“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get”

- Warren Buffet

SAY WHAT?

What? Huh? What are those words? What do they mean? How can they benefit your life and millions of others?
Take a breath and please keep reading. You’ll want to know this, I promise.

YOU ALREADY KNOW

You’ve actually experienced intellectual property, in multiple forms. It’s something you’ve created and, by doing so, have ownership. That includes books, articles, blogs, music, graphics, logos, photography, fine art, cartoon art, and endless others online and offline.  

YOU ALREADY OWN!

In having ownership, you can license (“rent”) it to others to use. You continue owning it. Familiar examples are professional sports teams’ logos on clothing, and Disney characters on lunch boxes, fluffy slippers, and hats. The teams (or their graphic designers) own the art and license it to companies to use in exchange for payment.

LICENSING - AN EXAMPLE

The same is true in owning an apartment building. You own the building and rent (“license”) each apartment in exchange for payment. You still own the whole building. Whether it’s art, words, an apartment or anything else that qualifies for protection, the licensing deal is a legal agreement, in writing, signed by the property’s owner and the person who wants to borrow the property. It includes what the Licensee can and cannot do with your property, how long they can use it, how much they’ll pay, when payment is  made, and other clarifying items.

MAKE IT LEGAL

There are well-vetted licensing contract templates you can fill in the blanks and take to an intellectual property attorney to review. This costs considerably less than the attorney taking a template from their own computer!

PRICING EXAMPLES

This article’s title is about pricing licenses, with Wild West reference. I’ve personally licensed my content multiple times as clients and colleagues’ clients have done. There seems to be no standardization on pricing as you’ll see in these examples.

1. A major consumer mail order print catalog licensed print rights for 250,000 copies of my tips booklet on organizing your business life. “License us  print rights for a quarter of a million copies at x¢ to z¢  a unit.”  They could buy print cheaper than I could sell it. I countered with y¢,  he responded “ x¢ or no sale.”  The company offered it as  “gift with purchase” in one catalog issue of 17 million catalogs distribution that year. The offer increased sales by 13%.

2. A colleague mentioned one of her clients had a 6-digit licensing deal for granting use of a certain defined percentage of his blog about IT.

3. A client did a licensing deal with a corporate investor relations department. Her tips booklet was NOT the cure to cancer. It was very generic helping people at a basic community level. The license was 100 printed copies (which may or may not have been customized). The Licensee paid $30,000.

4. Someone phoned me from the Netherlands. He discovered my booklet and wanted  Dutch language copies. He knew few people speak Dutch. The conversation was direct and accurate. “I’ll pay $2500 for translation and production rights to your booklet in Dutch. This is found money landing in your lap.”  That became my booklet’s fourth language after Italian, Spanish, and English. He provided $2500 and bragging rights for four languages.

5. A friend introduced me to two small business owners. One made miniature spiral notebooks with thumb tabs. The other was folded laminated products as anything but maps. Each wanted my content in their format. I charged an upfront fee of several thousand dollars, plus  royalties. I learned to get as much money upfront. It could be the only money I’d see. That’s how it went.
   

Buyers often give you pricing information.  Each license is a learning opportunity.

LICENSING OPPORTUNITIES

The technology now in companies and associations supports many opportunities for licensing your content at handsome prices for important uses. While licensing may be new to you, it is not new to many buyers. They have licensed content and placed dollar amount values on it. They often guide the pricing. For those who have not done much licensing, there are ways to help them tell you what they’re willing to pay for your ready-made beneficial content.  Stay tuned for more classes and courses about licensing YOUR Intellectual Property!

Paulette Ensign, founder of Tips Products International, is always looking for ways to help subject matter experts like you differentiate yourselves in the market place and be ready to best serve those who want what you’ve got. Are you frustrated by selling only single copies at a time directly to end users? Whether it’s printed or downloadable versions of your product on your website, Amazon, or any other information seller, there are ways to help more people at a time and make more money. Would you rather accept 4 and 5 digit (or more!) payments from your sales rather than 1, 2, or 3 digits, with recurring orders throughout the year being the business model you maintain?

We are offering trainings and other services to shine a bright light on these topics in the very near future. Watch this space or subscribe to our month newsletter, Tips on Tips at www.TipsProducts.com

© Paulette Ensign 2023