Making money off of your crap

Has anyone had success selling their creative works? I've been dabbling in releasing some work as a side job, to see if I could make any money off of it. I have a few websites that I've set up, so we'll see if there's any movement there. I don't do much to promote my work - other than the occasional Facebook or forum post - so I'd appreciate any input on that front as well.

- Smashwords for writing
- Bandcamp for music
- ??? for artwork

kickstarter

A YouTube channel never hurt, with both previews and just enough content to make them want to pay for more. It's a tough nut to crack though, none of my creative projects other than my Doom stuff has really 'taken off'. In the last 3 years or so I've made $300 off ad revenue, not a whole lot, but better than a kick in the nads!

First, what is it you're trying to sell? Is it writing, music, art or both?

EDIT: Haha.

Yeah bandcamp for music. I would not be running my label currently with out it.

I've heard success stories with writing and Amazon. However, I've also heard that that window is on the verge of shutting due to some weird thing that would force people to price their eBooks at certain prices, anywhere from ten dollars and up or something.

Technician said:

First, what is it you're trying to sell? Is it writing, music, art or both?

EDIT: Haha.

I figure, why not put it all out there? More hooks in the water and all that. The discussion is open to all sorts of self-made creative types.

Bandcamp seems to be well-endorsed by several independent artists wanting to make money off their work. Amazon's Createspace service can let you set up on-demand printing for CDs as well, although the printing service is of very middling quality, cases can have broken teeths, misaligned or bent spines etc., but their support service seems extremely helpful if you've gotten a badly damaged ex.

i couldn't possibly make money off of anything i make right now, ha ha. i certainly don't have the skill necessary for that.

Doomhuntress said:

but their support service seems extremely helpful if you've gotten a badly damaged ex.

Can I get my ex replaced? Shes beyond broken :|

I mapped for a few games that managed to get Kickstarter money. 2 years later all 3 games have yet to be released. One game I'm pretty sure the guy took the money and ran. Haven't talked to him since after he got married 2 weeks after the successful Kickstarter.

I make money off every side project seemingly, because everyone needs a programmer to fulfill their dreams. I've made a lot of money off of doing what others have called impossible (including myself). I make percentages. Big percentages. Eventually the people that had me do the projects lose interest in their big idea and move on. So then I make 100%.

My Youtube channel still makes money when I haven't updated it in 3 years. Not a lot, but hey its something.

I had an online casino signup scam going 15 years ago. The online casino was giving $0.25 per signup. Well I made a sign upper. It signed up fake people every 4 seconds. I couldn't have it going 24/7 or it would have come out to $162,000 per month. They paid me the first few months, around $10,000 each. Then they wanted me for fraud by month 4. Nothing came out of it. This is the same casino that glitched out one time and kept giving me straight flushes every hand I played and supposedly paid out real money. Nope. Never to me. Made me think its rigged if they could give straight flushes over and over again.

You might laugh, but I've made a few thousand dollars in the past 15 years off making Lego set directions / instructions. Then Lego pulled its instruction making for money.

At some point I had a lot of T-shirt designs that I made money off of until Snorg Ts bluntly stole or recreated them. I wrote their manufacturer about it and I was the one that was told to take them down. So I did. I'm the guy with 0 publicity while Snorg Ts had ads of hot chicks wearing their shirts. I couldn't be angry they're just T shirt designs.

I had a book deal years ago no matter how bad of a writer I am I had a lot of fresh ideas on old stereotypes. A lot of readers hated my fresh ideas since they went so far away from stereotypes. The publisher let me find my own editor, all four editors couldn't edit my book just because I was so bad with it being my first book and didn't finish editing. The publisher was then bought out including my contract. They told me I needed to turn a 300 page paperback book into a 100 page book or else they wanted my advance back. They weren't even the ones that gave me the advance. Then they told me I had to use one of their editors and said the editor would make 50% of my 8% royalty. Seemed like they were trying to make back their money from purchasing the publisher.

I actually knew someone who sold poop in a small jar on a chain as a decoration and people actually bought it.

Clonehunter said:

I've heard success stories with writing and Amazon. However, I've also heard that that window is on the verge of shutting due to some weird thing that would force people to price their eBooks at certain prices, anywhere from ten dollars and up or something.

Other way around, kind of. You're free to give Kindle books any price you like (within reason), but there's a strong incentive to keep them below $10.

Avoozl said:

I actually knew someone who sold poop in a small jar on a chain as a decoration and people actually bought it.

That's thinking outside the box. The only people making money from my crap are TasWater, at the rate of about 1c per flush.

We used to sell my band's albums and t-shirts. But we usually spent what little money we made on alcohol. There's no money to be made in extreme metal really.

Vs1991 said:

kickstarter

Grazza said:

Other way around, kind of. You're free to give Kindle books any price you like (within reason), but there's a strong incentive to keep them below $10.

I know that. But I read that there's something possibly in the works to force people to price them higher. Last I heard, it was still up in the air, but possible. I don't remember all the politics, or even how reliable the source was. Hey a blog with a shit load of followers has to have some credit right?

Am I insane to consider Eternity for a potential basis to create a new commercial game from? The GPL license means that one could use it commercially as long as credit is given, the license remains intact and the source code is given upon request.

Ragnor said:

Can I get my ex replaced? Shes beyond broken :|

heh. here in Sweden, we tend to refer to editions of something as ex, short for exemplar, copies of something. i completely forgot that you don't actually say that word in English, though. :p

Once I made a whopping €0.13 by sending one of my own albums as a gift to a friend through Bandcamp and using my father's Visa to pay for it. I have all of my music downloadable for free with a name-your-price option. I still don't quite understand why it needed a €0.50 fee for sending a gift, though.

Word on the street is Kickstarter now has a policy you better deliver on the game you promise or you'll be forced to give the money back. Its hilarious. Give a bank robber the money and expect them to come back.

Malinku said:

Yeah bandcamp for music. I would not be running my label currently with out it.

Can I get signed to your label?

Sodaholic said:

Am I insane to consider Eternity for a potential basis to create a new commercial game from? The GPL license means that one could use it commercially as long as credit is given, the license remains intact and the source code is given upon request.

You're not insane at all! It's perfectly fine to sell GPL code, plenty of projects exist that do just that. Hell, ID even sold a modified PrBoom on the Apple App Store.

Well not now but maybe one day i might use Youtube or AdF.ly to make money.
I do have a channel in YT, but i think it isn't the time to use it to make money.
Even through i have more than 100 videos, it's not worth it at least now.

Clonehunter said:

I've heard success stories with writing and Amazon. However, I've also heard that that window is on the verge of shutting due to some weird thing that would force people to price their eBooks at certain prices, anywhere from ten dollars and up or something.

I call bullshit on this. Ive had a short story on amazon for years and i have made 0 sales.

geo said:

My Youtube channel still makes money when I haven't updated it in 3 years. Not a lot, but hey its something.

Whats your yt channel, and how much does it make nowadays?