• How does it work?
• How does Storybird work?
• Why did you design Storymaker to behave the way it does?
• Why can't I adjust type, page sizes, background colors, etc?
• Where does the art/illustration come from?
• Will people be able to upload their own images or pictures?
• Will you be adding more features to Storymaker?
• Can people print their Storybirds?

• Why Storybird matters (to you)
• Why Storybird matters (to you)
• A global market without friction
• What can I sell inside of Storybird?
• Explain more about the art formats

• Selling your artwork in Storybird
• How do I sell my work inside of Storybird?
• Does Storybird charge commission?
• Isn't 30% high? ETSY (or my agent) charge 10% or less.
• How do I get paid for my work?
• Can I make a living from Storybird?
• I have an agent. How does that work?
• I work for a publisher/greeting card/animation company. Now what?

• Copyright and content questions
• What about copyright and ownership issues?
• How do rights management on Storybird differ from traditional markets?
• What if someone includes my art in an inappropriate story?
• What about theft? Can people steal my hi-resolution files?
• What kind of art/illustration is Storybird looking for?
• What about photography?
• Can I include pop culture imagery?

• Participating in the trial phase
• Why should I join Storybird during this trial phase?
• What's expected of me during the trial phase?
• How do I sign up?

What's Storybird?

Storybird is a social media service that uses collaborative storytelling to connect families and friends. Two people author a Storybird—one with words, one with pictures—and then share it with their network. The final product can be printed, watched on screen, played with like a toy, or shared through a worldwide library.

Who uses it?

At the moment, just friends, family, and a handful of illustrators who are testing our pre-release and giving us feedback. Once it’s ready, kids and families around the world will be able to use Storybird.

Why did you create Storybird?

We created Storybird to connect families. Everywhere we looked, people are living apart, working long hours, or separated by travel. Old routines like reading a book together or playing a board game are increasingly rare and new routines, particularly online, haven’t caught up. Grownups use Twitter and Facebook; kids use Neopets and Club Penguin. But no service actually connects the two groups. That’s where Storybird comes in. We use collaborative storytelling to connect kids and their families.

Why stories?

Stories are the currency of life, particularly in families. Parents entertain and educate their kids through stories. And kids contextualize and imagine the world through narrative. It’s how their brain works. For us, the goal was to design a service that made storytelling effortless.

How does Storybird work?

It’s pretty simple: someone starts a Storybird by writing a few words or grabbing a few images. Then the other person takes a turn, adding more words and pictures. In one or two turns they can finish and share a Storybird. It’s that easy. And they can do it sitting side-by-side or across the country from each other.

Why did you design Storymaker to behave the way it does?

Storymaker emphasizes playing with words and pictures. That’s it. We want to keep things easy and fun, and we want people to focus on making stories together.

Why can't I adjust type, page sizes, background colors, etc?

For the same reasons we mentioned above: we want people connecting and making stories—not fussing with layout. Storymaker is like a great frame: no matter what picture you drop in, the final appearance is simple and beautiful.

Where does the art/illustration come from?

From narrative artists—animators, illustrators, concept/comic artists—around the world.

Will people be able to upload their own images or pictures?

Yes. We’ll be releasing that feature shortly.

Will you be adding more features to Storymaker?

Absolutely. We’ll be iterating on the software for several months. But, much of the power will remain behind the scenes. The interface will remain largely the same.

Can people print their Storybirds?

Soon. Our first few releases are focused on ironing out the wrinkles using the service and sharing Storybirds online.

What else can people do with their Storybirds?

Storybirds can be sent like greeting cards, printed like books, played like toys, watched on TV…the list goes on. Mostly, it’s an ever-expanding sandbox for families and friends.

Why Storybird matters

Storybird matters to families because it’s a fun way to connect and share their history, values, and viewpoint through stories. Storybird matters to you because it’s a new digital format: short, art-enabled, sequential media that can be easily shared, printed, or played with. This creates new opportunities for storytelling, character development, and interaction. And, it creates a market that didn’t exist before.

A global market without friction

If you’re an illustrator, animator, or concetp/comic artist, Storybird gives you direct access to a global consumer market. No editors, producers, or agents stand in your way: create what you want, set up shop, and sell your work. It’s that easy. Along the way, we’ll give you the tools and information you need to refine your offering, establish a brand, and develop an audience that matches your distinct style.

What can I sell inside of Storybird?

Your artwork. Generally, this means supplying people with story “components”—the visual ingredients they arrange to make a story. For instance, you might decide to create a universe of dragon lore: dragons, knights, battles, castles, mountains, dens, etc. You can then supply them in three categories depending on how you work and what you want to sell: as “pieces” that can be re-arranged and layered; as “panels,” which are full-scene equivalents of a page in a traditional book; and as “products,” finished Storybird that you illustrate and write, and accompanying printed materials like art cards and prints.

Explain more about the art formats

Pieces are vector-based art. This format lets people combine, layer, and resize the characters, backgrounds, and objects that might otherwise make a traditional “fixed” scene. In the dragon example, you might create various dragons and poses; knights, in various stages of battle or action; castles and buildings, from different angles perspectives; landscapes, from mountains to rivers to valleys, etc. From there, people can combine and recombine the elements into any dragon-based story (or cut out the dragons altogether and just make a story about knights and castles). It’s like giving people Lego blocks and letting them decide what they’re going to build.

Panels are “full-scene” art. With panels, instead of recombining individual elements, people create narratives through sequences, like re-arranging the pages of a picture book. In the dragon example, you might create a dozen scenes—the knights meeting at the castle, a horse-ride through the forest, a dragon swooping over a village—that Storybird collaborators turn into a story through editing (including or excluding scenes) and sequencing (the story begins with the dragon swooping over the village, rather than ending with that scene). Instead of Lego blocks, giving people panels is like giving them preconfigured Lego scenes: a character on a horse, a small house, a bus with kids. How they arrange these mini-scenes is up to them.

Products enable you to repackage and sell your ingredient artwork as finished Storybirds and printed articles like postcards, sticker books, and posters. Products are your way of publishing your own stories—the way YOU want them—and extending your characters into other formats. In our Lego metaphor, products are whole sets, pre-built and ready to go. Note: products are not part of this trial phase. They’ll be enabled when we launch ecommerce.

How do I sell my work inside of Storybird?

Artists are given a shop when they join Storybird—like ETSY or eBay—to showcase and market their work, whether it’s pieces, panels, or products. (You can see a sample shop here.) One you’ve activated a shop and have tagged and prepared your work, your artwork is sold either as itemized components (ie. $0.25 for the castle, $0.15 for the sword) or as complete products (ie. $25 for the story “George and the Dragon.”) Note: we’re still working on pricing with our artist advisory group.

Does Storybird charge commission?

Yes. We take a 30% commission. Artists keep 70% of their sales.

Isn't 30% high? ETSY (or my agent) charge 10% or less.

Storybird is an all-digital marketplace with built-in virality. Once you create your shop, you have immediate access to a global marketplace, infinite inventory, and no costs for shipping, insurance, or returns. You can make money while you sleep. In contrast, marketplaces that trade in physical goods are non-viral and require you to refresh or replicate your inventory, carry insurance, and shoulder shipping and return costs. Selling to publishers through agents is even tougher: the market is severely limited, the sales process is long, and payment occurs only once. You need to think of Storybird the way you might think about software markets. We’re more similar to the Apple iPhone application store than ETSY. Apple also charges a 30% commission for delivering a unique market to software developers: global, frictionless, and always-on.

How do I get paid for my work?

Artists collect fees in two ways. The first is when someone creates and prints a Storybird that includes your art. The customer is charged for the art, the printing, and delivery charges through Storybird. We then isolate the art fee, take 30%, and remit the remainder to you. The second way is when someone buys a finished Storybird or art product (prints, art cards, postcards, etc). Again, the customer is charged for printing and shipping, but your margin—the cost you add for the art and story that you created—is higher. In fact, while we plan on setting fixed prices for component art (pieces and panels), we’re considering making the price of a finished Storybird (products) arbitrary. If you have the talent and audience to command higher prices for your work, we think you should go for it. Note: ecommerce is not part of this initial trial.

Can I make a living from Storybird?

We hope so. Our plan is to create a global storytelling community that relies on artists like you to express themselves. Will it work? We don’t know. What we do know is the size of the market we’re targeting. It’s big. Storybird cuts across language, geography, income levels, religion—everything. (After all, what family doesn’t want to connect?) There are over 350 million families around the world with kids between 3-9 years old (our sweet spot). The greeting card industry, which gives us “short, visual stories” to express our thoughts, is an $8 billion dollar industry. Kid’s publishing is $5b. Casual games, another $5b. Educational games and toys, about $10b. This isn’t small change. It’s big. And we’re going after a piece of it. (Ergo, so can you ;-)

I have an agent. How does that work?

You don’t require an agent to use Storybird. However, we suggest you work with your agent to separate the material you’ll create (or re-use) for Storybird from the traditional work you deliver to magazine or book publishers. You don’t want any confusion between characters you created five years ago for a children’s book and new ones you create for Storybird.

I work for a publisher/greeting card/animation company. Now what?

We suggest you review your employment contract and examine your non-compete clause. If you own the intellectual property rights to what you contribute to Storybird AND there isn’t a non-competition clause—you’re probably free and clear. If there ARE issues, consider discussing with your manager whether you can contribute to Storybird. You may need to agree on a specific and separate class of work in order to keep them happy. That said, this should not be considered legal advice. Check with your lawyer if you have any concerns about your situation. We want Storybird to be an exciting artistic and commercial opportunity for you—not a headache.

What about copyright and ownership issues?

First, artwork that you submit to Storybird remains your property. However, when you contribute it to Storybird you license it to us so that we in turn can let families use the artwork in their stories. Second, you’re free to license your artwork in any other venue. Finally, you can pull your artwork from Storybird whenever you want (though we do retain a license to continue using “derivative art” created by our users from your initial artwork before you removed it from Storybird).

Here’s the full legal text.

How do rights management on Storybird differ from traditional markets?

Granting Storybird license rights is no different than selling your work to a publisher or film studio—they assume publishing and distribution rights in order to legally sell a book or film—but in our case, you can continue to sell the same artwork in other markets. We don’t bind you to Storybird.

What if someone includes my art in an inappropriate story?

Storybirds with innappropriate content are flagged and removed by our screeners and the community. And, if one slips through, you can simply let us know and we’ll remove it immediately.

What about theft? Can people steal my hi-resolution files?

Storymaker—the core story application—is built in Adobe Flash and separates the presentation layer from the hi-resolution file layer. This means a lower-resolution sample is used while people create their Storybirds and share them online. The hi-resolution file is used only when people print Storybirds—and that process is hidden from consumers. As for the art displayed in your shop, the sample sizes are small and not particularly useful to thieves. Of course, if you spot another artist who has somehow repurposed your work, let us know and we’ll resolve the issue immediately.

What kind of art/illustration is Storybird looking for?

Everything. From 3D dragons rendered in Maya to plasticine dogs posed and photographed on white. Oil on canvas fairies, watercolor pirates, pen and ink superheroes—everything. If you can imagine it and turn it into a digital file, it’s fair game as long as it meets our technical requirements. (You’ll learn more about what artwork to include and our technical requirements once you sign up.)

What about photography?

Photographs of various art media are fair game. If you knit woolen sock puppets and pose them on black backgrounds, we want them. If you photograph sculpture and use Photoshop to create brooding Greek Gods, we want them. But photographs of people, real places—the kind of stuff you’d find on Flickr—not yet. We may open up to that in the future, but for now we’re focused on character-based storytelling media expressed in abstract or artistically rendered formats.

Can I include pop culture imagery?

Sorry, our lawyer wants to answer this one:

“Storybird respects laws that protect intellectual property and we ask you to do the same. While we can’t monitor all artwork that is uploaded to Storybird, or all usage of that artwork, we investigate complaints and respond to them in accordance with applicable law.”

Translation: don’t upload caricatures of Darth Vader. And if you’re LucasArts, let us know if you find artists selling caricatures of Darth Vader.

Why should I join Storybird during this trial phase?

One, you’ll be exposed to the inner mechanics of Storybird and how consumers use artwork in their stories. Understanding their habits, attitudes, and tastes is enormously powerful once we start to scale and the marketplace goes live.

Two, you’ll develop an early relationship with consumers who develop a taste for your style and characters. As more families and friends build Storybirds with your art and share them online, the greater your early exposure. If you do wacky 3D aliens or luscious oil-on-canvas vampires, you have a better chance of claiming that territory if you’re involved early in the game.

Three, you’ll have input on the development of Storybird and how we work with artists and writers. We’ll be reaching out for opinions on products, features, process, and guidelines and looking to you for advice.

Finally, artists who participate in the trial phase become Charter Members and have commission fees waived for six months after we launch ecommerce and receive permanent designation in the marketplace. It’s our way of saying thanks for the help.

What's expected of me during this trial phase?

First, we need your artwork. This can be existing or new material, but the emphasis should be on character-driven work in either pieces or panels.

Second, we’d like you to iterate and experiment during the trial period and examine how your fans, family, and friends use your art in their stories. We’d like to get an understanding of how much art they use, how they apply it, and how often they make new stories. Generating new characters, poses, and supporting materials will help us design the marketplace for maximum impact and efficiency.

Finally, we want your input: either your own ideas on how to improve the service for artists or consumers, or an opinion on features or policy that we’re planning.

How do I sign up?

Hit the sign up button. After that, we’ll tell you how to prepare your files, upload them to Storybird, and participate in the trial phase.

Art formats

An illustrated guide to our art formats: pieces, panels, and products.