Downloadable Diagram Sales: coming to OrigamiUSA

[mummykicks]

I suspect the difficulty will be in obtaining quality submissions for sale, due to the decline in diagramming and the rise in crease patterns and video instructions. I for one am not paying good money for a crease pattern, and I doubt OUSA owns sufficient bandwidth to support videos. Moreover, the instructional videos for complex folds can take hours.

So shelling out $5 of 'good money' for a crease pattern is worse than paying $50+ for a book with models you'll never want to fold? There are many 'quality' cp's for models I would certainly pay for, especially if they get bundled with a few collapse photos or precrease diagrams to aid in folding.

Video's don't have to be streamed either.

Diagramming is declining for very good reasons, especially for complex models. As for quality, I'm certain a means to post comments for a given model/cp can be implimented, it's everywhere else on the internet. If you happen to pay for something that sucks you'll only be out a little money as opposed to a whole book's worth.

I think this is a great idea, I hope it takes off.

[Bugfolder]

As for quality, I'm certain a means to post comments for a given model/cp can be implimented, it's everywhere else on the internet.

Commenting is implemented on The Origami Source. Anyone who has purchased a product can post a comment (this goes for physical books and paper as well as downloads). And yes, the ability to post comments is a nudge in the direction of higher quality and a way of letting other buyers know what to expect.

[Bubo]

I for one intend to support this. I'm hopeful that this initiative will inspire designers to go the extra (many extra) miles to diagram models that they may have just left as a crease pattern. I wont ever pay for a CP - there are so many out there and in my Tanteidan collection there really is no need (or demand?). I'll gladly shell out $10 for a quality set of diagrams from a designer whose work I know I trust.

If I have a concern it is what effect this initiative will have on convention books and books in general. Although I don't want to pry into peoples personal finances I would be interested to know approximately how much money an author makes of a book, how much they get from having a model published in Tanteidan magazine and how much they may receive from the Source. Time will tell on the last one but perhaps a "number of downloads" tag could be added to a models information. If potential authors see how often a good model is downloaded and "do the maths" they may be inspired to diagram their model(s). I sincerely hope it doesn't but if this individual downloads approach kills off convention books but gives authors better financial returns, combats piracy and gives hobbyist folders like myself more quality diagrams, then I think it is a step forward.

[fncll]

I'm happy to pay for individual diagrams and perhaps some simple crease patterns. But I suspect that for most origami folks, diagrams are preferred by a significant margin. OrigamiUSA caters to folders of all levels, and there are surely many more who can't do crease patterns than who can...

I'm excited at the prospect that this will "unlock" some of the many diagrams that are only available in out-of-print and other difficult to obtain sources.

[Joe the white]

I think its a great idea, especially for authors who don't want to compile a book and go through the process of trying to get it published (I do prefer actual print items though). The 58 cents+ on the dollar share is great, I'd assume that is quite a bit more than publishers give.

I don't think it will impact convention collections too much (regular contributers seem to save a particular diagram for the collections once a year), especially where Tanteidan is concerned, but it may actually expand them if they print a selection of models submitted over the year after the last convention (perhaps a checkbox when you submit it for sale can give permission for it to be included in the OUSA annual collection).

I'm not a big crease pattern fan, but I'd be willing to shell out a few bucks for one. However, $5 or more seems a bit much in comparison to the retail price of a printed book. On the flip side though, I might be willing to pay upwards of $20 for a single diagram of a model I've wanted to fold for a long time (like Robert's Jackson Chameleon ).

[Bugfolder]

To answer a couple of the previous commenters' questions:

--people don't get paid anything for contributions to OrigamiUSA or Tanteidan convention books. They just get a free copy if their work is accepted.

--In general, they don't get paid much for contributions to real physical paper books. If they're only contributing one model, they commonly just get a free copy of the book.

I think part of the reason people contribute to convention books (or other books where they only get a free copy as compensation) is partly for the satisfaction of being part of a good team activity, partly for the prestige of having their work published in a respected publication, and some contribute through a sense of it being a way to "give back" to the origami community. (That last is likely to be part of the reason any time someone contributes on a volunteer basis instead of doing some other kind of paying work.) I suspect that those motivations will still be in play for diagrams even after the introduction of file download sales. People will still contribute to convention books for all the reasons they did before, but now they also have the additional opportunity to get mileage out of their work by posting their diagrams individually for sale (hopefully, after rather than before, the convention publication comes out.)

But we're in new territory here, so this is still just speculation. The diagram market dynamics are changing, and origami organizations will have to adapt. But hopefully also, origami practitioners will come out winners by getting net more choices!

Robert

P.S. And maybe even someday, the Jackson's Chameleon!

[steingar]

There is more to it even. I've been contributing models to convention programs all over the world despite the fact that I publish books. Diagrams are one of the best advertisements, and easily the least expensive, that you find. An artist must promote his or her self, and contributing diagrams to such publications is an outstanding promotion mechanism for an origami artist. Every good salesmen knows to give out free samples.

[merman]

I highly applaud this initiative and just submitted two of my models.

We live in a world where everything is supposed to be free and I did not submit my work primarily to make a buck out of it, but because it makes up for the hours and hours of work of designing and diagramming it.

I myself am more than willing to pay for good diagrams and I sincerely hope this initiative will be a huge success, even if I sell nada...

[Bugfolder]

They're here!

The new file downloads wing of The Origami Source (OrigamiUSA's online store) is open for business!

We've got a nice collection of individual models by a a variety of creators that you can purchase as PDF downloads. You can see them all here:

http://origamiusa.org/catalog/books-dow ... -downloads

In the coming days and weeks, we expect we'll have some full-length e-books submitted, as well as an expanding selection of PDF models. I expect the selection will grow over time, as we just now opened the store and we're even now getting more authors applying to sell through the store.

So take a look, buy something, and give it a fold!

If you haven't bought downloadable files before, please take a look at our "About file downloads" page, here:
http://origamiusa.org/about-file-downloads

And if you have questions about a specific download after you've bought it, there's a contact email on each download product. Also, after you've bought a product, you'll see a link on that product where you can post a comment. (Please be constructive! Remember, these are real people with real feelings, and if we discourage sellers from participating in the program, there won't be much available in the future.)

If you're interested in selling some of your own diagrams, here's more information about that;
http://origamiusa.org/guidelines-for-download-sellers

We hope you enjoy the store, and we hope this project becomes valuable to both sellers and buyers alike.

Regards,

Robert J. Lang
On behalf of the OrigamiUSA Webteam and The Origami Source

[kareshi]

I've added my Spine Dragon to this collection!

http://origamiusa.org/catalog/products/spine-dragon-pdf