Does anyone sell their shit on POD sites?
I am curious if these sites are just full of artist attempting to sell , or if they actually attract real customers.
My experience is
No sales
https://society6.com/energetic_mind
2 sales = $6
http://www.redbubble.com/people/energetic-mind/shop
2 sales = $8
http://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/thenergeticmind/
So far I have made $14 . Anyone else using POD ? Whats your experience ? Cheers
Print On Demand
Hey robbstar
You Are The President is POD
Its great because I never had to kiss up and try to get a publisher, nor did I have to drop loads of cash to print a bunch of books up front. Its cheap and easy, I can order a bunch for like $6 a book.
However NOTHING will sell without marketing. I am a notoriously shitty marketer, I didn't spread the book around nor advertise it worth a shit, so thus I haven't sold many. But I entirely blame myself, not POD.
If I had put tons of work/invested into promoting, spamming, going on podcasts, pitching to bookstores, social media etc etc etc I might have had more success. But I hate doing that shit lol
Its up to the creator to market the stuff imo.
So far I am happy with the POD, I think its a cool way to go. But there is a lot more work needed than that to get things to sell, and no POD company will do it for you. Maybe this is the advantage of a publishing company? I don't know
You Are The President is POD
Its great because I never had to kiss up and try to get a publisher, nor did I have to drop loads of cash to print a bunch of books up front. Its cheap and easy, I can order a bunch for like $6 a book.
However NOTHING will sell without marketing. I am a notoriously shitty marketer, I didn't spread the book around nor advertise it worth a shit, so thus I haven't sold many. But I entirely blame myself, not POD.
If I had put tons of work/invested into promoting, spamming, going on podcasts, pitching to bookstores, social media etc etc etc I might have had more success. But I hate doing that shit lol
Its up to the creator to market the stuff imo.
So far I am happy with the POD, I think its a cool way to go. But there is a lot more work needed than that to get things to sell, and no POD company will do it for you. Maybe this is the advantage of a publishing company? I don't know
I would never have guessed that. I have used POD for books (same book just different editions) about 6 times now.
And I totally agree - the game starts when your product hits the shelves - input =output. I am also rather shit at promoting .
For the book its cool, the art work seems to be working . Made more money from it than the book !! ahhaha
Saying that I have went full ebook delivering straight from my website now, to cut out the middle man , but the sites had about three views so that's not really worked.
Trial and error :) Gotta keep on trucking :)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Health-Made-Sim ... B00ABO4LVY
And I totally agree - the game starts when your product hits the shelves - input =output. I am also rather shit at promoting .
For the book its cool, the art work seems to be working . Made more money from it than the book !! ahhaha
Saying that I have went full ebook delivering straight from my website now, to cut out the middle man , but the sites had about three views so that's not really worked.
Trial and error :) Gotta keep on trucking :)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Health-Made-Sim ... B00ABO4LVY
I am slowly learning that creating art is only half the battle if you wanna earn any income from it. PROMOTION is possibly even more important than the product itself.
Unfortunately, its seems from what I have learned that to promote anything well is really a full-time job. I have a web-guy that tells me that you have to have the Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Instagram etc etc etc all linked up and keep pumping out regular posts/tweets etc.
My wife has figured this out for her business and I've seen it work like hell, and she is only doing a fraction of what could be done. These days it is even recommended to hire professional social-media gurus to play social media all day long and rack up your hits/views/likes/followers etc.
The irony is that most artists are simply not interested in doing any of this, lol
we just wanna make the work
Unfortunately, its seems from what I have learned that to promote anything well is really a full-time job. I have a web-guy that tells me that you have to have the Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Instagram etc etc etc all linked up and keep pumping out regular posts/tweets etc.
My wife has figured this out for her business and I've seen it work like hell, and she is only doing a fraction of what could be done. These days it is even recommended to hire professional social-media gurus to play social media all day long and rack up your hits/views/likes/followers etc.
The irony is that most artists are simply not interested in doing any of this, lol
we just wanna make the work
Its a crazy soul destroying game. The first time I done my MMA Show , I was like a crazy person! Got to the point that I stopped watching and stopped training , I was only interested in getting the story up first and getting high engagement from the Scottish MMA community. Took away all my passion and I finally said fuck this ! and shut it down. This time its just for fun, no pressure. (self created ilusionary pressure)
Unfortunately I am not a delegater , I am too cheap !! Be the Scotsman stereo type, I will learn it rather than pay someone else:)hahahh Mybe this is another mindset I need to change ? :)
Unfortunately I am not a delegater , I am too cheap !! Be the Scotsman stereo type, I will learn it rather than pay someone else:)hahahh Mybe this is another mindset I need to change ? :)
^ I'm in exactly the same place.
I have tried the marketing game and can't stand it. Feels so phony, so forced and egotistical. Artists must be aware of their MOTIVATION: is it for fame, hits, likes, attention? Or is it about the art?
Same reason this forum is still the small(er) community that it is; I don't work at promotion much at all.
I always hoped that if good work is made, that it will naturally spread... but I don't think that's necessarily so (see; Sonnen's War, lol - I put so much work into that convinced every time I released an episode that it would catch fire, but it never did. Sherdog banning me after Episode 7 didn't help, and really soured me out on the whole marketing thing)
Maybe it is a mindset we need to change. I have seen many talented artists who hate it so much they don't even have a facebook account or anything, and I must admit I always thought that was a bit dumb. On the other hand, to use these tools correctly takes a kind of mindset that I am really quite sick of.
Its a really tough balance. Luckily I don't need to sell my art to survive, but I think if I ever want to change my day job and make a career out of making things I'll have to figure out a solution. In an idea world, every good artist/writer etc should have a good publicist to do all the marketing so we can focus on being creative.
until then I have gotten used to making things just for the fun of making them, and if anyone sees it that's great. I have bigger hopes for certain projects though, can't settle on those ones when they are ready to launch.
Maybe one day...
I have tried the marketing game and can't stand it. Feels so phony, so forced and egotistical. Artists must be aware of their MOTIVATION: is it for fame, hits, likes, attention? Or is it about the art?
Same reason this forum is still the small(er) community that it is; I don't work at promotion much at all.
I always hoped that if good work is made, that it will naturally spread... but I don't think that's necessarily so (see; Sonnen's War, lol - I put so much work into that convinced every time I released an episode that it would catch fire, but it never did. Sherdog banning me after Episode 7 didn't help, and really soured me out on the whole marketing thing)
Maybe it is a mindset we need to change. I have seen many talented artists who hate it so much they don't even have a facebook account or anything, and I must admit I always thought that was a bit dumb. On the other hand, to use these tools correctly takes a kind of mindset that I am really quite sick of.
Its a really tough balance. Luckily I don't need to sell my art to survive, but I think if I ever want to change my day job and make a career out of making things I'll have to figure out a solution. In an idea world, every good artist/writer etc should have a good publicist to do all the marketing so we can focus on being creative.
until then I have gotten used to making things just for the fun of making them, and if anyone sees it that's great. I have bigger hopes for certain projects though, can't settle on those ones when they are ready to launch.
Maybe one day...
That is it - no compromise! A lot of the time it is finding the right audience, I was a cunt when I was a maniacal MMA Show Social Media like collector. I would go to shows and photograph all the fights, batch edit and have the photos stamped with my sponsors (badboy , go fast energy where some of the big ones I scored). I would have these uploaded the same evening -(beating the official photographer from the event by a week) I would then tag every fighter, their coaches, gyms etc into the photos and as the traffic came in I would interact with everyone that left a comment . It was like two days work straight for a few hundred extra likes, but my engagement was always over 50% and after effects it always went turbo. But the amount of work involved wasn't sustainable especially for free, when you have bills to pay etc. I did get to go to the UFC for free which was ace :) yeah to promote in todays SM world you need to be a caffine junkie, bold, ruthless and tenacious.It must be at the forefront of your thoughts day and night. NA I would rather smile and hug the wife :)
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