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SMALL CREATOR EARNINGS: A Thread.
This thread will discuss actual numbers of earnings. If seeing the $ discussed is an issue, this is probably not the thread for you.
This thread will discuss actual numbers of earnings. If seeing the $ discussed is an issue, this is probably not the thread for you.
A bit about me: I published my first game (Basic Witches) in February of 2019, so it's been a little over a year. For the bulk of my early days, I published on the DMsGuild. I have a medium sized catalogue of collaborations there, 1 solo game, and 1 co-written game.
I have also published on Itch, but my catalogue is smaller. Since the DRAMA in Feb, I have been focusing the bulk of my time making work that will not be published on the Guild. This includes freelance writing, and publishing small games on Itch.
Okay: now for the good stuff. In April, I posted a thread showing some slow growth over the course of 2020. On the whole, this trend is continuing. But its been a bit unsteady. Here are my numbers for the year. For context, In 2i19, I earned just shy of $1400 for the year.
So May continued to show growth. A lot of growth! My best month ever in fact. But what contributed? Mostly, the big surge in DMsGuild sales that came from the Play It Forward event. I got 100% of my earnings, instead of the normal 50.
But I also had really great Itch sales that month. I attribute that to the fact that I had made the decision to actively promote my work on twitter ever single day. I would schedule tweets that promo'd a game or bundle every day. It paid off, clearly.
And then we get to June. Oh god June. WTF happened in June? Well, you know, the world was on fire. Listening to what was happening with BLM, I elected to stop promoting my work through the first half of June. As a result, I made almost no sales at all.
When I started promoting again in the back half of the month, I had lost a lot of steam, and I was still trying to make sure that I was listening to and promoting black creators. My own work got lost in the shuffle. Thats okay.
At the very end of June, I released a new game on Itch, which gave me a VERY tiny boost of sales, which carried into the first half of July. I started promoting my work again every day. I also released another small game for a game jam.
The 'DMsGuild' boost this month actually comes courtesy of DriveThruRPG, because we released the first Eat the Rich zine there at the beginning of the month. Sales have been better than expected, and I will thank the drama of earlier this year for that.
I also have $175 that was paid out from freelance work this month. I have two more pieces for that company, and I expect that I will receive similar payments in August and September (provided I keep on schedule!). Clearly, freelancing can be a lucrative part of RPG writing.
To that end, I did receive a very large payment for another job that I did, but I have not included it. Its an outlier, and I am not considering it part of my regular income. Should further opportunities arise for that job, I will definitely be factoring it into my earnings.
So what does the rest of the year look like? I am hoping to maintain the average of $300 a month in earnings, and continue to grow it. I have a goal of reaching an average of $1000 a month in earnings. Clearly, I am a long way from that. So how will I get there?
I am continuing to seek freelance opportunities with bigger companies, and working to strengthen the relationships that I have. I have a selection of in-process work that I will finish up over the course of the rest of the year. I will continue to promote Itch every day.
I had a recent business consultation that pushed me to open my own online store, so that I have a place where I can maximize sales and grow my core customers. I will be putting effort and focus into promoting sales on my website more than on third party platforms.
I am also looking to expand into making physical products. I participated in the big Itch racial justice bundle with Camp Flying Moose, which has been well received. So I am in the process of bringing that to print, to be available for purchase in August.
The print is mostly an experiment. Me dipping my toe in the water to see if physical copies are an appropriate way for me to grow my business. I hope it is!
I am nowhere near making 'quit your job' money yet. I am a very very very tiny fish in a big pond. There are a lot of creators who are making a lot more money than I am. I have been open about my earnings because it can be really hard to gauge success.
We shouldn't measure ourselves against others, but it can be helpful to know where you fit. What strategies are other people using, and how can we learn from one another to make this a financially viable career choice.
So there we have it. I am up almost $600 from last year. I have had a major shift in focus for where I am publishing my work. I am experimenting and trying things. Some months are much better than others.
I will probably do another check in later in the fall to see how my print experiment has impacted sales. In the mean time, please, leave your questions and I will do my best to answer them!
