How well does comic merch sell?

[mangofishcomics]

so, i recently set up a redbubble store, and have been working on a couple stickers and shirt designs. i most likely won't put anything up until my comic gains better performance, but i'd like to know if you can get decent pay from merch.

(design i've been working on, for example):

i expect it won't be much, and i know that a certain percentage of your earnings goes to redbubble seen as they do all the printing, posting etc.

[joannekwan]

It depends on a couple of things.

1. Your audience. Do you have a lot of followers that are into your series and are willing to buy merch?

2. Your design. If it's more generic, like the example you have, it could totally reach potential customers that aren't necessarily interested in your series, but like the design anyway for the aesthetic. Some people make BANK doing generically appealing designs to sell on redbubble. Or if they fit a niche space, it appeals to a wide swath of that niche and isn't limited to a specific set of characters from a particular story.

Personally I haven't made much from print on demand sites like redbubble or society6, but instead have made way more having my own personal store fronts on gumroad and redbubble. The downside is you have to produce everything yourself and find your own manufacturers. But since you cut out the middle man you get higher profit.

[Kaydreamer]

Instead of Redbubble, which eats a massive chunk of your profits, I'd recommend setting up an Etsy (or similar) and sourcing your own merchandise through suppliers like StickerApp and Vograce. Vograce in particular does a variety of things, and their wholesale prices are very reasonable.

As for how well original comic merch sells, I couldn't tell you. I've had some success selling small quantities of fan-merch, and I'd likely have had more if shipping out of Australia weren't so broken right now. But I've only tried to sell original merch once, and I didn't have the audience to sell a lot of it.

My advice (and this is for Etsy, because I've had way better luck there as compared to anywhere else) would be to have a bit of fan-merch in your shop, from something popular you like, to draw people in. Then, ALSO have your original merch, so anyone who loves your fan-merch, and who goes looking for what else you have will see it, and maybe fall in love with it!

[Caro]

Its so entirely dependent on your audience and your own design sensibility.

I have a relatively large following so I do print on demand because at the volume of things I sell when I do my own shipping it almost becomes a full time job and i don’t have enough time for two full time jobs. I also have the added benefit of having a comic where every other strip someone comments “make that shirt real” and print on demand basically makes it so that I can meet this request whenever it happens.

Right now I’ve been actively promoting a new shirt for the past two weeks and I’m at around $500 on POD shirts that I get a $5-10 cut. I know I would make more money if I just manufactured and sold them myself but it would be a huge pain to manufacture, house, label, sort, and ship a couple hundred shirts every month and it would take up a lot of valuable time and space I need for the actual comics making. My time is worth more than the money and stress of that workload.

Edit: If you can make merch that stands on its own apart from the comic then thats always an easier sell. Tho I understand its a lot harder for certain genres and comics.

[lynestjules]

The only comic merch I have are some traditional coloured character cards that I sell at conventions and the comic book itself, which I sell at conventions, an art gallery and two comic book stores. The cards do okay, even if not everyone who buys them read the series. They just like the artwork.
The comic does fairly well at conventions and at the art gallery oddly enough. I don't get many sales at the comic book stores.

I tried online, but I don't think I have enough of a large following for anybody to buy anything online. It would easily get overshadowed by any other artist. I do better with the physical stores, but I think it's because the majority of my fans are in the maritime provinces and they can get easier access to my work, without needing to pay shipping.

[danitasibert]

i think it depends on your audience, i have merch for one of the books, but i haven't had much luck right now with my store
I'm using etsy, im not sure if the shop matters, if one gets more traffic over the others.

I'm probably the last person to say this but im learning as well and i think if your readers to be more connected to your characters i think you have a win win for merch. i would work on the engagement of your readers and doing things to get them interested like Q&As etc,