Lol wow, where do I start. Maybe I should say first looks like I am not the only know it all in town.

The question was not rhetorical. You made a statement that you thought proved your point and I gave you evidence to the contrary. Now you're trying to move the goal post.

It was a question hence the "?" at the end and it was clearly rhetorical and your clearly trying to use an argument from fallacy approach. Disproving a small point does not disprove the conclusion unless the conclusion is entirely dependent on the small point. I haven't moved any goal posts.

I do think that more people should attempt it (which you apparently seem to be extremely against for some reason, as though it would ever have any impact on whatever methods you chose to market your own work), but I recognize that it's not the right fit for everyone.

I am not against it in the slightest I would just like to advise any content creator that pursues this option to add small business management, accounting, Web site management and marketing to their list of credentials. As Content creation and managing a Web store are in no way directly connected. And are far from a logical path to market.

That is subjective. Maybe to you those costs are worth it, to others they might not be.

Of course its subjective hence the context of the statement "I think if you did a cost breakdown". Here is a secret for you, its a concept know as Keystone pricing which is practised by pretty much every retailer around the globe. The core of the concept is take the cost price of an item and double it to find the actual retail price. Why do you think the main streets around the world are not covered in shops selling individual items direct to market? Clearly for content creators going through a broader market is the most efficient method in both cost and likely return. It doesn't mean you cannot attempt other methods if you prefer, it just means you will be going against the flow with increased risks and increased cost per unit also. So your chance of success in the long term will be lower.

It only seems relevant to you because you seem to be of the mind that no one is capable of making a living on their own in this market without selling through a large broker. Yes market is "one of the most major factors in any product or sellers chance of success", along with quality and appeal. That has nothing to do with whether a large self-contained market is more beneficial to the individual artist than a do-it-yourself approach....

I'm sorry but myself and by far the majority of the worlds product producers will just need to agree to disagree with you here. As clearly we see this entirely different.

It is up to the individual artist to determine which avenue is the most beneficial to them and their work/brand.

I think part of the issue here is that I am talking directly about being a Daz/Poser content creator and you are talking much more broadly with concepts like the "Artist" flying the nest.

When you tie yourself to a particular broker, you also tie yourself to any negative factors affecting that broker. You also lock yourself into that broker's expected pricing model.

I am not sure what you mean by tie or lock to a broker? There is no contractual tie to a broker with either pricing or commitment you are free to come or go, sell or not sell with them or even price your products as you please.

Maybe you have additional features that most others don't put in their products. Should you still charge the same $10 that all the other guys are charging for their products with much fewer features? People are not going to buy from you as often if your products in that brokerage are considerably higher than most of the other products that brokerage contains, even when you list all those extra features.

This is just not correct, some of the biggest selling PA's also have some of the highest price tags on their products with fewer deep sales. This is more common in a bargain basement style market, not in one where there are stricter submission processes.

But that first requires an understanding that there is virtually no difference between Poser content and Maya content, and it's a misnomer that "other" 3D content is priced for commercial entities or that sites like TS only sell to studios.

The understanding required is not that the content is or isn't different, it's that the target market is different and marketing and content design needs to be focused as such. The Poser content market and the Maya content market are very different organisms. A "misnomer"! you think hobbyists are prepared to pay $200 for a static prop? I think you are missing the point that one product sale at $200 - %50 is less than 400 sales at 15.95 - %50. Cheaper pricing does not always equal lower returns. There is nothing stopping any 3d content creator from selling with Turbosquid though from what I hear it's not the most lucrative market to pursue.

"Of all those 33 names for the letter A, how many of them are featured, or even mentioned, in the newsletter when they release a new product?"

All of them, you clearly are unaware how marketing works at Daz3D... You need to look a bit closer rather than drawing assumptions.

If I want to see everything that's been released that day I have to go to the site because that newsletter only showed me 1 to 3 products from the top sellers.

Er, no.

Going by your logic everyone that sells through one of these large brokers who has more than a handful of items in their catalog should be making a full time living on their content due to all the exposure they get from being at that broker, when we all know that is the complete opposite from the truth.

Now you are just attempting to put words into my my mouth, I am not saying this at all. What I am saying is the that for a new seller that has partnered with a major market with a few new items. The ROI is likely to be higher per item, the brand awareness through exposure is likely to be higher, leading to the chances of continuing to progress down this route to a full time profession is increased by that partnership.

Sorry but we all don't know that is the opposite of the truth? And frankly I don't even know what you mean by that?

This is not targeted marketing. It is essentially survival of the fittest while everyone involved pays the same for advertising costs. In order for a new content artist to gain the exposure that their 50% cut is supposed to be paying for, that artist essentially has to prove themselves to the broker. I'm not damning the brokers here, they're in it for the money and I have no major gripes with how rosity or daz do things.

You really have lost touch with how the market leading brand is working haven't you. If this is what the thought process of this part of the market is like. No wonder there is such a direct decline. Your sum up of partnership benefits comes across as paranoid and somewhat delusional. A partner is not the be all and end all solution, its a tool to be used to promote yourself and increase sales.

And it seems to me you're saying most vendors sell through large brokers because it's virtually impossible for anyone to advertise themselves or make a living on their work otherwise.

Er again words in my mouth... No I'm saying that going it alone will extremely limit their chance of success and most of their time will be consumed with the admin and marketing side of the business. But it is not impossible if entered into with realistic expectations of the work involved in this route to market.

You only need enough traffic to generate the interest and sales your business requires to make it successful.

Oh the insight!!!

It's not that hard. Like I said before, there are numerous methods for generating your own traffic - whether your store is located in a large brokerage or on your own site, the methods of obtaining it are virtually the same. A large brokerage gives (the potential for) additional exposure, absolutely, but unless you're one of their top sellers then you're just another name among all the others. Filler.

What? Not that hard? Maybe I made a mistake entering this discussion here. You think competing at a brokerage against other vendors is hard yet, competing against the entire Internet for traffic is no big thing...

Let's put it in another perspective - the guy's been in business for 11 years. Maybe this is just a side gig for pocket change and he's not really worried about how much he makes at it. Who knows, I don't know him and I'm not familiar with what else he does. But regardless, if he thought a large brokerage was more profitable or a better option than his own site, don't you think he'd be selling at one by now? For that matter, why haven't the guys at Poserworld not given in and gone to rosity or daz by now?

This is some very bizarre reasoning. If Coke sells better than Pepsi, why doesn't Pepsi just sell out to Coke... I'm sorry but I really cannot get my head around your point here. Are you saying that because their are two sites selling content separate from Daz Renderosity, with one openly declaring its last year as survival, that they must be doing better then they would if they were selling with the major markets? Again this is a logical fallacy argument. You seem to be saying because they are independent they must be doing better than they would if they were not. There is no evidence to draw that conclusion that I can see?

Then wouldn't just about every vendor in that brokerage also classify as such, whether they are promoting their own products or someone else's.

There is a difference between a symbiotic relationship and a parasitic one.

I think a better term for those using this method would be more akin to loss-leader, not unlike what retail stores do when they sell products at or below cost in order to get people into the store in hopes that they will buy other products while they're there.

Man you are clearly confused that is not the definition of a Loss leader product. Loss leader products have nothing to do with using larger markets to draw sales from in competition. For example Daz studio is a Loss leader product for Daz 3D. Parasitic means drawing nutrient through a host with no benefit to the actual host. Which exactly described the setup you are putting forward.

That's not parasitic that's advertising.

No it's both. Let me ask why won't Renderosity allow me to post a link to my product at Daz3D?

How? Explain. Because this is essentially how this entire ecosystem we've created actually works. All the brokerages, no matter how big or small, indirectly promote another store's content by allowing vendors to sell supporting content for figures and content that have to be obtained from outside sources. Every vendor at Renderosity who makes content for V4 is indirectly advertising for Daz. Every vendor who makes content for Pauline is indirectly advertising for Smith Micro. The only way that would not be the case is if the store only allows vendors to sell products that support other products within that store.

Man if you can't see how parasite markets can effect a host market in the long term, I would really suggest you do some research on competition in the mass market. This probably more directly relates to Daz than Poser tbh. As it is not truly possible to use your described technique with Smith Micro.

Is that so? Then why do rosity and daz both have affiliate programs, with quotes like this: >Many of our top affiliated make $10,000+ in commissions monthly. Where do you think those affiliates are doing all that advertising if they aren't using social media and/or their own sites? Or is daz just making that up to attract more affiliates?

Again this come down to doing some research. A large companies marketing and social media effectiveness is entirely different than an individual trying to push a an emerging brand. I'm not going to go into detail but the information is out their and freely available. Different marketing venues have different effective value depending on the product and the customer. It really is basic marketing Ambient. A local radio add for Poser content is never going to meet ROI, no matter how effective it is for car maintenance. You can't just lump every product and target market together and say its all the same.

Sounds like speculation to me. Where is your proof of that?

Want proof pick any new Vendor and visit their Facebook page, you may even be surprised how low the like count is on what would be considered a highly successful content creator.

There is no rule that you have to or even should keep Poser and other 3D content separate from a marketing perspective. There's zero reason for it that I can see.

I give up. You just can't blur everything together and say its the same.

And my entire point was simply that there are a lot of paths for content artists in this market to make a living doing what they enjoy doing and more would be able to do so if they took the initiative to market themselves and take advantage of the tools that are available to them virtually for free.

Man this is blurry as. "many paths in this market" which market are you talking about? The art market in general? It's hardly really advice is it?

There are many ways to proceed to wherever you need to go and you can get there if you take advantage of the many different ways of getting their, most ways of getting there are free if you know how to get them for free. But ultimately you will get there, if you keep going to where you want to go.

Sage like I must say. :P