It's kind of thinking WAY outside the box, but my FIRST sale was to a book author. I was already in touch with her outside of Zazzle, and I used my store to design promotional items using characters from her book (with permission of course). Coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets, etc. She ordered quite a lot to give away at bookstores during her book signings.
Come to think of it, the same thing could work online in a different way. Set yourself up with an account at Fiverr, offer to take gigs to design people's promotional items for them, then make them available in your Zazzle store. Get paid TWICE! If it works, you owe me a coffee. 🙂
