Hello all. I'm a DAZ user for some time, and I want to start making content to sell. I have the requisite skills with stuff like 3d modeling, sculpting, painting/texture creation, etc. However, I don't know what to make.

So, what I am hoping is that people that either have insight into the kind of thing that sells these days (in terms of content for DAZ Studio) or that knows where I can find such information will pass that info on here. Even if all you have are anecdotes for what seems to sell decently for you or for friends of yours, please share it.

Here is a link to Daz Studio products sorted by "What's Hot" (that would be items selling well) https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/?br=new&software_family=daz&sb=hottest

This is useful! Thanks very much.

I wouldn't trust any manufacturer's link since 'What's hot' is more likely to be stuff that someone has paid to be pushed (like Ebay's Premier items). The best person to talk to is Sickleyield. She has a great site and deals with that exact subject. https://www.deviantart.com/sickleyield/journal/SickleYield-Tutorial-And-FAQ-Index-624150816 Unlike the other content creators who want to keep their knowledge a secret to stifle competition, she's very free with both her opinion and what she knows.

I agree with Shekhal, Sickleyield is top flight. I've read a lot of her tuts and watched some of her Youtube videos. She omes across as very honest and generous with info. As for what to make, look into yourself and make thngs you would want to buy.

SheikhalMaktoum posted at 8:16AM Sun, 18 November 2018 - #4340120

I wouldn't trust any manufacturer's link since 'What's hot' is more likely to be stuff that someone has paid to be pushed (like Ebay's Premier items). The best person to talk to is Sickleyield. She has a great site and deals with that exact subject. https://www.deviantart.com/sickleyield/journal/SickleYield-Tutorial-And-FAQ-Index-624150816 Unlike the other content creators who want to keep their knowledge a secret to stifle competition, she's very free with both her opinion and what she knows.

As a vendor that have sold content for about 10 years, the FIRST thing a new vendor shouldn't do is trust comments of people that haven't sold a thing in the marketplace. Every vendor has that ONE story of when they took the advice of someone who doesn't sell, and lost money on a flop product.

You should have an idea of what you want to sell, and contrast that against what is selling. The hot list is absolutely a good place to start, but you have to know what you are good at, because you may find you aren't good at making those products. But knowing what sells is only part of it; you have to be able to set yourself apart from others so people will buy your products.

Male_M3dia is spot on, it's often more about creating a brand for yourself, that will draw custom due to a reputation of creativity and quality. At times it can also be about finding a niche or segment that hasn't been overly exploited in the market already or excelling in an area that is already well established. The problem when entering well established market areas is that you will need to give buyers a reason to buy your product above, or together with, other vendors/PA's that they already know and trust. This is where building a good reputation is crucial.

My best selling products in the past have been those that were just a bit different than what was available at the time, or delivered more in as far as quality or value for money than existing products. Market research is always helpful but the proof is always in the eating or selling in this case. What's Hot or Best Selling can tell you a lot about the existing customer base and what they are currently buying, but just as importantly it can show you what they are not buying in each marketplace.

Also try not to make this a drudgery for yourself, make a it a labour of love and you will enjoy it more and will be much more creative and unique into the future. If you love creating spaceships, do that and test the market for your own style of spaceship, don't just change your own style or direction after advice from a 3rd party telling you that what the market really needs is more 'real world clothing for males' and then expect whatever you make to sell a million based on this advice. Often those that scream the loudest for a particular kind of content, are asking you to deliver on a niche that most content creators avoid, knowing the market in this area can be fairly small and will rarely see a decent return.

Product complexity is always something to keep in mind in this market. An extremely complex discombobulator thingamajig that took you six months to model, UV, texture and prepare for sale is going to be a tough sell (for a decent return) unless the demand for that particular item is huge. A concept you should look into is ROI, Return on Investment. This concepts is built around the idea of balancing the effort and time spent on creating a product vs the expected return when the product is made available to the market. This means that is not a good idea to spend 6 months on a product that is likely to sell 100 copies at $8.95 retail, well you can if you don't intend on making more than $1000 a year from this and you just want a hobby to pass the time with. Which is also fine if that is what you want.

Another concept that has helped me in the past is scheduling, try to pick a number of products to create over a specific time period and attempt to stick to it as closely as possible. If you are able to do this, it is possible to roughly predict a path to a viable income stream. The same as any business needs a business plan to know as to on how many items they need to sell each month at a specific price, to keep the doors open into the future.

One other thing I have found valuable is collecting images in a folder that inspire and also making a list of potential product ideas and ranking them in order of expected interest from both myself and the market. Of course it becomes easier to rank a product for expected market interest after you have made a few sales, but a general idea at this point is all you are really need. It can also help to factor in ROI, an Intergalactic Planet sized space ship may have good market appeal, but is it feasible to create in a realistic time period and see a decent return on? Maybe a much simpler Ship Airlock may be a better idea for a product based on ROI and expected market interest. But if you do want to create an inter-dimensional planet smasher, than by all means have at it. Just make sure you go into it with eyes open and with some kind of plan as to what to expect from the project. Two planet smasher a year may not be enough to keep a roof over your head if you intend on doing this as your primary income.

Hope this helps,

This page has some useful info also: https://www.renderosity.com/product-submission-guidelines-cms-13759

Might I suggest that you content be geared to both male and female if you are creating poses.... Too many create for female but totally ignore male characters. For myself I only buy products that cater to males and look forward to seeing your offerings... Best of Luck

drafter69 posted at 6:38PM Tue, 27 November 2018 - #4340680

Might I suggest that you content be geared to both male and female if you are creating poses.... Too many create for female but totally ignore male characters. For myself I only buy products that cater to males and look forward to seeing your offerings... Best of Luck

You had this same convo at 'rotica... as was said there, poses can be adjusted whether male or female... and you will need to adjust them regardless. The money, unfortunately, is on female characters... from a vendor standpoint, you're not going to get as many sales for male poses.. it's nice to have a pack for them, but do not expect the same amount of sales.. you'll only get a fraction of the sales for male poses.

I'd like to thank everyone that offered any information or tips on where to find information in this thread. It's a huge help.

Male_M3dia - You mention 'rotica... Should I make a thread similar to this over there, if I want to make content to sell there as well? Or would I get most of the same responses as I do/did here?

Xatren posted at 3:11PM Tue, 04 December 2018 - #4341157

I'd like to thank everyone that offered any information or tips on where to find information in this thread. It's a huge help.

Male_M3dia - You mention 'rotica... Should I make a thread similar to this over there, if I want to make content to sell there as well? Or would I get most of the same responses as I do/did here?

You will get the same type of responses; you would need to know your market and see how that lines up with the type of things you want to sell.

Male_M3dia posted at 3:33PM Fri, 28 December 2018 - #4340708

drafter69 posted at 6:38PM Tue, 27 November 2018 - #4340680

Might I suggest that you content be geared to both male and female if you are creating poses.... Too many create for female but totally ignore male characters. For myself I only buy products that cater to males and look forward to seeing your offerings... Best of Luck

You had this same convo at 'rotica... as was said there, poses can be adjusted whether male or female... and you will need to adjust them regardless. The money, unfortunately, is on female characters... from a vendor standpoint, you're not going to get as many sales for male poses.. it's nice to have a pack for them, but do not expect the same amount of sales.. you'll only get a fraction of the sales for male poses.

Sorry but if a vendor thinks so little of me that the poses are geared for females then my response will be ..... "no sale"and I am sick of the punchline that the "pose can be altered" I do not shop for things that can be "altered"..... Since there are vendors who create products for males I will continue to support them with my money.... those who do not will not get a sale from me....

drafter69 posted at 7:18PM Mon, 31 December 2018 - #4342661

Male_M3dia posted at 3:33PM Fri, 28 December 2018 - #4340708

drafter69 posted at 6:38PM Tue, 27 November 2018 - #4340680

Might I suggest that you content be geared to both male and female if you are creating poses.... Too many create for female but totally ignore male characters. For myself I only buy products that cater to males and look forward to seeing your offerings... Best of Luck

You had this same convo at 'rotica... as was said there, poses can be adjusted whether male or female... and you will need to adjust them regardless. The money, unfortunately, is on female characters... from a vendor standpoint, you're not going to get as many sales for male poses.. it's nice to have a pack for them, but do not expect the same amount of sales.. you'll only get a fraction of the sales for male poses.

Sorry but if a vendor thinks so little of me that the poses are geared for females then my response will be ..... "no sale"and I am sick of the punchline that the "pose can be altered" I do not shop for things that can be "altered"..... Since there are vendors who create products for males I will continue to support them with my money.... those who do not will not get a sale from me....

And that's certainly your choice. But customers shouldn't be cross about the fact the vendors don't want to go broke trying to making a niche product for just a few people. They are running a business, and they have to make choices that reflect that. There's been instances where vendors listened to customers instead of sales figures and the low sales of that product put them dire financial situations, including eviction. So unless you're willing to cover their rent for that product, I wouldn't begrudge then not making certain products.

Are you able to read???? I have said all along that I hope they would make them for BOTH... BOTH.... BOTH... Is that clear enough????? I can appreciate the desire to make money and by offering a product that appeals to BOTH they will simply add to the sales...

drafter69 posted at 2:49PM Wed, 02 January 2019 - #4342959

Are you able to read???? I have said all along that I hope they would make them for BOTH... BOTH.... BOTH... Is that clear enough????? I can appreciate the desire to make money and by offering a product that appeals to BOTH they will simply add to the sales...

Making a male set wills till take time, and MM is saying that the sales are less likely to justify the time than the sales on a female-only set. Since he does make cntent for males himself, and works and talks with other PAs, we have to assume he is broadly correct.

I received an interesting e-mail the other day that made it clear the content creator wasn't going to make material for "you dirty fags"... so I guess I also have to assume that the insistence against male/male material is also being driven by homophobia... Sad, because I guess I had assumed that Renderosity was beyond that point. It seems I was wrong!

What kind of poses did you ask them for anyway? :P

Actually I've heard the reverse argument over at DAZ. There are some people that prefer to use male poses for females simply because a lot of the female ones look unnatural outside of photo shoot scenes. What I've found is that everyday poses for either gender are harder to find than modeling ones. Not many people spend a whole lot of time with their arms wrapped around their heads.

drafter69 posted at 2:27PM Fri, 04 January 2019 - #4343076

I received an interesting e-mail the other day that made it clear the content creator wasn't going to make material for "you dirty fags"... so I guess I also have to assume that the insistence against male/male material is also being driven by homophobia... Sad, because I guess I had assumed that Renderosity was beyond that point. It seems I was wrong!

Well, I'm naturally appalled that you received a message like that. However, I am aware of several gay male PAs so I doubt that the person was representative of all vendors.

@drafter69: That's awful! I see the need for both male and female assets.

FlagonsWorkshop posted at 7:59PM Sat, 05 January 2019 - #4343079

What kind of poses did you ask them for anyway? :P

More importantly: How did you ask? I don't know anyone that would respond that way unless someone "tried it" with them. If you tried to sweeten your question with entitled vinegar, wellll...

And also you asked a vendor that's straight to make gay erotic poses... Wow.

Stop asking. FULL stop. They're never doing it, especially for the low sales they give. I mean I have straight friends that I hang and travel all over the world... and they will try to tell me about their "dates" and I quickly counter with one of mine... sir, I don't even get two syllables out before they're buying another round of beer to shut me up! ??? I want to see the email you sent them before I say anything negative about that vendor, if it actually happened. But we do need to be serious and respectful when making requests, because the requester is asking for a favor, not the vendor, and they most certainly don't have to do it.

@Male_M3dia: You have a way of making threads more lively. You make good points, too.

I’m just saying ?. I mean I may look at something and call it the Mona Lisa, and someone may think it’s the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That’s just may be how some may view it and you’re not going to change their minds no matter how mad you get ??‍♂️

drafter69 posted at 5:15PM Sun, 06 January 2019 - #4343076

I received an interesting e-mail the other day that made it clear the content creator wasn't going to make material for "you dirty fags"... so I guess I also have to assume that the insistence against male/male material is also being driven by homophobia... Sad, because I guess I had assumed that Renderosity was beyond that point. It seems I was wrong!

Name names or PM me with the vendors name, because wow, I don't want to line the coiffers of someone who is that homophobic.

PanzerEmerald posted at 1:33AM Mon, 07 January 2019 - #4343202

drafter69 posted at 5:15PM Sun, 06 January 2019 - #4343076

I received an interesting e-mail the other day that made it clear the content creator wasn't going to make material for "you dirty fags"... so I guess I also have to assume that the insistence against male/male material is also being driven by homophobia... Sad, because I guess I had assumed that Renderosity was beyond that point. It seems I was wrong!

Name names or PM me with the vendors name, because wow, I don't want to line the coiffers of someone who is that homophobic

Honestly, I would take it with a grain of salt. I don't really think it happened like that or those words were actually used. Besides I would go back an look at the actual topic of this thread and see that it's been hijacked.

Male_M3dia posted at 8:40AM Mon, 07 January 2019 - #4343163

I’m just saying ?. I mean I may look at something and call it the Mona Lisa, and someone may think it’s the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That’s just may be how some may view it and you’re not going to change their minds no matter how mad you get ??‍♂️

I'd give this a like, if they had that here :)

Hijacking: TRUE. We now return to our regularly scheduled topic.