfunding campaign, what's a good price range you're willing to pay for it? It would really help set goals not just for me but for other artists too.
For example, if most responses prefer a price within a $7-$12 range, then that would mean having a campaign goal that would cover 1,000 decks! And that's... a rather big number of pledges to fill!
Aside from being a tarot enthusiast, I am also a playing card enthusiast. One of the differences I noticed with the playing card collector world is that really cheap is the only way to go - they'd laugh at the idea of a $35 Lenormand deck. For the most part, for a crowdfunded playing card deck, $15 is the ceiling - and that's a really upper threshold. Most would prefer paying for much less than that.
I guess part of it is how people from both communities look at cards differently. Playing card collectors put more value on certain things like gold foil in the box, embossing, really good cardstock, etc - but they want this at a cheap price since, to them, playing cards are a disposable item (no matter how limited edition or collectible the cards are). They want premium card quality at a low cost. They're also very picky with printers. As an example, to them, cards from Makeplayingcards are of inferior-to-moderately adequate quality - while I have read good stuff about MPC's cardstock from tarot folks. I have read -people here gush over Printer Studio's linen cardstock - playing card collectors find it... meh. In fact, the community has only a limited number of preferred publishers (like, only 4) - although because of MPC's recent cardstock improvements, some people are warming up to it as an up an coming printer they might consider in the future.
This is why most independent playing card artists resort to really huge runs at really low costs per deck - it's the only way to achieve the costs the collectors want. But that's really risky too - imagine paying for the costs of 1,000 cards and you probably will only get a quarter of that sold even via crowdfunding.
To tarot, Lennie, and oracle, cartomancy, etc. folks, they put more value on the thought put in the imagery of the cards and execution of of the artwork. People seem more willing to pay more because they appreciate the effort the artist has put in the cards and how the cards are to be used long-term. But of course, it still should be within a certain price level (I don't think a lot would go for a $100 deck!).
So... if you were to purchase a playing card deck via a crowdfunding campaign, what's a good price range you're willing to pay for it? It would really help set goals not just for me but for other artists too.
For example, if most responses prefer a price within a $7-$12 range, then that would mean having a campaign goal that would cover 1,000 decks! And that's... a rather big number of pledges to fill!