Mac - after I learned how to make pens, I decided to make some money with them. Since hand turned pens are everywhere now, it may or may not be possible. But if you want to turn out something that you could sell a few of and be proud, I studied how the others around me failed and went the other way.
This is how I did it.
I turned the best pen I could using the best materials available. Best kits, best woods. I used real ebony, real horn, and any eye catching piece of exotic wood that looked really unusual. I turned the wood pieces to fit the kit pieces, not to the bushings. So I turned to withing a couple of thousandths of the bushings, and then finished up turning the pieces with my calipers set to the actual piece it to fit. Anything that didn't pass muster went in the trash. I actually went back to WC and bought several bags of brass tubes so I could make sure I had more on hand in case a piece went to the circular file.
I carefully finished each pen with a variety of finishes, making sure each was as good as I could get it.
Then I went down to WoodCraft and bought their $1.99 box to put the pens inside. I carefully pulled up the bottom panel, and pulled it out of the box. I made some small cards out of 20# card stock with the type of wood, where it came from, and a description of the hardware (24K gold plated and hard black anodized) etc. Everything was on one side of the card.
On the other side, I put a "Care of your new writing instrument" card in it. All the stuff of any wood project was there; wipe with warm cloth, never used detergents, and the fact that the patina will build from use. I put my lifetime warranty in writing, and told them which refills to buy, along with my phone number.
I ONLY made the old 30's style Schaeffer pen, and that was the pen I was known for. Now, here's how they sold so well: I offered laser engraving for $15. A guy that does trophy engraving has an XY machine and he burns them for $5 a line. (Backfill that ebony with some super high end gold paint and you really have something.) So the pen was customized to a person, not just a nice piece of woodwork.
I sold engraved pens to sweethearts, top sales guys, "in appreciation", you name it. One year when our local 2A baseball team won their Texas League Series and were champs, I made pens out of a broken bat. The pens were engraved: "San Antonio Missions - 1997 League Champs". I slabbed out the blanks from the bat pieces, then cut the slabs on 45 degrees to the grain to make the ash look more exotic. Clear coated them with 50% thinned urethane a couple of times then lightly buffed. I'll bet some are still in use.
9 or so years ago, my competitors sold their pens out of their shirt pocket or velvet bag, and the got about $25 to $30 (max) for their pens. I sold mine for $65, plus engraving. To let you know where the market actually was, I only sold a few pens that weren't engraved. So I made my market the gift/award/keepsake group.
I sold about 60 pens or so, then quit because I wanted to do some other things with my turning. Plus... it was boring!
I would be glad to get some fun money with that now, though. I have often thought of starting that up again.
Robert