Payment Rates

We’ve recently changed our payment structure and now you can make even more selling at Envato. Authors can now earn up to 70% on every sale! Be sure to check out the full payment rate schedule for more details.

Getting started

Becoming an author is as easy as can be; Just follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to making passive income by selling stock!

1. Become a member
2. Read the FAQ’s below
3. Read the authoring tutorial
4. Take the author quiz

Once you’ve passed the author quiz, you’re ready to start uploading!

1. Read the Instructions specific to the category you’re uploading to
   1. Click “My Account”
   2. Under where it says “Begin Upload,” select your category
   3. Click “Help”
2. Upload your file
   1. Click “My Account”
   2. Under where it says “Begin Upload,” select your category
   3. Click “Upload”

Testimonials

Here are some of the nice things our authors have to say about us:

“I get full creative freedom to release the type of work that I’m passionate about; there are no deadlines to meet, no client meetings, and no mandates to create work that I’m not interested in. Put simply, I get to share my own creative ideas with an entire marketplace of buyers who respect and appreciate my work.” – Epicera

“I’ve gained more exposure and clients in the past year than I have in the previous six years of my professional career. I’m making enough passive income a month to cover my mortgage and it’s afforded me to buy a new BMW M3. This is only the tip of the iceberg, the skies the limit to how much you can make!” – Contempoinc

“Joining the Envato community was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Being able to earn money with what I love most is awesome of course, but having complete creative control over my projects makes it even better.” – Kriesi

FAQ’s

Q: Do you have any useful tips to help authors earn more money?
A: Yes! There are dozens of articles explaining just that on Notes, the Envato marketplace blog.

Q: How do authors get paid?
A: Here’s the info on when and how you will get paid.

Q: Do you have a referral program?
A: Yes, if you refer a new member, you get 30% of their first deposit, whether they buy your file or someone else’s. Here’s more info on our referral program.

Q: Do I retain the rights to my own file?
A: Yes, it’s your file. We just provide a venue to sell it.

Q: Can my payment rate ever go down?
A: Nope, unlike some of the other major stock marketplaces your rate will never go down, regardless of sales volume.

Q: Are files reviewed or will you accept anything?
A: Each file goes through a rigorous reviewing process to make sure the quality is top notch. That’s why so many buyers choose our marketplaces over those that accept lower quality files.

Q: Can I make more money by selling exclusively with Envato?
A: Yes. Here is the full breakdown of rates depending on exclusivity.

Q: Is exclusivity based on the author or the individual file? Meaning, could I sell one file here and sell a completely different one on my own site?
A: Exclusivity is on a per file basis so yes, as long as the files are completely different, you could sell one here and one on your site.

Q: I don’t want to have my files sold with the extended license. Can I opt out?
A: Yes, but there are definite advantages to opting in. Here’s more info on extended licenses.

Q: Who is responsible for copyright violations in files I’ve submitted?
A: As the author, it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re not violating anyone’s copyright by uploading your file. If you’re unsure if you’re allowed to use an asset within your file, ask the asset’s owner or a lawyer.

Q: Who determines the price of my file?
A: All files are priced by Envato and its staff, to ensure prices consistently reflect factors such as quality, complexity, potential demand and licence type.

Q: Am I required to support the files I upload?
A: Providing support is a great way to ensure repeat business from buyers, but no, it’s not required unless the file is actually broken.

Q: Are there file types that you already have plenty of that you no longer accept?
A: If a category is oversaturated, that just means the quality standards go up. You’ll have to give it a unique spin or make it much nicer looking for it to be approved.

Epicera

I’ve only been a ThemeForest author for 9 months now, but after freelancing fulltime for over 6 years, I’ve come to realize that ThemeForest is my “dream client”. I get full creative freedom to release the type of work that I’m passionate about; there are no deadlines to meet, no client meetings, and no mandates to create work that I’m not interested in. Put simply, I get to share my own creative ideas with an entire marketplace of buyers who respect and appreciate my work. I still do quite a bit of freelance nowadays, but what’s different now is that I can take a day or two off every week and I can still expect a reasonable amount of “passive” income from ThemeForest without lifting a finger.

Don’t get me wrong – releasing high quality products for ThemeForest requires hard work, skill, dedication, and meticulous attention to detail – but what I spend in the extra time and care on every project that I release, I more than make up for in freedom and the peace of mind that I can work at my own pace rather than stressing out over deadlines.

ThemeForest has also turned out to be about the best way imaginable to get new clients and expand my freelance network. I get no less than 5 requests a week for “custom” freelance work outside of the products that I’m selling. From a marketing standpoint, you’re actually being paid to advertise yourself to one of the most diverse and exciting groups of buyers that’s out there. If you have the time, patience, and skill to make the cut, the decision to become a ThemeForest author should be a no-brainer.

Contempoinc

Since joining ThemeForest as an exclusive author with just a few themes and stock items, I’ve gained more exposure and clients in the past year than I ever have in the previous six years of my professional career. I’m making enough passive income a month to cover my mortgage and its afforded me to buy a new BMW M3.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, the skies the limit to how much you can make!

Kriesi

Joining the Envato community was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Being able to earn money with what I love most is awesome of course, but having complete creative control over my projects makes it even better.

Besides that, the friendly competition going on here is highly motivating when creating new themes and has helped me to improve my design and coding skills during the last year.

System32

It’s a great pleasure and honor to work with the fastest growing marketplace ever seen on web. Today I sell a huge number of products, including Wordpress themes. My passion now lies in exclusively developing great themes for Themeforest.

By agreeing to become an author you allow your items to be sold under a Regular License by default. However, you can also opt-in to sell your items under an Extended License. By opting into the Extended License, you are allowing your items to be licensed for unusual purposes for a larger sum of money.

The benefits of allowing your items to be sold under the Extended License are that:

1. They become more useful to buyers with specific needs.
2. You can make more money out of your item, because a single sale of an Extended License is worth between 5 and 50 times the regular price of an item.

To find out what selling your items under and Extended License means, you should read the precise licensing terms (and the simplified overview), plus the Regular and Extended License Usage Examples for each marketplace you sell your items on:

1. GraphicRiver: Regular and Extended License Usage Examples
2. VideoHive: Regular and Extended License Usage Examples
3. ActiveDen: Regular and Extended License Usage Examples
4. ThemeForest: Regular and Extended License Usage Examples
5. AudioJungle: Regular and Extended License Usage Examples

If you wish to offer buyers your items under an Extended License, you will need to opt-in to the license.

Opting In To The Extended License For Your Items For Sale

Opting in to the Extended License for your items is easy. All you need to do is:

1. When logged in, click My Account at the top of the page.
2. Click on the Edit tab.
3. Click on Item Licenses.
4. Click the tickbox next to Extended Licenseso that the box contains a blue tick.
5. Click Save.

You’ll be opted-in immediately!

NB. currently authors are only able to opt-in to the Extended License for their whole portfolio. We do hope to offer item specific license options in the future.

You can also opt out of the Extended License simply by clicking the tickbox next to Extended License so that the box is empty, then clicking Save.

Submitting your content

In order for an item to be accepted for sale  it needs to follow the upload instructions and fulfill our quality standards. Each item type has its own upload instructions and file preparation guidelines. These can be found in the Upload Instructions section of the Help Wiki.

As a general guide, all items require: (See PhotoDune requirements here)

• A Thumbnail: A small thumbnail image to represent the item in search and browse listings.
• A Preview: This might be a graphic, a flash swf, an flv video, or an HTML demo depending on what item type you are uploading.
• A Download File: A main downloadable ZIP complete with help instructions and files for buyer download.
• Extras: Some item types require extra uploads for added preview systems, or other usage. Some items may require help files. Check the upload instructions for details.
• Titles: Item titles should be grammatically correct and capitalize the first letter of each word. (e.g., “30 Fabric Textures”) Titles should be descriptive but avoid subjective language (“beautiful” “awesome” etc). See our Title guide for more information.
• Tags: Provide helpful tags to help buyers find your file using search. You can add up to 15 tags to an item on all marketplaces except AudioJungle and PhotoDune where we permit 30 tags. See our guide on choosing effective tags.

One of the main technical requirements is that the downloadable ZIP contains files that are as customizable as possible. This may mean keeping all layers in a Photoshop file intact, or providing extensive help documentation for a Flash file, or preparing multiple versions of a video loop. By making files customizable you increase their value to the customer.

By keeping the Envato Marketplaces packed with high quality content, we ensure that buyers are more likely to come here to find items they need. This increases sales, and profits everyone. When the review staff inspect your items, they will be considering these criteria:

• How useful is the item to buyers?
• Does the item contain any potentially offensive content (Eg. Violence, sexual content, offensive language content)?
• Is the item aesthetically of a high standard?
• Is the item well constructed?
• Is the item customizable?
• In the case of tutorials, we will be considering: production values, depth of coverage, quality of the techniques used and the final result, quality of teaching, depth and length, and whether the tutorial adds something new to the subject.

If for some reason an item does not meet one or more of these requirements, the reviewer will outline the reason the item has not been approved and describe any specific improvements that need to be made.

Other Reasons Items Might Not Be Approved

Occasionally items will be rejected for other reasons. Some of these reasons might be:

• If a series of very similar items are already in the library. Check the “Files we do and don’t need list” for saturated item types for your marketplace. Please only submit an item from these categories if it is exceptionally well done or provides a unique take on a familiar item.
• If the files are corrupted or we suspect it carries a virus.
• If the item is difficult to use or implement.
• If the item does not meet marketplace quality or aesthetic standards.
• In the case of tutorials common rejection reasons are: lack of quality in what is being taught, insufficient depth, lack of complexity, poor production values, and lack of quality in teaching.

Annual Review of Files

Every year items on the Envato Marketplaces are reviewed to ensure the library remains up to date with current software and trends. If your item does not pass review, you will receive email notification and your item will become inactive after 30 days.

As an author you have the responsibility to only sell things that belong to you. By selling an item, you are making an agreement not only with Envato but with anyone who buys your item that you own full copyright to that item, and have appropriately licensed any auxiliary content that it makes use of.

There are very serious consequences for doing the wrong thing when it comes to copyright so make sure you read this section very carefully and avoid misusing another person’s work. If after reading this section you are still unclear you should Contact Support to answer any questions you have.

Envato takes copyright violation very seriously. If we discover that a work has violated copyright we will ban the author from the Envato Marketplaces, freeze any funds made from the sale of that work and in some cases the injured party will take legal action against you – so make sure you know the rules!

What is Copyright?

You can find a full definition of copyright on the U.S. Copyright office website. The following is a very short description.

Copyright is a legal concept that gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it. The copyright holder has the right to choose if anyone else can use, adapt or resell their work and have the right to be credited for that work.

Only the copyright holder of a work may do the following:

• Make copies of the work and distribute them.
• Create derivative works or alter the work in any way.
• Sell the work in either it’s original version or in an altered form.
• Grant or sell licenses to use the work.

Remember the creator of a work retains copyright to it even if they don’t expressly tell you so.

Licenses and Using Other People’s Work

The author is responsible for all copyright use or potential copyright violations in his or her files. For you to make use of another person’s work you need an express license to do so. So for example if you purchase a stock photo you are not buying the photo, you are actually purchasing the license to use that stock photo in a certain way.

Different licenses allow you to do different things. You need to look carefully at licenses to see what they permit and what they do not. Specifically to use an asset like a photo, music loop or code snippet in an item you want to sell on the Envato Marketplaces, you need a license that allows the asset’s use in items for resale and redistribution.

In plain English, the license has to say that you can use it in something you’re selling and distributing. If you don’t have such a license you may be unlawfully profiting from another person’s work!

Read this article to review what assets can be used in items for sale, and steps to take to allow them to be included.

What happens if there doesn’t appear to be a license?

Oftentimes you will find something that you wish to use which doesn’t appear to be licensed. For example you may have followed a tutorial which didn’t expressly permit or forbid its use in an item for resale and redistribution. In this situation you must contact the original copyright holder and get written permission.

The penalties for breaching copyright can be severe. Envato takes copyright violations very seriously and will not tolerate copyright violation on Envato Marketplaces.

What is a Copyright Infringement?

A copyright infringement or violation is the unauthorized use of work that is covered by copyright. If you use, alter or sell another person or company’s work without a license or their written permission then you are violating their copyright and are breaking the law.

If you suspect another file has infringed on the copyright of your work or others, you should contact Envato Support to report it.

Here are some requirements to comply with copyright violations:

1. The item must NOT include any brand names, logos or trademarks. – For example you cannot use an Apple or McDonalds logo, even if you have recreated it, photographed it, or altered it. You cannot use a photo of a watch if the brand name of the watch is legible.
2. The item must NOT be based on any other item. – For example you cannot submit a website template that is based on an established website. Similarly you cannot submit an item which is too similar to another item for sale on an Envato marketplace or another website.
3. The item must NOT be based on a tutorial. – For example you cannot submit an item that you created by following a tutorial, in whole or in part. Even if the tutorial writer has granted a license for use you should keep in mind that on principle the Envato Marketplaces do not allow tutorial recreations. If you are submitting a tutorial to the Tuts+ Marketplace, the tutorial must not be based in whole or in part on another tutorial, or based around another person’s work (such as a tutorial showing you how to recreate someone else’s work, i.e. an artwork). You cannot reproduce any elements of another tutorial or another person’s work, unless you have the license to do so.
4. You must NOT upload items that have been decompiled or otherwise reconstructed from another item (even if that item is your own). – For example you cannot decompile a Flash file and resell it, even if you alter it significantly.
5. You must NOT upload an item that uses free or purchased components from any other source UNLESS you have an express license to do so. – For example you cannot download a file then use part or all of it in a file for sale unless it specifically states that it is usable in items for resale.
6. You must NOT upload an item that uses government or military property – For example you cannot submit an item that contains a presidential seal or military insignia.
7. You must NOT purchase or download any item then resell it – You cannot submit an item that you have purchased or downloaded from another site.
8. You must NOT purchase or download any item, alter it, then resell it – You cannot submit an item that you have purchased or downloaded from another site and then altered.
9. You must NOT use photos, videos or sounds in your files UNLESS you have a license to resell them. – The only photographs/videos/sounds allowed in files are those that are:
   1. Created by the author
   2. Purchased or acquired under an appropriate license that allows use in an item for sale
   3. Downloaded from the Envato Asset Library (a free resource we provide)

   You can find out more about acceptable assets in this article.

10. You must NOT upload an item that includes a recognizable human feature UNLESS you have a signed model release. A model release is a legal document that must be signed by the model granting permission to use their face or recognizable feature.
11. You must NOT upload an item that includes a recognizable private location UNLESS you have a signed location release. A location release is a legal document that must be signed by an authorized person granting permission to use an image of the location.

When you sell an item on the Envato Marketplaces you are granting purchasers a license to use the item. There is a regular license that ALL items must be sold with. This regular license allows the use of your item in a purchasers projects for either personal or commercial use without the payment of any further fees or charges after the initial download cost. If you do not want to or cannot grant these rights, they cannot be sold on Envato sites. Please do not upload them.

From time to time Envato adds other license types which you as an author can opt-in to sell. These extended licenses are more expensive than the regular license but grant extra rights. For example they may allow the purchaser to incorporate the item into something which they then sell. So they might buy an illustration and then make a T-shirt design out of it which they then sell.

Learn more about the licenses sold on the Envato Marketplaces.

Take the Quiz

Before you can upload and sell your work, you must take a short multiple choice quiz to demonstrate your understanding of this tutorial.