Newbie question...

[DigiRanma]

Hey guys, I have 82 people looking at my iRiff, but no one's buying, so I have two questions...

1. How long did it take for you guys to get your iRiffs sold?

2. Is there anything I can do other than post a sample to get people to buy it?

[zenmichael]

not that we've had a million sales or anything, but i've had more than 1, so here's my advice:

aside from kidnapping someone's family (and this is really a lot of effort for potentially about 3 sales max), the only advice i have is to keep making stuff, keep building a name for yourself. i think this is definitely one of those endeavors where you're going to be in the red for QUITE A WHILE before you make any $$. more stuff you do, the better you get, hopefully. the better you get, the more chance you'll be noticed and get featured. featured is very good for sales. and, like, even now, our TNG riff hasn't sold very well at all, BUT half the sales i've made off it have caused ricochet sales over onto other things we've done, SO assumedly that means having a back library to choose from is a good thing. it's just a slow burn, man.

[DigiRanma]

Thanks, I'll do just that..

[SJP]

Views-to-sales will always be lower.  If you check your own iRiff out to see any comments made on it, that counts as a view.  Somebody browsing through a bunch and decides to only purchase one of them counts as a view.  I have at least a few hundred views for each of my iRiffs, but most of my sales are in the early double digits, so it really just does take awhile.  Heck, my first iRiff has sold fewer than 10 copies.

Of course, having a MySpace page, a homepage with links, and the acumen of a used car salesman can't hurt.  I would love to do advertising, and I love computers, but updating a website gives me fits, and MySpace in particular always struck a dark chord with me.  But then, that's also shooting myself in the foot.  But if stuff is really good, generally word of mouth will spread.  I'm probably repeating this from somebody else, but remember, while Rifftrax is certainly more popular than the iRiff section, people I know who love MST3K had no idea Rifftrax existed until I told them I was writing an iRiff...and they visit sites that I know Rifftrax uses banner ads on!  So, keep in mind that any customer to the website has done the following:

1. Found Rifftrax.com.
2. Found the iRiff section.
3. Has decided to take the chance and spend money on somebody relatively unknown in the comedy world.

I mean, we all hope for sales, but unfortunately, it won't happen immediately.  Monty Hall said it best: "Actually, I'm an overnight success.  It only took me twenty years."  It may take only one iRiff to hit it big, but what about the 10 or so that came before it?  Riffing's hard work when it's done right, and it may seem like nothing's coming of it.  But think of it this way: each sale is more than you would've had if you had no riffs at all.

[Moleman]

It wouldn't be wise to discuss number of sales but I will tell you that my page views to purchase ratio is about 50 to 1.  Its probably inflated a little bit if its counting every time I look at my own page because that is quite a lot, but still with only 84 views you would only have 1, maybe 2 buys so far if you had the same ratio as me.

As far as promoting there are a lot of little things you can do.  If you haven't already, make your own thread in the iRiff section announcing that "[Whatever] HAS BEEN RELEASED!!!".  You can select an avatar based off your riff and put the link and/or an advertisement of your riff in your signature.  Then post a bunch throughout the forums so people see it.  You can find ways to mention your riff without being obviously pushy like in your post for example.....you could have said:

Hey guys, I have 82 people looking at my Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Episode 1 iRiff, but no one's buying...

I had to go to rifftrax.com, click iRiffs, click "See all iRiffs", and then search for your name to even find out which one you did.  It shouldn't be that hard and I only helped you out because I happen to be really bored right now.  Other people aren't going to be willing to do that.

[Moleman]

Another thing....I don't think that's something that a whole lot of people are going to have the DVD for or can easily run down to their local video store to buy.  I would see if they have it on iTunes or Amazon Unbox and if so provide links to download the episode there.  If you do provide links make sure to buy the episode yourself and test it out first because sometimes these versions can be different from a DVD.

[DigiRanma]

I have the DVD, that's why the Gundam Seed Episode 1 iRiff has a prelude that says 'Wait for the explosion, and enjoy.'

Thanks for the advice everybody, I'll be sure to do all those things later down the line, this really helped me with my self confidence.

[mr.b.natural]

Just wanted to complain: My "Atomic Rulers of the World" has had 771 views, 21 sales, and 6 ratings. It has been on here since Feb. 3rd.  "Cat Women of the Moon" has had 403 views, 15 sales, and only 4 ratings.  It has been on here since May 29th.  And I provide simple to use VODs and have five star ratings for both my iriffs!  You think you're frustrated now DigiRanma, you just wait. 

Also, the better your product description the better your sales will be.  While I was complaining the fact is progress has been seen.  I've had five people express an interest in my riffs as returning costumers who have said they would like to buy my future work.  So you could say I have a fan base of at least five people when I started with none five months ago.  My "Cat Women of the Moon" made those 15 sales in less than a month as where "Atomic Rulers of World" took probably twice that long to reach 15 sales.  It just takes time.  The more you put into something the more you will get back so just keep at it without dwelling upon the results.  You will most likely only get discouraged doing that.  This is supposed to be fun and I can tell you right now, you will not get rich off it.  So just do it for the kicks.

And I’m aware that by complaining I’m not following my own advice about dwelling on results and I’m aware that in five months I’ve only done two iriffs so I’m not following my own advice about keeping at it.  I just wanted to illustrate how your results can look after five months and we all have moments of weakness where we want to complain.

I am curious how others have been doing as far as sales and all that.  I’m curious how much what kind of movies people do affect the sales.  Is it "effect sales?"  And why is it not wise to discuss number of sales Moleman?

[zenmichael]

I am curious how others have been doing as far as sales and all that.  I’m curious how much what kind of movies people do affect the sales.  Is it "effect sales?"  And why is it not wise to discuss number of sales Moleman?

Yeah, I don't get that either. I'm not afraid to share numbers (yay), mostly just too lazy to open another tab and look it up (i'll go with yay, here, too?).

I want to say YES, the type of movie affects the sales (A for verb, E for noun 90% of the time when it comes that a/effect--the only exception is when you "effect change upon a situation," or whatever, which makes it ... a transitive verb? fuck, man, whatever), but i'm not sure. all my stuff has caveats attached to it. like, our first effort, the voyager pilot, has done pretty decently but MAYBE that's b/c it was out on day one, back when there was fewer competition. Our Twilight riff has done the best, but very possibly because, A, people were curious to do the comparison of all the riffs, B, we were featured (that was BY FAR the biggest bump), or it could be mostly C, that twilight is just a great choice for a riffable movie.

I'm assuming that even with pretty well established groups like, say, Hor-riff-ic, some movies do far better than others. Like, I would ASSUME a new Friday the 13th from them (continuing a series, bigger name) would do better than, say, My Bloody Valentine. Ditto with how I'd guess Cinester would get bigger sales for Back to the Future 2 than TMNT. BUT I could be way off.  We've all exchanged polite glances in the hallway and all that, but never really exchanged digits, if you know what I'm saying.

oh, also, i realized i didn't answer your question 'how long did it take for you to get sales?'  again, kind of skewed for us b/c our FIRST release was on day one, so a lot of people were excited to try out the like 5-10 of us who got it to work immediately, and after that we had at least some sort of built-in audience, so my answer is 'immediately.' overall, tho, i'd say the main time for sales to pour in is when your little product box is visible on the iriffs home page. generally after it disappears from there, our sales go fwoosh! until the next release.

It seems like for most of us slogging through the iRiff trenches, there's about a 1 1/2 % sale rate of views. At least that's what somebody proved with some math, and I think it's pretty much carried through for all of mine. Give or take a bit. I'm going to stop typing now because I really had no point there. I just like to feel part of something.

[Moleman]

I am curious how others have been doing as far as sales and all that.  I’m curious how much what kind of movies people do affect the sales.  Is it "effect sales?"  And why is it not wise to discuss number of sales Moleman?

Yeah, I don't get that either. I'm not afraid to share numbers (yay), mostly just too lazy to open another tab and look it up (i'll go with yay, here, too?).

Why do you think Rifftrax doesn't give exact sale numbers?  Hey if you guys want to fine.  To me the best reason would be psychological.  Whether they know it or not, people want to do what everybody else it doing.  If somebody thinks 10,000 people buy a rifftrax every release and they reveal that only 400 people bought it, some people might be less interested if "nobody likes it".  Its a small number of people, sure, but it does make a difference in terms of sales.  I guarantee they would post if they got an incredibly huge number of buys.  Its like McDonalds having the sign "Over 1 billion served" or whatever.  Some new restaurant isn't going to put up a sign that says "Over 10 people sold today alone!" because how the hell would that get people to go there?  It sounds like a shitty restaurant that nobody wants to go to.

So to me it makes more sense from a business standpoint to not say because it might make you appear more successful than you really are.  And if something is successful then it must be good and worth buying, right?

[mr.b.natural]

You might be right Moleman.  I don't know.  I guess I was just worried it was against some kind of iriff rule I didn't know about.  

Our Twilight riff has done the best, but very possibly because, A, people were curious to do the comparison of all the riffs, B, we were featured (that was BY FAR the biggest bump), or it could be mostly C, that twilight is just a great choice for a riffable movie.

Oh to be featured...

I managed to breach the iriff top 50 once but I think it's gone now and to have your box on the random top iriffers section on the iriff main page you have to get 15 ratings.  For me the ratings have been the most frustrating thing.  21 sales, 6 ratings.   How hard is it to click a freakin' button?  Course, it's possible I wouldn't have five stars if everyone rated it.  Still, I want on the main page!  And so far it seems that everyone who has tried my stuff likes it; it's just a matter of getting them to try it that first time.

DigiRanma: On another thread you said you need money.  As previously stated, you will not get rich from iriffs.  I see your Gundam episode is for sale at 99 cents.  I don't know how long it is (you may want to include a runtime in your product description) but I do know that your 99 cents will first get a bite taken out for PayPal costs (appox 15 cents) then the remainder is split between you and Rifftrax.com.  Leaving you with about 42 cents profit (I'm not 100% sure) per sale.  That's not a lot when you consider what we've been discussing here, poor sales figures.  I riff feature-length films and charge $2.15 because that earns a dollar profit per download.  For whatever reason making at least a dollar a download was a goal of mine from the very beginning.  I'm not saying it should be a goal of yours.  I'm just explaining what it takes to make a buck here.  And I've already told you my sales figures so you can see how much money I've made in the five months I've been at this.  Plus, you have to make $25 to even get a check.  (took me about four months) And the checks are not sent out monthly but quarterly.  This is about every three months.  I think.  I'm not trying to discourage you.  (though the less competition the better) I'm just trying to give a friendly warning.  I myself am unemployed and was hoping to make a little dough off this thing and I wished more people were open about their sales figures so I had a better idea of what I was getting into.  I got over my initial disappointment and did another iriff and I'm currently working on my third.  Now I do it for the fun and hope that one day I will build an audience.  Making enough for a check was big boost too.  
  

[SJP]

There is also a matter of "Do people want to watch this movie in the first place?" which affects sales as well.  To compare:

An American Werewolf in Paris: My first iRiff.  I really liked doing this one, and thought it turned out well, despite writing, editing, and recording the entire thing in a week (it's weird how quickly you can get work done when you sacrifice everything else around you).  Released in February.  Views from Feb.-July 3rd: 400+.  Sales are low.

Mortal Kombat. : Second iRiff.  Enjoyed editing, but writing this one felt like it took forever, even though I finished it in two weeks.  Released early March.  Views from March-July 3rd: 900+.  Sales are much, MUCH better.

Conclusion: People liked Mortal Kombat better.  Not just the riff, but the movie.  I've also done Hackers and Doom, and since they sort of fall in the middle of the scale between the popularity of those two movies, they have, as a whole, fallen in the middle in terms of sales as well.

It's sort of a weird thing: Bad movies require riffing more than good movies, but people, as a whole, tend to BUY bad movies less.  Take how there's always a "The Dark Knight" Rifftrax out before there's a "Red Dawn."  But hey, while getting a check from the guys would be a cool thing, I just can't help making fun of movies.  I still have a stack of these I want to do, and I'm going to do them, whether they sell well or not.  I'll be lucky if I sell 5 copies of Ice Pirates, but damn it, I saw that movie as a kid, and I saw it again when it came to DVD, and it DESERVES a top to bottom tear down.

Thing is, passion first.  Then profit.  Even if wanted to be a lawyer or doctor because you wanted to make lots of money, remember that there are years of school that have to be gone through first...very expensive schools.  If you're not going to be happy, trust me, you're not going to like it.

[FordPrefect]

My friends and I are discussing the possibilities of doing an iRiff. We're mostly doing it for the amusement of ourselves and our friends though. It would be great if we can get more people interested in these and I'm going to promote them a little here, but we don't think we'll be able to pay bills doing this.

[Moleman]

Just to clarify.  My little business standpoint speech above wasn't because I'm trying to maximize profit.  Actually I want to get more buys so that....well....I get more buys.  That's why my first two riffs are at the $0.75 minimum. Hell I still haven't even sent them my W9 info or whatever it is even though I exceeded the amount to collect a long time ago.  I want more buys so I get more noticed.  The little feedback that I have gotten on my riffs has been very positive so I feel like if more people knew to take a chance with my stuff, maybe I'd have a shot at the front page .  OK well maybe the top 50 then.

[mr.b.natural]

Turns out my "Atomic Rulers of the World" doesn't quite have five stars.  More like four and a quarter.  Sorry.