How Videographers Can Sell LUTs to Create a Passive Income Stream

Getting established as a creator and earning a consistent income is no easy feat. It takes time to build a network, attract clients, and get your business going. One key way to create some stability is to have multiple income streams that you can rely on. Especially passive income streams that don’t depend on new clients.

In this article, I’m going to share more about how videographers can sell their custom LUTs (lookup tables) to generate a passive income stream. It’s a relatively simple and fast way to start making money online as a video creator. Read more to find out how.

What are LUTs?

LUTs are Look Up Tables that alter the Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) color values of an image or frame. Using these look up tables, you can largely improve your film quality and color in video while saving time.

Many professionals use color grading to fully finish their videos and create beautiful depth and cinematic looks. However, color grading isn’t the easiest skill to learn. That’s one of the major reason LUTs are so popular and widely used.

With LUTs, videographers of all skill levels can improve their color grading in whatever editing program they use. They are even compatible with Photoshop, the most popular photo editing program in the world!

How to Sell LUTs

If you’re a videographer who has created LUTs over the years for your video editing projects, you can easily put together a pack of LUTs to start selling today.

Here are the basic steps to start selling your LUTs now:

1. Find a small collection of old LUTs or create new LUTs for a specific style, project, camera, or theme.
2. Package them into a .zip file with other helpful tips in a PDF for installation.
3. Create 3-5 before/after preview images and a cover image to promote your LUTs.
4. Write a quick description and share some key features, how many LUTs, etc.
5. Sell your LUTs on FilterGrade to reach thousands of video editors around the world.

You can create LUTs from a variety of sources. Maybe you have a few from an old music video you shot, or from interviews with corporate clients. The possibilities are endless. People need color grading help for all kinds of projects. You can even sell Premiere Pro Presets or Final Cut Pro Plugins if color grading isn’t your thing.

Tips for Selling Your LUTs

The best way to generate interest for your LUTs is to create useful and versatile LUTs. For example, a lot of editors are looking for LUTs that are compatible with Sony cameras. Or LUTs that are specifically for BMPCC footage.

You can also get more broad and target general themes like music videos, interviews, event videos, wedding videos, and so much more.

But how do you truly sell your LUTs? Show people!

The top-selling LUTs always have great previews and a solid description. People need to both see and understand what they are getting. Will these LUTs work in their editing program, are they compatible with the footage type and camera profile, and a thousand other questions. Not to mention, how do they look?

A beautiful preview video with lots of transitions showing the before/after footage of LUTs can really attract a wide audience, even for creators without a huge following. Here’s an example from Thiago Vibesp.

Can You Make Money Selling LUTs?

While LUTs may not be the first type of digital product that comes to mind, it’s still a profitable niche and one that a lot of creators are able to generate an income from. Youtubers, filmmakers, colorists, and many others sell LUTs of various styles and types.

Some of the most widely followed creators in the world make hundreds of thousands selling their LUTs and filters. Even smaller creators without much following can make thousands every month by selling LUTs that are in high demand.

Think about the tools you need as a video creator/editor to give you an idea of what people are searching for frequently. Then you can create your first digital product to make a new passive income stream. LUTs are a great place to start if you have video editing and color grading experience.

Check out some popular LUTs packs examples:

1. Free Cinematic LUTs Pack 
2. Celluloid 3D LUTs Pack 
3. Brendan Hayward Video LUTs Demo
    

Conclusion

LUTs are a great digital product for video editors and producers to sell. Through smart marketing and a creative ability to edit your videos, you can create a new passive income stream in 2022. Selling LUTs is one of many ways you can take part in the creator economy and grow your business on the internet.