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Learn how to create passive income with printables.

Looking for ways on how to make extra income on the internet? Then you should learn how to make printables to sell.

In this post, you will learn some of the best printable ideas and how to create and sell these printables so that you can start earning money.

Why Sell Printables

I’m sure that will be the first question that you’ll be asking and I’m ready for that.

1) Easy And Fun To Create

First off, printables are so easy and fun to create. Just come up with an awesome idea and let your creative self do the work. 

2) No to Low Start-Up Cost

You can pretty much start a printable business with almost no investment, except for your time. You can start with free tools like Canva or Google slides/docs/sheets.

3) No inventory To Maintain

You create the printable once, post it on your blog or a selling platform like Gumroad, and then promote it. There’s no maintenance required and no need to make a new product every time one of your items sells.

4) Versatile

Printables can be used in so many ways, not just for selling. If you have a blog, you can use it as a freebie or opt-in to grow your email list and make more profits down the road.

5) Passive Income Earner

The best thing about printables is that once you create a design, you can sell it over and over again. Every time you make a sale, there is no need to create another one. You can literally make money while you sleep.

Printable Ideas To Sell

There are tons of printable ideas that you can create and sell but I do recommend choosing a niche. Do your research on what your audience or potential audience will want. 

If you are a blogger who writes about blogging, it would make more sense to create a blogging planner versus homeschooling planner. Here are some printable ideas for a specific audience.

Blogging Niche

• Blog Planner
• Blog Budget
• Blogging Goals Tracker

Finance

• Debt Payoff Tracker
• Savings Tracker
• Expense Log Tracker

Fitness

• Workout Tracker
• Weight Loss Tracker
• Calorie Log Tracker

Homeschooling

• Lesson Plans
• Reading Log
• Daily Planner

Homesteading

• Gardening Plan Printable
• Herb Tracker
• Monthly Egg Production Tracker

Productivity

• Yearly Planner
• Monthly Planner
• Weekly Planner

Journaling

• Journal Prompts
• Journal Planner
• Inspirational Quotes

Self-Care

• Habit Tracker
• Mood Tracker
• Sleep Tracker

Best Selling Printables on Etsy

Etsy is the go-to place for all things handmade and digital, and that includes printables. Here are the top-selling printables on Etsy.

• Inspirational Quotes
• Calendar Planners
• Party Decorations
• Stickers
• Art And Decor Printables
• Creative Templates
• Workbooks And Worksheets
• Lesson Plans
• Coloring Books or Sheets
• Checklists
• Journals
• Stationary
• Financial Planners
• Wedding Planners

How Much Money Can You Make Selling Printables

Selling printables can be a side hustle that can bring in thousands of dollars in passive income. Most of the time, your printables can range from $0 – $50, depending on the amount of content.

If you want to know more about how to price your printable, check out Etsy’s pricing article.

A printable that solves a problem can potentially bring in recurring income that can help improve your finances.

How To Make Printables To Sell

First and foremost, do your research on what your potential audience is struggling with and create a printable that will help them with that problem.

You would want your printable to take your ideal customer from point A to point B.

Also, when making printables, stick with the ones you know so that you can have fun creating it. The last thing you want is an unfinished printable because you lost your motivation.

Next, sketch out your design on a piece of paper. Then, decide on your color, fonts, logo, and other brandable features.

After that, design your printable using a software like Google or Canva.

Lastly, when you are done with your printables, you will then download it as a PDF document.

1) Fonts And Graphics

When choosing fonts and graphics, make sure to read the terms and conditions. They should be okay for commercial use.

You can find free fonts and graphics OK for commercial use on Google Fonts, Da Font, Hungry Jpeg, and Creative Market.

Powered by Creative Market

2) Software

There are a lot of programs out there but if you are a beginner, I would recommend using free tools first, or tools that you are familiar with.

I started my printable with Google Docs/Sheets and then when I needed more I moved on to Canva.

Canva is so easy to use and has free fonts and graphics that you can use for commercial purposes.

I have the Canva pro now, which has a monthly fee, but it’s okay to start with the free plan. I just liked the pro version because of its better functionality.

Try Canva Pro Today

2) How To Create Digital Downloads in Google

Google is one of the free tools that you can use to create your printables. You can use Google docs, sheets,, or slides.

I use Google docs to make this printable.

So from Google Drive, click the “+ New”, select “Google Doc” then “Blank Document”.

Design your printable. Choose your font, add your graphics,, and pick your color theme.

Once you are satisfied with your design, download your printable as a PDF.

3) How To Create Printables in Canva

If you do have a Canva account yet, you can sign up for their free plan.

I use Canva to make this printable.

So from your account, go to “Create A Design”, then select A4 Document or custom size. I usually use the letter size which is 8.5 in x 11 in.

If you’re designing a planner, you may want to make a variety of sizes to fit the most common planners such as A-5 (5.8” X 8.3”), classic (5.5” X 8.5”), personal (4.25” X 6.75”). 

If you’re designing for a specific planner, such as Filofax or Happy Planner, check the sizes to make sure you’re creating something that will fit.

From there, you can start designing your printables. Canva has a lot of elements, fonts,  colors, and stocke images that you can play around with until you perfect your printable.

You can also upload your own images, fonts and graphics if you want.

One of the Canva Pro’s feature that I like is that you can set your brand kit including your colors and fonts. By having a brand kit, you do not have to scramble around searching for your brand’s hex colors. You just click on your brand’s colors.

Another one of my favorite is you are able to resize your project with just one click so you do not have to recreate the whole document. Both of these features are absolutely time savers.

Canva has something for everyone and even the ones using it for free have the opportunity to use the free fonts, elements, and stock photos for their graphics.

As you get more experienced, you might consider buying the pro version of Canva that gives you access to better functionality.

Try Canva Pro Today

When you are done with your printables, you will then download it as a PDF document.

To protect your printables from being outright stolen, I would recommend adding your URL to the bottom of each page with the copyright symbol. Try to do this in a light grey so it’s not the primary focus on the design.

How To Sell Printables On Your Blog

One of the most common places to sell your printables is on your own site. If you don’t have a site yet, check out these steps on how to start a blog.

Selling printables on your blog gives you the most control over your business but requires a little more tech knowledge to build.

Another downside of selling printables on your blog is traffic. If you do not have a huge following, it might be tougher to make a sale.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is free plugin that you can download and set up but to add extra functionality you’ll need to add plugins. These multiple plugin add-ons can in turn slow down your site.

A workaround is to install Woocommerce on a subdomain so it is not hosted on your main site.

Gumroad

I personally use Gumroad for my printables. I like Gumroad because you can start selling printables without a monthly fee — which makes it a great way to test out your new products. 

The only downside of Gumroad is they take out 8.5% + $0.30 (USD) per sale, as of this writing. However, you only pay the fee if your product sells, so there’s very little risk. And Gumroad collects the money for you and deposits it (minus fees) into your account.

I use Gumroad together with Convertkit to also sell printables to my email list. I found this more effective because you get the chance to nurture your readers first before selling your product to them.

Shopify

Another option for selling digital products is using an external storefront, like Shopify. With Shopify, you can choose your own custom domain like YOURNAMESHOP.com or Shop.YOURNAME.com.

The good thing about Shopify is that your customer will never notice that they left your site because it will have the same brand features. Also, they can navigate back easily to where they left off after making their purchase.

However, Shopify is not free. Their basic plan starts at $29/mo at the time of this writing. They do have a 14-day free trial if you want to try them out.

Other third party platforms to sell your printables

• SendOwl
• Easy Digital Downloads
• Ecwid
• Fiverr
• Creative Market
• Teachers Pay Teachers
• Sell As A Virtual Assistant

How To Make Passive Income Selling Printables On Etsy

Etsy a go-to site for many types of printables. Mainly due to the massive number of people who frequent the site looking for specific item. As a result, you’ll receive plenty of traffic for your products. 

However, as a seller, you’ll need to pay a listing fee, transaction fee, and payment processing fee for each item you sell. Actually, if you use my referral code, you’ll get to list your first 40 products for FREE (currently, it’s 20 cents per listing).

Setting up a shop with Etsy is fairly easy. However, you need to also help Etsy drive traffic to your site. You need great Etsy SEO.

However, it will take a while before you can see SEO results so I recommend capitalizing on social media to drive traffic to your shop in the early days of your business.

I created a Pinterest profile for my Etsy shop and use Tailwind to schedule pins as I do not have the time to consistently pin.

Final Thoughts On How To Create Digital Downloads To Sell

Selling printables is a great opportunity to earn supplemental income for you and your family. You can start with almost no investment and can still have the potential to scale and grow to a full-time business.

Now that you know how to make printables to sell, what will be your first product? Let me know in the comments,

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How To Make Printables To Sell