Interview of Codecanyon’s best seller

Today i have the pleasure to post a little interview of Guillaume Marty, the Codecanyon’s best seller. Maybe you don’t his name, but you might your his items. On the marketplace he’s called “PixelWorkshop“. Guillaume has created a bunch of great HTML/CSS items such as the CSS3 Mega Drop Down Menu, the Responsive Mega Menu Complete Set, or the Pure CSS3 Sticky Footer. With more than 18600 sales, he has become an amazing elite author , and if you don’t know him yet, it’s time to visit his portfolio ! Nonetheless, Guillaume is talented but he’s also a real nice guy.

Hi Guillaume, can you tell readers a little about yourself?

Hi everyone ! My name is Guillaume, I come from southern France and I’m now living in Prague. I started working as an independant web designer 3 years ago after working as a teacher in different universities.

Why and when did you start selling on Codecanyon/Themeforest?

I began working on Themeforest templates 3 years back. At that time, I was learning the basics of designing and coding and I quickly understood the potential of this marketplace. So I tried to make a few original templates.

I quickly understood the potential of this marketplace

When Codecanyon was created, I was not really interested to sell web elements but I finally decided to give it a try in september 2010. After working on a project for a customer, I had the idea to build my own mega menu. The next morning, I started working on it and in the evening of the same day, it was awaiting approval. This file is the one I created the most quickly, just to get a taste of the marketplace.

I decided to work exclusively for the marketplaces

It was completely unexpected but this menu reached the top seller list and held the first position during months. At this point, I decided to work exclusively for the marketplaces and without this menu, I wouldn’t be there today.

What’s the average time you spend on your items?

An HTML template can take time, between 2 and 4 weeks in my case but this kind of file doesn’t require regular updates.

On the opposite, a web element for Codecanyon can take a single day or several weeks to create and I tend to update these file more regularly. The feedback I receive by email or through the comments help me a lot to improve and add new options to my products. Actually, updates can take more time than the original creation.

What do you like in the Envato community?

I’ve learnt a lot of things through the forums, it’s a great place to get feedback aswell. When my work used to be rejected, I could get answers from there.

What are the marketplace items you prefer?

I can’t point to any particular item because there are a lot of them. I created several collections where I put all the templates / elements I really liked, mostly from 4 marketplaces : Themeforest, Codecanyon, Graphicriver and Videohive.

Those marketplaces are now growing so fast that I don’t have time to get through the new submissions, I just try to keep an eye on Codecanyon specifically.

What’s your process when creating a new item?

When an idea pops up, I usually start by doing a few tests / mockups. This can take an hour or several days, I just try to give it enough time to be mature. Once I vizualize the final product, I start working on it. Many effects can be done in CSS3 so I use Photoshop only for specific graphic elements.

When I have my first coded draft, I start testing it on several browsers to avoid hours of trying to find fixes when it’s almost finished. And I keep working on it until I’m 100% statisfied !

Do you have tips for new authors?

Motivation is the key for me. It’s a lot of work to release stock items but it’s just worth it ! And I don’t hesitate to take my time, it must be 100% ready before uploading.

Motivation is the key for me

The preview is a very important aspect, it can be a video or a live demo, it should be attractive.

Also, before working on a new item, I ask myself a few questions :
– Will this file be useful and does it have potential ?
– Is there already something like this available for free or on the marketplace ?
– If so, is it worth developing a premium item from this idea ?
– How to make this file stand out from the crowd ?

I hope that these few ideas will help new authors, thanks for reading :)

PixelWorkshop items

Note: Guillaume he’s now 2nd top selling authors on Codecanyon.