#so next month I'm going to be looking into setting up different POD and online shop accounts

[c-rowlesdraws]

April 27th is World Tapir Day! Celebrate a vey special day for some very special animals with artwork I've put on some stuff! Available now at redbubble.com/people/c-rowles -- click "Explore Designs" on my page to see them, along with even more art!

[sp8cebit]

I have a relatively new pixel art blog that's looking to start selling stuff on society6 soon and I was wondering if you're okay with saying about how much money you make from your shop in a certain amount of time? If you even keep track of such things in the first place. I've been wanting to see how much bigger artists are able to make so I know about how much I might be able to make. I'm a poor young adult so I really want to know how much an art shop helps out with money ^-^;

Sure, I’d be happy to talk about this.

I made about $300 combined last month across both my print-on-demand shops. That’s the best month I’ve ever had (and hopefully part of an upward trend, but could just be a one-off).

A couple things to note: 1.) I still need to pay tax on this money, so the actual pocketable amount is smaller. 2.) I’ve been doing this for several years, and it took me a long time to get to this point!

Everything you ever wanted to know about selling Print-On-Demand art 

(actually not nearly everything, but at least some things!)

There are a lot of print-on-demand (POD) services out there. A POD service means that you have a digital art file, you upload it to the site, and the site makes it available in an online shop. When a customer buys your art from the shop, the POD will process the customer’s payment, manufacture the item, and ship the item to the customer for you. You never actually see the product! It goes directly from the printer to the customer.

Some POD stores are society6, Redbubble, CafePress, Zazzle, and fineartamerica.com. There are probably many more! They don’t all offer the same products: for example, you can buy this dress on Redbubble, but not society6, even though I have the same file uploaded to both. Society6 doesn’t print on dresses (yet).

Which site should I use?

I dunno!  I use society6 and Redbubble, not because I’ve evaluated all the others and found them lacking, but just because I knew people who were using them.  And knowing someone who’s tried something and liked it made it easier to try.

Different sites have different audiences, so I’d look at a few and try to find which one fits you best.  Redbubble skews a little more tumblr, society6 skews a little more hipster, Fine Art America skews a little more art major. You want to sell your art where your audience is already buying things!

My pixel art does way better on Redbubble than society6, even though I’ve been active on society6 much longer and have a more established presence there.  My non-pixel art (this is one of my long-time best sellers) still does pretty well there, even though I haven’t done promotion for most of it in years. There’s just an audience there that likes it!

How much money will I make?

Profit margins vary from site to site, and from product to product. Society6 mandates a set price and artist profit margin for most products across their site. Redbubble allows artists to choose their own profit margins and prices. Probably other sites are a mix of the two. This tote bag is $20.00 on society6 (I get $2.00) and $23.98 on Redbubble (I get $10.65.). This iPhone case is $38 on society6 (I get $3.80) and ~$37 on Redbubble (I get ~$12).

Of course, it doesn’t matter what your profit margins are if you don’t sell anything.

How do I get noticed and make sales?

Short answer:  make art, and make a lot of it—often and consistently.

I can only speak directly of my experiences with s6 and RB, but probably other services are similar. (And honestly, the same strategy holds true for growing an audience on tumblr!)

If you have 30 pieces of art, it’s better to upload them one at a time (once a week for thirty weeks, or twice a week for fifteen weeks) than all at once.  Both s6 and RB have a community aspect, which means your art will show up in the feeds of other artists, or may be curated into collections by staff or volunteers. 

Every day that you upload a new piece is a day that someone might notice and promote your work.  

If you post thirty things all at once, someone who likes your work will probably only promote one or two of their favorites (and may even be annoyed that you’re dominating their feed).  If you post thirty things one at a time, that same person might promote every piece they see.  (They probably won’t see all of them.  It won’t be 100%.  But still, much greater visibility for you.)

I try to upload one new thing every week.  If I have a really productive week and finish three designs, I’ll usually hold on to the extras to give myself a buffer for future weeks.  If I can, I maintain a buffer of 3-5 designs.  It means I’m under less pressure to produce, and I can have more fun creating.

Anything else I should know?

Making money from art is hard!  And oh, gosh, there is constant self-doubt.  I follow some of my favorite (independent!  commercially successful!) artists on Twitter, and they still post about how discouraged they feel sometimes.  It comes with the territory, I guess.

Just keep going.  Show up for yourself.  Set easy goals and reach them.  Set hard goals and reach those, too!  Keep trying!

When I first set up a shop on society6 several years ago, my goal each month was to sell anything.  Any single thing.  When I was doing that consistently, my goal was to make $20/month.  Then $50/month. 

Have a dream goal in your mind, but a “next step” goal in front of you.  

For me, the dream goal is “I want to be able to support myself by selling art!” and there’s a dollar amount associated with that.  I’m not nearly there!  My next-step goal is “sell enough art in a month to pay my share of the rent” and I’ll achieve that by the end of the year.  The next-step goal after that is to be able to make rent consistently.

The dream goal keeps you going.  The next-step goal keeps you focused.

(You’re gonna do great.)

👽👍