PSDTUTS Plus Launch
Feb 29th in News by Collis
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 $9 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 Plus 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 Plus page.And a Few Extra Updates
The PSDTUTS Plus 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!)
Related Posts
Keep reading with more great tutorials and articles!
Enjoy this Post?
We'd love your vote!
Plus Members
Source Files, Bonus Tutorials and
More for $9 a month for all TUTS+
sites in one subscription.
User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Matt February 29th
Very nice. Worth the money.
( )Aloke Pillai February 29th
This is soo sick! I am in!
Looking forward to it guys!
Keep Rocking!
Aloke Pillai
( )Stevi3 February 29th
I am going to sign up because PSDTuts is a great site. Thanks – this is exactly what I was looking for.
But I’d like to be assured that PSDTuts will be around for a long time.
( )Zach February 29th
EXCITING! As a student i generally can not to pay for my tutorials, but I am soooo going to sign up to support this. A fantastic photoshop tutorial every day, who can ask for anything better than that.
( )Colin February 29th
i have that phone, unlocked. and it’s the best phone i’ve ever seen, played with and owned!
( )Collis February 29th
Thanks guys, great to hear the membership’s off to a good start and a few people have signed up already! Yay!
@Stevi3: We sure will be around a long time, with the amount of effort that’s gone in to the site so far, we sure aren’t stopping now!!
( )Stefan February 29th
How about making the “write a tutorial” feature a bit more usable? Like adding a WYSIWYG editor…
I’m not a Wordpress guru, but I think you could let the contributors use Wordpress’ default posting system and their posts would be saved and unpublished until (if) you decide to publish them.
“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”
Even better — include a user system for wordpress, user submits/sends the final result of the image, image is accepted, user becomes contributor and has the ability to post (an) article(s) that will be initially unpublished.
This would also be sort of a community feature of the site.
Oh, and the users that are also ‘contributors’ could have some distinctive mark under their names when commenting (like forum ranks).
( )Collis February 29th
That would be cool! I’ll investigate more on how users work in WP, I’m not that familiar with user levels and what not!
( )thebeat February 29th
man this is extremely expensive. $9/month is unfair escpecially when you get member exclusive tutorials.
( )Collis February 29th
@thebeat: It is a little expensive, but the regular content on the site won’t be affected at all, think of it more as something extra you can subscribe to if you choose to. You’ll still get lots of great, free content here!
( )Terry February 29th
118 dollars a year? man.. i can’t swing that. i have a wife and kid.. i’ll just read along with the poor folks…
( )Eric Marshall February 29th
God damn I love this site…now you are forcing me to shell over my $9 bucks! Damn YOU…..do you take Visa? HAHA! Just kidding! This will be well worth my 2 Starbucks coffees a month!
( )Andrew D February 29th
Good to hear that progress has been made on the forums, considering I have been waiting forever for them
(Just kidding) I Cant wait for them to go up!
Thanks Collis!
( )Mindstormer February 29th
This reminds me of when revision3.com tried to make one of their shows for subscription-only members. A lot of people complained and they ended up just releasing them to everyone. Many people won’t want to subscribe, but will at the same time feel done-in. Perhaps a better idea would be to have tutorials released a few days earlier for subscribers, rather than separate subscribers and non-subscribers completely.
Just a suggestion, what you do with your site is not really my concern, regardless as to how many people disagree with subscription-only tutorials.
Anyway, I enjoy and appreciate the tutorials that are available to everyone.
( )Daniel Irmler February 29th
I love this site!!! Hopefully one of these days I’ll be able to contribute one of my own personal tutorials. Anyways I like the $9 a month subscription. Question? What stops me from paying $9 for a month downloading all the tutorials stopping my subscription and then six months later doing the same thing again. Man, Collis I’m more of a business man but I’d hate to see you get ripped off by some person who decides to pay $18 bucks for a full year of tutorials. Again I love what this site is doing. (They are by far the most in depth tutorials on design and layout)
Suggestion: One time fee of $49+ for the full year much like http://www.bamagazine.com Or at least make them pay three months at a time.
Well whatever happens I’ll definitely start-up sometime.
Thanks!
( )Andrei Constantin February 29th
Honestly I will subscribe only to support the great community psdtuts turned into and for the extra articles, if any, as I’m not that interested in psd’s
You guys keep the quality of the tuts above average and you will see that 9 bucks it aint much
( )albertp February 29th
woot!! i just signed up
psd tuts rocks
( )GeminiArt February 29th
great
thanks guys 
( )Constantin Potorac February 29th
You guys are doing a great job here. I think you are going to change a lot of designers with this amazing project.
I am looking forward for the forum.
( )bweb February 29th
@thebeat is right, 9 bucks per month is quite a lot of money, but I’ll think about it and if future PLUS tuts would be highly helpful maybe I’ll change my mind.
( )faktory February 29th
PDF version of tutorials will be available for download for members?
( )niksy February 29th
Very nice updates, looking forward for some more great tutorials!
( )faktory February 29th
Maybe you can add subsrciptions for ex. 3 months, 6 months, year
( )thai February 29th
yeah…
( )i guess you’ll focus on the content for members…
just don’t forget the poor, please!
George February 29th
Yeah 9$ is a bit harsh! Especially for people outside the US. For me its 400 Indian rupees!
( )Shane February 29th
Well – the PSDs to work out cheaper if you were buying every single one. In my opinion, the fun thing was trying things out yourself.
The tutorials are generally so well written that you don’t particularly _need_ the PSD.
I wish you well with the new subscription model. This site is very good indeed, and perhaps this will annoy you, but the subscription fee does seem a little steep at the moment. Think I’ll see how things develop before I dive in.
Cheers – Shane.
( )Alexander Hahn February 29th
man this is extremely expensive. $9/month is unfair escpecially when you get member exclusive tutorials.
( )Arik February 29th
No problem, anytime you need someone to harass you, just shout!
( )hmm February 29th
Sorry, the “extra”-content is a bad idea.
( )It’s too expensive and there’re other great tutorials on sites with free content.
The downloadable psd-files are the money not worth, because you wont learn anything by just looking at the files.
Mikkel February 29th
HELL YEAH!!…… I’m in!
( )Manuel Merz February 29th
Hey guys, great to see something like that
Already signed up and can’t wait for the stuff you provide 
Keep up the good work 
( )Markus March 1st
Awesome!
The site really starts looking like something :b
( )SorryBut March 1st
I’m sorry but this is bullshit.
If I want to buy a PSD files for a couple of dollars I will. But paying a over $100 per-year when I have no idea if the upcoming tutorials will be of any interest to me? I don’t think so.
You say its better value but I doubt that very much. I see maybe 2/3 tutorials per month that I really want to follow up by paying for the PSD.
This is a terrible idea. I hope you at least allow non-subscription users to buy one-off files sometime in the future.
( )Diego March 1st
Couple of things (PLEASE TAKE THIS IN CONSIDERATION)
1. I can’t do PayPal, I live in Peru.
( )2. I want to register, just to see all content, even tho I hardly have time to follow a tut anymore.
3. I’d like to see a yearly fee, even if there’s no discount.
4. PLease show in the regular site all the “final shot” of the tuts. I guess everyone wants to see what they are missing. You might come up with something that someone really needs, and bam, you got a suscriber.
b00m March 1st
nice idea =)
( )Steve Forbes March 1st
Awesome! Signed up straight away! Only a few quid, cant complain at the quality of designs you guys put out!
I am a web/print designer and I constantly use your site to improve my work quality! Even though I have 3 years experience in Photoshop. I am still constantly learning new things, tips and tricks etc.
There are too many Photoshop tutorial sites, all have exactly the same tutorials and most are extremely poor quality which most people could probably do in MS Paint! lol
Good luck to you all, looking forward to the forum too!
( )Fredro March 1st
I’m in the “can’t afford it” boat, but I see how it makes business sense, Collis. As long as the free content doesn’t change, PSDTuts is still a daily visit from me
( )Leyre March 1st
I just signed up. Please keep up the good work and provide more wonderful tutorials. Yours have been very helpful so far and I trust that they will still be now on.
( )Naveed March 1st
lol u guys finally alerted the pirates for it..
( )lols just kidding keep up the great work..
xDozex March 1st
Nice Collis! Great move! Is $9 a month really that much guys? I pay 6 bucks a DAY on cigarettes hehe. Also besides the awesome layout of the site, they only allow top quality tuts which make for a top quality site! I know I will be signing up pretty soon!
( )Efrain March 1st
You guys should also make a PDF of the tutorial for off line reviewing.
( )Josh March 1st
I think this is a fantastic concept and great new direction for the site. As I’ve been frequenting the site over the past two months, my superiors have noticed a drastic improvement in my design skills. I owe that to the great tutorials here. Your tutorials always have a great “real world” application factor to them, and they aren’t the silly special FX stuff that typically frequents online Photoshop tutorials.
I’m going to hold out for a little more depth to the Plus system, then I’ll be in. $9 a month isn’t expensive, it’s just a matter of priorities. I think my meals at Chipotle run close to that amount…
( )Anonymous March 1st
Eight thousand a month? Sorry but there’s no way you’re paying that much, please don’t try to trick people.
( )E-Rock March 1st
Well now you’ve done it! You’ve gone a joined the anarchists! If my wife finds out I’m spending $9/month here, she’ll force me to cancel my Netflix to make up for it. It’s PSDTuts or Netflix. I’ve got to side with Netflix for the time being.
( )shdw March 1st
don’t need the psd files myself but thinking of paying for this great site tho! some tutorials are totaly awesome and others are quite lame but i still love this site. so i think it’s worth the support.
( )shdw March 1st
oh and.. you should totaly make that tutorial request feature for members! should be some kind of voting system – like u select few things that are interesting enough to be tutorialized and people would vote which one they would like to see best.
( )Alyken March 1st
Everything sounds quite good.
How dose the monthly payment system work?
Do I need to pay each month using paypal or would you directly debit the amount from my account?
Thanks
( )Jeff March 1st
Haha, I just bought the first month to see the “3D product” tutorial.
( )maul March 1st
“I’m in the ‘can’t afford it’ boat” rofl. What can you afford?
( )Luke March 1st
As I’m in England, this only costs me £4.50 a month, which is cheaper and worth a lot more than a Deviant Art subscription, for example, so well worth the money.
( )sean steezy March 1st
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.
( )sean steezy March 1st
oh, and what josh said, yeah. me too. i got sick really quick. thanks!
( )E-Rock March 1st
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!
( )Cain March 1st
Very cool Collis, this site is doing great. Guess I have to start posting more. =D
( )Eva March 1st
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…
Jen March 1st
Ooo I can’t wait for the wallpaper section!
( )Terry March 1st
I think Diego’s suggestion is a good one… any plans, Collis?
( )Mike Smith March 1st
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
Stefan March 1st
Collis, check http://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capabilities#Contributor
( )Mark H. Abucayon March 1st
Thanks for the information. good job
( )Mario March 2nd
Looks god guys, looking forward to some new content.
( )kenneth March 2nd
Main reason I bought this is to show my love… this site is a real gem! Thanks so much guys!
( )shdw March 2nd
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
( )Dem March 2nd
hoping you don’t decrease quality in “not plus psdtuts”
( )goldenthunder March 2nd
totally worth it. im in!
( )Collis March 2nd
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!!
( )Scott Pargett March 2nd
Couldn’t generate enough revenue through ads?
( )Lauren Robb March 2nd
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.
( )Collis March 2nd
@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
( )Dylan Jones March 3rd
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
( )Dylan Jones March 3rd
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!
( )Alberto March 3rd
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/
Shan March 4th
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.
( )elias March 4th
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
( )Julian March 4th
I’ve just joined Psdtuts Plus but where the Login located?
( )andrea March 4th
I signed up the day this was posted. Haven’t been sent anything, nor do I see a members area.
( )Not active yet?
Collis March 4th
@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!
( )Collis March 4th
@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!
( )Collis March 4th
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*
( )Dylan Jones March 4th
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!
Joe March 5th
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.
( )Joe March 5th
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.
( )Collis March 6th
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!
( )Tsincaat March 16th
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.
( )