What's the size of the global type market?

[Member dbe…]

SC: "I don't see a reason why anyone would talk about their earnings openly unless it was beneficial to them or the industry in some way."

You mean: beyond tax laws, you don't see a reason why anyone would talk about their earnings openly?

[Member old…]

beyond tax laws, you don't see a reason why anyone would talk about their earnings openly?

Probably for the same reason most guys don’t compare the size of their penises after a certain age: it’s simply not done. By straight guys. Except in locker rooms, where the guys who have been “blessed by Mother Nature” make no attempt whatsoever to hide that fact.

And James: Chico Escuela. Bucky Katt. No offense taken, none offered in return.

[Member J.M…]

Nonetheless, I think you’d come out even further ahead if you also sold through distributors.

Maybe yes, and maybe no. My decisions on how I run my business are sometime based on emotion. Waddayagonnado?

[Member Fro…]

oldnick: showers vs. growers.

[Member thi…]

Aaaaand that's how a discussion about the global type market size turns into a discussion about penis sizes.

[Member dbe…]

Which brings us to the question of whether or not the web is the Viagra of font sales?

[Member old…]

Aaaaand that's how a discussion about the global type market size turns into a discussion about penis sizes.

I guess all roads lead to Rome, sooner or later…

[Member Rya…]

I'd love to see some demographics, even just for Myfonts.

For example, knowing what the bell curve looks like for number of units sold over price per unit, weather the majority of buyers are working in some way for design firms, or if they are just regular people with no real design knowledge. Knowing thigs like this would change how I go at the game in the extreme.

I have thought often about whether I would gross more overall if I priced my fonts incredibly low ($5) or relativity high ($100). I'd certainly rather sell 30 copies at $5/each then only one copy at $100/each. But without knowing what the demographics are and average and mode, median, and all the math, it's hard to tell which strategy would work better.

[Member dez…]

Much of it depends on your products fit to the market. The $5 folks have much less need for broad character sets and don't perceive quality as well as your $100 folks. It is not about just bumping the price tag. The product has to fulfill that market's needs.

[Member Syn…]

I’m on myfonts, monotype and fontspring.
Gross :
Myfonts 70%
monotype (linotype, myfonts etc) 20%
fontspring 10%

Please note some traffic to these 3 websites comes directly from my website.

[Member old…]

The $5 folks have much less need for broad character sets and don't perceive quality as well as your $100 folks.

On the other hand, some people have champagne tastes, but only beer budgets. Similarly, a higher price does not guarantee quality, although it may reflect an expectation of same. You don’t always get what you pay for: sometimes you get more, sometimes you get less.

[Member dez…]

Very true, Nick. But for the person aiming at the market, one would hope thy would have honesty of purpose.

[Member Dun…]

The $5 folks have much less need for broad character sets and don't perceive quality as well as your $100 folks.

I disagree. Broad character sets were developed to add support for central and eastern Europe, where income levels are often much lower than the US and Western Europe. These are also places where piracy is often considered the normal way of doing business. I have often wondered if there is a good way to target these markets with lower prices than those charged to the wealthy nations. This is actually something that could be easily addressed by mapping font prices to geography, verified by IP address and credit card data. Some font vendors—most notably Veer—already do this, but only to charge higher prices in the UK and Euro zone, and without lower prices where they would be appropriate.

[Member hra…]

I like that sort of thing (although I'd worry about the tracking methods you mention). And I would broaden it to non-affluent people anywhere:
http://www.typophile.com/node/10206

hhp

[Member sko…]

Could fonts be made without the latin alphabet or are those glyphs required for the CE languages as well?

[Member old…]

I have often wondered if there is a good way to target these markets with lower prices than those charged to the wealthy nations

I try to accommodate equal opportunity at affordable prices. I’m in the process of updating my entire commercial library to support the 1250, 1252, 1254 and 1257 codepages for the same retail price—typically a rousing 7.95 U.S. Dollars, with quantity discounts available. The current line contains all the aforementioned except the Baltic-specific characters—all autohinted (because the vast majority are display faces, typically used in larger sizes) but manually spaced and kerned.

[Member dez…]

The CE glyphs all use the Latin alphabet as a basis with a few exceptions. Most of the work involves the diacritics which are rarely seen in English but essential to most other languages that use the Latin script.
Regarding pricing dovetailed to users, I don't think it is just a geographical issue. There are plenty of $5 font users in the Americas and Europe. I don't see how anyone could enforce it without great cost. We cannot even enforce the system we have. There are type designers all over the World including the countries you might target as having a lower cost of living. The type designers there share that lower cost of living and can support their own nations if they so desire. It would be equally unfair for a type designer living in the UK and paying that cost of living to sell his work at less than he needs to survive where he lives.
I am more in favor of letting the type designer choose their own market or markets and doing the work that fulfills those needs. The clients of course decide with their wallets if the design has missed the mark. This eliminates the need for the income-level police from, most likely badly, enforcing the rules. Any wealthy person can buy an IP address from Mumbai so who are we helping? Only the poor have no options. The wealthy and or devious are quite adept at working around the best laid plans of mice and men. So just design what you choose and market to whom or where you choose. If you fail in your perception of the market, your balance sheet will soon tell you if you either need to revise your market strategy or the product you produce.

[Member Tho…]

As a very broad ballpark, the *retail* global type market is likely somewhere around $100 million or more in revenue.

Custom and proprietary font development by commission not included.