Refer fellow creators with the OtakuOshi affiliate programme
Know someone whose work deserves a proper home? With the OtakuOshi affiliate programme you send them your own link, and once they start earning you take a commission on their income for a set period. Joining is free, for you and for them.
What the affiliate programme actually is
Here, ‘affiliate’ and ‘referral’ are two labels for one scheme. You won’t be pushing products, and you won’t be rounding up fans in exchange for a cut. The idea is simpler: you point other creators towards OtakuOshi, whether they shoot cosplay, draw, put out doujinshi, record ASMR or make anything else that belongs here.
Perhaps there’s a cosplayer in your group chat, an illustrator you trade sketches with, a manga author or a voice artist who still hasn’t set up a page. Send them your personal link. If they register through it and begin making money on the platform, a commission on their earnings comes your way.
That money joins your normal earnings and goes out with them, in the same monthly cycle. Taking part costs you nothing, and the person you invite signs up in exactly the way any other creator would.
The current rate, how long the commission period lasts and where each of your referrals stands are all listed in your creator dashboard. Have a look there before you start working out what it could be worth, since that’s where the up-to-date terms live.
Three steps to your first referral
You’ll handle the whole thing from your creator dashboard.
Switch on your creator profile
Referring is open only to creators whose page is active and verified. No account yet? You can join as a creator for free and read up on how OtakuOshi works before inviting anybody.
Copy your referral link
Head to the referrals section of your dashboard and you’ll find a link that belongs to you alone. Drop it into your socials, your Discord server or your newsletter, or message it straight to someone you already collaborate with.
Share in their success
When a creator who came in through your link starts bringing in money, your commission appears in the dashboard and is paid out together with your own monthly earnings.
Why passing OtakuOshi on makes sense
Otaku culture runs on circles of people who know each other. Cosplayers book the same photographers shoot after shoot, illustrators team up with fanfic writers, and doujin circles find themselves on neighbouring tables from the Artist Alley at MCM Comic Con London to Thought Bubble in Harrogate. If you belong to one of those circles, you’re better placed than any advert to explain OtakuOshi to a friend, because you already know what they make and what their followers are after.
Referrals let you earn by recommending OtakuOshi, and that extra income doesn’t hinge on you uploading more yourself. Because your commission tracks what the referred creator takes home, it pays to invite people who’ll genuinely put the platform to good use. That, in turn, makes OtakuOshi a better place for everyone, fans included.
There’s no need to put on a sales pitch either. Usually it’s enough to say how things are going for you, show them how you’ve arranged your page, or send over the guide for their kind of content so they can judge whether it suits them. You’ll find the main guides just below.
Who to bring along
Creators tend to thrive here when there’s a community behind them that values what they do.
Cosplayers and photographers
Your regular shoot partners, the photographers you keep booking and the cosplayers you’ve met at cons and masquerades. Send them our guide for cosplayers or the one written for cosplay photographers.
Illustrators and manga artists
Fan artists, doujin authors and webcomic creators who already take commissions or post their art online. Our guide for manga artists, or the one for doujinshi artists, is a good place for them to begin.
Writers
Fanfic and original fiction writers whose readers are already waiting on the next chapter. There’s a dedicated guide for fanfiction writers.
Voice, ASMR and animation
People who record audio or voice characters, plus animators and anyone rigging Live2D or VRoid models. Start them off with our ASMR roleplay and character voice guide, or the one on anime animation.
Crafters and makers
Builders of props, armour and accessories who could sell tutorials, patterns and work-in-progress breakdowns. Pass on our guide for cosplay prop makers.
VTubers and streamers
Creators with a live audience who want somewhere to keep exclusive material. If they stream with a model of their own, the guide to VTuber and VRoid models will be the most useful.
Sharing your referral link the right way
Say it’s your link. Be upfront that it’s yours whenever you post it, particularly in public posts or in your newsletter.
Skip the spam. Mass mailings, DMs nobody asked for and copy-paste comments under other people’s work harm the community, and your own name along with it.
Don’t promise what you can’t control. Explain how the platform works, but never tell anyone they’ll earn a particular amount. Some pages take off quickly and others build slowly.
Leave your own link alone. Duplicate accounts, and accounts opened to pay commission back to yourself, earn nothing.
The rules behind the affiliate programme are set out in our terms of service, the fan-creator agreement and the acceptable use policy. For the money side in general, see the page on creator payouts.
Got a situation these guidelines don’t quite cover? Take a look at the help centre or drop us a line before you share the link.
Affiliate programme FAQs
The basics of referring creators, answered briefly.
Anyone whose OtakuOshi creator page is verified and switched on. Once that’s sorted, the link shows up in your dashboard. Not a creator yet? You can set up your page free of charge.
None at all. Both names describe the same scheme. You bring other creators in with your personal link and receive a slice of what they earn for as long as the programme’s period runs.
Your commission is worked out on the referred creator’s income over a set period, and the rate and length currently in force are displayed in your dashboard. The total depends entirely on how much each person makes, so no one can promise you a number.
Not a penny. Registering through your link is free for them, and their sign-up is no different from anybody else’s.
It’s added to your balance and goes out in the same monthly cycle as the rest of your income. The payouts page has the finer detail.
Referrals are meant for fellow creators. If what you’re after is more subscribers on your own page, the promotional tools, free trials and discounts in your dashboard are the way to go.
Wherever you’re already talking shop with other creators: social media, a Discord server, your newsletter. It lands better alongside the guide for their type of content and a clear note that the link is yours. Steer clear of bulk messages and unsolicited DMs.
No. A second account, or any account created just to collect your own commission, generates nothing. The full rules are in the terms of service and the acceptable use policy.
Open the referrals section of your dashboard. It shows how many creators have joined via your link, which of them are currently active and the commission each one has produced.
Bring good creators in and share in what they build
Invite the people whose work you rate, help them get paid for it and pick up a commission when it takes off.