Download Source Files
Today, I’m happy to announce the launch of our Premium subscription service for readers looking to get even more out of this great site! In addition, I have a few other updates to the site to announce, as well as general site news!
As you know, we have been selling PSD files for tutorials for some time now at $2.50 a pop. These file sales are being disabled now and are being replaced by our new Plus subscription service at $19 a month. That means each PSD file comes in at about $.80, which is a much more reasonable amount.
Subscriptions also mean a more consistent revenue stream for the site, which is great as it’ll help us build the site up. Because we’re committed to paying very fair rates for regular, guest, and community contributors, and also because the site gets *so* much traffic, we actually spend more than $8,000 a month on the site. Needless to say, that’s a rather large amount, so Plus subscribers will be helping pay for both what we’re already doing and what we’ve got planned!
Members-Only Tutorial and Layer Styles
In addition to the PSD files, you’ll also receive periodic extras with a Premium membership. Currently, the two extras that are available are a bunch of layer styles and also a special members-only tutorial. I’m quite proud of this tutorial and think it has a lot of practical application. It’s called How to Photoshop a Product into a Slick 3D Environment and shows you how to place a mobile phone into an advertorial style environment created in Photoshop. You can see the image below:
Learn more / Join
You can read more about the Plus membership, including our 100% money-back guarantee, and more reasons why it’s worth joining, on our Join Psdtuts+ Premium page.
And a Few Extra Updates
The Psdtuts+ Premium system isn’t the only thing we’ve been working on. I’ve also added a “Most Talkative Users” down in the footer to link out to the Web sites of people who leave the most comments each month. I figure it makes the site a bit more communal and nicely replaces the text link ads (that we’ve ditched now).
Also I’ve started an extra Photoshop Resources section to provide links to useful stuff like other tutorial sites, fonts, stock photo sites, and generally anything relevant. It’s still pretty thin, but I’ll be adding more links in the coming weeks.
Finally, I’ve added a new footer to the posts with a live Digg button on every post, as well as links to StumbleUpon, Delicious, and the usual suspects. If you enjoy a post, please do give us a vote/save on your favorite site. The traffic we receive really helps the site thrive. We’ve been very fortunate to have been on many of the sites in the past. So to everyone who’s ever sent a vote/save this way, thank-you!
Did You Notice All the Extra Posts?
For a long time, we were only putting up 7 or 8 posts a month. In February, that number tripled up to 22 — that’s a lot more tutorials, and thanks to the awesome Sean Hodge, more articles, roundups, and inspiration posts!
My aim is to get the site to seven posts a week, though that’s going to take a bit longer as our February costs were also dramatically larger than previously 
Still, we’re on our way to daily updates here!
What’s Next?
So what’s next for Psdtuts+? Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, we don’t like standing still, so here are a bunch of things we’re working on:
- Those forums I’m always talking about are on their way (Thanks Arik for harassing me about that )
- We’ve got some exciting guest tutorial writers working on posts — including the fabulously talented Nik Ainley himself
- I’m going to be making changes to the “Write-a-Tutorial” system so that contributors can send in just an image first to see if it’s worth putting in more time for. We’ll also be upping the payout to closer to the regular contributor rate
- I’ll be upgrading the Photoshop Resources section to have a search function, much more content, and better organization
- I’ll also be upgrading the User Link Feed to be a bit more usable. Currently, you have to click the links twice from RSS. Now that we’ve got close to 200 people subscribed, I should probably fix that (sorry it’s taken a while!)
After that, who knows! Video tutorials would be cool, as would a really elite Psdtuts+ wallpaper section, and I have some other ideas that I’ll keep secret for now until I get through the current to-do list!
Enjoyed this Post?
Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!
By Collis
Photoshop to HTML
Take your Photoshop skills to the next level by learning how to slice up a PSD into a working standards driven HTML website.
Join our newsletter!
U-Design WordPress Theme only $35.00 
Modernize - Flexibility of W ... only $35.00 
When the storm comes - More
Photoshop Basix
Just getting started? Start with our basix tutorials on the fundamentals. View All Basix Tutorials
Create a Tutorial, Get Paid!
Have something to teach the world? Want to earn money doing it? Tutorials, screencasts, and articles published here on Psdtuts+ are largely contributed by readers just like you! We'll pay you great money for good content. Find Out More
well, it wasn’t long ago I was saying I can’t believe you don’t charge for this stuff (the knowledge is worth something), and so it begins. $9 a month, well, thats one less 6-pack a month (or 2 if you drink Steel Reserve) but it could end up saving you tons of money when you see a tutorial that is exactly what a client wants and you don’t have to think much about it because there is a tutorial right there! All I have to say is that since joining this site its gotten HUGE and way better and really just awesome, more content etc.
Will this tie into the FAVEup or FreelanceSwitch sites? Or like a package deal? That would be cool. What about the book, is that included? You guys are smart so I bet you got that all planned out. Keep up the awesomeness. peace.
oh, and what josh said, yeah. me too. i got sick really quick. thanks!
I keep coming back to this post because I love the site sooooo much and I really would hate to miss out on all that amazing content, but $9/month is troublesome in the grand scheme of things. Curious…one of the goals you stated is to have daily updates. Do you envision these being daily updates to the FREE side or to the member side?
ARRGGG!! This site is eating away my time because I have to keep practicing all this amazing stuff! On a side note also…my goal is for you to have 2 updates a day for 14 a week. That would be a dream come true!
Very cool Collis, this site is doing great. Guess I have to start posting more. =D
Hi guys! I must say-I’ve been reading you since day 1 and PSDTUTS is getting better and better.
I wanted to ask you if there is some other way to pay for the membership since I live in Macedonia and unfortunately I can’t register for PayPal
I wrote them an email asking if they know when the service is going to be available but they said they didn’t know
I would really like to sign up but PayPal isn’t an option for me…
Ooo I can’t wait for the wallpaper section!
I think Diego’s suggestion is a good one… any plans, Collis?
I’m going to subscribe soon. Not only because the tutorials are good and I think having the source files would be awesome, but because you guys put a LOT of work into your sites. I am subscribed at jobs.freelanceswitch.com and the $7.00 a month I’m paying is NOTHING compared to the jobs I’ve already got there. I know your value and $9.00 per month isn’t anything when you put it into those terms.
Collis, write me an email if you can, I can show you some stuff with wordpress and the guest posting system for users writing posts but having them unpublished, ect.
Thanks,
Mike
Collis, check http://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capabilities#Contributor
Thanks for the information. good job
Looks god guys, looking forward to some new content.
Main reason I bought this is to show my love… this site is a real gem! Thanks so much guys!
don’t know where to put this else so i’ll post it here. is there any chance on doing tuts on photoediting to get some kind of effect that this guy archieves with his photos? they are so unreal, so bright, so lovely! http://j-p-stamcar.deviantart.com/art/Carmen-78278889 http://j-p-stamcar.deviantart.com/art/Jump-Mischa-78274341 http://j-p-stamcar.deviantart.com/art/Mischa-78275667
hoping you don’t decrease quality in “not plus psdtuts”
totally worth it. im in!
Hey guys!! Thanks all for all the support. One thing to clarify:
- Daily updates I mean for the free main site. PSDPlus will always be an add-on, so don’t worry the bulk of content will be free free free
So if you can’t afford it, don’t fret, it’s photoshop for one and all here! And to those who’ve subscribed, thanks so much, this coming week I’m going to be contacting even more photoshop masters to see if we can buy tutorials, w00t!!
Couldn’t generate enough revenue through ads?
It’s unfortunate that you have to start charging your visitors. I found this site months ago and thought it was an excellent site. I have been visiting the site everyday to see what is new. Now I have to pay? That sucks. Even if it is only $9.00/month, it’s still stupid. There are other ways of generating an income from your site.
@Scott: Nope
Ad selling is hard, so we just have the one (expensive) miiingle ad
@Lauren: I think you misunderstand, the site is still free, this is an *extra* set of things. You can quite happily continue to come here and enjoy the tutorials and never pay a cent
@Mike: Will do, can always use some WordPress help
Hey People who run this site
,
I just found this site, and I just signed up for the
membership.
For the people who are complaining about $9 a month… I would
like to enlighten some for a bit!
I used to run a couple of photoshop tutorials, and anyone who
has actively reads tutorials probably has seen a few of my sites.
Some of the tutorials are even on smashing magazine (the site).
Now, let me tell you! Doing that stuff for free is great, because
I can use adsense and advertisements to make it worth my time,
however it can’t make one rich, and overtime its just not
worth it.
So charging someone $9 a month for HIGH quality just makes sense,
for the writers and you guys!
Anyone who thinks $9 is alot of money for this material is NOT using
the material right.
Seriously…
This stuff is fun to learn, and do as a hobby, but it doesn’t take much effort
to make money of your skills, so learn it, and do some jobs!
Learning the stuff on here will impressive the heck out of your clients.
So stop complaining, and get to work!
- With Much Love
Dylan Jones
Awe Cool! I just figured out who ran this site!
The freelance switch guys!
I love your podcasts! I have been listening to them
quite a bit lately.
So yeah, im back to say a bit more.
I went to look at the other tutorials, and there
were NO in your face ads, like adsense or anything.
As far as I know this is the first time you guys setup
the premium membership.
So again, be thankful for the low price, no more complaining
about it.
When I eat at mcdonalds I spend more then $9 and that
just gets me sick. If I could spend $9 and earn more money. Then
the merchant did me a favour.
Also, I just checked out the membership area…
BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks freelance switch people, and keep up with the podcasts!
I’m sorry, I’m not in.
I love this site and the tutorials are great. I don’t need to download the psds, since I’m not a copy/paste guy. The community images show that a lot of people download the psds, change the font or a color and they think they’ve created something smashing. That’s not what tutorials are intended for, in my opinion. I try to learn techniques, and use them for my own work. So I don’t need psds.
Also tutorials are good enough for me as they are in the free section.
@Dylan Jones: Collis is the administrator of this site, and he works for Eden CC. So basically PsdTuts, FlashDen, FaveUp & FreelanceSwitch are sister sites. Check:
http://eden.cc/family.html
http://miiingle.com/
I think going on with what was mentioned by someone else – the monthly subscription which is a good idea however, doesn’t stop someone from just registering a few times, cancelling it and getting all the content. I think rather than expecting people to pay $108 a year, you should make some sort of long term discounts available. So like if people were willing to pay a year in advance – they only pay say $90 and therefore get 2 months free (save $18) or pay for 6 months in advance and pay only $50 (save $4) – I know these aren’t huge discounts – but they will still benefit the subscriber and yourself by getting you a large amount of money initially.
You might ask why bother with a discounted long term amount? Well by charging someone $9 a month – they could leave at any time which means your income will die. But by getting a larger amount from the start – it means they will be here for a while – well even if they aren’t it doesn’t matter as you already have the money. I don’t mean to make this sound bad. Just think of it like selling a TV. It makes sense to just get the cash for the whole thing initially rather than giving it on credit and getting a monthly rate that builds up to its final cost as circumstances may change and you may not recoup all the money.
Anyways if you consider long term discounted rates then i’ll be more interested personally than the $9 a month – which is still reasonable to me – just a little too much for my liking.
Collis,
Firstly, love the site, great tutorials and everything you’re doing – much respect and thanks.
*If* I could afford the $9/month – I’d gladly pay it to help you and PSD Tuts with your overhead costs. Unfortunately, grad school is kickin’ my ARSE and too expensive. If I can think of way to contribute, I will.
Keep up the great work, thanks again!
Peace,
elias
I’ve just joined Psdtuts Plus but where the Login located?
I signed up the day this was posted. Haven’t been sent anything, nor do I see a members area.
Not active yet?
@Julian & Andrea: Hey guys, after you pay it should immediately take you to your member management page. But don’t worry you can just go to: http://psdtutsplus.com
Maybe I haven’t made that very clear actually, I’ll set about making that more obvious, sorry guys!
@Shan: I think you’re right, I’ll set up some long term packages as well, a few people have asked for them. I don’t actually mind if people subscribe -> download everything -> unsubscribe, of course it’s not as good as if they stay subscribed
But it’s OK to do that too, especially for people who can’t afford much!
OK, have added a button to the top menu to take you to the login page. I can’t believe I didn’t think to make an easy way to get to the login … *slaps own head*
Collis,
The psd to: Advanced Glow Effects
Is a duplicated link for the message sign tutorial. If you could
fix that, that would be sweet!
I’m with mindstormer on this one. $9 is a lot. Maybe $1 a month, but not $9. You are alienating the non-subscribers. Basically, you are encouraging the “psdtuts” to pop up and take eyeballs. Nice site though. Thanks.
Um… I meant to write above that you are encouraging new sites for Photoshop tutorials to pop up. Anyway, thanks for your site. It is great.
Hey Dylan, I just double checked the Advanced Glow Effects link in PSDPlus and it seems to be OK, maybe I misunderstood. In any case email at psdtutsblog@gmail.com if you need more assistance and i’ll get you fixed up!
I think having an optional subscription is a great idea for a Tutorial site.
The subscription revenue allow PSDTuts to pay good money for well written, high quality photoshop tutorials, hosted on the site, with accompanying PSDs. Other photoshop tutorial websites are plagued by dead links from tutorials hosted off their site and low quality tutorials in general.
People who can subscribe get PSDs which no other site really offers and a few exclusive things for Subscribers only.
Non-subscribers pay NOTHING and get the same high quality tutorials. I don’t see how anyone could be dissatisfied in the least, you’re getting exclusive high quality tutorials here and paying absolutely nothing. People who choose the optional subscription do get a little more, which they deserve, because they’re ensuring that this site continues to provide high quality tutorials for everyone else.
i would love to try psd premium membership but im scared that they remove every month my money from credit card. Can i buy only for 1 month to try because when i want pay it says for every month 9$ i want only 1 month :/