What is Rocketindie?
Rocketindie is a new kind of distribution company primarily targeted at independent filmmakers.
Rather than selling and distributing the movie for you like a traditional distributor would— it helps you to self-distribute your movie.
It's designed by filmmakers for filmmakers — we made it because we could not find a solution in the marketplace to satisfy our distribution requirements for our own movie. So we invented one — and now everybody else gets to use it.
What is self-distribution?
Self distribution means a few very simple things.
Say you have finished your movie.
Well in order to self-distribute your movie on DVD you have to do 3 simple things.
PRODUCTION - Produce a DVD — obviously you need a product to sell — before you can sell it
TRANSACTION - Create a method of taking payment from the customer — so that when they want to give you money — you have a way of "taking it"
FULFILLMENT — You need a way of physically getting the DVD to the customer once they order. Ideally it should get there as quickly as possible.
What exactly does Rocketindie do?
Rocketindie provides all of the above mentioned services to independent filmmakers at very low cost. i.e if you sign up with Rocketindie we are your one stop solution for DVD production, a transactional system for taking customer orders and an automated fulfillment systems that ships orders every day so you don't have to.
How does all this work?
It's easy.
You sign up for a Rocketindie account online at www.rocketindie.com
The signup includes giving us some basic details — such as your name and email address so we can transfer money to you as your discs sell.
You create an Item Code and define some basic properties — such as name, description, price you want to sell it for.
You send us a bunch of DVD's of the defined item — minimum 300.
When the your DVDs arrive in the warehouse — we notify you and allow you to generate a simple "buy now" button code — which you can put anywhere on your website, myspace page etc.
You do nothing else.
From that point on any single click by a customer on that button on your website takes them straight into a single item checkout for your product.
Who is this for?
Rocketindie is fully owned by independent filmmakers and was designed to help them distribute their DVD's. However anybody who has a disc based product — and wants a VERY SIMPLE, quick, transparent and accountable way of selling that product to customers — can benefit from the service. This includes but is most certainly not limited to the following groups
Niche products like instructional videos
Independent feature films and documentaries
Independent musicians
Distributors of DVDs or CDs who want a simple way to sell DVDs directly
That's great - but how much does it cost?
We know filmmakers have invested a lot of money and time in their work and we want to help them maximize their revenues. That's why we offer a very attractive package.
NO SIGNUP cost.
NO MONTHLY cost for usage of the system (*)
There is actually a storage fee of $29 for each 1000 dvds (or less) we are keeping in our warehouse.
The storage fee is waived if you sell more than 50 dvds (per each 1000 or less you are storing) every month.
NO COMMISSION on sales.
You set your own price for the item — let's say $20. When the DVD sells Rocketindie gives you $20. There is no sales commission.
Come on — how can it be free? Where do you make your money?
No matter what you set your item price to be (for example $20) the customer is actually charged a slightly higher price — because there is a fee for shipping and handling. For single DVD items — this fee is flat rated to $5 for Domestic (North American) shipping and $8 for International shipping — irrespective of what you set your price to be.
So if you set the price to be $20 — the customer is charged $25 for a domestic order.
How do I get paid — and how frequently?
Rocketindie is partnering with Paypal for financial transactions. In order to get paid you will have to create a paypal account unless you already have one. It is very easy and safe to do this and you can do so through www.paypal.com
You will not start incurring charges for storage/fulfillment until the first time a given item you have created arrives in the warehouse. From that point on every client goes through a credit control period ? during which they get paid every 30 days for the orders received during that 30 day period.
After the credit control period is over (or in special circumstances if clients are pre-approved) then you can select to get paid monthly, weekly or even daily.
Note that if you decide to manufacture your DVD's through Rocketindie there will of course be some upfront charges involved since manufacturing of DVDs must be paid in full.
Is Rocketindie a portal?
No Rocketindie is most definitely NOT a portal. Rocketindie is designed from the ground up to help you sell DVD's on your website.
It is invisible to your customer yet it allows you to easily plug into a transaction and fulfillment infrastructure.
Why does the customer buy from my website — not from Rocketindie?
See the previous question. The idea is that you are selling to the customer — that is the point of self-distribution. We are helping you sell and deliver and providing you all manner of functionality to monitor your sales and customer information.
What kind of material does Rocketindie accept?
Almost any disc based product. Music, Video etc.
The only thing we do not accept is the following
DVD-R's — you have to have commercial grade glass mastered discs, no Obscene, pornographic or illegal material. We will conduct spot checks on incoming items and if you attempt to use Rocketindie to distribute illegal or pornographic material you will be banned from using the system in the future.
Who are you people?
We are a group of independent filmmakers who have decided that we are unhappy with the distribution options offered to us — so we decided to create our own. When this turned out quite well — and many others asked if they could do the same thing — we created RocketIndie. Stay tuned for more details about us and the business.
Setup
What if I do not have any DVD's of my film?
That's not a problem. Rocketindie offers a full service DVD production, design and encoding facility. We partner with industry leaders who offer this service — and have negotiated aggressively priced packages with them. You do not have to take one of the packages we offer — you can customise to your hearts content.
We will not prevent you from using a different supplier of DVDs but we strongly encourage you to use our partners because of proven speed, efficiency and reliability.
What if I already have DVD's of my film?
That's not a problem. You simply send the DVD's to us and we provide a transaction and fulfillment service.
How easy is this to implement on my website?
Very easy. Rocketindie will create a single "buy now" button which is as easy to put on your website as any single image. We will provide html code that you can cut and paste into your website — so you can be up and running in a matter of minutes.
What if I don't have a website?
You should get a website.
"Buy now" buttons can be used on myspace pages and in many forms of Viral Marketing (e.g. youtube, email etc) but you really should get a website to take the most advantage of this system.
Can I sell directly from my myspace page?
Yes you can — the buy now button that Rocketindie generates can be used directly in myspace pages — creating a very simple way of selling your movie directly from myspace in one click.
Reporting
How do I keep track of orders and stock levels of my items ?
The Rocketindie website will provide real time 24hr access to your current orders, customer information, stock level of products. It will allow you to modify any aspect of your existing items or add new items. It will also be possible to setup automated weekly email reports for any information in the system.
Shipping
How frequently do the items ship from the Rocketindie warehouse?
Rocketindie will process orders every 48 hours. Customers will receive email notifications when
items are ordered
items are shipped
You will have full control of the content of these emails.
Marketing
How will Rocketindie make people buy my movie?
Rocketindie will not market your film. Rocketindie will certainly advise on how grassroots marketing can be conducted — but we are not a marketing company.
It is the filmmakers responsibility to identify niche/core markets and pursue audiences via forums, blogs and other viral community methods.
Nothing prevents you from playing with the big boys and seeking editorial coverage in traditional media (local newspapers, radio stations etc) — remember that every single person who comes to your website is now a potential customer.
Rocketindie is a new kind of distribution company primarily targeted at independent filmmakers.
Rather than selling and distributing the movie for you like a traditional distributor would— it helps you to self-distribute your movie.
It's designed by filmmakers for filmmakers — we made it because we could not find a solution in the marketplace to satisfy our distribution requirements for our own movie. So we invented one — and now everybody else gets to use it.
What is self-distribution?
Self distribution means a few very simple things.
Say you have finished your movie.
Well in order to self-distribute your movie on DVD you have to do 3 simple things.
PRODUCTION - Produce a DVD — obviously you need a product to sell — before you can sell it
TRANSACTION - Create a method of taking payment from the customer — so that when they want to give you money — you have a way of "taking it"
FULFILLMENT — You need a way of physically getting the DVD to the customer once they order. Ideally it should get there as quickly as possible.
What exactly does Rocketindie do?
Rocketindie provides all of the above mentioned services to independent filmmakers at very low cost. i.e if you sign up with Rocketindie we are your one stop solution for DVD production, a transactional system for taking customer orders and an automated fulfillment systems that ships orders every day so you don't have to.
How does all this work?
It's easy.
You sign up for a Rocketindie account online at www.rocketindie.com
The signup includes giving us some basic details — such as your name and email address so we can transfer money to you as your discs sell.
You create an Item Code and define some basic properties — such as name, description, price you want to sell it for.
You send us a bunch of DVD's of the defined item — minimum 300.
When the your DVDs arrive in the warehouse — we notify you and allow you to generate a simple "buy now" button code — which you can put anywhere on your website, myspace page etc.
You do nothing else.
From that point on any single click by a customer on that button on your website takes them straight into a single item checkout for your product.
Who is this for?
Rocketindie is fully owned by independent filmmakers and was designed to help them distribute their DVD's. However anybody who has a disc based product — and wants a VERY SIMPLE, quick, transparent and accountable way of selling that product to customers — can benefit from the service. This includes but is most certainly not limited to the following groups
Niche products like instructional videos
Independent feature films and documentaries
Independent musicians
Distributors of DVDs or CDs who want a simple way to sell DVDs directly
That's great - but how much does it cost?
We know filmmakers have invested a lot of money and time in their work and we want to help them maximize their revenues. That's why we offer a very attractive package.
NO SIGNUP cost.
NO MONTHLY cost for usage of the system (*)
There is actually a storage fee of $29 for each 1000 dvds (or less) we are keeping in our warehouse.
The storage fee is waived if you sell more than 50 dvds (per each 1000 or less you are storing) every month.
NO COMMISSION on sales.
You set your own price for the item — let's say $20. When the DVD sells Rocketindie gives you $20. There is no sales commission.
Come on — how can it be free? Where do you make your money?
No matter what you set your item price to be (for example $20) the customer is actually charged a slightly higher price — because there is a fee for shipping and handling. For single DVD items — this fee is flat rated to $5 for Domestic (North American) shipping and $8 for International shipping — irrespective of what you set your price to be.
So if you set the price to be $20 — the customer is charged $25 for a domestic order.
How do I get paid — and how frequently?
Rocketindie is partnering with Paypal for financial transactions. In order to get paid you will have to create a paypal account unless you already have one. It is very easy and safe to do this and you can do so through www.paypal.com
You will not start incurring charges for storage/fulfillment until the first time a given item you have created arrives in the warehouse. From that point on every client goes through a credit control period ? during which they get paid every 30 days for the orders received during that 30 day period.
After the credit control period is over (or in special circumstances if clients are pre-approved) then you can select to get paid monthly, weekly or even daily.
Note that if you decide to manufacture your DVD's through Rocketindie there will of course be some upfront charges involved since manufacturing of DVDs must be paid in full.
Is Rocketindie a portal?
No Rocketindie is most definitely NOT a portal. Rocketindie is designed from the ground up to help you sell DVD's on your website.
It is invisible to your customer yet it allows you to easily plug into a transaction and fulfillment infrastructure.
Why does the customer buy from my website — not from Rocketindie?
See the previous question. The idea is that you are selling to the customer — that is the point of self-distribution. We are helping you sell and deliver and providing you all manner of functionality to monitor your sales and customer information.
What kind of material does Rocketindie accept?
Almost any disc based product. Music, Video etc.
The only thing we do not accept is the following
DVD-R's — you have to have commercial grade glass mastered discs, no Obscene, pornographic or illegal material. We will conduct spot checks on incoming items and if you attempt to use Rocketindie to distribute illegal or pornographic material you will be banned from using the system in the future.
Who are you people?
We are a group of independent filmmakers who have decided that we are unhappy with the distribution options offered to us — so we decided to create our own. When this turned out quite well — and many others asked if they could do the same thing — we created RocketIndie. Stay tuned for more details about us and the business.
Setup
What if I do not have any DVD's of my film?
That's not a problem. Rocketindie offers a full service DVD production, design and encoding facility. We partner with industry leaders who offer this service — and have negotiated aggressively priced packages with them. You do not have to take one of the packages we offer — you can customise to your hearts content.
We will not prevent you from using a different supplier of DVDs but we strongly encourage you to use our partners because of proven speed, efficiency and reliability.
What if I already have DVD's of my film?
That's not a problem. You simply send the DVD's to us and we provide a transaction and fulfillment service.
How easy is this to implement on my website?
Very easy. Rocketindie will create a single "buy now" button which is as easy to put on your website as any single image. We will provide html code that you can cut and paste into your website — so you can be up and running in a matter of minutes.
What if I don't have a website?
You should get a website.
"Buy now" buttons can be used on myspace pages and in many forms of Viral Marketing (e.g. youtube, email etc) but you really should get a website to take the most advantage of this system.
Can I sell directly from my myspace page?
Yes you can — the buy now button that Rocketindie generates can be used directly in myspace pages — creating a very simple way of selling your movie directly from myspace in one click.
Reporting
How do I keep track of orders and stock levels of my items ?
The Rocketindie website will provide real time 24hr access to your current orders, customer information, stock level of products. It will allow you to modify any aspect of your existing items or add new items. It will also be possible to setup automated weekly email reports for any information in the system.
Shipping
How frequently do the items ship from the Rocketindie warehouse?
Rocketindie will process orders every 48 hours. Customers will receive email notifications when
items are ordered
items are shipped
You will have full control of the content of these emails.
Marketing
How will Rocketindie make people buy my movie?
Rocketindie will not market your film. Rocketindie will certainly advise on how grassroots marketing can be conducted — but we are not a marketing company.
It is the filmmakers responsibility to identify niche/core markets and pursue audiences via forums, blogs and other viral community methods.
Nothing prevents you from playing with the big boys and seeking editorial coverage in traditional media (local newspapers, radio stations etc) — remember that every single person who comes to your website is now a potential customer.
