Looking for Template Submission & Affiliate Program Guidelines

General
1

I’ve been actively creating templates for the Pickaxe marketplace and participating in the affiliate program, but I’m running into some issues that I’m hoping the team can help clarify. I’ve talked to a few other builders who are experiencing similar things, so I figured it’s worth bringing up.

Issues I’ve Encountered:

1. Unclear Submission Standards

I’m basically submitting templates and hoping they get approved without really knowing what makes a “good” template in Pickaxe’s eyes. I’ve noticed approved templates vary a lot—some have custom actions and knowledge bases, others don’t. Would love some guidance on:

What technical requirements should I aim for?

Are there features I should avoid (like MCPs or complex workflows)?

Any design/UX expectations?

2. Affiliate Program Questions

I am unclear how Pickaxe promotes approved templates on their end

4. Promotion Strategy

I’m planning to create YouTube tutorials with links in descriptions to drive traffic, but I’m curious:

Is external promotion encouraged?

What’s working for other template creators?

Does Pickaxe have recommended channels or strategies?

Is there a way to collaborate with other to help promote the pickaxes we make?

What Would Help Me:

A simple checklist or guide covering template requirements, approval criteria, and affiliate program best practices would be incredibly helpful. I’m excited about the potential here and want to invest my time effectively, but right now I’m kind of flying blind.

Has anyone else experienced these issues or found workarounds? Any guidance from the Pickaxe team would be much appreciated!"

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Hi there, thanks so much for reaching out on this! I would be happy to provide some clarity:

  1. Submission standards. The reason you see such variety in approved templates is that we welcome examples of all sorts! We have tens of thousands of users who rely on Pickaxe for a very wide range of services in many different industries. Each use case requires different features. One of the main benefits of templates is to get a better sense of how you’re using Pickaxe, so your submissions should reflect the kinds of things you’re already making. If that includes complex integrations or very specific prompting, so be it! We just want to see examples of Pickaxes and Studios that you’re personally proud of. If, for some reason, you submit a template and it does not get approved, feel free to reach out to us at info@pickaxeproject.com and we can talk about it with you.
  2. Affiliate Program Questions. All approved templates are visible here, and there is a dedicated tab on the Dashboard to make it easy for users to find them. We are not currently doing any external promotion of templates, but if you have any thoughts on that, feel free to let us know!
  3. Promotion Strategy. External promotion is absolutely encouraged! If other users want to chime in about strategies that work well for them, or collaborate on promotion, we encourage them to comment. YouTube sounds like a great place to start! See the affiliate page for information on restrictions.

I hope this helps a little, and feel free to reach out with any follow up questions!

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Also, important note: most submissions to this point have been of Pickaxes, and we are very much looking for additional submissions of Studios! So, if you have any Studios you’re proud of, we would love to feature them :slight_smile:

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I would like to see Pickaxe create videos about the templates that are already on the marketplace on their own youtube channel as they have the audience already pull it would show builders that they are also invested in growing this features as they are marketing it to their audience as well. Why not invite us, your builders, to make videos of our template we have put onto marketplace and post them on your channel or we can post on our own channels and use the YouTube collaboration feature for mutual exposure. I would like to see Pickaxe is invested in the feature so I know that is has legs and is worth my time.

5

Thanks for taking an interest in building templates and asking thoughtful questions around this.

Lindsay already explained how submissions, visibility, and promotion work on Pickaxe, so I won’t repeat that. What I’ll add here is the practical side of how templates actually end up earning.

Firstly…it’s actually encouraged to build templates with monetization in mind. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to earn from your work. What matters is understanding one simple rule:

Templates earn through upgrades, not usage.

Someone can use your template 50 times and that still won’t trigger anything unless they upgrade to Gold or Pro after using it.

This is why conversion matters more than how many people click “Use template.”

Why some templates convert and others don’t

If a template works perfectly on the Free plan, most users won’t upgrade just to keep using it. They already have what they need.

But if the template is genuinely useful and naturally requires paid features, upgrades happen without forcing anything.

Some common ways builders do this:

  • Advanced Actions
    Free users can connect 1 Action, Gold users up to 3, and Pro users unlimited.
    If your template includes 4 or more Actions such as a workflow that generates content, sends it somewhere, and logs results, the user must upgrade to Pro to use it.

  • More complex workflows
    Templates that chain multiple steps together, like intake form → analysis → output → automation, usually cross Free or Gold limits pretty quickly.

  • Larger Knowledge Bases
    Free plans have tight limits. If your template relies on multiple KB files or a larger reference set, users who find it useful will naturally upgrade so it keeps working properly.

In all these cases, the upgrade isn’t artificial. The user upgrades because the Pickaxe is doing something valuable and they want to keep using it.

What the payout can look like

To put real numbers on this:

If someone upgrades to Pickaxe Pro on an annual plan after using your template, you earn $502.92 immediately, and $502.92 again one year later.

So if 10 people convert to annual Pro through your template, that’s $5,000+ upfront, with the same amount again the following year if they stay on Pro.

One last thing

Even if someone starts with a free template and later upgrades for their own reasons, the payout still applies as long as the upgrade happens after they interacted with your template.

The simple takeaway:
If a Pickaxe is useful and requires an upgrade to unlock its full value, people will upgrade.
If it works perfectly on Free, most people won’t.

Design templates with that in mind, and the rest tends to fall into place. :slight_smile:

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