Greetings, wonderful reader!
I’m here to share why I decided to stop selling my creative works on Etsy, Creative Fabrica, The Hungry JPEG, Design Bundles, So Fontsy, and their companions. Brace yourself for a journey from graphic design triumphs to the chaos stirred up by artificial intelligence!
Now, for those who aren’t in the loop, yours truly is a designer by day, a mom by duty, and a potential best-selling author in the making (fingers crossed). Up until August 2022, life was peachy keen, with my designs raking in a sweet $800 a month – enough to keep the coffee flowing. But then, enter the chaotic circus of A.I.-generated images and illustrations. My steady income took a nosedive faster than you can say “pixel panic.”
So, I found myself juggling impending motherhood, a shrinking bank balance, and the disconcerting sight of my earnings shifting from cha-ching to a big fat zero.
Ever resourceful, I played detective, interrogating these platforms about the mysterious disappearance of my sales, suspecting a shadowban conspiracy or something similar. Their response? A blunt “there’s nothing wrong with your account.”
I begged them to audit my shop, thinking maybe my designs needed a makeover. Their brilliant advice? “We don’t know why your sales dropped, darling. Nothing’s wrong with your account. Maybe spruce up those thumbnails.” Well, thank you for the groundbreaking revelation!
Fast forward to the future, and surprise, surprise, most of these platforms jumped on the A.I. bandwagon.
There I was, caught in the crossfire of pixels and algorithms, feeling like a lost soul in a sea of ones and zeros, unsure of what steps to take to continue earning the money I so desperately needed.
Now, let’s play the name game. Let’s discuss the turning point that led me to change gears, redefine my creative path, and embrace a new era in my life as a designer. Stick around. The journey may be bumpy, but hey, who said the design life was a walk in the park? And no, we won’t delve into Etsy drama today. Etsy decided to cut ties with Brazil, leaving us all out in the cold. After investing some of my hard-earned cash in Etsy (a decision I regret more than a questionable DIY haircut), all I received was a swift kick in the backside. It turns out, if you’re a Brazilian citizen or call Brazil home sweet home, Etsy shuts its virtual door on your entrepreneurial dreams, essentially saying, “Sorry, your creativity can’t sit with us.” I’m sure they have their reasons, which I won’t go into.
Etsy has its fair share of issues now, and to add to the carnival of chaos, they scooped up Elo7, a local marketplace that’s like Etsy’s long-lost cousin. I’ll let you play judge and jury on what Etsy has morphed into, but let’s not waste another precious minute dissecting its quirks.
What I’ll be discussing now is the once-beloved haven for digital novices and the penny-pinching pioneers of the design world. Amidst a sea of similar marketplaces, this particular gem stood out, especially in the pre-A.I. era. Enter Creative Fabrica – a platform that many, including yours truly, once held dear.
By failing to understand the reasons behind my dwindling sales, memories of the Etsy “algorithm change” saga resurfaced, where sellers experienced the sting of revenue loss. Naturally, when Creative Fabrica proudly announced its surpassing of Creative Market in size, I couldn’t shake off the fear of a déjà vu scenario.
Fueled by discontentment and the impending arrival of a baby, I decided to conduct an experiment. I committed myself to creating numerous products over a month, unveiling a new masterpiece each day. After all, the common wisdom suggests that posting daily is the algorithmic key to winning a platform’s favor, right? Wrong. To my dismay, the more I posted, the fewer sales trickled in. And mind you, we’re talking about the illustrious last quarter of the year – Black Friday, Halloween, and all the festive shenanigans. It seemed like my sales had chosen to go on an unexpected vacation.
Cue the dramatic realization: my inbox was flooded with promotional emails from Creative Fabrica proudly announcing their latest creation – the A.I. Image Generator. For a mere $9 a month, you could whip up your own collections and bundles with transparent backgrounds. Download, use, repeat. My designs felt like yesterday’s news in the face of this A.I. wizardry.
So, the plot thickens! Following an exhaustive analysis of the design battleground, a revelation struck me. It wasn’t just the clientele hopping on the A.I. bandwagon – designers were hitching a ride too, churning out those colossal bundles that seem to multiply faster than rabbits. You know the ones, featuring 100+ sublimation illustrations or a mind-boggling 300+ coloring pages.
Here’s the kicker: designers were happily forking over their hard-earned cash for a monthly subscription to access this A.I. wonderland and collaborate with Creative Fabrica. Cue the first red flag waving in the digital breeze.
It’s usually not okay to pay for the privilege of working on a platform that already takes its commission on each sale you make. However, I reasoned with myself, perhaps it’s alright, sometimes a little extra investment is needed to stay up to date. Yet, a nagging feeling persisted.
Questions flooded my mind: If my clients can get a variety of designs for a mere $9 or $12 a month, where does that leave me and my $5 offerings per bundle? What sets me apart? What gives my work that golden touch of value? If everyone can do it, then it’s absolutely worthless. These were the puzzles I had to solve, and honestly, I found myself at a loss.
If everyone can do it, then it’s absolutely worthless.
I needed to make my designs stand out, be special. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not on an anti-A.I. crusade. In fact, I find A.I. utterly fascinating. The mere fact that you’re blissfully reading this article sans grammatical hiccups, and I didn’t have to hire a grammar guru, feels like a slice of linguistic heaven to me.
While trying to find the answers, the harsh truth slapped me in the face – the value of my work had shifted, demanding adaptation for survival. With a deep breath, I made the decision to cozy up to A.I., embracing the digital revolution and soaking up knowledge like a sponge. Little did I know, I was about to find the ultimate red flag, the one that would lead me to bid farewell to marketplaces like Creative Fabrica.
As my sales dwindled, I noticed another disheartening change – the money I received from downloads, courtesy of Creative Fabrica subscribers, wasn’t dancing to the same tune. A question echoed in the minds of Creative Fabrica’s designers for a long time, a cry for transparency: Why can’t I see the number of downloads, who downloaded my design, what design they snagged, and how much I pocketed? Sales were visible, but downloads from subscribers were locked behind a digital curtain. Someone, somewhere, at some point, mumbled something about the complexity of displaying earnings per download, but don’t quote me on that. The mystery persisted, leaving designers like me in the dark.
Until now, I remain clueless about my most downloaded product on Creative Fabrica since 2018. Meanwhile, platforms like UpLabs spill the beans, Freepik spills the beans, and even Shutterstock joins the bean-spilling party. Why the so-called biggest marketplace for digital designs can’t is beyond my understanding.
So, one day, I’m casually working on my dashboard, and a measly $0.02 magically appears in my account. Odd, but I brush it off. The next day, déjà vu strikes – $0.01 mysteriously materializes. Intrigued, I kept an eye on my account, and later that day, jackpot! A whopping $0.04 graces my balance. The epiphany hits me – someone downloaded my product, and I earned a whopping four cents. Cue my heavily pregnant self thinking, “Are you serious?”
Someone downloaded my product, and I earned a whopping four cents.
Dear reader, you might not be familiar with who I am as a designer, but here’s a certainty – my creations don’t come with a price tag as absurd as $0.04. No sir, my products are either handed out for free (because I’m nice) or priced at a minimum of $1 and beyond. I’m not in the business of crafting digital masterpieces for pocket change.
Now, let’s rewind to that fateful moment when I noticed those paltry sums of $0.02, $0.01, and a whopping $0.04 popping up in my account. It was a moment of reckoning, and I won’t bore you with the hormonal rollercoaster of emotions I rode. Suffice it to say, there might have been tears involved.
In the midst of the emotional storm, a revelation – I needed to change my approach, work smarter, and do so in the safest possible way. The hard truth was this: when you’re toiling away in someone else’s digital kingdom, everything you’ve built can be yanked from under your feet. They hold the power to shut down your shop without rhyme or reason or gradually diminish your presence, hoping you won’t catch on for years. If you’re not steering the ship, rest assured, someone else is, and they might just navigate it off a cliff.
It’s time to build a brand of my own.
As my daughter prepared to make her grand entrance into the world, I knew it was time to put a pause on this chapter of my life. I had to compartmentalize and strategize, find a way to make money and pay the bills while doing what I loved. After endless sleep-deprived post-partum nights, I can honestly say – I believe I’ve nailed it. And that, my friend, is what we’re exploring next.
The foremost concern on my mind was safety – after all, I couldn’t afford to go through another tumultuous experience like the one with Creative Fabrica, especially now that I have a precious baby relying on me. Control became a non-negotiable necessity.
Next up on the priority list was the value of my work. In an age where A.I. has infiltrated every nook and cranny of our digital universe, I embarked on days of relentless research. The conclusion? Quality, uniqueness, brand and exclusivity are the golden keys to standing out. Groundbreaking, right? But sometimes, the simplest truths are the most powerful.
The third item on my agenda was figuring out a worthy replacement for the platforms I was ditching. The big question: what could fill that void? The answer is refreshingly simple as well! Marketplaces are convenient because they offer ready-made access to traffic and act as payment facilitators. Creating your own website, on the other hand, feels like navigating an e-commerce labyrinth with platforms like Woocommerce. I craved simplicity, ease of use, and above all, safety – an e-commerce site hacking incident once left me with a not-so-fun story.
Now, let’s unveil the solution.
One indisputable fact: everything resides on Google (and now, possibly on Perplexity). Enter the blog – a vital cornerstone. Why prioritize a blog over social media, you ask? Picture a direct line between your blog and Google, with everything in between considered mere noise (a.k.a. Social Media). SEARCH ENGINES LOVE BLOG CONTENT. Blog posts are immortal, unlike the fleeting existence of an Instagram post that vanishes into the algorithmic abyss by day’s end.
Social media is not a shortcut to success; it’s a long detour.
Building traffic to your blog is a marathon, not a sprint, and that’s precisely why I decided to assess the number of visitors to my website only after consistently providing quality content for a robust six months.
As my blog steadily grows from a tiny seed, gaining strength and destined to become a magnificent tree of wonder, the need for a space to attract visitors and potentially initiate sales becomes evident. Keep in mind, this is a crucial part in the narrative – I’m juggling expenses with almost no revenue. Time is of the essence, and I need something fast!
During my research, I discovered an intriguing fact: Pinterest ranks as the third-best search engine, trailing only Google and YouTube. Imagine the potential of transforming a Pinterest account into a storefront, complete with direct links to your products. Enter Beacons, the unsung hero in this digital saga – a payment and download facilitator, offering the simplest and fastest way to start selling digital goods and earning money in the vast online landscape.
The beauty lies in the control I wield over every aspect of my sales. Beacons takes a mere fraction in commission, a breath of fresh air compared to the hefty toll extracted by marketplaces. In the unlikely event that my website falls prey to a hacker’s antics, my money-making machine won’t skip a beat. I can continue earning by posting product links directly on Pinterest. In fact, a website isn’t even a necessity if digital products are your sole focus – the entire operation runs independently.
Now, don’t mistake my focus on Beacons as a dismissal of my blog. It’s there for a reason – I aspire to more than just selling digital goods. Even if a calamity befalls my Pinterest account, my products will endure, continuing to thrive on other platforms. Concerned about Beacons? Fret not, for they have competitors, and the replacement process would be a mere matter of time.
In my perspective, every marketplace is undergoing seismic shifts, courtesy of the A.I. revolution and the creative minds wielding it. Platforms like Freepik, Etsy, and numerous others find themselves inundated with an array of peculiar A.I.-crafted images. And I think we should use A.I. to create…why not? The concerning aspect is that designers find themselves in a daily frenzy, feverishly uploading creations in a desperate attempt to satisfy the insatiable algorithm and earn meager cents. It paints a somber picture, yet it reflects the unyielding evolution of life.
The whole algorithmic game needs a shake-up. It’s time to shift the paradigm – stop working for the algorithm and make it work for you. The key to this transformation lies in understanding the first rule of success: content is king, consistency is queen, and evolution is the force that shapes history. This is why I’ve chosen to exclusively offer my designs on my website via Beacons. I’ve decided to step away from being the fast-food of design. My work is gourmet, and I intend to take control of my earnings.
If you’re interested in delving further into how A.I. is reshaping the entire web, check out this compelling article by The Verge on the subject. It might provide you with valuable insights into the direction of this ongoing revolution.
So, if you’re making the leap from those bustling marketplaces and seeking a more efficient, safer, and profitable way of doing things, I extend an invitation to adopt the method I just mentioned. Feel free to join Beacons through my link, absolutely free, of course. And pretty please, I implore you, share your story in the comments. I’m eager to hear your journey and experiences. Let’s create a community where wisdom and stories are shared, navigating the tumultuous waters of the digital landscape together.
Cheers to crafting our own digital destiny!
I’ll see you in the next one.
