Gumroad is for independent writers, designers, game developers, musicians, artists, filmmakers, and anyone in-between. Simply, if you’re a creator — Gumroad is for you.
It’s a bold claim to make, but with a recent partnership with the battered Hachette, Gumroad seems to be making steps toward visibility.
But what exactly is Gumroad?
As described by Publishers Weekly, Gumroad is a “‘native commerce’ venture, meaning a platform that enables artists of all kinds to send out links with buy buttons embedded in their tweets and Facebook posts” (Source). This venture fully embraces the way people use social media, and the staff at Gumroad has undertaken the challenge of making it work by implementing their strategies into a well-designed, easy-to-use interface.
Already, Gumroad has been used by artists such as Eminem, Kyle T Webster, and charitable donation funds like Hurricane Sandy disaster relief. Fresh, new ideas and content is made available directly from the artist to the customer.
Hachette has drawn attention to itself again with their new partnership with Gumroad. As reported by Publishers Weekly, Hachette plans to make three books available via tweets that have “buy” buttons imbedded already, ideally making it easy for customers to purchase their content. But will it work? The selection of books is slim, true, so how wide will the appeal be? With titles such as The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer, You Are Here by Chris Hadfield, and The Onion’s The Onion Magazine: The Iconic Covers That Transformed an Undeserving World, maybe Hachette can manage to bring in some revenue. It’s a trial run, and the progress of ideas like Gumroad are definitely something to watch.