Gumroad has updated its WordPress plugin to include a Gutenberg block for embedding a product in any page or post. The online platform enables creators, artists, educators, writers, and anyone else to sell their products without having to manage their own e-commerce setup. Gumroad’s WordPress plugin has been available for several years and is now compatible with the new Gutenberg editor.
I tested the block and it works as advertised. It would be nice if the block also provided an optional button style, instead of just a plain link on the frontend.
Gumroad founder and CEO Sahil Lavingia recently published a post titled “Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company” about his journey building Gumroad. The post gained a lot of attention due to Lavingia’s honest and inspiring account of the failures and painful changes he experienced throughout the company’s history. Last year he decided to embrace transparency and began publishing the company’s monthly financials. The post also included a nod to WordPress with Gumroad’s plans to go open source.
“Soon, we’re also planning to open-source the whole product, WordPress-style,” Lavingia said. “Anyone will be able to deploy their own version of Gumroad, make the changes they want, and sell the content they want, without us being the middleman.”