Summary: Here are all the things you need to know about Envato Platforms and how they work together and separately, to help you sell and make a living doing what you love. Click here to sign up and to sell on Envato (we hope you do!).
What is Envato and How Does it Work?
Envato is a world-leading online community for creative assets, tools and talent. With over $1 billion USD in total community earnings, we help our creators (or Authors, as we call it) enjoy the flexibility of being their own boss, working from anywhere in the world and most of all, earn a living doing what they love. For our customers, we help them bring their creative ideas to life by connecting them with our talented community.
Envato began way back in 2006 in a garage in Sydney. We now have 3 offices around the world, employ over 600 people and serve over 2 million customers. Our office is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with hubs in Los Angeles, United States and Guadalajara, Mexico.
Envato offers a range of products and platforms to suit a variety of projects and customers, including Code Scripts, Video, Music & Audio, Website Themes, Design Assets, Stock Photos and 3D Models (called content types). These creative products can then be sold through our core platforms called Envato Market, Envato Elements and Placeit (see further explanations from section two below).
The process of earning through Envato looks something like this:
- Authors upload their work; Become an author
- Customers download the item or assets; Browse our products
- Authors earn money from their sale; See our profit distribution
What is an Envato Author?
Hopefully, you! Envato Authors are creators of creative products (items) who sell and earn money using our Envato platforms. Envato Authors come in all shapes and sizes, whether they are a hobbyist, a small to medium sized business or a large enterprise.
Envato Authors also come from all around the world and we are incredibly proud of our diversity and the communities that are built from the passion for earning a living doing what you love.
Being an Envato Author means that, like us, you care deeply about the high quality of the products you sell to our global audience and you work to continue elevating your work through evolving trends and insights, getting involved in exposure opportunities, as well as invest in your own marketing and business development learning.
The journey to making a living by doing what you love is not always an easy one. But you can rest assured that, from our most successful Authors to the new starters, our community will be happy to help you along the way.
We also have the Beginners Guide to Selling on Envato, including an Envato Glossary explaining our core concepts and terminology to help you best navigate our ecosystem.
What is Envato Market?
Envato Market is a collection of niche marketplaces where authors can sell their items directly to customers. Authors upload their work, users buy and license the item and authors earn. You can join and start uploading items now by signing up here.
Customers most suited for Envato Market include smaller to large enterprises, who are looking to buy individual items when they need them. Authors who have been invited to sell on Envato Elements may have their items made available on both platforms, depending on the content-type.
Categories and marketplaces on Envato Market include:
- ThemeForest for Web Themes & Templates
- AudioJungle for Audio & Music (temporarily not accepting new authors)
- VideoHive for Video Templates & Stock Video
- PhotoDune for Stock Photos
- GraphicRiver for Graphic Fonts, Logos, Icons, Templates and more
- CodeCanyon for Code Script Items
- 3DOcean for 3D Print Models and CG Textures
What is Envato Elements?
Envato Elements is our unlimited subscription platform for licensing digital assets all for a fixed price per month, another fantastic way authors can earn more from their portfolio of items.
The difference between Envato Elements and Envato Market is that Authors are selected to join Envato Elements. We do this to ensure a curated selection of items best suited for our subscription customers. See how to join and sell on Envato Elements by reviewing the selection criteria.
Customers most suited for Envato Elements include medium to large enterprises who are looking for a regular stream of high quality items across various creative mediums. Many of these will be new to the Envato ecosystem or currently using other platforms to source the digital items they need.
Categories on offer at Envato Elements include:
- Photos
- Stock Video
- Video Templates
- Music
- Sound Effects
- Graphic Templates
- Graphics
- Presentation Templates
- Fonts
- Add-ons
- Web Templates
- CMS Templates
- WordPress
- 3D
What is Placeit?
Placeit is a simple yet smart design, logo and mockup tool that almost anyone can use for any kind of business or occasion. Customers can purchase items on Placeit either individually, or download them through a paid subscription.
Elements authors can have their items be considered for sale on Placeit. This does not necessarily mean they will be chosen for sale, but rather they will be selected for Placeit based on what customers are looking for.
The categories on offer at Placeit include:
- Mockups
- Logos/Icons
- Design Templates
- Stock Video
- Stock Photos
- Gaming Templates
- Fonts
- Motion Graphics assets (note: full templates are not used)
Not all of these item types are being actively sought by Placeit currently, but there are mock up items customers have recently been searching for such as: apparel, print and digital mockups. For example t-shirts, tote bags, mugs and product packaging.
Customers are also looking for design templates, particularly t-shirt designs and social media banners and stories/posts.
As an author, you could sell templates, assets, or both, depending on the types of items you design. Let’s look at the differences below.
What is a “Template”?
Customers buy templates on Placeit, which is the name for the final product that is downloaded. This could be a mockup, a logo, a flyer, etc. See below for some examples of templates.
What is an “Asset”?
Each template can be made up of multiple assets. The design template below, for example, is made up of 4 assets.
Customers are able to swap in (and out) assets to create a template that suits their needs. As an author, you earn money whenever your assets are used in a final, downloaded template. You can read more about earnings on Placeit.
How will I know if my items have been chosen for Placeit?
You won't be notified if your items have been chosen and published on Placeit. However, if your items are purchased or downloaded by Placeit's customers, earnings will be shown in your monthly earnings statement on the Author Dashboard. You can learn more about viewing your earnings statement here.
What happens to my item when it is published on Placeit?
Your item may be edited slightly before being published on Placeit in order to make it viable for Placeit users to customize and interchange graphics, icons, fonts, backgrounds, etc.
In some cases lines of text may need to be removed or elements reordered, but no large changes to the file will be made.
If you remove items from Envato Elements that have also been published on Placeit, we will endeavour to remove those items within 30 days.
What is Envato Tuts+?
As part of Envato’s creative ecosystem, Envato Tuts+ contributes to our mission of “helping people learn and earn online”. We love to see how people transform themselves and their lives by learning creative skills and earning money selling their creations or services to the world.
Whether your day job is creative or not, life is better when you learn and apply creative skills regularly. To do this is satisfying in its own right and a practical investment in your future.
Our unique approach focuses on three key areas:
Self-Directed Learning
There’s no single ‘correct’ path at Envato Tuts+. Learn at your own pace, whenever or wherever you like. Focus deeply on one topic, or go broad across a wide range of areas. Whatever creative skills you seek, we’re here to help you take charge and shape your own path to a better future.
Creative Skills for All
We believe everyone can be creative. It’s not a rare or magical talent, just a mindset and a set of skills. Why not develop your skills in code, design & illustration, music, photography, game development, craft or more? Take that photo. Build that app. Write that song. Draw that picture. Invest some time in learning new skills and then go create something wonderful!
A World of Opportunity
Create and sell more items by diversifying your existing portfolio as an Author. There are so many possibilities-and it can all start with learning new skills at Envato Tuts+.
Envato Tuts+ offers video courses and written tutorials to help you learn creative skills in code, design and illustration, photography, video, music, web design, game development, business, and more.
Envato Tuts+ tutorials are available to you completely free—all 29,300 of them!. Based around specific projects, they include step-by-step written instructions and screenshots to help you practice and master the skills needed to create a practical outcome. Check them all out.