‘As the mayor’s skin turned to seed, he pleaded, one last time. The pigeon shaman ignored his cries. The flock arrived. Hungry.’
The pigeon shaman, the avian avenger, taking out her fury on the poor fella for his anti-pigeon measures. She’s also taking her Fears to both a Threadless and Etsy store near you!
As she’s a new release, and I adore her, you can message me below or email me at fears@gmx.co.uk to get her A4 print for just £8 + P&P. Offer ends Saturday, June 9th.
You may also know that Seeking Hydras cover has returned to my Etsy store this week.
And do you know what? As I’m using up my entire year’s marketing quota in just one post, I’m also going to link to the book this image came from. Seeking Hydra.
Seeking Hydra is available on Amazon for £4.99 for an ebook or £12 in print. And gosh darn it, does it have a sexy cover. Feel free to judge.
Siamese Kittens are the cat spirits of the Little Fears world. It’s debated whether or not these felines are evil on account of them being accused of killing an underground mammal. Personally, I think that’s making a meowtain out of a molehill.
And with that delicious pun, we show off some arts and present some new listings!
Today’s post is more a follow-up blog with some further useful ideas and tips for writers and artists on WordPress. Let’s start with a link to my first post, Selling on WordPress from two weeks ago.
It turns out. I was right on the mark. Selling your own products is something that doesn’t come natively to most of the artists and writers that commented. In fact all of them now I’m reading over them… So, know that you’re not alone with your sales issues.
Affiliate Links
Priyankaspen asked how I embed affiliate links into my posts. I’ve discussed affiliate links before. The income you get from them is woeful. I’m lucky if I see $100 every three months. But I don’t ‘sell’ other peoples products on this website. I occasionally link to pens and paper. That’s about it (click for an example). If anybody clicks an Amazon affiliate link and buys anything from Amazon in that session, you get a few pennies. A word of caution here. We’ve spoken about affiliate links on blogs a few times. Nobody seems to mind odd links, but when you stuff a blog post with them, it’s like flicking a switch that pisses people off. If you stuff a blog post full of links, you might make a few pennies of the post, but you’re guaranteed to lose subscribers.
When you sign up to Amazon or any other affiliate network, you get short links to products. On Amazon.com when you’re signed in to affiliates, you get a bar across the top of each page. I always aim for a text link and embed the link in my post.
Copy the short link off of Amazon, highlight the text and right click, then copy. Go to your WordPress post and highlight the text you want to turn into a link. Click the link icon above. Paste the link into the empty box. That’s it, all done.
Icons
Janowrite asked about the icon set at the bottom of my posts. I create the icons myself in GIMP (free image editing software). I then embed the pictures the same way you would any image. Add content, Media, select an image, insert.
Then we add links the same we did with affiliate links. Select the image in the post, click insert link, copy paste in the link you want the image to go too. Handy if you want a book banner you’ve made yourself to link directly to your Amazon author page for example.
Ko-Fi
Forrest asked me about Patreon and tip-jars. Patreon is not for everyone. My tip jar is just a PayPal business link. Setting up a PayPal tip jar is frankly a pain in the arse and far more effort than it should have been.
One thing I do want to change too, though haven’t had time to look at yet is Ko-Fi. It’s a website you set up so people can support you for one-off tips to buy you coffee. Smart idea. Worth a look if you want a tip jar yourself.
Donna from DMStrachan.co.uk suggested that instead of adding sales announcements to weekly posts, I dedicate a post to new products. So that’s what I did… I’m still adding it to a weekly post… Doh.
But the focus of the post was far more into the new products. The result is, I had a few email enquiries and I sold three prints right off the bat. So I had some success. A dedicated sales post is better than burying new products. Sounds obvious, but we’re creators, writers and artists. We do have funny ideas about selling our own gear. I’ll get the new art prints on Etsy at full price this week. If anyone still wants a copy at £9 a print, please do drop me a message or email to fears@gmx.co.uk
Another follow up
I will be writing another follow-up blog post on this subject to discuss and link to ideas people had about real-world selling. Until then, looky, icons!
Holy crap does she look like a villain! She’s gotta be the leading big bad in the third Little Fears horror anthology. She has no name yet, though it’d be nice to associate her with an astrological sign. I’m not sure which yet. Maybe Libra? Capricorn and Aries are already taken. Also takes the shade for this weeks #Colour_Collective.
In this week, we have further art. I have learned in the past, Etsy sales fail and people whine about price increases if they notice. So I have three new art prints for sale, introductory offer until Thursday 22nd of March, they will be £9 each rather than the usual £12. If you’d like a print, on our trademark (not trademarked) sexy canvas paper, message me in comments or drop me an email to fears@gmx.co.uk
Click an image to blow it up.
Villain
Chirped
Triffids
Some serious seventies shades there. If you’d like any of the above in different colour schemes, we can do that too.
Also, we have another submission to Scribblers Cove, the theme of party. Not for sale, but I likes it, so I’m posting it.
If you fancy any of my older art prints, please do visit my Etsy store.
#Colour_Collective has returned to Twitter and the Fears are here for it! This week the colour is Boto Pink and conveniently, this week’s Scribblers Cove theme is flowers. Two birds with one doodle right there!
Art Prints
My art prints will return to the site this coming week and just look at that paper! My word is that canvas texture sexy. Something I haven’t sold for a long time. The prints are sized UK A4 and will cost £12 each (£3 shipping to the USA). I’ll have a shop page finished this weekend. If there’s an item you’ve seen doodled before or that’s on my Threadless store and you want to buy the canvas print version, please do let me know. I’ll make it a priority for the shop. Also. LOOK AT THAT TEXTURE!
Mmmmm, forbidden texture… Drools
Movigos
We’re back again this week, and Alex has chosen Spooky, a film on YouTube for us to watch. Expect cheap monsters and silliness. Come join us on Twitter for some fun, 9 pm UK time Saturday as we watch and tweet it. Hit me with an @ if you want to be added to the conversation.
Did ya see her? Blue Bugly was given away to my patrons this week. Something I have been meaning to do for ages. Monthly monsters, given out to paying patrons. Interested in receiving monsters monthly and helping to pay for Hydras feed bill? Head over to our page and support the Little Fears for as little as $1 a month.
A super short post, with some handy courses and links below. A comment to Mr Bongdoogle about Threadless the other day.
Ahh, OK. The service has been great. The quality took a drop about May this year on the Tees, however, it’s still the best out there along with Society 6.I can’t stand Zazzle and CafePress who use paper thin, Fruit of the Loom and Gildan. My sales are about 95% tees and 5% prints. I don’t know why the prints don’t sell from Threadless. I think I need to make a return to Etsy for the art prints and keep the Threadless store as tees. My store shows I have never had a returned item to Threadless.
Between Threadless, Redbubble and Society 6, there’s not much difference. I’m going to stick with my Threadless store as I still feel the Tee quality is good and I get regular sales from it. I get between $3-$5 per sale, Threadless get the rest.
For my art prints, they will return to my Etsy store. I do have some sexy as feck canvas effect 220gsm art print card. It looks awesome and everybody at markets loves them. If anyone has any requests, let me know in comments. Also, Layne, I haven’t forgotten about Cloud and Barn!
If you want to visit my Threadless store, click here.
If you want to visit my Etsy store, it’ll be back in a few days, link pending.
Below are a couple of courses from Jeff Staple. A creative entrepreneur who’s dabbled in t-shirt design.
Between his global streetwear brand Staple Design and renowned retail store Reed Space, jeffstaple has designed and sorted through thousands of t-shirts over the past two decades.
In this class, he celebrates the power of the “tee” by providing insights on how to concept, design, and manufacture a shirt that can form the foundation of your business.
This class is perfect for aspiring fashion entrepreneurs, designers, and everyone looking to spread a message in one of the most effective ways: a t-shirt. Learn everything you need to know about the types of tees available and what to expect when you dive in to making them.
As an added bonus, students who submit their actual t-shirt creations in the class have the opportunity to get purchased and placed in jeff’s store, Reed Space.
In this non-traditional class, you’ll gain access to a series of interviews that cover essential topics for the creative entrepreneur like marketing, design, and branding. These interviews were originally part of an initiative called The Board, which is a group of 100 creators that are working together to redefine the K-Swiss brand.
Blogger Natalie Suarez sits down with some top creative entrepreneurs to go through their experience building their businesses. You’ll learn from:
Sharmadean Reid, founder of WAH Nails over in London, will provide some pointers on developing your business plan.
Scott Sasso, founder of 10Deep here in New York, will speak on brand positioning, which will allow your consumers to distinguish your brand/business from everybody else.
Tyler Gage and Dan Mccombie – founders of Runa Tea, a tea company supporting indigenous farmers in the Amazon. They’ll give some tips on building community and conscience into your business.
The Fat Jewish, everyone’s favorite instagrammer, who gives some insight on social media strategy and how you can leverage today’s platforms to build your brand.
Rachel Wang, fashion director of Allure Magazine, speaks on the importance of your lookbook and Brand Imagery as a product company.
Jeff Staple provides tips on telling a story through your products.
K-Swiss is committed to outfitting and inspiring this generation of entrepreneurs. For additional creative inspiration and product updates, make sure to follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Little Fears 