How creative commons can help you sell more of your work

Did you know that when you create something, you automatically own an ‘all rights reserved’ copyright to this creativity? Copyright protects you from uses you don’t agree on. But sometimes, full copyright is too restrictive. What if you want it to be shared, used, and moved upon by the rest of the world? This is where ‘creative commons’ comes in. You can obtain a license (within a few clicks) that doesn’t remove your copyright, but refines it to reflect your wishes for that particular piece of art or information.

So how can this creative commons license get you more sales or clients?

Here are a few insights.

Releasing some (but not all) of your best pieces to get more eyeballs on your art
Getting people to take a look at your work is crucial to getting people to buy it or hire your services. Protecting your work from people ‘stealing’ it should be high on your agenda, but you should also consider releasing some of your best work to the audience under a creative commons license. This way, you will show off your best skills and give away a sense of what else you have in store for them. If you feel uncomfortable releasing your best work, go out there and create work that you are satisfied with and would love for people to see. Be careful to not just share the work you’re not very proud of, this will give the audience the wrong idea of what you’re actually capable of.

How to do it
You can share your work with a ‘creative commons’ license on the more professional image sharing sites like Flickr, like discussed earlier in the ’5 ideas for selling drawings online’ article, where you can even specify it being creative commons. Specifying the fact that it’s creative commons, will have your work show up in the search results of people ticking the ‘creative commons’ box when searching for pictures. And because they are looking for creative commons in particular, they will be the type of person that will give you credit for it, perhaps even linking to your portfolio, generating even more attention.

If your work isn’t suitable for sharing on websites like Flickr, consider creating a page on your portfolio with the creative commons note, encouraging your audience to share or use some of your work published on that particular page.

Becoming the go-to person in your field
When you share your creativity, you’re enabling people anywhere to use it, learn from it and be inspired by it. When people find your work and get permission from you to recreate it or use it in another piece, you will get known as the go-to person in your field, which will grow your audience even more.