Kitsch, Chotskies and Baubles

It all started with a simple request. After we posted the cover art to Iron Kissed, we got a letter from one of the forum members, Winterwolf. He wanted to know when we going to make a "Mercy's Garage" shirt available. Until that time, we'd never considered making stuff. How hard can it be to make a shirt? We finally came up with some shirts. Then we had a request for hoodies, and embroidered jackets, and baseball caps, and coffe mugs . . .

It costs money to produce things, particularly in small quantities. There is also a certain amount of time and effort involved in tracking orders, shipping, inventory etc. We looked at other authors, many of whom are selling products from their site. Many choose an automated service like CafePress, others have actually managed to start stand-alone companies selling kitsch. There are lots of solutions to this particular problem, but most of them left a sour taste in my mouth.

Ultimately we decided to just go ahead and have a few things made to share with Patty's readers. We want the readers to feel like they're sharing some fun with us, rather than shaken down for loose change. To facilitate that, we're pricing the goods in this shop very near our production costs. Overall, the store manages to lose a little every month. Patty's entire product line is her writing. This stuff is just for fun.