It is exciting when you have a great idea that you absolutely love and you think others will love it too. There are multiple ways to develop a new product and we will break this down into Options A and B.

Option A:

The author creates the product and retains copyright. The author obtains or hires royalty free artwork, packaging and design files, and handles production and storage of the author’s product. This allows the author to sell to whomever they choose, and to whomever decides to carry the product. A typical resale agreement involves selling the product to a distributor at 50% discount from the suggested retail cost. The author must be careful not to price the product differently on online stores or through their own web stores. No distributor wants to advertise and market the author’s product only to be undercut by the creator of the product. The author retains copyright and is free to sell their product through any channel they choose.

Risks:

Author spends his/her own monies are artist and design work. Obtains and pays for production (usually a minimum production run of 1,000-2,000 depending on product type). Author stores product and handles fulfillment of orders. Author does his/her own marketing and/or relies of the marketing of the distributors it is sold through. Author handles invoicing and receiving of funds from customers.

Option B:

The author and Speech Corner (SC) agree to have SC create the product idea. SC assumes the risks involved. SC hires and obtains royalty free artwork, creates product design and packaging. SC handles production, storage, order fulfillment, and accounting. SC retains copyright of the product. SC controls marketing and where, or to whom, the product is sold.

In a scenario where Option B is selected, SC will generally pay a maximum of a 10% royalty or a flat fee for the product idea chosen for production. Option B is difficult because SC is still a small company and still has limited resources to devote to developing a 3rd party idea because SC has its own long list of products it is developing internally for market.