Friday, August 30, 2013

The Side Gig Industry Talk: August Edition

Photo by BlairSnow/
Wikimedia Commons
Check here for the latest industry news in print-on-demand services, customized gifts, 3D printing and fabrication, crafting, small business entrepreneurship, and digital publishing!

Feel like I've let you out of the cold? Wondering why my picks are so random (well, they are!).

Email or tweet me with tips, kudos, story ideas, complaints (no, don't send complaints--I'm just doing this "for fun.").

PRINT-ON-DEMAND MANUFACTURING

Participating as a Maker Faire Goldsmith sponsor for the second time, Zazzle will be at World Maker Faire New York 2013 hosting "Make It Yours."

Zazzle

We have been contacted by the intellectual property right holder and we will be removing your product from Zazzle's Marketplace due to infringement claims.” Participating as a Maker Faire Goldsmith sponsor for the second time, Zazzle will be at World Maker Faire New York 2013 hosting "Make It Yours..." We've scoured Zazzle for some weird and wonderful creations, from the slightly creepy to the just plain random.

Society6

Yesterday, the UK illustrator Mr Bingo informed the website Society6 that one of its user's pages was allegedly displaying and selling his work.
"Demand Media accelerated its content commerce strategy in Q2 with the acquisition of e-commerce marketplace Society6, complementing our content platform.

Cafepress

LOUISVILLE, KY: CafePress, an online retailer of stock and user-customized T-shirts and other products, has selected Elasticity as its AOR for PR.
CafePress Inc. is introducing changes to its website today that the company is calling "CafePress2.0." 

CafePress.com, a website where users can create and sell products using their own custom designs, is announcing a redesign today. CafePress, Inc. is an e-commerce platform enabling customers worldwide to create, buy and sell a wide variety of customized and personalized products. CafePress Inc. logo CafePress (NASDAQ:PRSS) had its target price boosted by Jefferies Group from $6.00 to $7.00.

Fine Art America

Founded in 2007, FineArtAmerica.com has emerged as the premiere online destination for buying prints from the world's greatest living artists.

3-D PRINTING & FABRICATION


Do you ever say to yourself: "Gosh, I really need to 3-D print this thing right now?" Well, now that 3D hubs is bringing the sharing economy to the technology

Arguably the popularity of e-commerce and social brands such as Etsy and Pinterest have incited a new do-it-yourself (DIY) movement. A bracelet produced using a 3-D printer and sold on Etsy. ... wanted to buy some homespun yarn or a bar of homemade soap, you might go shopping on Etsy.

Shapeways

If it raises a flag, Shapeways takes it down. "We have to be diligent about it," Weijmarshausen said. "We have to put the right safeguards in place." This 3D-printed figure of Cloud, the main character in the classic role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, was selling like hotcakes on the Shapeways marketplace ... Shapeways cannot be cheaper if machines are expensive or slower; the cost of materials is important too. Shapeways can only cut waste out of its own system,  With the help of the latest in 3D printing technology, Shapeways has redefined how a factory floor works. In this movies, community manager Bart Veldhuizen gives Dezeen a behind-the-scenes tour of online 3D-printing website Shapeways' european factory. That's about as many as Shapeways got in 2012. Weijmarshausen is on the ... If it raises a flag,Shapeways takes it down, he said. “We have to be diligent We have an amazing opportunity for artists, designers and coders using Shapeways 3D printing in NYC. An engineer at Shapeways removes finished products from a 3-D printer at the company's factory in Queens. These dice were printed in 3-D at Shapeways. With just a flatbed scanner and their software tool, they were able to produce precise models that they uploaded to the 3D-printing services Shapeways.

BOOK PUBLISHING

They have launched an print on demand newsstand in Stockholm. It is, in essence, a vending machine with access to the internet that prints by request.

The Review contains Bowker's popular breakdown of print production by genre and for "Unclassified" works comprising mostly reprints and Print-on-Demand

CreateSpace / Kindle Direct

It shows that as the print business really went into a tailspin, demand for journalists, or people with journalism-like skills were in high demand. 
CreateSpace: Amazon's print-on-demand (POD) branch, will send you 1 copy or 1,000. You don't have to distribute with them — just publish the book “privately.”

CRAFTING


Etsy

Etsy has confirmed that it conducted a test in which it suppressed the option to pay with PayPal for sellers who had opted in to Direct Checkout.
Etsy users are reporting that the marketplace is hiding the PayPal option on shops that accept Etsy's own payment processing system called Direct Checkout.

We see it with eBay, and we see it with its smaller rival Etsy, and sellers often chafe against frequent changes to which they must adapt. Vintage and handmade item marketplace Etsy sees more of its visitors arriving to its site via mobile devices like smartphones and tablets Etsy sellers began noticing that their listings were showing up in searches on Google - good news, right? Not exactly. Hi! My name is Avleen Vig, I'm a Staff Operations Engineer at Etsy.... Etsy, for those who don't know, is a social enterprise and a marketplace of artisan-crafted handmade and vintage goods, along with art and craft supplies...
Etsy is expanding its Direct Checkout feature that lets buyers pay Etsy, which then forwards the payment to the seller. The feature is similar to Amazon's model...
Etsy rolled out a new feature for sellers that allows them to search their shops directly from their active listings page Etsy announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its Direct Checkout feature into ... from Etsy shops even if buyer and seller are on opposite sides of the world.”. Etsy announced today that it is launching a new Shop Dashboard designed to save ... “You can see all of these features on one easy-to-read page.” 
Etsy sellers have a new dashboard they can use to see information about their shop at a glance, and the reaction to the new tool was positive. 
This latest blog post from the techies at Etsy caught my eye for a number of reasons. 
Hi! My name is Avleen Vig, I'm a Staff Operations Engineer at Etsy. 
Early leaders include Etsy, Fanatics, Rue La La, Zulily and Zazzle based on revenue, awareness and traffic metrics.
I run a small online vintage goods business. My business is CallMeCleverVintage on Etsy. I scour flea markets, estate sales and auctions.

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY

A look at the current state of the stock photography industry.

JUST FOR FUN


Described as "Etsy for local foodies," Good Eggs is a newer e-commerce site enabling consumers to buy local foods from farms and other local purveyors.

The site, Wong hopes, will promote small gear companies from different regions through a platform similar to e-commerce site Etsy, but devoted solely to fishing.

FOR INSPIRATION

The threat of moving from home lit a fire under a candle-maker's daughter to shine a light on her mom's struggling candle business. 

Another successful Etsy seller who makes custom-made items is LennyMud, aka Lorrie Veasey, who sells handmade pottery and original art...

When friends encouraged her to sell her personalized and embroidered party hats, stockings and baby bibs on Etsy, she figured it was worth a shot...
She sells the wares at arts-and-crafts fairs, select boutiques, the online marketplace Etsy and by appointment at her 1,200-square-foot sewing studio...

DISCLAIMER

The author/owner of this blog does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of information contained on a linked website. Nor does the author endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and we do not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer. 

We cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in linked websites. Users must request such authorization from the sponsor of the linked website. 

The information contained in this blog and in linked materials are for informational purposes.
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