Saw someone selling unofficial merch of a small author’s character and it made me think does anyone actually do this legally?
Okay so genuine question from someone still figuring out this space.
I was at a small convention last month and there was this vendor selling the most beautiful sticker sets characters from a webnovel I actually follow. The art was clearly inspired by the author’s official designs.
Then I actually went home and looked it up. The author had literally posted on her socials saying she wishes ppl would just ask her before using her characters. She said she’d probably say yes if someone just reached out properly.
Bro, That stuck with me. Like is there actually a way to do this cleanly? Has anyone here ever just… DMed a small creator and asked to use their art for merch officially? Was there any kind of simple agreement or was it a nightmare?
I feel like small creators WANT this but nobody knows how to make it happen without it turning into a legal headache.
Genuinely curious if this is something ppl in this community have tried