Ingeborg’s SL Shop

I opened up a Poetry shop in Second Life (SL) called Inge-

borg’s Corner Customised Poetry. The name Ingeborg I
selected as the name of my Avatar because it is the name my
grandfather wanted me to be called by. So am paying him trib-
ute by wearing it in Second Life.
It has been fun setting up the store in Second Life. Gives me a
chance to very quickly experiment with ideas and if they work
it will be a good prototype for what I can do with my Poetry
business in Real Life (RL).
I found some islands in SL belonging to members of my
church who have formed a group. This is where I decided to
settle. I also rent an apartment there and I practiced with mak-
ing things and decorating by furnishing the apartment.
The experience so far has been a great learning exercise be-
cause I am learning to use many of the applications I pur-
chased to help with my publishing. I wrote this article to share
my experience. Hope you enjoy reading it.
 As you walk into my shop this is what you see. The woman in
the foreground is my Avatar, Ingeborg. The carpet has a script
which looks for new people entering the store and if it is some-
one new it hands them a note card with explanations how to
order a poem. I made the carpet myself using a simple SL object

called a Prim
(for Primitive)
and then at-
taching a tex-
ture using an
image I found
on the inter-
net. Most ob-

jects in Second Life are created that way, making them pretty
by adding what is called a texture. Below you see a close-up of
the back wall which gives instructions on how to order a tailor
made poem. The post box on the right is a gadget that will send
me an e-mail in RL if someone drops a message into it. Hence
I can be contacted even if I am not online in SL. The wall I
made using 1 prim decorated with a panel created in Adobe

Illustrator and then

imported into SL.
So this has given
me some experi-
ence using Illustra-
tor which is a very
powerful graphics
Program.
This view is looking at the right wall. Here I give people the
option to purchase an “express” poem by clicking on one of
the categories on the left. Clicking on one will request an
instant payment and provide the customer with a note card
which has a questionnaire and instructions on how to pro-
vide me with the information they need to get the poem writ-
ten.
The normal way to commission a poem is to request an in-
terview with me. So will see which of these ends up being
more popular.
Because each type of poem (i.e. engagement, birthday etc)
has a different set of questions this wall has a lot more prims
on it. Each category is a prim object that contains the note
card. So when an avatar clicks on it they buy the object. The
beauty of Second Life objects is that once you create one
you can sell literally an endless number. Buying an object
creates and instant copy. So if you can manage to get traffic
to your store, and have popular items for sale, you can make
a lot of money in SL. Next photo shows the various catego-
 ries blown up.
These are all just to
give people ideas re
ordering poems. And in
case I missed any I add-
ed an OTHER button.

Each of these buttons

was created using a
prim covered with a
texture. The texture is
a graphics file I created
using Illustrator and
then imported into SL.

Other ways of sell-

ing similar objects in
SL are via an object
called a VENDOR
similar to a vending
machine in RL. I have
a simple vendor which
you will see further on.

This article by the way was created using another Adobe product
called InDesign. This is a desktop publishing program which has
evolved from PageMaker. I used PageMaker briefly many years
ago and it is similar to another package I used to publish a few
books called Ventura Publisher.
Of course the product has evolved and become much more pow-
erful so will require a lot of learning for me to get familiar with
all of its features. I also have a copy of Adobe Acrobat which al-
lows me to create PDF files. InDesign will also create PDF files
from many types of documents.
We are now looking at the left wall at the back of the shop. Here I
have two very neat display units that keep cycling through a num-
ber of poems. On the left are poems written by me and also a bit of
background to who I am and why I write the poems. On the right I
am displaying poems written by other SL poets. So far I have only
one contribution. I also give some background to the poem. The
Poem is called Papa’s Lullaby. The words are on the next page.
The story is very moving.
The poem was written by a man living in the UK who appears in
SL as a gypsy with his own gypsy wagon. He wrote the poem a
few years ago in RL. One night he was listening to the radio, a talk
back show, when the announcer rudely told the caller “ go cry into
your cradle”.
This affected him and so there and then he spent 20 minutes writ-
ing this poem. Then some time later, in 1995, his 5 year old daugh-
ter became ill with meningitis and she lost both her legs.
His little daughter was in a lot of pain. In between shots of morphine
he sat by her bedside and sang this lullaby to her. In the meantime
he had put it to music. The nurses soon got to know the lullaby and
joined in with the singing. Then one nurse decided to go public and
they played the lullaby over the radio to raise money for her treat-
ment and managed to raise 7,000 British pounds.
His daughter recovered and recently got her license, driving using her
hands. He told me she wants to become prime minister of England.
I was terribly moved by this story and poem and decided to add this
feature to my shop so that others have a place to display their poems.
In time who knows, if I get a lot of orders I may be able to commis-
sion others to help with creating the poems. Below the poem.
Here you look at the front wall of the shop currently showing
my Halloween display and the front door. I have started dis-
playing quotes made by SL residents. These I made into signs
that people can hang up in their homes. It is an extension of fa-
mous quotes which I have hanging on the side wall. The famous
quotes I sell for a small fee. The quotes by SL residents I sell on
their behalf. So far I have 2 quotes from the writer of the Lul-
laby poem. I am doing this for several reasons. One is to help

them out. Another

is to get people par-
ticipation in my store
and hence hopefully
attract more custom-
ers. I have already
requested a bigger
shop so that I can
also have a corner
for poetry recitals.
Events are a good
way to attract traffic to your store in SL.
The picture below shows the left wall near entrance. Here I have
a lot of quotes on display written by all sorts of famous people
made up into signs that can be used to decorate people’s homes. I
thought of this to add something that is cheap and that people can
buy straight away as they visit the shop.
Next to the quotes is a vendor showing a picture of Christ. Here
I currently have 3 different pictures stored as giveaways to other
members of the church. I am waiting on reply to an e-mail if that
breaks copyright, if not I will be adding a number of artworks to
this vendor. Members of our church like to decorate their walls
with religious art. So this is to help others set up their homes and
apartments in SL.
I think SL becomes more successful for you when you get in-
volved with groups within SL. For me finding this group of
church members has been richly rewarding. Many of them are ill
and SL gives them a chance to participate in life. Funny that! SL
can sometimes be more like Real Life! I
attended a dance last week and that was
such a lot of fun. I really had to experi-
ence it to believe it!
Here are two of my famous quotes
signs. The one on the left has taken on
a whole new meaning since speaking
with our resident Gypsy, Mathoni.
The one below I never knew was writ-
ten by Goethe but have come across it
quite a lot!

This quote on the left has special meaning

to me. I have it hanging up in my kitchen.
It was given to me by my Aunt in Ger-
many when one of my visits was coming
to an end. We were both sad as we had
enjoyed spending time together. I have the
German version and found this English
translation on the internet.
In SL these signs look 3 dimensional be-
cause they are attached to a 3D object so
they look like real pictures.
Next section of wall is my feature poem wall. (See opposite page)
Currently I am displaying the poem I recently wrote about my great
grandmothers place “The Old Mill”. I will eventually create a book
of poems to sell and this one will go into the book. From time to
time will change this feature wall so that people will come back for
more.

The last section of the right wall is my display wall showing poems
commissioned. To give people an example of what I can write for
them.
I am also creating an inventory of poems in note cards that I can
give out to people as I meet them which have the address of my
store on them. So that I can do some face to face advertising.

I have placed an ad for the store in the classified section of SL. The
ad currently shows the back wall of the shop with the welcome sign
Here you have
a close-up of
me as I appear
on my profile
The next two shots are outside of my shop. I
am in a shopping village called Zarahemla.
Many of the names used on these islands are
names from our church. The large store op-
posite sells aquatic goods including virtual
fish that swim around in fish tanks. They look
very real. Then there next to me are clothing,
art and photographic shops. The islands were
only built in April so this is all very much at
the beginning.
And here you see me from the front. So I bid
you farewell. If you visit Second Life please
call into my shop and browse or better still,
commission a poem so that I can continue to
stay in SL. My aim is to at least become self-
supporting.