Part Three of our Get Started Guide is all about understanding your Elements Earnings Report, payout and tax considerations, as well as how to best optimize your Elements portfolio as you begin your author journey on the platform.
We know that Elements earnings can be a little tricky to understand, so to better explain how it all works, we have illustrated a few example scenarios below:
How do Earnings Work on Elements?
Envato Elements takes the total downloads of an item (per customer) for a subscription that starts on any day in the calendar month and reports them on the next available earnings report.
Scenario 1: A customer starts their subscription on November 1. Any download for the next 30 days are included in the November earnings.
Scenario 2: A customer starts their subscription on November 30. Any download for the next 30 days are included in the November earnings.
In scenario two, even though most of the downloads happen in the month of December, they are counted as part of a November subscription because the first day of the subscription was in that calendar month.
When Should I Expect to See My Full Earnings Report?
We aim to get results in front of authors as quickly as possible, however due to our revenue share methodology, there is a necessary delay before we can calculate author earnings and this can take two months to show. This means that authors may be unable to view their earnings for up to two months until this is calculated.
So, because November earnings need to wait until the end of the very last November subscription period (end of December) the earliest that earnings can be paid and reported on is in January.
In addition, it is also important to note that with the launch (and with most launches) on Elements, we have a small group of real people beta testing the experience, to identify bugs or any potential issues.
This means that your first full earnings report will come two months after the launch date, and this will include earnings consisting of the early beta periods.
We know it may seem a bit confusing at first, so please check out the Earnings Category in full and how to evaluate an Earnings Report here.
Pro Tip: Don’t forget to enter your payment details to your account via the
Elements dashboard (if you haven't already) so that you can get paid on-time
each month!
Tax Differences between Market and Elements
As a new Elements author, it’s important to note that there may be differences in the amount of tax that is withheld when you are selling content across both Envato Market and Envato Elements.
Please review our article, which outlines the difference between the rate of withholding tax on Envato Market and Envato Elements.
Setting Publishing Goals on Elements
Elements is a curated library that relies on regular contributions from our talented authors (like yourself) to maintain a fresh and diverse range of items. Moreover, our subscribers are looking for items that are trending and stand out from the crowd.
The first part is having a collection of well-presented, diverse and high quality items. The second is setting regular publishing goals to help you gain the maximum value from being an author on Envato Elements.
By publishing new items regularly, the more exposure you’ll likely receive, the more loyal subscribers you’ll likely attract and with them, the earnings to match!
So, with this in mind, all authors are expected to contribute regularly to Elements. For most authors, this means publishing at least one new item per quarter (90 days) or, for authors who produce more complex items, updating their items at least once per quarter. You can review all the details in our Publishing Expectations Guidelines here.
We believe in a fair platform for all authors to contribute their best work and to be rewarded for their consistent publishing behaviours. By publishing new items regularly, authors are doing their part in building a fresh and innovative library, and receive the subscriber bonus for their high-quality contributions.
*Please note that Envato tracks the publishing performance of all authors and will reach out directly when an author has not published in the past 90 days. Authors who fail to publish new content or update existing content could be at risk of losing their ability to participate in Elements.
If you have any questions or need any help along the way, please make sure to let us know and we can help get you back on track.
When you're ready, check out Part 4 of the Get Started Guide on legal and integrity considerations on Elements.