An alternate method for selling/purchasing assets?

[Shrineart]

I'm an artist. I don't play visual novels but one of my good friends does and she aspires to make one of her own, so I know a little about the process. One thing she mentioned is that people are often looking for assets such as backgrounds and characters. I've been considering trying my hand at making and selling some assets for visual novels but through a different delivery method than what I've seen on here.
I have a gallery on Deviantart and awhile back they opened up an option to sell premium content. The artist posts up the package of art for sale and the user pays using Deviantart points. I was wondering if people would be interested in this set up or if anyone else uses Deviantart and their points system. I thought it would be a nice way to go about offering the assets I make.
If that's not suitable for people what are some good ways to offer assets for purchase? What ways work best for those of you with more experience?

[SundownKid]

It seems like a legitimate choice since you can exchange money for points. But you can also sell it on your site with a payment processor if you want real money, Gumroad comes to mind. You'll probably get more exposure in the former place, though.

[v3-kei]

A user has done it: http://miririri.deviantart.com/art/Evel ... -347585657

Still, Visual Novel is still a small niche, and if you market in deviantArt, there is also the thing that you may come across with more people who want to create the sprites by themselves you know? But there is also adoptables there, maybe you could start approaching that market?

@SundownKid: thanks for that Gumroad reference, I am checking it right now~ Do you think it's gonna be good for commercial VNs?

[Greeny]

I don't know, people willing to pay money for their assets are probably more liable to invest in custom content.
Also, we don't like dealing in Deviantart points.

[papillon]

You can also sell sprite and background packs on dlsite, which may reach the japanese doujin audience as well.

[Shrineart]

@ Sundownkid: That's the nice thing about this feature. With the Premium Content option those points convert back to cash for the seller. So it is making real money. I'll definitely check out Gumroad because looking into gaining multiple streams of income from your art is always a good thing.

@ v3-kei: It's cool to see that someone else has tried it out at least! I've been looking into the adoptable market as well actually! And if there's one thing I've learned from my time on DA there's always artists that want to buy from other artists and there's a lot of non-artists on DA as well. I do a lot of commission based work and the majority of my hits have come through there. But that's just been my experience with it.

[v3-kei]

Hahaha true. I still don't know how dA premium selling works actually. Good luck with your goals~

[papillon]

@ Sundownkid: That's the nice thing about this feature. With the Premium Content option those points convert back to cash for the seller. So it is making real money.

Sure - but after paying a massive markup to deviantart for services that you don't actually need them for, compared to taking your own payments through paypal or the like.

[SundownKid]

I've found that Gumroad and BMT Micro are probably the two best ways of selling VN's, but Gumroad works better for selling cheap stuff, like art in this case. BMT Micro is good for the affiliate links when selling VN's, it's a bit ugler and harder to use though. Gumroad is just so cool-looking that I want to use it for everything, and it works exactly like the Humble Indie Store with a 5% off the top.

[v3-kei]

I've found that Gumroad and BMT Micro are probably the two best ways of selling VN's, but Gumroad works better for selling cheap stuff, like art in this case. BMT Micro is good for the affiliate links when selling VN's, it's a bit ugler and harder to use though. Gumroad is just so cool-looking that I want to use it for everything, and it works exactly like the Humble Indie Store with a 5% off the top.

Can I know your products so I can get the feel on how you sell stuffs over in Gumroad?

[sake-bento]

The selling of assets sounds good, but I wouldn't advise using deviantART's system. They take out a pretty large percentage. The only benefit is that people can spend dA points, which they might be more comfortable with over sending money. Other options for selling digital content include BMTMicro and Google Checkout.

As for actually selling assets, the trick is to make your sprites very flexible. Lots of different hair styles, skin tones, and outfits are a good start. You'll also want to make enough that people can create an entire cast of various body types.

[SundownKid]

I've found that Gumroad and BMT Micro are probably the two best ways of selling VN's, but Gumroad works better for selling cheap stuff, like art in this case. BMT Micro is good for the affiliate links when selling VN's, it's a bit ugler and harder to use though. Gumroad is just so cool-looking that I want to use it for everything, and it works exactly like the Humble Indie Store with a 5% off the top.

Can I know your products so I can get the feel on how you sell stuffs over in Gumroad?

My VN is up for preorder right now at fastermind.net. I haven't officially announced it yet but you can grab a copy if you want

[TrickWithAKnife]

I don't know much about the various services, but for my commissions I always used PayPal.
I have cash and I want it to get to the other person fast, and with a minimum markup.
It needs to be able to convert between currencies without huge conversion fees.

I flat out refuse to use DA Points. I want the artist to get as much of the money I'm spending as possible.

[Boomsickle]

I think it would work nicely, although not every one will make use of for example a flying cat sprite so if you want to sell alot you need to make them generic.

[Cabriolean]

When looking at buying sprites, things I really need are different expressions and maybe 2+ poses (depending on what I'm planning on using them for), different hairstyles are also helpful and my sister claims it's easy-ish to add pigtails, plaits etc on different overlays over a short hairstyle (then again she likes drawing hair and I don't really draw so....). I find it relatively easy to edit the outfit a little and change the colours via PhotoPlus, if there is only one outfit I prefer it to be fairly generic, nothing that hints strongly at a particular personality.
I would definitely consider buying from DA, but until now I never really considered looking there, the first places I look are stock photography websites.....