You can shop on it.
Yes, click on the little "SHOP" link in the sidebar and up comes a wonderfully digital department store of all-Marty merchandise. And none other than our very own Ellis Goodson became my very first customer today, ordering not one but TWO copies of the new FUME pre-view book (the man had to plunk down hard-earned cash for a book about his own childhood...something wrong there).
Anyhoo, I think I'm getting there...but any comments, suggestions (or orders!) will be most appreciated.
That's right, www.comicsbymartydavis.com . . . accept no substitute!
Elz, I'll get back to work on yr books now!
6 comments:
I saw that 0001 invoice. Felt pretty good. Great empowerment having a store.
Wow! Just Wow! You've been a busy guy! This is great! Very impressive and inspiring.
So how does this work? This website is just handling the money, right? You still need to go and mail the items once they are ordered, correct?
I think overall this is really terrific... I might make 2 suggestions:
-The images on your home page are really large... it's kind of hard to take it all in at once.
-I think you could use a Bio page, a spot where you have a brief description of your career... people like to know who they are dealing with and if they've seen your work anywhere else.
I bought a FUME because like an idiot I didn't buy one while Marty was here. And because I really want one.
Ha! You guys are very nice!
Elz, you will always be Number 1 to me...and now we have documentation.
Rick! I built this site on Squarespace. I've found it very easy overall (but time consuming...tho' considering my lack of expertise--and less-than-basic layout I want--it hasn't taken that much effort).
They got me the comicsbymartydavis URL for free (sadly/hilariously, when the 33 1/3 Music people asked for a URL, I thought I'd be clever and use a NEW site focusing on FUME, "fumethecomic.com"...that was way back when I submitted my Black Flag story...But I forgot all about it until I READ THE WRONG URL IN MY COPY OF THE BOOK...so it's costing me $20 a year to have an extra URL pointing to the site--but it works! Enter "www.fumethecomic.com" and you go to my site...oy!)
While Squarespace hosts the site, Stripe is the COMMERCE platform that handles all the money. (So we've got Square for your mobile phone card reader, Squarespace for my website, and Stripe for e-commerce--not confusing at all, huh?). So far it's been easy--just linked it with my bank account...and all my money is now being siphoned to somewhere in Estonia.
I have the "Professional" plan--it's $192 for a year, but that includes support for up to 20 products. They have a "Personal" site that looks identical to the Pro site, but costs about half as much. Only drawback is you can only sell ONE product at a time...but that might be a reasonable trade off.
Also, type in "GUARDIAN" ass your offer code and you get 10% off the first year (or is it month?).
And YES--I am the guy in charge of mailing everything. BUT the site is very slick in that it allows you to set inventory, and the dimensions/weight of any item when it ships, and from there it has a program that will calculate the shipping costs (!) and all based on the zip code of the buyer (!!). Which is pretty dang cool.
It's a really slick set-up.
But as you noted, I am struggling with the design...I'm using a template that they've updated since I began, and I'm having a hard time getting some of the little touches I'd like installed. But as far as a front page composition, it's gotten both too busy and too boring, as you said...I just added the FUME and How To Write About Music blocks at the top of the page today--I want their functionality, but they're really disrupted the previously serene layout...hmmm.
I'll keep whittling away at it!
And YES--I got your order, Rick! Any drawing request? Tho' how could I ever top yr "Family Schmitz" extravaganza?
Do something Kirby inspired! Your pick!
Hey Marty, I just ordered my copy of the new Fume with color cover. I also tried to contact you through the web site and send you a message, but it's not working. When I hit the submit button I get this error message:
"Unable to send form. No storage service is configured. Configure one using the 'Storage' tab from the configuration area for this block."
The message I wanted to send was this:
"Hey Marty, I'm ordering my copy of the new Fume Preview with full color cover. For the free drawing would you mind doing one of Patty and me together? I know she'd love to be the subject of your brushpen magic. I can send you reference photos of her if you want, or there's always the photos I have on my Facebook page. Thanks!"
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