I just got the word from Nate Whitehill at Unique Blog Designs that the company’s newest venture, Theme Wars, has gone live. What the hell is Theme Wars? At first, it looks like a WordPress theme store but that’s where the similarity ends.
Theme Wars isn’t your ordinary WordPress theme store. It brings together the community, both blog designers and bloggers, who need a design. Here is how it works:
- Each week, any blog designer can submit an entry (his/her original design) into the “Weekly War.â€
- The Weekly War will be a contest to design a particular type of theme (e.g. magazine, business, etc.) as voted on by the community (via poll) the week before.
- The top two designs which the community votes for will be sold in the Theme Store. The winning designers will receive 25% and 10%, respectively, each time their winning design sells.
Winning designers are also permanently invited to produce new themes for Theme Wars and share in the profits.
The Benefit to Designers and Bloggers
For designers, the benefits of Theme Wars is an opportunity to earn money by submitting their designs into the Weekly War. Not only will the winning designers receive a percentage of each sale, they will also earn a spot in the “Featured Designers†page, thereby giving them additional marketing and exposure for their brand.
For bloggers, the benefit is access to a wide range of themes from a wide range of different designers. Theme Wars will be truly listening to the feedback of the community via community polls and voting. Bloggers get to vote for the types of designs they would like to see and also the specific theme that the designs will build and sell.
All themes are be licensed under the WordPress GPL, which means that even with the basic theme license, bloggers will be able to use the themes on as many sites as they like.
Theme Wars Pricing
Themes are be priced at $69 for a multi-use license to $149 for a developer license (includes Photoshop documents). Theme Wars also offers a monthly membership to get access to all of the themes. This a great package for blogger who wish to try out a variety of themes or for bloggers with multiple blogs and wish to give each one a unique look.
An all access standard pass to Theme Wars cost $20 per month plus a one-time payment of $147. This also gives you access to all past, present and future themes, as well as unlimited access to the support forum, documentation, video tutorials and theme updates.
An all access developer pass cost $27 per month plus a one-time payment for $177. This also gives you access to all past, present and future themes, as well as unlimited access to the support forum, documentation, video tutorials, theme updates and Photoshop files.
The First War Is On – Go Vote!
The first war at Theme Wars features the war of the magazine themes. Which one do you like more? Go to Theme Wars and cast your vote now!