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Beatrix Potter Was A Savvy Business Woman
The books, from illustrations to stories, were created, developed, and controlled solely by Beatrix Potter. She drew all of her own pictures and even received some acclaim for attention to detail and accuracy which was considerably knowledgeable for a female in the early 20th century. The specifics and workings of her personal life would often provide inspiration for the plots and settings of her books. In the Tale of Ginger and Pickles for example the two main characters were dealing with business issues such as how to turn a profit and how to handle customers. This happened to be precisely what Potter was managing at the time as she was focusing more on how to market her books and who to market them to. She also used gardens as models for her pictures and pets and other animals she was surrounded with as character models. Potter also frequently used recurring characters in many of her stories. The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies featured her most popular character Peter Rabbit, but not as a primary character. Peter Rabbit really only had a cameo. Benjamin Bunny, who was the cousin of Peter Rabbit, also played the title character in The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. This was an effective form of cross promotion, however Potter did do this in every story, as evidenced in The Tale of Pigling Bland. Potter?s books were influential enough that the premise of one of her stories was borrowed by the author of the popular Winnie the Pooh stories. In Potter?s story an animal eats himself stuck. Later, a version of this can be seen as clearly similar in a Winnie the Pooh book. No less than Walt Disney himself also took interest in Potter?s writing. He had purchased the rights to both The Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh, however when he made an offer to Potter, she declined, choosing to remain in absolute control of her works. It is easy to see Beatrix Potter books follow a formula. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Pigling Bland, and The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies for instance show an adherence to title patterns. Anthropomorphic characters and the cross advertising technique of using recurring characters also show a carefully planned formula to develop a marketable product conceived and controlled by Beatrix Potter herself. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Just looking at some of the titles shows Beatrix Potter books keep to a consistent formula; The Tale of Pigling Bland, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies. This familiarity was further developed by using many of the same characters consistently throughout her stories. Her illustrations were all done by one artist and always written by one author, her, and always done in a similar way. These techniques allowed Potter to have a product that was recognizable and marketable which gained her financial freedom and success. |
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