Artists don't have to spend money to make money

Createspace.com lets artists self-publish books and music, By Mark Sly Chester — Are you a musician, author or filmmaker? If so, you’ll want to know about Web site where you can sell your product with no set-up fees and no minimum orders — and you get to keep the rights to your material. How, you ask? Well I did it, and this is how it’s done. On AuG. 3 Amazon.com launched a new Web site called createspace.com. First, I mailed a copy of my DVD, “Mark Sly’s Secrets Guitar Teachers Don’t Want You To Know,” to createspace.com. Second, I e-mailed the artwork to the site. Finally, createspace.com made a Web page for me, and I saw sales immediately. That’s it! I put no money out of my pocket and I saw profits in the very first week. I couldn’t believe it! It was so easy that I also mailed the CD soundtrack of my original songs and the cover art. Again, createspace.com made a Web page for me. I teach guitar and bass and a year ago the demand for lessons was way more then I could handle. I had the idea to film a guitar instructional DVD in the hope that my students could have a lesson when I couldn’t get to them. But I had a problem. All of the companies I asked to reproduce my DVD wanted minimum orders of $500 to $1,000, which meant that I would have to pay more than $1,000 just to get the DVDs, with no guarantee I would sell enough to make that money back. That’s when I started looking on the Internet and found createspace.com. I contacted them, and they had my DVD and CD up and online in a week. They even chose me to be on their front page (please see illustration). As far as how the money works, its easy. The artist sets the price for the DVD, CD, or book. When you sell a copy, you get a percentage and createspace.com gets a percentage. You never have put money upfront. There are so many talented artists in the Orange County area that I just had to get the word out about this service. Long past are the days where you need a record deal, or publishing deal, or even a movie deal. Today’s do-it-yourself independent artist just got a little help from the big guys. (Mark Sly lives in Chester. For more information, call Sly at 988-6263, e-mail him at slymark@hotmail.com, or visit www.slymarkmusic.com.)