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Are sales better on Blusky? + what is telegram?
7 months ago
Advice from people who use these things is welcome, as I don't use them!
Does anyone know if Furry art sales on Blusky are more consistent that Furaffinity? Sales have entirely dried up here. I've basically been selling nothing the later half of 2024, and this year already. I've only sold to one person this year, and while selling to one person is better than none and I am grateful I'm used to selling to between 2-5 ppl, and sometimes a new person will show up.
I used to sell fairly consistently, the NSFW OC ychs(the ones without backgrounds) from between 65-120$ sometimes, but that started declining in 2024. Some of them would remain open for months. I was selling both the sketchy lineart and the clean lineart versions, but then I only started selling the sketchy lineart versions and now they don't sell at all. I've tried pinups, and even when trying them for 65$(which some are still open in my gallery) they haven't sold.
There could be a variety of reasons, I'm not sure. I've never had success on any art website I've every use so maybe I'm cursed or maybe some other ppl just get popular and not me.
Some ppl have suggested a patreon but I am entirely doubtful I will have any success there even worth its time, given my sales here. That and a big draw of Patreon is making a monthly image or rewards for patreons but I'm pretty comfortable taking commissions how I do. I'm bad at managing things like a patreon.
I've tried things like cheaper shading and line options. I've had several people tell me they don't see a difference in sketchy + clean, so I've been putting everything for sketchy as they have a higher chance of selling. I've had images of chibis as cheap as 20$ and they didn't sell at all on Christmas last year. I used to sell fat/chubby YCHS and for some reason I haven't sold one in YEARS. I've tried a bunch of different pricing options to bring in new customers with no luck at all.
(PS: if you're one of those "this image is 20$ and I'm going to tell you it's "not worth the price, sell it to me for 5$!" please go away. I am fully open to price critiques to help me find a proper balance for selling artwork to consumers as I have issues figuring out pricing but this is not helpful to me and it's disrespectful. I can't afford a PS5 but I'm not going to go complain to the seller. I find these types of people for some reason have nothing to say about other artists, selling at same prices as me. They only have issue with me).
I've noticed I have higher chances of selling when there isn't a complexity surcharge, but the surcharge is there for a reason and I've even set my prices at similar prices I've seen consistently from OTHER artists(5-15$ they sometimes cost more). I've tried finding a pricing balance that won't be monetarily a waste of my time, but also a better pricing for a consumer to interest them but even when I've dropped couple ychs to 50 on a sale a few times, they don't sale.
I want a pricing range that benefits me so I actually GET paid worth my time but enough to interest a buyer :/ if I got paid consistently every time I posted, prices would drop but the issue is I'm not even selling small items consistently so I price some things higher because I know I'm not going to be paid for a long while(sometimes months...) so the higher profit is needed.
I've seen some other smaller artists on FA struggling to sell consistently too, which makes me wonder if FA is only for big artists as a lot of artists I see selling have a following from other websites.
I don't sell on Facebook anymore, sales completely dried up for anything over 15$ there years ago even with posting in multiple groups.
What is telegram? people tell me I should use it because furries do and someone said they sell art there. I looked it up and it's a messenger like skype? How do I sell art on that? I think there's plenty of furries on Blusky. Is Blusky easier to sell on? I don't use it.
Thanks for advice
Does anyone know if Furry art sales on Blusky are more consistent that Furaffinity? Sales have entirely dried up here. I've basically been selling nothing the later half of 2024, and this year already. I've only sold to one person this year, and while selling to one person is better than none and I am grateful I'm used to selling to between 2-5 ppl, and sometimes a new person will show up.
I used to sell fairly consistently, the NSFW OC ychs(the ones without backgrounds) from between 65-120$ sometimes, but that started declining in 2024. Some of them would remain open for months. I was selling both the sketchy lineart and the clean lineart versions, but then I only started selling the sketchy lineart versions and now they don't sell at all. I've tried pinups, and even when trying them for 65$(which some are still open in my gallery) they haven't sold.
There could be a variety of reasons, I'm not sure. I've never had success on any art website I've every use so maybe I'm cursed or maybe some other ppl just get popular and not me.
Some ppl have suggested a patreon but I am entirely doubtful I will have any success there even worth its time, given my sales here. That and a big draw of Patreon is making a monthly image or rewards for patreons but I'm pretty comfortable taking commissions how I do. I'm bad at managing things like a patreon.
I've tried things like cheaper shading and line options. I've had several people tell me they don't see a difference in sketchy + clean, so I've been putting everything for sketchy as they have a higher chance of selling. I've had images of chibis as cheap as 20$ and they didn't sell at all on Christmas last year. I used to sell fat/chubby YCHS and for some reason I haven't sold one in YEARS. I've tried a bunch of different pricing options to bring in new customers with no luck at all.
(PS: if you're one of those "this image is 20$ and I'm going to tell you it's "not worth the price, sell it to me for 5$!" please go away. I am fully open to price critiques to help me find a proper balance for selling artwork to consumers as I have issues figuring out pricing but this is not helpful to me and it's disrespectful. I can't afford a PS5 but I'm not going to go complain to the seller. I find these types of people for some reason have nothing to say about other artists, selling at same prices as me. They only have issue with me).
I've noticed I have higher chances of selling when there isn't a complexity surcharge, but the surcharge is there for a reason and I've even set my prices at similar prices I've seen consistently from OTHER artists(5-15$ they sometimes cost more). I've tried finding a pricing balance that won't be monetarily a waste of my time, but also a better pricing for a consumer to interest them but even when I've dropped couple ychs to 50 on a sale a few times, they don't sale.
I want a pricing range that benefits me so I actually GET paid worth my time but enough to interest a buyer :/ if I got paid consistently every time I posted, prices would drop but the issue is I'm not even selling small items consistently so I price some things higher because I know I'm not going to be paid for a long while(sometimes months...) so the higher profit is needed.
I've seen some other smaller artists on FA struggling to sell consistently too, which makes me wonder if FA is only for big artists as a lot of artists I see selling have a following from other websites.
I don't sell on Facebook anymore, sales completely dried up for anything over 15$ there years ago even with posting in multiple groups.
What is telegram? people tell me I should use it because furries do and someone said they sell art there. I looked it up and it's a messenger like skype? How do I sell art on that? I think there's plenty of furries on Blusky. Is Blusky easier to sell on? I don't use it.
Thanks for advice
I understand, it does make me happy to know you're interested in my art though, thanks <:)
As for sales specifically, unfortunately I think a lot of people are just low on cash (especially here in the United States), I've seen popular artists and fursuit makers complaining about how they aren't selling anything like they used to. I typically buy art frequently but because of the current economy here in the U.S. and our new president, I have stopped spending on unnecessary stuff completely.
Yes I remember when Covid happened was when my sales really started to decline bad. Pre-Covid I'd had one or two years where I didn't sell much but I used to sell images for sometimes 200-300$ multiple times a year but it stopped when Covid happened. I even had a long time commissioner tell me he couldn't afford art anymore because of Covid. The economy is pretty bad in the US. People keep saying Trump will help the inflation after whatever tf Biden did to cause everything to increase in price but I've noticed no changes in things being expensive out here in rural Texas so I'm not sure how that is supposed to change and I have no hope it will :/ inflation seems to get worse since Covid with no improvement.
Though I have noticed many other artist struggling to sell art lately and I don't necessarily think it's due to inactivity on FA since I feel this site is still very active for artist and art buyers. I think what mostly has to do with the drop is sales is that people haven't had much money to spend lately with inflation and economic issues (depending on where they live).
Even I used had to significantly cut down on the amount of art I was buying since I can't really afford much anymore. It has gotten pretty tough lately.
There is a fair bit of drama that comes with drawing taboo themes(especially some stuff I draw that I can't post here...), but since it's rare for clients to find folks who draw that, you do get a bit of a leg up on most other small-time artists in terms of being able to reliably make sales to a smaller group of total freaks(endearingly).
You also get the drawback of offending other people, so you end up pigeon-holing yourself and get "trapped" drawing the same degenerate themes over and over; which is fine if you're like me and have a more lax moral compass when it comes to art, but many people don't have the stomach for it which I do respect as well. It's not everyone's cuppa tea and I definitely wouldn't want folks producing art that squicks them out just for the money. That is soul-sucking. It doesn't help that the culture of furry is shifting more towards folks being against porn in general, especially the taboo stuff. I've been a furry for 15 years and never in my life seen this much kink-shaming as the last few years since Covid made furry more mainstream.
As for other platforms, I do see folks making sales on social media IF they manage to get enough followers and play the game of saying/doing the right things and following social pressures. You're then playing to an algorithm, where FA works on a watcher/front page/tag search style which is a bit more equal opportunity. I never had much consistent luck making sales on social media because it just brought drama my way due to the nature of what I produce, so that's about as deep as my opinion on that goes. You're also then competing with bigger artists, which if you're in a good headspace about it can push you to improve your skill; but mostly I noticed it can end up discouraging people and puts them into self-hating and giving up, which isn't so great...
My advice is to try the patreon route but without patreon? So finding yourself a small group of folks to turn into regulars, treat them very nicely, and keep producing for the same group. That has been what's worked for me the best. If you're gonna try social media, you need to be posting on a pretty regular basis and learning the algorithm. There's a reason artists got frustrated on twitter because it would keep boosting "sketches" and leaving fully finished works to be ignored. And it's not like there's a manual for socmed either, you kinda figure it out and find an audience by throwing yourself against a wall until it sticks. I don't imagine bsky is much different in that sense.
Sadly, I don't have a stomach of steel like some people(I envy them) I can't stomach sitting through certain taboo art topics(and don't get paid enough to want to anyways). I suppose that "limits" me to specific types of NSFW art but I've seen plenty of "clean" NSFW furry artists have no issue with this.
I do have a singular commissioner who buys from me frequently, he's the only one who's been buying from me consistently. I used to have around 3 but they kinda dropped off when Covid happened and when I improved at art, and raised my prices(since 2016/2018).
I don't interact with the furry fandom outside of FA here but it seems a mix of useless kink shaming, and some of the said people with taboo kinks being disrespectful to ppl who don't want to draw it. I assume it's both of those things making it worse. I don't like types of taboo porn, but my dislike for them grows more when people harass me for not wanting to do the porn(I've had three people over the years who were rude to me and harassed me through notes because I won't do cub).
I feel like kink shaming feels worthless with furry art, but that's just me. I consistently see furries who like taboo topics, acting like the average furry who isn't into cub porn, scat, piss, vore shouldn't be disgusted with coming across it and argue with them for being "easily offended". I feel like both parties should not be rude to each other, as it just makes their dislike of each other grow. Just avoid each other if they can't resist being rude to each other.
I don't have a Inkbunny account for a reason, for example. It's not what I draw or want to interact with. Hence FA.
I've actually never had anyone ask for private commissions who went through with paying me, so sadly the private commission market has never happened for me.
I'm sure you already have one but if you don't, Inkbunny is apparently a good furry website for drama free taboo porn from what I hear. It's algorithm would be kinder to you.
I have the second result when being around bigger artists :/ I never get to their watcher base no matter how much my art improves.
I do have a singular repeat commissioner! so my first "patron" ha. I produce art for him regularly. I assume I treat him nice, he's not complained yet😅
Yes twitter/x :/ I made a test acc there last year, and I posted random old art I made and tried various hash tags and my art either never showed up in the search or the only likes I got were bots. I don't know how anyone uses twitter.
I don't think so either. I've been throwing stuff at a wall for years trying to find something that sticks x( I did make a Blusky though.
I pray for you that more folks come your way and get something more often! Perhaps if you alienated some clients from raising prices, bring it back down for those folks? I used to think different about this tbh, but I'm nowadays of the opinion that art is actually worth what people are willing to pay. It's better to have a few lower paying clients than like, none who will pay the higher rates y'know? I had a wake up call with that as well when I tried to raise my prices to justify putting in more effort(I can draw better than what I usually produce on commission) and all that did was... I got NO sales at that price and had to go crawling back to what I charged before. I'm currently tryna see if raising prices only by 20 bucks will help to "boil the frog" so to speak...
I agree with you. I think respect from both sides would go a long way!!
Also I did have Inkbunny since 2012 but kept getting harassed for even having one, so it wasn't worth it eventually.
Also yeah the social media thing it's very hard to get it to take off for sure... I only see folks that's are already popular, have that work out.
Yep I thought of that but I posted some images on sale(NSFW couple, 50$ with clean lines and some shading) which was lower than it would even be worth for me, and they didn't sale! I've tried lowering my prices.:( I don't get what you're supposed to do if ppl go "you're prices too high" and lower them and they never sell. It's like they don't sell cheap, they don't sell higher.
I even got desperate in 2021 I think, and I uploaded the same type of YCH and it didn't sell at 30$. I lately reposted it at 175$ and it sold lmfao. I would be entirely fine with selling YCHS like that at 50$, but I never manage to sell ONE, let alone consistently.
If I sold constantly I'd drop prices :( I tried 25-30$ chibi ychs and didn't tell too many of them either.
🤝Agreed !Maybe the opinion of the furry fandom wouldn't be so bad, if certain ppl stopped harassing others lol🤡 I dunno how hard is it to not bug someone who isn't into what you're into, or seek out what you don't like to harass ppl 😭
You got harassed for having a Inkbunny on FA? I'm not surprised but maybe you should just move to Inkbunny!😅 well or block any rude ppl... Surely the IB users were interested in your art?:(
I wonder what their secrets are, ha.
I eventually figured out it was like literally one person pretending to be a group of people to stalk and harass me, but I only figured that out a couple days ago. ^^'
That's weird as hell, glad you figured it out though :/ damnnnn some ppl got fuckall to do I guess.
You've reminded me of this time, a guy got mad because I wouldn't remove his commission(we discussed it before hand, and he agreed) and then after I blocked him he pretended to be someone else, on another account, claimed the guy I blocked stole his OC and then claimed he was gonna report me to FA mods for "OC theft "
His oc was literally a solid grey canine with only red and blue hair btw lmfao. If he was actually someone else, it would be like reporting someone for having a black wolf oc...
He never did and I don't think would've gotten anywhere.
Also yeah frrrrrr.
Also that's like, insane that people got so mad at you for *checks notes* posting the art you drew that they paid for. Lol. Especially if it's generic like you could just remove their name and be above board. :V
I even asked him before hand if he was aware I don't remove commissions after posting them and he was like "yea I'm cool" I think the only times I ever removed a commission was this one guy who's BF was paying people to draw porn of their sonas together after they broke up and another person who wanted their commission removed because it was somehow linked to their FB and their family found 💀
But yea lol literally solid grey dog with red and blue hair. I unironically found a random other person one day, with basically the same design OC LOL.
Still wild coz there is a point where it's not the price at all just the market itself.
Also lol L on their parts. I've had that too where people broke up so I couldn't post a vore pic I really liked. I respect their wishes but it still sucks.
Market itself is bad I guess.
You could always change the colors of the OCS lol. Too bad I didn't save any PSDS from 2017 lol. Yea sucks :(
25$ if my LOWEST for shaded busts with no additional charges for design complexity.
The issue is this is my only source of income. I do live with my family who pays for my food ect but I used to be paid consistently enough to have money to buy things I wanted(games ect) or extra things like replacements from broken things.
I'm not even getting paid consistently enough to save for a moped because I'm sure as hell not getting paid enough for even half a down payment for a car.
I wish I had a real job so I could quit commissions forever.:( Furry commissioners are soul sucking entirely because I haven't been paid what I want for years, and now I'm basically not selling at all. I've only made 400$ this month and go months with no pay.
bah whatever.
I don't think I have anything more to say except it's disheartening and depressing because I don't think I'm doing anything "wrong" with sells and people have always told me "if its low enough people will pay for it!"
clearly not. ;___; things maybe improve in the future, I can hope.
I can totally see it sucking ass when you're relying only on that and not being able to make sales even when severely undercharging.
*offers hugs* Perhaps one day you can find another job to support yourself. I know it's not always easy though, everywhere lately is having employment shortages afaik.
yea let me move....somewhere with currently 100$ to my name, not getting paid for almost 8 months and when I do it's sometimes something like 25$ and no transportation and no family willing or able to help. x(
thanks for all the advice and stuff
You're welcome hon! Wishing you well from afar.~
thanks Thera, you too <:)