With the economy the way it is, side hustles have become a must for many. More people are finding ways to use their creativity—whether it’s music, artwork, or other content—to make money online. If you’re looking to turn your creativity into some extra cash, this post is for you! I’ll share where you can make money from your work, explain how royalties work, and give you simple ideas for earning passive income without a big investment. Keep reading to find out how!
Understanding Royalty Income: How It Works and Why It Matters
Imagine you’ve created something like a song, a book, or a piece of artwork. You make it once, and then you keep earning money every time someone uses it. For example, if a filmmaker uses your song in a movie or a publisher prints your book, you get paid each time.
This is called royalty income. It means you can earn money from your work long after you’ve finished it. Once it’s out there, you don’t have to keep doing anything to keep earning. People pay you to use it, giving you a steady stream of passive income.
That’s exactly what this post is about—learning ways to make royalty income from your own creations.
How Do You Get Royalty Income from Music?
If you’re a musician, stock music platforms are a fantastic way to earn royalties. These websites allow musicians to upload their tracks, which can then be licensed by people using them in videos, ads, and other projects.
Two great platforms for earning passive income from music are Pond5 and AudioJungle (Envato Market). Both let you upload your music for free, with no upfront costs. The only investment you’ll need to make is your time and effort in creating tracks that people will want to buy.
- Pond5: Offers up to 50% commission on each sale for non-exclusive tracks, and more for exclusive content. For example, if you sell a non-exclusive track for $30, you’ll earn $15. Exclusive tracks can earn you up to $18.
- AudioJungle (Envato Market): Pays a commission based on your author level, ranging from 37.5% to 70%, depending on whether your music is exclusive to their platform.
Can You Monetize Motivational Quotes?
If you’re someone like me who loves writing catchy, witty quotes, yes, you can definitely make money with them! And it’s not just limited to quotes—if you have a good eye for design, this can apply to you as well. You can create visually appealing designs for products like t-shirts, posters, mugs, and more. The best platforms for this are Zazzle and Redbubble. Here’s the best part: you create the design, and they take care of producing the items, handling shipping, and managing customer service.
- Zazzle: you earn royalties based on the percentage you choose, anywhere from 5% to 99%. If you don’t set your own rate, you’ll automatically get a base royalty of 10-15%.
- Redbubble: You set your own markup (usually 20-30%) on top of the base price. You earn from this markup every time your design sells.
Another option is to publish a motivational quote book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), where you can earn up to 70% royalties on eBooks.
Create your own adult coloring book!
In the past few years, adult coloring books have become super popular on social media. People are posting color technique videos on TikTok and YouTube, getting tons of views, and encouraging others to buy art supplies and coloring books. With all this excitement, creating your own coloring book is a great way to make some extra income.
If you want to design your own coloring pages, Canva is a great option. It’s easy to use and has templates that help you create fun and detailed designs.
To publish your coloring book, you can use Blurb’s free BookWright tool. It helps you organize and design your book for both print and digital sales. Plus, you can earn up to 80% in royalties on each sale! You can also publish your book on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) to reach a wide audience of parents, teachers, and coloring fans.
These platforms aren’t limited to coloring books—you can also use them to publish children’s books, activity books, and more.
Earn Passive Income with Your Photos
Stock photos are essential for bloggers and anyone using visuals online. If you’re a photographer—or even just take high-quality photos with your phone—you can upload your images to platforms like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and Pond5. These sites let you earn royalties each time someone downloads or buys your work, turning your photos into a steady source of passive income.
- Adobe Stock: Adobe Stock pays you 35% for each sale of your photos or videos, and it works seamlessly with other Adobe apps.
- Pond5: You earn 50% of the sale price for photos and videos.
You can also teach others how to take great photos by uploading tutorials to Skillshare, where you earn royalties based on the number of minutes watched by members.
I hope this post inspires you to start earning passive income from your creativity. Whether you’re a musician, artist, or photographer, there are plenty of platforms that can help you turn your work into a source of income. For more tips on saving and making money, be sure to check out my other posts here