Hello everyone,
As you may have noticed by now it is almost halfway through October and I have not added a monthly stats newsletter! I felt like I should write this post to let you know why I have stopped updating my blog lately. The reason for this is that I recently got a new job in addition to my current job. Between the two jobs I am working 40-50 hours 6-7 days each week, and then throw in the fact that I still have 5 kittens to take care of...I just don't have the time to write blog posts, promote products on social media & add new things to my shops. I am really excited for the new job, because it is in the design field so I am working on projects that I would have been doing as a hobby for this blog & my print on demand stores.
This is a temporary transitional period in my life, and while it will be difficult balancing two jobs, it will definitely pay off in the long run! Once I get a good work/life balance going, I will be able to continue with print on demand & blog posts. Until then, I will not be updating this blog as frequently as my print on demand shops reach a standstill as well. It was challenging getting momentum going when I started this POD journey & letting my shops sit will surely slow it down, but having this blog to look back on will definitely help me get quickly back on track when I start it up again!
As a little mini update in place of my monthly stats newsletter, I will tell you that I sold 12 things over the month of September 2015, 7 of those being from RedBubble! Redbubble finally surpassed my Zazzle shop in the amount of sales, something I have never seen before in the 9 months of my print on demand shops. September was a slow month for me, and October is looking slow as well. Like I said, it is to be expected with the lack of activity on my part!
I will miss providing updates, but look forward to the time when I can pick up this hobby again. :)
Until next time,
Tanya
Showing posts with label print on demand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label print on demand. Show all posts
Monday, 12 October 2015
Thursday, 25 June 2015
6 Months of Zazzle: Key Stats & Sales Infographic
As I mentioned earlier this month, June marks 6 months since I first started my Zazzle shop! Despite this month being pretty down due to my confusion over the W-8 BEN form and actually getting paid eventually, I still have hopes for my shop & wish to continue on my Zazzle journey. I wanted to review my progress so far, so that is what I did this month. I looked at some of the major stats from my shop over the 6 month period of December 2014- May 2015, and found some of the stats really motivating, while others pretty de-motivating. But mostly it was really cool to see my progress so far.
On my infographic I included stats about my total sales including a month to month breakdown, number of products sold and where my products are sold to. What I did not include on my infographic was the amount of money I have made so far, total views, or the amount of things I have shared across social media platforms. While they are all important pieces of information, finding out exactly how much promotional effort I have put is hard for me to measure, & I like to keep actual money things private. I didn't include my views because tracking views on shop front in Zazzle doesn't really give accurate stats, & finding the total number of views is tedious as they are spread out over 2000 products. I will tell you now that I do have all my products set to 20% royalties & sometimes higher amounts, depending on what I think is a fair price. This is unrelated, but I have heard rumours that if you have 20% royalty or above, Zazzle will not put your products on the front page or feature them in promotions. Since my products are featured in different sections of the website, have appeared on the front page and also in a Zazzle promotion, I can tell you this is only a rumour! Set your royalties to whatever you feel comfortable. If people like your design enough, they will buy them regardless of whether you set your royalties to 10% or 20%+.
Here is my infographic! (if it is too small you can click it to see the biggest one)
So there you have it, the progress of my shop over 6 months. What I have learned through this infographic.....
I have created A LOT of products, and so many of them have not sold! ;___;
The downside of print on demand is that you have to create a lot of products before it starts working for you. This can take quite a long time, especially if you are making these items customizable with text and different elements. The important thing to remember is that once they are out there, they can be found by people. So share, share, share the items you have created!
On the bright side, the designs that have sold have gone to places I haven't even been before! Its so cool to know that someone on the other side of the world is enjoying my artwork.
What I wish I included was how many unique designs I have uploaded, and how many of those designs have sold this far. I will keep track of that for now on, and for my 1 year Zazzle infographic I will put that stat for sure. :)
I hope you found my infographic informative! It is now time for me to get back into actual shop management mode and to add new designs.
Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!
-Tanya
On my infographic I included stats about my total sales including a month to month breakdown, number of products sold and where my products are sold to. What I did not include on my infographic was the amount of money I have made so far, total views, or the amount of things I have shared across social media platforms. While they are all important pieces of information, finding out exactly how much promotional effort I have put is hard for me to measure, & I like to keep actual money things private. I didn't include my views because tracking views on shop front in Zazzle doesn't really give accurate stats, & finding the total number of views is tedious as they are spread out over 2000 products. I will tell you now that I do have all my products set to 20% royalties & sometimes higher amounts, depending on what I think is a fair price. This is unrelated, but I have heard rumours that if you have 20% royalty or above, Zazzle will not put your products on the front page or feature them in promotions. Since my products are featured in different sections of the website, have appeared on the front page and also in a Zazzle promotion, I can tell you this is only a rumour! Set your royalties to whatever you feel comfortable. If people like your design enough, they will buy them regardless of whether you set your royalties to 10% or 20%+.
Here is my infographic! (if it is too small you can click it to see the biggest one)
So there you have it, the progress of my shop over 6 months. What I have learned through this infographic.....
I have created A LOT of products, and so many of them have not sold! ;___;
The downside of print on demand is that you have to create a lot of products before it starts working for you. This can take quite a long time, especially if you are making these items customizable with text and different elements. The important thing to remember is that once they are out there, they can be found by people. So share, share, share the items you have created!
On the bright side, the designs that have sold have gone to places I haven't even been before! Its so cool to know that someone on the other side of the world is enjoying my artwork.
What I wish I included was how many unique designs I have uploaded, and how many of those designs have sold this far. I will keep track of that for now on, and for my 1 year Zazzle infographic I will put that stat for sure. :)
I hope you found my infographic informative! It is now time for me to get back into actual shop management mode and to add new designs.
Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!
-Tanya
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Blue Hydrangea Pattern
Earlier today I posted some of my customizable cases, and some of them featured my blue hydrangea pattern. Since I am creating patterns like crazy lately, I am going to tell you about this design before it is left in the dust!
As you may know, I have been on a flower creation spree. I find that creating flowers digitally in illustrator is really helping me learn the program better, so much that illustrator has replaced photoshop as my digital art tool. I plan on designing products for each birth month's flower. I started with Carnations, January's birth flower, and in February I will design violets.
For this hydrangea pattern in particular, i went a little different than what they usually look like. I maintained the lovely gradient of colour that these flowers usually have, but I changed the display of them from the bunch, to just single separate flowers for design purposes. It makes them less recognizable as hydrangeas, but works better as a designed pattern. I also have the option of turning these into bunches of hydrangeas in the future, which I will do. :)
If anyone else wants to feel the satisfaction of creating beautiful flowers in adobe illustrator, here is a tutorial that demonstrates steps to creating beautiful flowers.
Back to my pattern, here it is! These tiny hydrangeas are coloured in light violet and blues. Its a very sophisticated and feminine pattern, and looks great on most of the zazzle products.
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pillow by TanyaDraws
View other Hydrangeas in blue Pillows
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Tag For Luggage by TanyaDraws
Browse other Bag Tags at zazzle.com
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Makeup Bags by TanyaDraws
Browse more Blue hydrangea Bagettes Bags at Zazzle
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Dinner Plate by TanyaDraws
View other Hydrangea in blue Plates
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Mugs by TanyaDraws
Customize your own coffee mug at zazzle.com.
As you may know, I have been on a flower creation spree. I find that creating flowers digitally in illustrator is really helping me learn the program better, so much that illustrator has replaced photoshop as my digital art tool. I plan on designing products for each birth month's flower. I started with Carnations, January's birth flower, and in February I will design violets.
For this hydrangea pattern in particular, i went a little different than what they usually look like. I maintained the lovely gradient of colour that these flowers usually have, but I changed the display of them from the bunch, to just single separate flowers for design purposes. It makes them less recognizable as hydrangeas, but works better as a designed pattern. I also have the option of turning these into bunches of hydrangeas in the future, which I will do. :)
If anyone else wants to feel the satisfaction of creating beautiful flowers in adobe illustrator, here is a tutorial that demonstrates steps to creating beautiful flowers.
 |
| Click the flower to get to the tutorial! Tutsplus has many wonderful free tutorials that are amazing to use for learning digital art. Some of the tutorials on this website were even used by my college professors! |
 |
| This personalized pillow is one of my favourites created with this pattern... it is also one of my first personalize-able pillows! |
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pillow by TanyaDraws
View other Hydrangeas in blue Pillows
 |
| The luggage tags seem to look awesome no matter what. Great product from Zazzle. |
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Tag For Luggage by TanyaDraws
Browse other Bag Tags at zazzle.com
 |
| Personalized make up bags make great gifts for girls birthdays. |
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Makeup Bags by TanyaDraws
Browse more Blue hydrangea Bagettes Bags at Zazzle
 |
| Valentines Day alert! Customizable couple plates make a great valentines gift to display in your home. |
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Dinner Plate by TanyaDraws
View other Hydrangea in blue Plates
 |
| A simple yet beautiful personalized mug. |
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Mugs by TanyaDraws
Customize your own coffee mug at zazzle.com.
Another Zazzle sale coupon!
Hello, happy Wednesday!
As you may already know, zazzle has tons of customizable cases for phones, tablets and laptops! And they have a sale going on right now where you get 15% off of the price of your orders PLUS 30% off of the case of your choosing. All you have to do is enter the code CASEDEAL2015 at checkout. This sale ends tomorrow, January 8, 2015.
Here are some of the personalized cases I have created. You can add your name or someone elses name, change the position of the pictures and the background colour, or change the type of phone/tablet the design is available on.
Polkadot Pastel Sheep Cover For The iPad Mini by TanyaDraws
View more Little black hearts Cases at zazzle.com
Cute Penguin With Scarf and Sign iPad Mini Covers by TanyaDraws
Browse more Penguin with sign Cases at Zazzle
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern iPhone 5 Cases by TanyaDraws
Find other Hydrangea in blue Casemate Cases at zazzle.com
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Barely There iPhone 6 Case by TanyaDraws
Look at Zazzle iPhone 6 Cases
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern iPad Mini Cover by TanyaDraws
Check out other Hydrangea in blue Cases at zazzle.com
As you may already know, zazzle has tons of customizable cases for phones, tablets and laptops! And they have a sale going on right now where you get 15% off of the price of your orders PLUS 30% off of the case of your choosing. All you have to do is enter the code CASEDEAL2015 at checkout. This sale ends tomorrow, January 8, 2015.
Here are some of the personalized cases I have created. You can add your name or someone elses name, change the position of the pictures and the background colour, or change the type of phone/tablet the design is available on.
 |
| This is my newest creation! Its a super cute personalized iPad case, featuring my polkadot sheep. |
Polkadot Pastel Sheep Cover For The iPad Mini by TanyaDraws
View more Little black hearts Cases at zazzle.com
 |
| This is another cute iPad case that you can also personalize, and is quite popular in my shop. |
Cute Penguin With Scarf and Sign iPad Mini Covers by TanyaDraws
Browse more Penguin with sign Cases at Zazzle
 |
| This one is from my new collection, Tiny Blue Hydrangeas. This is the first collection that I have offered personalized phone cases on! |
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern iPhone 5 Cases by TanyaDraws
Find other Hydrangea in blue Casemate Cases at zazzle.com
 |
| An iPhone 6 case in the same pattern, but with a softer border around the name. |
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern Barely There iPhone 6 Case by TanyaDraws
Look at Zazzle iPhone 6 Cases
 |
| Ipad Mini cover! You can change the finish to be glossy or matte. |
Tiny Blue Hydrangea Pattern iPad Mini Cover by TanyaDraws
Check out other Hydrangea in blue Cases at zazzle.com
Sunday, 4 January 2015
Redbubble VS Zazzle
When I was thinking of joining a print on demand website, I searched for comparisons to find out which to start with, and settled with Zazzle. I later joined Redbubble, and I am glad that I did. Today I am going to share some of the things I have liked and disliked about both these websites thus far, mainly their usability but also how artist friendly they are. I hope my experiences can help you decide where you will start your POD journey. :)
Now before I joined Zazzle, I was quite skeptical about the whole POD selling style. The user agreement, royalty rates and usability were things that I was concerned about. I knew for sure that I wanted to maintain the rights to my own images, to set my own royalty rates and to be able to put my designs on products hassle free.
1. Artist Rights: Do the Terms and Conditions allow you to retain the rights to your work?
The good thing about both Zazzle and Redbubble is that you maintain the rights to your images. The main thing is that you are not giving them exclusive rights to your artwork - you can still sell and use your artwork anywhere else, while also selling it at Redbubble and Zazzle. When you sign up for these websites you grant them the right to print your images on their products, and to use your designs in advertisements if applicable. When you remove your designs from these websites, that terminates the user agreement and Zazzle and Redbubble will not be able to use your designs anymore.
I recommend reading the terms and conditions for any Print on Demand website you sign up for. You always want to make sure you are comfortable with, and know what you are signing up for.
2. What is the default Royalty Rate at Zazzle & Redbubble?
Redbubble and Zazzle both allow you to set your own royalty rates, which is good. Redbubble recommends the default royalty rate of 20% although you can raise and lower the rate accordingly. I opted to do different default prices for different products, depending on what I would personally purchase something in a retail store. On Zazzle you can set your royalty rate anywhere from 5% to 99%, though they recommend that you set your royalty rates to 5% - 14.9%. I've always thought that their recommended rates are rather low, considering they have 40% off sales rather often (which lowers the amount of royalties you get). The important thing is that you can choose your rates, so you can set them to whatever you are comfortable with. Keep in mind that your designs are unique - so if someone really really likes it, they will buy it, regardless of what so-and-so's item is priced at!
3. Usability & Customization
As for usability, both are relatively easy to use, although Zazzle is definitely more tricky than Redbubble. I actually found Redbubble very easy to start up... I am not sure if it is because I tried it after I had learned Zazzle.
Zazzle has a more in depth customization system, and more things to consider when designing. You can either add items individually or you can use quick create. Since quick create often "breaks" and does not give you the full range of products, most people add each item individually. Both of these options allow you to adjust your artwork to your liking, change your background colour, add text, etc. You can even use Templates at Zazzle that allows customers to easily change the text or add their own pictures to products you design. This is especially useful when making invitations, greetings cards and photo gifts.
It did take me quite a long time to get zazzle's customization system figured out, and I am still learning new tricks as time goes by. Zazzle is considerably more time consuming than Redbubble, because of the care it takes in making each product customizable for customers, and because of how in depth you can go in personalizing each product. Not to mention the hundreds of products they have available to design and sell!
Redbubble on the other hand does not allow customers to customize the products, and since there is less you can do with your artwork on a product it takes less time to add your work. The great thing about Redbubble is that you add your artwork first, and it then loads on all of the products available. Here you can resize it, choose placement for each product type by dragging it around on a template, and there is even a tiling option on most products. I do like how easy it is to add things here, and that they group similar products together for an easier creation experience. The products look eye-catching and professional in the preview, which is a nice bonus.
The Verdict
As of today I still prefer zazzle, even though it takes me a lot longer to upload products there.
What I like about Zazzle that Redbubble lacks is the customization. I like that I can pair different design elements and template fonts together to create unique designs that people can customize themselves.
Another thing I like about Zazzle is their product selection. They literally have hundreds of products, so you can design on almost anything, from luggage tags to wedding invitations. Redbubble has been adding to their product line, but I do not think they will ever go this crazy in products. On the other hand, Redbubble is simple, easy to market, and clean. Its more art focused, whereas Zazzle is more product focused.
One thing I mentioned previously is that I love the tiling ability Zazzle had on its products. Redbubble now offers this on their products as well, so its a tie in this regard! I love to pattern my illustrations. This is great because if you are creating patterns you can add a single pattern tile (which looks great in product previews) and repeat it to fill the entire space on a product using Zazzle & Redbubbles design tools. This is also helpful because it means you can save smaller files, instead of tiling it yourself and taking up massive amounts of space on your computer with huge patterns.
Right now this is still a hobby with potential for me, so my decision is partially based on how much fun I have creating on each website, and Zazzle wins out in that regard. :) There are things I have been noticing about Redbubble that makes me feel like I will have more success there, but that is something for another post.
Maybe in the future I will add another POD site to the mix, who knows? (I am open to suggestions!)
Do you have any questions about Zazzle or Redbubble? Feel free to ask in the comments below, and to share your Redbubble or Zazzle shop! :)
Updated September 25, 2017 to add new information.
Now before I joined Zazzle, I was quite skeptical about the whole POD selling style. The user agreement, royalty rates and usability were things that I was concerned about. I knew for sure that I wanted to maintain the rights to my own images, to set my own royalty rates and to be able to put my designs on products hassle free.
1. Artist Rights: Do the Terms and Conditions allow you to retain the rights to your work?
The good thing about both Zazzle and Redbubble is that you maintain the rights to your images. The main thing is that you are not giving them exclusive rights to your artwork - you can still sell and use your artwork anywhere else, while also selling it at Redbubble and Zazzle. When you sign up for these websites you grant them the right to print your images on their products, and to use your designs in advertisements if applicable. When you remove your designs from these websites, that terminates the user agreement and Zazzle and Redbubble will not be able to use your designs anymore.
I recommend reading the terms and conditions for any Print on Demand website you sign up for. You always want to make sure you are comfortable with, and know what you are signing up for.
2. What is the default Royalty Rate at Zazzle & Redbubble?
Redbubble and Zazzle both allow you to set your own royalty rates, which is good. Redbubble recommends the default royalty rate of 20% although you can raise and lower the rate accordingly. I opted to do different default prices for different products, depending on what I would personally purchase something in a retail store. On Zazzle you can set your royalty rate anywhere from 5% to 99%, though they recommend that you set your royalty rates to 5% - 14.9%. I've always thought that their recommended rates are rather low, considering they have 40% off sales rather often (which lowers the amount of royalties you get). The important thing is that you can choose your rates, so you can set them to whatever you are comfortable with. Keep in mind that your designs are unique - so if someone really really likes it, they will buy it, regardless of what so-and-so's item is priced at!
3. Usability & Customization
As for usability, both are relatively easy to use, although Zazzle is definitely more tricky than Redbubble. I actually found Redbubble very easy to start up... I am not sure if it is because I tried it after I had learned Zazzle.
Zazzle has a more in depth customization system, and more things to consider when designing. You can either add items individually or you can use quick create. Since quick create often "breaks" and does not give you the full range of products, most people add each item individually. Both of these options allow you to adjust your artwork to your liking, change your background colour, add text, etc. You can even use Templates at Zazzle that allows customers to easily change the text or add their own pictures to products you design. This is especially useful when making invitations, greetings cards and photo gifts.
It did take me quite a long time to get zazzle's customization system figured out, and I am still learning new tricks as time goes by. Zazzle is considerably more time consuming than Redbubble, because of the care it takes in making each product customizable for customers, and because of how in depth you can go in personalizing each product. Not to mention the hundreds of products they have available to design and sell!
Redbubble on the other hand does not allow customers to customize the products, and since there is less you can do with your artwork on a product it takes less time to add your work. The great thing about Redbubble is that you add your artwork first, and it then loads on all of the products available. Here you can resize it, choose placement for each product type by dragging it around on a template, and there is even a tiling option on most products. I do like how easy it is to add things here, and that they group similar products together for an easier creation experience. The products look eye-catching and professional in the preview, which is a nice bonus.
The Verdict
As of today I still prefer zazzle, even though it takes me a lot longer to upload products there.
What I like about Zazzle that Redbubble lacks is the customization. I like that I can pair different design elements and template fonts together to create unique designs that people can customize themselves.
Another thing I like about Zazzle is their product selection. They literally have hundreds of products, so you can design on almost anything, from luggage tags to wedding invitations. Redbubble has been adding to their product line, but I do not think they will ever go this crazy in products. On the other hand, Redbubble is simple, easy to market, and clean. Its more art focused, whereas Zazzle is more product focused.
One thing I mentioned previously is that I love the tiling ability Zazzle had on its products. Redbubble now offers this on their products as well, so its a tie in this regard! I love to pattern my illustrations. This is great because if you are creating patterns you can add a single pattern tile (which looks great in product previews) and repeat it to fill the entire space on a product using Zazzle & Redbubbles design tools. This is also helpful because it means you can save smaller files, instead of tiling it yourself and taking up massive amounts of space on your computer with huge patterns.
Right now this is still a hobby with potential for me, so my decision is partially based on how much fun I have creating on each website, and Zazzle wins out in that regard. :) There are things I have been noticing about Redbubble that makes me feel like I will have more success there, but that is something for another post.
Maybe in the future I will add another POD site to the mix, who knows? (I am open to suggestions!)
Do you have any questions about Zazzle or Redbubble? Feel free to ask in the comments below, and to share your Redbubble or Zazzle shop! :)
Updated September 25, 2017 to add new information.
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