Making money as a cosplayer is no easy venture. It requires hard work and motivation to make it work out. Ultimately, you need to have some sort of product you create to generate revenue. Whether it’s a physical or digital product is up to you. A popular option would be prints. Cosplay prints are pictures of a cosplayer in costume. Sometimes they might be signed. If you haven’t already begun creating and offering this product to your audience, you’ll need to know how to start selling cosplay prints before you get started.
Create Product
Before you start selling cosplay prints, you need to create your product. Book yourself a photoshoot and pick out the characters you want to have prints for. Make sure to discuss with your photographer about wanting to use the images to sell as prints and get proper permission. Or you can also shoot cosplay pictures at home.
Pick a Shop Platform
You’ll need to decide where you want to sell your prints. There’s plenty of platforms out there to make it possible. Common places a cosplayer will sell prints can be in person at cons or online in platforms like Etsy or Gumroad. Below are a few online platforms to choose from:
- Ko-Fi
- Etsy
- Website with ecommerce plugins
- Store Envy
- Gumroad
- Fourth Wall
Plan Fulfillment Logistics
Depending on which platform you choose you may have to handle fulfillment yourself. Some platforms can take care of shipping for you like Fourth Wall. However, for physical prints sold on sites like Etsy or Ko-Fi, you will have to get the image printed and shipped on your own. Consider the following if you will be handling your own shipping:
- Select where to print images from
- Plan how to ship
- Gather shipping supplies
- Plan label creation (this requires considering a few things)
- Return address shouldn’t be your home
- Find an affordable option
- Decide whether you will offer tracking
Create Listings
Once your product is made and a platform selected, you can begin creating a product listing. Optimize the product names and descriptions so they have good SEO value and cause your product to drive organic traffic. Use quality product images that are watermarked so they can’t be stolen.
Pricing Prints
You want to make sure you sell your prints for the right price so you make some sort of profit and cover all expenses for the creation of the print and your time. Typically for standard, signed 8×12 prints, a cosplayer may charge $10-$20. Be sure to calculate how much it costs for you to produce each print though and shipping.
Marketing
Once your products are listed, you need to promote your prints. This can be done with standard marketing practices such as social media, ads, email lists and even content marketing. Be sure to regularly promote your prints or consider running sales to try and get more shoppers.
