2023 Spoonflower Challenge Royalty Analysis
Ask any Spoonflower artist, and they’ll claim participation in the weekly design challenges increases shop visibility and sales. (I’m Spoonflower artists here…)
But how true is that really? Last week, I posted a blog that outlined my 40 entries in the 2023 design challenges and where they ranked in the competitions. Overwhelmingly, I was asked by other artists if this participation translated into sales.
It’s me, hi. I’m a people pleaser, it’s me.
So now I’ve compiled all the sales from my challenge entries. I even made a few graphs… these are eye opening. Keep in mind, some designs have been on the market for nearly a year (Splitting Hares) while others on the market for merely days (Moonlit Lovers.) I think it’s important to note that several of these designs have different color ways and I have not included those sales in the data below. Also, sales are driven by current trends, quality of the design and, in my opinion, whether Spoonflower targets your designs for promotions.
I hope by sharing this information, I’m creating honesty and transparency within the surface pattern community, a community that is notoriously tight lipped when it comes to money.
Royalty Breakdown
2023 Challenge Royalties by Design
All the entries, where they ranked and the corresponding sales.
I’d be lying if I said this analysis didn’t catch me off guard. Is constant participation monetarily valuable? No. And in hind-site, it’s probably not worth it if all I’m interested in is the money. Is regular participation artistically valuable? Absolutely. No matter the prompt, every piece an artist creates is a learning process that creates valuable skills and inspiration for future designs. And those future designs may be the ones that really sell.
Beginning in 2024, Spoonflower plans to host challenges on a bi-weekly basis. I welcome this change and plan to participate in each of the 26 design challenges! Because, well, I love a homework assignment and these Spoonflower challenges are homework for artists!
Hope you found something useful in this blog post. Thanks for checking out my work!
J/Marie
J Marie is a stay at home mom, artist and blogger based in the Los Angeles Suburbs. Follow her on Instagram for daily artwork updates! You can find her work on Etsy, Geometry House and Spoonflower.
