Making passive income with Creative Market and other digital marketplaces.
Vol. 080
Making passive income with Creative Market and other digital marketplaces.
How much have we made selling digital products over the past 6 months?
A quick bite:
Do you want to work less and make more? That right there is the sweet sound of passive income! I just started truly looking into passive income at the end of 2021, and I’ve made about $3,400 since then. A lot of this passive income has come from Creative Market, and for that reason, I wanted to share a bit of insight on this platform so YOU can make more passive income too.
Continue reading below…
The numbers: breaking down the past 5 months that I’ve been selling digital products on Creative Market.
In the past 6 months, I’ve generated $1,822 total revenue on Creative Market. If you’re not familiar, Creative Market is one of the best online marketplaces for digital products for creators.
ALL OF US as graphic designers and artists have digital products that we could be selling. Some of the top selling digital products on Creative Market are: fonts, mockups, texture packs, templates, stock photos, and so much more.
Remember this Gin Bottle mockup we used for Grandma’s Recipe? Yup — that was from Creative Market.
Digital marketplaces for designers such as Creative Market or Design Cuts make it incredibly easy for you to sell products online — even if you don’t have a digital store — and it gives you an opportunity to make money on assets that are just wasting space on your hard drives!
Selling fonts on Creative Market has been something I’ve wanted to do for years, but it always felt like “too much to learn”... until my friend, Sarah of Blissberry Design, pushed me to give it a shot.
I’m here to tell ya that not only is it easy to sell digital products, but it’s you’re leaving money on the table simply by not selling digital products on these types of platforms.
The Numbers
Since November 2021 when I listed my first product (6 months ago), I’ve generated $1,822 total revenue.
Breaking down the numbers a bit further:
Creative Market
This revenue equates to $1,088.10 in total earnings (profit), divided by the 6 months I’ve been doing this = $181.35 / month, which could be almost $2,200 annually.
This is not an earth shattering amount, but this digital design marketplaces like Creative Market and Design Cuts have really opened my mind to the potential of passive income.
Vicarel Studios
Inspired by the positive response of font sales on Creative Market, we started selling hand drawn fonts (and a few other digital products) in the Vicarel Studios digital store at around the same time (since December 2021).
In our digital store we’ve grossed: $2,424. Minus an estimated 4% for fees, that leaves $2,327.04 which is an average of $465.41 / month.
Total
Our digital products on all platforms currently average ~$646.76 in profit / month! At this rate, $7,761.12 profit annually. Will that happen? Who knows! But the potential sure is exciting.
And remember — this is all passive income!!
Things to consider when selling products on Creative Market:
Pros:
It’s passive income once your product is setup
You’ll have a larger audience reach than just your website
There is a vetting process when you open a Creative Market shop. They do a good job of curating their vendors (and thus, products) so everything is of professional quality.
Cons:
They take a whopping 40% commission of every sale. So, when I sell a font on Creative Market for $19, I only make $11.40. Whereas on my personal website when I sell a font $19, I get something like $17.20 (accounting for processing fees). But, as noted above, this con comes with the caveat: Creative Market gives you a whole new audience, so I think that the payment they take is worth it for the larger audience you receive.
If you’re wondering what to sell on Creative Market, some of the top earners sell fonts, templates, mockups and brushes. Ultimately, what you sell and what will be a success comes down to making quality products that are authentic to you, your brand, and your audience.
If selling digital products isn’t your thing, then maybe selling prints of your art is something to consider. Print sales are semi-passive income, but another great way to make some additional side cash.
Good luck out there!
Adam
