Hard work ain't enough anymore...

Go, Pelthar, go! Rah rah!

Hi, Pelthar: I've been following this thread, and I confess to being a skin demo addict, so I went last night and got your demo. I have to say, that I do really like the skin. BUT.....I like it much better on my shape then the one you have modelling it. I do agree with others on here who think the shape might be a throwoff. You might want to try it on a few different ones for modeling purposes. I have 3 RaC skin sets, and my alt has one....and they will probably remain my favorites. Having said that, I plan to purchase one of your skins, but doubt I'll buy a pack. I do think they're good enough to buy one, and believe me, I've tried on TONS and TONS of demo skins in my SL lifetime so far, but have only ever purchased 5 skins (or skin sets) in total...now it will be 6. Please keep up the good work...the lower body detailing isn't quite as defined as some of the other big name skin makers, but I think the face is really quite cute, and since my body is mostly covered up the face and upper portion of the body is more important to me in buying skins. I think you're doing really good work for your "first" skin on the market.

Ann, you made my day, thx.

First of all, I'm really glad you like it, and appreciate your kind words.

To be honest, I'm not really surprised to see that some of you don't like the shape I used. IMHO it's a MUCH more realistic shape than the standard SL shapes. Women in SL are avg 6'3 and 80lbs. As a man, I really don't like it at all, cause in my opinion it looks totally weird and not attractive at all. I designed all my shapes to be at least 120-130lbs, and it definitely looks fat if you compare it to the SL standard, but it's a very nice shape if you compare it to reality.

On the other hand, I'm trying to run a business here, so I'd be an idiot not to listen to my customers. I'll make a really skinny version of the shape, and use it as a demo. We'll see what people say about that.

On top of that, my shape business has been generating some skin sales too.

And there's one more thing. I sell my full mod shapes for 400 (no mod for 200), and I have about 60-80 sales/month. If I think about the size of the shape market compared to to size of the skin market, I always come to the conclusion that people seem to like my shapes. I really think that giving away a shape worth 200L$ (with a single skin) or 400L$ (in the fatpacks) for free is something that will please my customers.

I could take the shape out of the package, but that wouldn't change the price. The skin is worth 600L$ imho (and in the opinion of about 15-20 people/week who buy it), and I don't intend to sell it for less. If people don't need the shape, they can still get rid of it, but maybe there are some who like it, and will use it.

I bought two of your skins this morning, Pelthar and do like them. I can send you a picture in-world if you want....or figure out how to post one on here....lol. My shape isn't super skinny....she's somewhat tall, but curvy. I have a super-skinny shape, but I only use that for certain outfits that are too small for my curvier main shape. I think it's more the shape of the nose, etc., and also that I'm just very attached to the main shape I have. I tried all the demos that come in the demo pack....and from that picked my 2 favorites and those are the two I bought. I'm kind of picky about make-ups etc on skins, which is why I only bought the 2 that appealed to me the most, but you have a nice selection of different ones. Keep up the good & hard work, and I'll check back periodically to see what else you have available. I do have to say that the eyes you have are very nice, too!

Thanks Pelthar, you're not such a bad guy yourself.

This thread has been useful, not just for you, but for me too. Some of the suggestions, especially for marketing have proved very good ideas and I think that both our sales figures are proving that hard work is enough. Its just not all about the artistic portion of the work. Like someone very wise once told me, the skins themselves are only 20% of the equation. The rest is price, marketing, location and I think attitude plays a pretty major role too. For smaller businesses like ours (at the moment) the personal service that you can give to customers is proving to be very much appreciated as oppose to the corporate facelessness that you get with say X2.
So I would like to add my thanks to all the contributors to Pelthars thread and also, seeing as I am HiJacking it...

VISIT DLICIOUS, The hottest skins in SL.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Zero%20Mall/170/86/28

Sorry dude. Couldn't resist

Pictures, Doofus, pictures. I saw your ad in the New Products forums too and I can almost guarantee that you'll garner more interest if you give people an idea of what the skins look like beforehand.

LOL why is X2 considered corporate facelessness?

Storma is just a person like us. Shes not "corporate" shes just one designer that started with a small store in Paw Paw in 2005.

I wonder if your skins hit it big, will we be here in 2 years claiming you are a faceless corporation?

I dont mean to be nasty to X2. The reason it is corporate facelessness by comparison to mine and pelthars stores is that as we are so small and have such low traffic we can give prettty much one to one personal service to our customers. With a business the size of X2 that is simply not possible. I didn't mean to slate X2 in any way and you are right. The plan is to become that big and then I will be called faceless by the little guys starting out. Not being nasty, thats just the way it is.
Sorry if I offended you.

I heard the reason the X2 skins dont look like anyone else's is becuase the X2 Skins ARE Storma. If thats not personal service I dont know what is. Just a third hand rumor but there you have it, hehe.

I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want me to do that. lol