Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
A lot of creators rely on “merch” sales to help bring in some extra money. And of the many services out there, Fourthwall may be something worth looking at. From selling goods to memberships, it may be a decent platform for authors and bloggers.
But as with everything online, sales rely on traffic. If you can’t pique the interest of consumers in an overly saturated market, you won’t make a lot of money regardless of what platform you use.
In other words, marketing is key to making money online.
However, that is a conversation for another time. Right now, I’m more interested in what Fourthwall provides and whether it’s a good platform for writing creators.
What is Fourthwall?
Fourthwall is a monetization platform for creators that allows the selling of print-on-demand merchandise as well as products you may already have on hand. You can also include membership levels for specific types of content or handle direct donations without fees.
This means that if you have an inventory of books, you can list them. However, the shipping service will rely on you.
Fourthwall also includes the ability to sell digital products such as art and eBooks. It’ll provide an individual URL that is uniquely distributed to the buyer to prevent link sharing.
You also have access to a variety of integrated tools to enhance the experience for yourself as well as your fans. For instance, you can add the YouTube Product Shelf once you’re in the YPP or integrate Fourthwall with Twitch Product Gifting.
Fourthwall doesn’t charge a monthly fee. Instead, it relies on a 3% commission on digital products and a 5% commission on memberships. The only other fees you might have include physical product creation and the base credit card fee that every platform includes.
The credit card fees for Fourthwall are 2.9%+$0.30, which are the same for Shopify and other online payment gateways.
You need to have at least $25 in sales before Fourthwall will authorize a payout for your account. So, if you only sell $10 worth of merchandise, it’ll be carried over to the next month until you hit the payout threshold.
11 Pros and Cons of Using Fourthwall
PROS
- Comparatively affordable
- No Sign-up requirements
- Sell your products
- Large assortment of products
- Multiple Monetizing Methods
- Customizable store page
- A lot of popular apps to integrate
- Team members
- Helpful guides and tips
- Video Thank Yous
CONS
- Doesn’t support PayPal payouts*
- Print-on-Demand is Expensive*
Comparatively Affordable
Compared to many other platforms, Fourthwall has a very low operating cost. You get access to all of the functions and features of Fourthwall the moment you sign up for free. Then, you only pay the 3% and 5% fees on digital goods and memberships respectively.
Since you can add your own goods to the storefront, you have the potential to make more than when using other systems since there are no fees on merchandise sales. In this regard, Fourthwall is much cheaper than alternatives such as Buy Me a Coffee, which adds 5% per every transaction regardless.
As Fourthwall doesn’t lock premium features behind a paywall, it’s also a cheaper alternative to Ko-fi.
No Sign-up Requirements
Some systems have requirements that you either need to purchase in bulk upfront or have a certain number of visitors or followers. Fourthwall doesn’t have such a requirement.
This means you can start a Fourthwall membership and storefront the moment you start your YouTube channel or blog. And if you market it well, you could generate a decent amount of money long before AdSense kicks in on your channel or site.
Of course, you still need to have a decent following before you’ll see a significant amount of money. Still, your online shop can easily grow with your YouTube channel or blog as you attract more fans and subscribers.
Sell Your Own Products
If you have your own products or like to sell hand-crafted goodies, you can include them in your Fourthwall storefront. This is quite an attraction for me as I can add my books to the store in addition to themed merch.
So, for example, I would love to sell figurines of the characters in my books. Using my 3D printer, I can print and paint them while offering the figurines alongside the book on Fourthwall.
You can also sell digital copies of your art or eBooks. Upload the files to a secure location and connect them to Fourthwall.
Large Assortment of Merch
One of the highlights of Fourthwall is the large assortment of merchandise you can customize. You can design everything from cooking aprons to hardcover notebooks for fans of your work.
This will take a bit of effort, though. You want to create nice designs to tempt buyers, which may cost a bit of money if you need to hire a graphic designer. Still, the cost may be worth it if they can create something that stands out to consumers.
In any case, the assortment of goods listed in Fourthwall is perhaps one of the largest I’ve seen from a print-on-demand service. And a lot of them don’t have a minimum order requirement.
Multiple Monetizing Methods
Merchandise isn’t the only thing that can generate income from your Fourthwall account. You can also set up membership tiers and accept direct, one-time donations.
This puts it along the lines of Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee, and Patreon. You can offer separate tiers for specific types of members-only content.
Essentially, Fourthwall combines the power of memberships with print-on-demand services. Then, you can offer your monthly members discounts on specialty items or perform regular giveaways.
Customizable Store Page
Your store page in Fourthwall has a lot of customizable options to make it stand out. What’s more is that you can also connect your feeds from YouTube, Instagram, or Tiktok. Plus, you have the option of creating a newsletter.
If you sign up to Fourthwall using your YouTube account, your feed will be added as a “Recommended” block automatically.
Depending on how well you market the page, it could act as cross-promotional marketing to grow those specific platforms. Just remember to keep adding content to entice others to follow those accounts.
Popular App Integrations
Fourthwall has a lot of integration options for a wide range of creator types. Not only does it connect with YouTube, Instagram, and Tiktok with ease, but you also have things like Twitch and Streamlabs alerts available.
Do you have a members-only Discord server? It can be added as something you offer.
Other things you might want to consider include a Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook shop connection. This means you’re able to cross-sell your products on some of the most popular shopping platforms on the Internet. This is in addition to the Product Shelf for your YouTube videos.
Team Members to Help
If you have others who are willing to help you manage your Fourthwall account, you can add them with ease through email invites.
Fourthwall will let you build a team of:
- Managers
- Customer Support Staff
- Fulfillment Support Staff
- Designers
- Thank you note senders
As you grow your brand, you can quickly grow your team. Each has its own permissions and is easily manageable.
Helpful Guides and Tips
If you’re not sure where to start, Fourthwall offers a lot of helpful guides and tips for building your brand. The articles I’ve browsed through are very well-written, detailed, and easy to follow. I’m sure I’ll spend a bit of time browsing their library of posts.
The guides from Fourthwall range from helping you get started with designing your site to ways you can increase your monthly revenue.
Fourthwall doesn’t just cover methods for getting the most out of your sales. A lot of articles also cover topics such as growth strategies for YouTube, going live on Instagram, and small business branding ideas.
Video Thank Yous
Fourthwall gives you the ability to send “thank you” videos or audio files to supporters. This includes anyone who buys your products.
You can make each one unique by using the built-in recording system, or you can record one to upload in the event you get a lot of constant supporters.
These thank yous can go a long way to turning occasional fans into long-time supporters. Success depends heavily on user engagement and experience. And a personalized thank you could be a tipping point for some.
Doesn’t Support PayPal Payouts Automatically
Nearly everything I do runs through PayPal. That’s mostly because I have a PayPal business MasterCard and like having instant access to funds from clients. Unfortunately, Fourthwall only supports Stripe for payouts to you.
If you’ve set up something like Buy Me a Coffee or another platform, that’s probably not going to be an issue as you’ve probably already have a Stripe account set up. In fact, I have a few affiliates and clients who only pay out to Stripe, so I had to create my account some time ago.
However, Fourthwall does allow you to add PayPal as a payment method for products. The downside is that you still need to meet the $25 minimum requirement for a payout from Forthwall and will be prompted to add your PayPal account. This makes it a bit more of a pain to get your funds.
This might not be much of a “con” for most to use Fourthwall. In reality, I probably know more people who do business through Stripe rather than PayPal, anyway. I’ve just been a user of PayPal since 2002 and trust it for just about everything.
Print-on-Demand Prices
Like most other print-on-demand services, the pricing is going to be a bit high when purchasing one item at a time. This means you’ll have to adjust your profit margins accordingly. You don’t want the overall price to be outrageous, but you also want to make a bit of money on the goods you sell.
I do have to say that Fourthwall does offer some of the lowest prices on some of the print-on-demand products I’ve seen. For example, the coffee mugs from Fourthwall are about half of the price they are from the Streamlabs Merch Store.
If you’re trying to come up with fair pricing, try using percentages across the board. For example, you could set the margins at 35% of the cost from Fourthwall. That means a custom coffee mug may be as little as $8, giving you a profit of $2.05 for each unit sold.
That’s just an example of how percentage pricing works. Find a method that works best for you and your target consumers.
Would I Suggest Fourthwall as a Solution for Authors?
While there are a lot of authors who focus purely on books, there is a lot of potential for expanding into things like merchandizing and memberships. Of course, this also means you have to directly interact with your patrons to make the membership worthwhile.
That’s where a lot of authors might fall short. Not everyone wants to expand what they offer or be as social as others. After all, it can take a lot of work to keep all of your patrons satisfied. And until you bring in enough money to replace a full-time job, something like memberships from Fourthwall might not be feasible according to your current situation.
I know that I have limited time due to everything I have going on in my life.
Nonetheless, the potential is there as long as you’re able to attract an audience and consumer base. It goes along the same lines as marketing your book. No one is going to buy or read anything if they don’t know it exists.
With all of that being said, Fourthwall is a great platform for those who want to generate income through memberships or merchandise sales. It doesn’t cost you anything to build an online store and you’re capable of adding your own merch.
You can also integrate feeds from various social platforms you might use as well as connect the storefront to those accounts. And since the setup and maintenance are free, you don’t have to pay for anything upfront.
This might be a better solution than trying to build your own WordPress blog store or setting up something through Shopify or Wix.
For authors in my situation, where we have blogs and YouTube channels, Fourthwall is a great addition. Due to the sheer volume of merchandise available, you can sell branded products alongside your books. Then, you can add the store to YouTube videos, Instagram accounts, Facebook shopping, and Tiktok.
If you’re a self-published author and want to take your sales a bit further with merch and memberships, Fourthwall is a great platform to try out.
9 Ideas for Authors to Use Fourthwall
As I said earlier, Fourthwall can accommodate a wide variety of creators. In this case, we’ll look at ideas from an indie author’s perspective. There’s a lot of flexibility with Fourthwall, and it might be worth looking into if you want to generate additional income.
In what ways can a self-published author use Forthwall to boost monthly revenue?
- Selling Books
Using author copies ordered from Amazon, you can sell your books directly on Fourthwall without paying commissions. - Selling eBooks
You can list your eBooks on Fourthwall instead of relying on Amazon. However, digital content is subject to the 3% fee from Fourthwall. - Notebooks to Accompany the Books
Fourthwall has a couple of notebook options you can use to showcase your covers and character art. - Members-Only Content
You’ll undoubtedly create a fan base who might pay for monthly memberships for special content, whether it’s a post, video, or direct chatting. - 3D Print Character Models for Sale
If you have a 3D printer and a knack for design, you can sell printed figurines of characters from your books for sale. - Tote Bags a-Plenty
Tote bags are a bit of a popular item nowadays. It wouldn’t take much to put out something related to your books or your social personality. - Cross-Promotional
As I pointed out earlier, Fourthwall connects to a variety of social marketplaces. From a single store, you can promote your books and merch to YouTube, Facebook, Tiktok, and Instagram for free. - Hire Designers for Art Work
You can easily find a graphic designer to help create images related to your books and then put them onto posters, notebooks, blankets, and more. It’s a bit more expensive this way, but it’s unique and could easily pique the interest of fans. - Promo Codes and Giveaways
Fourthwall makes promotions and giveaways easy to get people to notice your store. Although you have to pay for these yourself, promos and giveaways have always been great for marketing virtually any brand.
These are just a few ideas I could think of off the top of my head. With how flexible Fourthwall is for creators, I’m sure there are plenty of other methods self-published authors could use to make a bit of extra money each month.
Diversify Your Income
It’s always a good idea to diversify your income in any way that you can. That way, if something dries up, then you still have money coming into the coffers. Using Fourthwall to sell merchandise regarding your books or blogs can help by delivering new avenues of revenue.
Merchandizing has always been a staple for various forms of media. You have the potential to make extra money using the same methods that movies and video games utilize.
I know I’m looking forward to producing a few notebooks featuring my books and characters. But I think that’s more for me than my audience. I love notebooks, and I would love to see one of my book covers on one.
In any case, Fourthwall is perhaps one of the better platforms online for creators. Between its expansive product line and incorporating membership tiers, you’re able to manage multiple facets from a single dashboard.
Anyway, don’t be afraid to diversify your income through merch sales. You might just design the perfect coffee mug that goes viral on social media.
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