Me interviewing Jolene Collins in Brooklyn, NY during “Sriracha” production, July 2013.

It’s been 18 months since I released Sriracha, a 33-minute documentary about the iconic hot sauce. This was a passion project — I was curious about my favorite condiment, and wanted a short film on my reel. The goal wasn’t to make money, but after spending $12,728 on production, then $27,807 on merch and distribution, the film has so far generated $76,677 in revenue, or $100 per day.

1. Vimeo offers the best profit margin in this business.

I chose Vimeo On Demand to premiere Sriracha, because my film played beautifully, with less artifacting and skipped frames than on other players. Plus, Vimeo’s 10% cut of revenue beats iTunes’ 30% fee and Amazon’s 50%.

To sell through Vimeo On Demand requires a $199-per-year Vimeo Pro membership, but I cleared that hurdle with decent marketing: At $5 a pop, Sriracha sold $1,325 on day one and $10,180 within the first month. The price now at $2.99, it’s earned $25,413 over 18 months on Vimeo. At an average sale price of $4.08, $0.48 per sale goes to Vimeo and $0.12 to PayPal’s transaction fee. Even after the $199 Vimeo Pro expense, I’ve kept $21,499 — a profit margin of 84.6%.

Update (Feb. 23, 2016): If you’d like to sell a film on Vimeo Pro, here’s $50 off the price.

Fun facts: 226,420 Vimeo trailer plays have led to 6,229 sales, a 2.75% conversion rate. The average purchaser watches twice; the film’s been viewed 13,311 times on Vimeo. 61% of my sales are from the U.S.