Melissa My name is Melissa A Benson and my shop is "Nightmareartist". I'm married. No kids or pets except for all the wild birds that come regularly to my feeder. I have a bachelor's degree in Illustration from Paier College of Art and an Associate degree in Music. Majored on bassoon and tutored music theory and harmony all through college.
The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?
Melissa I started at Zazzle in 2004. I was looking for an outlet online for selling original art that I did for the Magic: the Gathering card game. I came across Zazzle and I was delighted that I could offer my fans such a variety of items, and the real beauty part was that I didn't have to carry any inventory! Zazzle also had the option of customizing everything and I felt that was a great plus. Of course the fact that it was a free service was a huge plus. I've never been sorry especially after the CafePress "incident".
The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?
Melissa I have two other shops on Zazzle. One is "Fat Boy Fossils". That's my most recent shop and it has mostly trilobites and ammonites scanned and digitally altered from my husband's collection. His job is seasonal and the idea is for this shop to help out financially in his off season. I also opened a shop for my best friend called "Two Cents Plain". She's been out of work for a while and isn't very computer savvy so I set it up for her so she could get some extra income. She comes up with the ideas and I do the art for most of it. It is a shop of light-hearted Jewish themed chuchmus in Hebrew, Yiddish and English transliterations. I love the "OY!" section.
The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?
Melissa The best seller in Nightmareartist is the "Christmas Bells" border card. Fat Boy Fossils is the "Four Fossil Trilobites" tie. Two Cents Plain is the "World's Best Bubbie" t-shirt.
The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?
Melissa I'm a big reader. The authors I like are pretty eclectic: Arthur Conan Dole, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, C. M. Kornbluth and Fritz Leiber, Ellis Peters, David and Leigh Eddings, and oddly, Clive Cussler. I listen to my music which is pretty eclectic as well: bassoon concertos, Ivan Rebroff who was a Russian bass singer, Medieval Babes, Emerald Rose and movie sound tracks to name a few. I used to shoot skeet and had a 99 average with the 12 gauge.
The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?
Melissa Not very well. If I don't set limits on my Zazzle time, I'll never get my commissions done!
The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?
Melissa I don't remember. When the program started I received an email from Zazzle telling me I was one.
The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?
Melissa In a word: Promotion. Take advantage of all the free publicity you can and put your images on everything that makes sense. The more items you have available, the more likely you will sell something. Link to as many relevant sites as you can and keep up with the Zazzle forums. You'll get some great information and inspiration.
1 comments:
I hope you have many sales on that card this holiday season!
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