Tarot seems to be in a slump - your impressions?

[Gulliver]

It's very sad, but I got the impression, that the "tarot business" as a whole (amount of interested people in tarot) is in a slump.

Why I think so?
The enthusiasm re tarot seemed to has been more some years ago. Some years there were a group created the AT collab deck. Or there has been the "traveller deck". Funny things, I would like to participate, but there isn't a possibility to no more. Further I noticed that some people are rather selling their collections than buying new decks, the trading forum got slow. I don't know, if I'm right, but it seems to me, that the prices of single decks from publishers went up slightly over the last few years, what could be a sign that less buying people have to pay a bit more to maintain the old standard for the big publishers. That could be a point before the prices generally go down and the business goes in a slump.

Are you thinking different? Any thoughts?

 

[gregory]

I think - as debra said yesterday in another thread - it went completely OTT wild for a while, and we are now "back to normal".

http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4076072&postcount=11

There were, for a bit, VAST numbers of new decks, charging more and more and more, and people just burned out. Gamecrafter may or may not make this better, as at least there isn't the potential for people to buy up stock and then resell on ebay for profit...

The collaborative deck here - as I understand it no-one wants to organise the thing. I am on another forum where we DO do one every year, though it is sometimes majors only. If you want to organise one - ask Solandia., I can't believe she'd say no ! I know I've helped with the organisation of one elsewhere - and I would never do it again. Hassling people to finish up what they promised is unpleasant and tiring !

The travelling deck worked really well the first time, but with the second, the novelty just wore off. Also they take AGES - same with Frankie and Shelley - and people tend to disappear, or get too busy and so on, so you'd get posts "where is so and so; I am supposed to mail this deck..."

I think it's LIFE as much as anything. I know mine has got far busier over the last couple of years - and I'm actually retired ! People I know in work are exhausted....

 

[Wendywu]

I was writing Frankie's (the Franckendecken) diary of his travels but the person who eventually won the deck in the raffle at the end of it all got very annoyed with me and said she would do it; it was her job to do. I sent her copies of all of my files and the extensive work I had already done. All she needed to do was insert the last two people's written and photographic entries (which I also sent her) and it would have been done. I'd done the formatting, re-sized all the images, the lot ..... she never finished the task.

If she'd preferred she could have used the files to create a book in her own choice of format - anything she wanted, she didn't need to stick to the one I'd used.

That was the last time I undertook a community task of that sort and I don't say I'd rush to do it again. It took me many, many hours of work and it was all for nothing in the end.

 

[Gulliver]

An exquisite answer, Gregory, that explains all! Many thanks to you!

If I would organise the making of a collab deck? I've to admit, after hearing of the necessity of bringing some people their promises to their mind, I'm not very motivated. That sounds horrible. But I could ask, if there is enough interest in to do an AT deck at the moment at all. Shall I do that?

Oh Wendywu, I'm so sorry, that's a bad thing to work so hard for nothing! I completely understand you!

 

[gregory]

I was writing Frankie's (the Franckendecken) diary of his travels but the person who eventually won the deck in the raffle at the end of it all got very annoyed with me and said she would do it; it was her job to do. I sent her copies of all of my files and the extensive work I had already done. All she needed to do was insert the last two people's written and photographic entries (which I also sent her) and it would have been done. I'd done the formatting, re-sized all the images, the lot ..... she never finished the task.

If she'd preferred she could have used the files to create a book in her own choice of format - anything she wanted, she didn't need to stick to the one I'd used.

That was the last time I undertook a community task of that sort and I don't say I'd rush to do it again. It took me many, many hours of work and it was all for nothing in the end.

I had no idea, Wu - I am SO sorry. Go for it and do one anyway ? It's worth it just for Lillie's posts ! I did the first travelling deck journal, and it worked fine. But it was annoying with the later ones where many people saved posts "to add later" and then never added their experiences...

Sure, Gulliver - go for it ! But if you organise, ONLY allow people to take a second card after they submit the first and so on - that was what happened before ! Otherwise you get people saying they will do half a dozen and then vanishing from the face of the forum...

 

[Wendywu]

I could I suppose; I've still got all the written entries saved and formatted, and the images for insertion. Back then work wasn't so busy and I seemed somehow to have more time. I'd need to get the current office stuff off my schedule before I'd really have the mental space for Frankie again.

I've always fancied finishing the job though - it looked good, and I was looking forward to seeing it completed. I was a bit iffy about printing it out - some of the entries contained a couple of hundred images each and the thought of the ink I'd use up made my eyes water! But I always thought I could pop it onto discs (much too big to email, even if I zipped it).

I'll let the idea bubble for a while and see where it goes

 

[Wendywu]

I miss Lillie very much


Actually, I just looked at the list of member entries in my files - so many happy names. I enjoyed that

The patchwork decks and travelling decks were fun though. And I remember the LWB for the Nonny deck (I still have the images for that deck) - the members outdid themselves for that one!

 

[Metafizzypop]

I don't think tarot is in a slump. To me it seems to be doing very well. New tarot decks come out all the time. Half of them from Lo Scarabeo. Think about it: making tarot decks is a really off-the-beaten-path business to be in. And this company has no problem staying in business. If anything, they seem to come out with a new gimmick every week. Which implies a big market.

And then there's those indie decks that sell out in the blink of an eye. I can't tell you how many times I put off buying a deck only to find out later that it was GONE. And when I finally did track down a copy, it cost 50 times more than the original price.

What slump?

 

[danieljuk]

sadly a lot of the collaborative projects here happened before I joined! I would be willing to be part of it but I couldn't organise because of health reasons which can be a little unpredictable at times

I know that a lot of the projects here have hit problems when they use the postal service, post is so expensive now in almost every country and so the AT exchanges by post are less popular now. I think the collaborative decks though were all done online at the time? I don't know anything about the details that went into them but I love seeing the cards online now

Tarot publishers seem to be doing really well at the moment and producing lots of new decks, I would say there is a lot of interest at the moment! There is so many big companies producing many many decks, the interest must be there! There is problems with local book shops and Aelectic businesses, if people don't support them we will eventually end up with Amazon just selling us Doreen Virtue decks! We have to keep the market varied as customers (and not just in divination!)

Gregory and Debra's linked post are totally right that the insane part of tarot seems to be going back to normal. As the copyrights expire more often on very old decks, could be interesting what happens then! perhaps we could just get our own RWS or other decks printed from game crafter personalised to us

 

[Luna-Ocean]

I must admit i have seen the collaboration decks here and they do look very interesting, but i do think setting a theme for the whole AT deck would be a much better approach then people could just work towards that main goal? i myself have been working on each of my own majors and i have to say it takes alot of imagination to come up with just one idea that fits each image, so i think whether it was to do with fantasy, horror or what ever!!! i think AT members could set boundaries on what type of theme to work together on before they got started on the project?

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=115410&highlight=COLLABORATIVE+DECKS