Etsy Seller Interview with Ashleigh of studioDarkBloom

How studioDarkBloom got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

Hello! My name is Ashleigh and I am a professional artist operating under the title studio DarkBloom.  I work through many social media platforms, accepting commissions and doing collaborations/licenses with other businesses and creators, but Etsy is where I do most of my selling.  I freelanced as an illustrator for some time after college but wasn’t satisfied with the experience. After seeing artists reach success on social media, I decided to go fully independent and sell my own creations rather than rely on commission work.  Unfortunately however, I wasn’t getting the customer reach I was looking for using a privately hosted website. A lot of the artists I was following on Instagram sold through Etsy, boasting of its simplicity, all encompassing integrations, and seller protection features —so I decided to give it a try.  I only sold a couple of items during my first couple of months on Etsy.  I was still learning the site as well as how to utilize social media marketing.  As a 2d artist, I was listing original paintings and print reproductions.  My personal work can be considered pop-surreal or "low brow", so I was trying to access a very competitive and niche market, and wasn’t fairing very well.  At one point, just for fun, I decided to create a piece of fanart and my etsy sales blew up immediately.  There is a faction of the art community that looks down on fanart but, considering I had bills to pay, I followed the money and began to pursue the fan art market —which Etsy is a very prominent hub of..  I still create original conceptual art, but my Etsy brand has strongly shifted towards fanart and merch.  I use the exposure and popularity fanart has given me to push my original concepts to a larger audience.  Now, in addition to selling paintings and prints, I also produce an array of stickers, keychains, enamel pins, coffee mugs, and other sublimation goods.  

Through my success on Etsy, I’ve been able to produce professional quality art prints by investing in a fine art printer, so prints are no longer outsourced but made in house.  I’ve also been able to invest in sublimation printers and a number of different presses to make different kinds of products featuring my art and designs.  The stickers I sell are made with specialty materials, so those along with the keychains and pins are manufactured by a third party on my behalf.  I’m always looking for new things to offer and expand my brand, and my wish list of products to eventually produce seems to get longer daily.   In order to maximize my investments, I’ve started sourcing some merch items from factory partners in China.     

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My favorite items are, unfortunately, my least popular —but that’s always the case, isn’t it? While I am grateful for the success fanart has given me, I would like to eventually shift away from it and rely primarily on my own original concepts. Part of that initiative was my investment in enamel pins. I am a collector of enamel pins, so I thought to join the fray and create designs that I myself would like to buy. My pins are a bit profane or funny and apply to a very niche market of what I could call "romance readers," or, more specifically, BookTokers. Each design is a satire of a particular writing trope or theme that you would often see in romance fiction (whether it be literature, film, anime, etc.). These are my favorite items because romantic fiction is my biggest hobby —whether it be old-fashioned bodice rippers, dime-a-dozen manga or manhwa, or *any* CW show. I follow other artists who create pins in the same vein and are successful at it, but I myself have not yet cracked that algorithm and hashtag code that will expose my pins to the proper market. Speaking of, here are some links!

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

It took me a couple of months to make my first sale, and that particular item was not something I ever expected someone to take an interest in. It was a tiny watercolor painting I’d done years ago as a study in college that I found archived in some old portfolios. I’d considered just throwing it out but ended up listing it just because. It sold for $30! Currently, I attract customers by promoting new work with a series of progress posts, building up excitement for when the piece is finally done. I’m also active in several niche Facebook communities that cater to the type of art I create. Sometimes, if I’m looking to invest in something big or new, I will run a preorder for the item and hype it up all over social media.

Managing studioDarkBloom

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

I run every aspect of my shop on my own, and it is definitely daunting. I actually take breaks and knock my shop back to a part-time capacity every now and then because it just gets to be too much. Some people are very good at the social media game, but I am not, and I tend to get overwhelmed creating appealing content for Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, Reddit, Patreon, Youtube, etc. Beyond that, I was also getting to a point where 90% of my work time was spent managing the shop and fulfilling orders, and months and months would go by where I wasn’t able to create anything new. This ended up being detrimental because a big part of a shop’s appeal is having a semi-regular stream of new items on offer. I have to constantly be aware of the balance between the size of my shop and my ability to create new art to fill it.

I house all of my stock in my studio, including all shipping materials. I package every order myself and ship through USPS, mainly because I live very close to my post office, whereas the nearest UPS or Fedex drop-off is 30 minutes away. I purchase my shipping labels through Etsy, as they are discounted and Etsy makes handling customs forms and VAT very easy, and print them through a label printer. With certain ground shipments for large packages, I may purchase labels through Pirateship instead, as they often have better rates than Etsy. I only use the Etsy seller app and website to run my shop. I would probably benefit from something like Alura, though!

The future of studioDarkBloom

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

My goal for Etsy is to reach a point of comfortable consistency. Currently, my profits depend on specific times of the year and hitting those key sale moments. At the end of the year, everything averages out okay, but it would be nice to anticipate and rely on a certain level of income from month to month. I would also like to shift into more merch and less fanart, trying to capitalize on a series of items with a broader appeal while still being something that I want to make.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

I would say that for a new seller, it is critical to develop knowledge of and a presence on social media and, more specifically, social media marketing. Definitely follow other creators who are already doing what you aim to do; take note of how they market themselves, including the specific hashtags they use in their posts, how they phrase promotion and sales, and even their posting schedule. I would also recommend you identify what kind of Etsy creator you want to be. If you simply want to make a lot of money on Etsy, then produce items that have the broadest reach with the lowest production costs. Something like digital downloads could be a great, fast, and easy way to build up sales. However, if you’re like me and want to market the specific genre of things you feel passionate about making, then a heavy amount of demographic research is needed. Join public and private groups where you can network, make relationships, and promote your wares. Those niche Facebook communities are legitimately the lifeblood of my sales. It’s where I can reach the people who will actually want to buy my random merch, rather than tossing a paid ad to the wind and hoping you reach the right clientele. Forming a relationship with your consumer base is also beneficial for getting repeat buyers and loyal followers. That means actually talking to people on social media and marketing yourself as a person rather than a faceless company. This is something I could do better at myself; as I mentioned, I’m just not adept at social media and don’t have the time needed to invest in it properly.

For Etsy itself, quality photos and videos are critical. The more professionally you can present your shop, the better. I know this can be difficult if you’re just starting out and don’t have a proper camera or flattering backdrop setup, but there are plenty of digital mockup services online that can be of great aid, depending on what you’re selling. Utilizing keywords and Etsy analytics is of utmost importance as well. Definitely watch for trends and see what search terms are bringing in views. Lastly, I would say don’t be afraid to reach out and ask someone else! Even if you are trying to push the same types of items as another seller, you have nothing to lose by reaching out and asking for some marketing tips. You may be surprised how supportive and encouraging other crafters can be, and if not, the worst they could say is "sorry, no." I’ve learned a lot by talking with other established shops that did not mind handing out their trade secrets. I’ve even ended up doing collaborations with a couple of them!