that time of the year again

What with Christmas, Hanukkah, and the rest of the gift-giving holidays coming up around the corner, I thought I would take the opportunity to remind all of you, my readers, of the various products being offered at my CafePress Store, The Philosophy of Firefly.
Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from Firefly – This critically-acclaimed book is a compillation of life lessons that one can learn from watching Firefly and Serenity. Some are good, some are not so much, some are funny, some are serious, but, in that mixed-up kind of way, they all mirror life.
People of the Gun (1911) – The official tribal gear of The People of the Gun, sporting the classic 1911 semiautomatic pistol.
People of the Gun (Colt Python) – The official tribal gear of The People of the Gun, this time showing off the silhouette of the unforgettable Colt Python.
People of the Gun (Mufti) – The official tribal gear of The People of the Gun, specifically made for those who are afraid of offending the sheeple.
Serenity Athletic Department – Not playing by any civilized rules since 2517.
Browncoats Always ‘Rise Again’ – A really, really bad pun on the irrepressible nature of true Browncoats.
The Philosophy of Book – If you cannot do something smart, do something right.
The Philosophy of Jayne – You can never have too many grenades… (Or pistols, or rifles, or rounds, or knives, or…)
The Philosophy of Mal – You’re on my crew. Why are we still having this conversation?
The Philosophy of River – The popular theory is that I’m not quite right in the head. But, hey, I can kill you with my brain.
The Philosophy of Wash – In the tossup between plastic dinosaurs, your ship, and your wife, you should probably pick the one who can kill you with her pinky.
Grey Goo – Only you can stop grey goo! Please remember to program your nanites with replication-limiting code.
Elvish 42 – For true geek cred, try sporting the answer to life, the universe, and everything, as written in Lord of the Rings Elvish.
Cafepress is always running some promotion or another (at the time of this writing, you can get free shipping on any order over $75 with the code “SHIP07″, and you can save $5 off any $50 order with the code “SAVEGAS”), so you can probably manage some manner of discount off the normal prices for the items. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a line.
Now, with all that said and the good news out of the way, time for the not-so-good – The current incarnation of The Philosophy of Firefly shop may not survive the holiday season. For those who are unfamiliar with how the system works, CafePress charges us shopowners $50 a year for the privilege of having a single shop wherein we can have multiple designs on each item (such as being able to have all of my “Philosophy of…” designs on Value T-Shirts). For those monstrously big and popular shops out there, I am quite certain this “nominal” charge is something that is easily handled each year… they probably make that much money in a month, if not less time. However, for little piddly shops such as mine, it is another matter entirely. Over the course of its almost-two-years’ existence, The Philosophy of Firefly has only managed to bring in less than $50, while I have had to pay $100 to continue its service. As I am sure those of you who are schooled in higher math have already realized, I am losing money on this venture. I was willing to run with it for a few years, just to see if things would pick up… and, admittedly, they have. But not enough.
So here is the announcement – The Philosophy of Firefly has made approximately $25 this year. If it does not manage to make at least $40 before its expiration date (the 29th of January, 2008), the shop will be closed. For those of you who are concerned, I will reopen a free shop after closing this “premium” one, and certain items, such as Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from Fireflywill be included in it. In fact, I will probably have all of my various designs in it. But the problem is, if I decide to put the Serenity Athletic Department design on a sweatshirt, that is the only design that you will be able to purchase on a sweatshirt from my shop. Such is the curse of a “basic” shop with CafePress.
Sorry, folks. It is just a matter of cost-benefit analysis. Do not misunderstand me… it is kind of satisfying to see products I have developed and created purchased by other people. However, it does not seem to make a whole lot of sense to pay someone else for that privilege, especially considering these products are supposed to be making me money. So, if you want to ensure the continuation of The Philosophy of Firefly, get thee hence and start purchasing things – Christmas is only a little over a month away, and the turnaround time with CafePress ranges from one to two weeks, not including shipping time. If not… well, you might just save me money.