Afterwords Poetry

afterWords POEtry™ That Sticks" are Gothic themed word magnet kits created with original photographs of names from New England grave stones. Create your own killer poems and slogans with over 200 words to choose from. I developed afterWords from start to finish. It was a long, and exciting arch from creative idea to store shelves. This included- the creative idea and concept- taking 200+ photographs that were transformed onto magnets that comprise a kit- revised, revised, revised materials, scale of product, graphics- graphic design for materials and website - building and launching the website, including interactive Flash based media- assembling the kits at each phase: prototype, fine draft, final- researched and submitted provisional patent, trademarks, copyright- researched and hired manufacturing vendors- cold called brick and mortar stores, and outreach to web sales platforms- managed vendor relationships- was point person for market sales at RISD, Rhinebeck and Salem- handled the budget and inventory. afterWords POEtry’s final version was sold at nine brick and mortar stores and four online outlets. From a business standpoint, working with a bootstrap budget of afterWords was never in the red. With this project I developed new skills in the realms of product development and product invention. I also valued my mentor/co-developer immensely and hope I can pay it forward.