The Rise of POD Websites

There has been a rise of print on demand websites in the recent decade or so, and it's an awesome platform for artists to showcase and sell their work without the hassles of managing inventory or shipping items themselves. Basically, illustrators and artists can focus more on creating art and less on the administrative work of selling art. It's also great for people who are looking for something unique to add to their home, such as a frames art print for the living room, or a unique print or pattern for their t-shirts, phone cases, journals etc.

My new redbubble store!

I recently opened up by redbubble site last week, and I thought I'd document some progress on new art and any sales on Steemit and hopefully it will be helpful for fellow illustrators and artists that are looking into opening their own stores. To be completely honest I'm not quite sure I will land any sales in the next month, or months, or years (or ever D: ) but if I eventually do, you will get a good idea of the process (and progression of emotional states) I went through to reach the results.

But for today, I actually wanted to share some info that I've gathered about three different POD platforms that are some of the most popular. I DO have a store open (and at least a couple designed submitted in each of them) but they are all brand new and I'm still learning to use the tools just yet. And while experimenting myself, I had a few things I've learned about them and their differences. For people who are starting off, this might be some good information to start before they decide which platform will work best for them.

Redbubble vs Threadless vs Society6 PROS & CONS

So here they are, the differences.

-Redbubble -
Initial impressions: great for cute graphic art, some hipster style graphic art. Promotes a wide variety of product formats on main page.

   +Easiest to upload art.
   +Wide variety of products your art can be printed on
   +Items that are not included in other sites: stickers
   +More profit per sale than Society6
   ++BIG PLUS - option to convert your artwork into tiled pattern so you can print them on most products (no need to make your own pattern file to upload)

-Threadless-
Initial impressions: T-shirts are the main focus of store.

   +Fairly easy uploading process
   +More profit per sale than Society6
   +? I haven't exactly tried the design challenges but they seem more engaging and more accessible than redbubble (Don't think society6 has this)
   -Confusing webpage structure (not sure I understand the difference between an artist shop page and the artist discover page)
   -Confusing navigation (I had to go back and forth ALOT while first uploading my art)

-Society6-
Initial impressions: Look and feel of website is more upscale and neat. Geared more towards women, more emphasis on framed art work / art prints. There's equal or more body of fine art style work uploaded.

   +Upscale, quality artwork feel to webpage.
   -"Only the rich seem to get richer." The above + point is true because they feature certain works and seem to keep them there for long periods of time! This means people who do well probably are making $$$$$ but there simply is less chance of exposure for newbies. A lot of people who are already well-known in their community or have massive followers on social media would probably do well right away, but not everyone.
   +Due to the above, if you do get featured, you might be a big hit.
   +Personal taste wise - I do appreciate a lot of their artwork style than the others.
   -Takes a good chunk of your sales in % :(

I can't say anything about the sales and how they compare, because I haven't experienced it myself yet. But according to some comments and forums I've read, people who sell on different platforms seem to say the Society6 can make them good money. Others have said they converted to redbubble or threadless simply because they pay your more profit and the large% of sales that Society6 is taking felt unfair to them. Hopefully I will have some info on this to share in the future (fingers crossed!!).

That's it For Today!

If there is anyone else out there starting up their new store just like me, feel free to comment and I will try my best to visit to favorite some cool works of yours or follow if I love your profile. I really believe fellow artists should support each other :)

I hope you found some of the info useful! Sharing my newly open Redbubble store and some product links to welcome any interaction.

Thanks for reading and ciao til next time! ❤

Here is a referral link for Society6 for $10 off your first purchase! https://share.society6.com/x/R52wbL
Here is another POD site not discussed here you can check out http://tee.pub/lic/joindesignerpool