by Dan | Jun 3, 2009 | Ninja Stuff
Well, after about a week of selling t-shirts and stuff, we’re happy to say that some of you actually bought them! We’ve quietly added a few more items, such as a “Learn to Spell” lyric tee in three styles, a pullover hoodie (a little cheaper than the zip, but not by much), and by fan request, an embroidered Flexfit hat. Please note that the embroidered designs come in Scorpion yellow by default, but you can also change the color of the embroidery threads in the Customize It menu. If you want the hat logo to be Ermac or Sub-Zero or Rain or Reptile or even Noob, you can do it with a simple color picker. Try it and see, and let us know if you have any trouble or new merch ideas.
The embroidered logos required a conversion fee, so those were a little bit of investment on our end — but that led me to realize that we haven’t explained exactly where this money goes. We don’t expect to make a killing or even a profit (with those setup fees we’re actually in the hole) and the selling of shirts will never take precedence over the making of music. But we are planning to use that support cash to defray various small costs that go into the entity that is Palette-Swap Ninja. Among those potential costs:
- Merch setup fees like those (about half taken care of by our current profits)
- Song license fees. As we’ve stated, we try to get a license for each new song we do, as if we were doing a straight cover version, just to be safe. Each song is three figures at the minimum.
- Hosting and domain registration fees. Not frequent, but kinda crucial! We need our dot-com.
- Gear and software upgrades. We both have plenty of instruments lying around by now, but we are still struggling to find a recording suite we both like. We’ve been through Vegas, ProTools LE, and GarageBand; we are going to try Logic Express now. Being on the same software really simplifies our process, so this is something we’d like to eventually make happen.
One other thing we’ve learned about the merch. We have found that we make an alarming amount of extra cash from what Zazzle calls its referral bonus. That is, if you buy a shirt after clicking on the link from this website to our store, it drops a cookie on your machine, and if you order within 45 days from that cookie’s timestamp, we make roughly three times what we would otherwise make on that same sale. That’s at no cost to you; it’s just that Zazzle shares more of the profits from their cut. So, if you’re going to order, pleasepleaseplease do so from our Store link. (Yes, it’s called Kat’s Eye Design and there are a few shirts in there from one of Kat’s other clients, but the PSwap stuff is sorted under its own product line on the right nav.) This little referral detail helps us a dramatic amount, so thanks!
And remember, there are almost always Zazzle coupons that you can use to get a few bucks off or free shipping or whatever — that doesn’t come out of our cut, so use them!
by Dan | May 31, 2009 | Ninja Stuff
We updated the logo, but we didn’t update the wallpapers. Oops. No problem, says our pal Aeshir — we were busy making music, so he made the wallpapers for us. Check them on the Freebies page and give Aeshir a virtual high-five.
by Dan | May 28, 2009 | Ninja Stuff
In addition to kind words about our so-called “business” cards, we’ve gotten some very nice compliments on our songs, and occasionally, they come with comments like “I would buy your songs if you sold them” or “I’d like to support you guys in some small financial way, but there’s nothing on the site to that effect.” Hmm.
We don’t sell the songs. For one, that’s not why we do it. For two, even though we believe we are legally safe under parody laws, we figure we are flying under the radar by giving it away for free. We considered one of those PayPal button things, but that seemed…uninspired. And all we really want is for you to tell your friends about us.
Hey, I know…t-shirts!
Armed with the new toon ninjas and the fresh 3D logo, Kat whipped up a few designs that we thought you might not be embarassed to wear. Zazzle is cool because you can change it around — if you want a different color or style of shirt, you can customize it until it’s something you would want to buy. Like for instance, Dan decided he wanted to do the 3D logo in Scorpion yellow but on a maroon shirt. And the moment he put it on, he was struck with creative inspiration, as you can see:
So, successful closed beta. That works.
Right now, there’s the four colors of the 3D logo, a variation on the toon ninjas, and a special shirt with some of the “Halo” lyrics on the back, in dark or light. (Plus the prerequisite mousepad, for people who do not wear clothing.) If you’re feeling really spendy, we made an embroidered hoodie, but that was basically for ourselves and we don’t expect anybody else to buy it (but if you do, use the coupon SPRINGZAZZLE for $5 off orders of $45 or more until the end of June). We’re skipping crap like aprons and tote bags, but if there are other items you would actually like to buy with our logo on it or variations on the existing designs, just let us know. (A new shirt will unlock shortly after the new song appears this week.)
We think this solves the “support” problem nicely. We make a (very) tiny bit of cash on each shirt sold through Zazzle. More importantly, with you as our walking billboard, it gets the word out at LAN parties and comic book stores across the country. So by getting a shirt, you are supporting us twice — once by buying it, once by wearing it.
And if you don’t wanna do either, well, the songs are still free and we still love you.
by Dan | May 27, 2009 | Ninja Stuff
This past weekend, Dan agreed to a 20-minute interview with The Overseas Connection at The Couch Mercenaries and, naturally, talked for an hour. Half the interview is about Palette-Swap Ninja; the rest is about OXM, the future of print, and all that stuff he always talks about. But you’ll hear the fascinating story of how Dan and Jude met, plus the meaning of the name and a bunch of other things that may not be awesome but they will help your daily commute fly by a little quicker. Also, Dan was still sick, so you get to hear him cough in stereo. It starts at around the 85-minute mark, but why wouldn’t you find the whole thing interesting?
by Dan | May 26, 2009 | Ninja Stuff
Please divert thine eyes to the top of the page and peep our lucious new logo. We had this custom-created by our friend Brett Foster, and it serves several purposes. One, since the ninja are holding our proper favorite instruments (a Line 6 Variax 500 and a Lync LN-4 keytar), it more accurately represents us. B, it’s less infringe-y. And the other thing is that we can do…things with it. The first thing we did with it is we asked Kat to make us little business cards.
Well, they’re not really business cards because they don’t have anybody’s name or phone number or title on them. I guess that means they’re just sort of…cards. But the band comes up in conversation a lot, and we thought, “Gee, it would be nice to have something with the URL on it that we could give to someone when they politely feign interest.” And now we do. Thanks, Brett Foster. Thanks, Kat.
Tune in tomorrow for another little snippet of surprise.
by Dan | May 26, 2009 | Ninja Stuff
Believe it or not, Jude and Dan recently found themselves in the same place at the same time. Here is proof:
Jude is the one wearing a keyboard scarf. Dan is the bottle of ketchup in the background.
