Selling Art?

[IHF]

So here’s my story

I’m shooting and having fun learning, and then it came time to stop being a wuss and start sharing.  I noticed that a lot of my facebook friends weren’t commenting on my posts anymore, which was a little out of character.  OPPS!  They are hiding me, because I’m posting too much photography!  lol  OK so I start a page, and invite everyone.  I was right, and only about a quarter of my friends actually clicked that like button, and now I get a lot more interaction on my personal facebook account, like it used to be before I bored people to death with my pictures.  So , there I am sharing my pictures, and getting “Oooh nice!” and “Oh so pretty!”  It was time to get a little braver and start sharing my work with other photographers, but I looked for somewhere “nice” and landed at red bubble.  I put a price tag on my work, and on my facebook port as well.  Well… surprisingly I’ve actually sold 42 of my 90ish images, some multiple times in varying formats from greeting cards to 30×20 mounted (mostly fulfilled by myself, and a few regular sales and greeting cards from redbubble).  oops!  I wasn’t expecting this.  I don’t know exactly what to do with it.  So I’ve just been sitting, doing nothing (actually quit posting as often and stayed away from things a little bit lately, because I’m so undecided).  I dont know if I really want to become more serious about selling or not.  I know I LOVE it when one of my images sells.  Just the thought that someone likes my photograph enough to buy it, and decorate their home with it thrills me, but at the same time… its a little scary to take things further than what they currently are.  It means investing more, it means a proper website, better marketing, more finishing and printing, possibly business cards and such, business license? and of course investing more means my prices would have to go up.  What if my stuff is only selling because it’s priced on the low end (I only make approx $20 off self fulfilled orders, and pennies off of redbubble sales).  I dont look at my work and think “high end collectors would LOVE this!”  my photographs are very simplistic, colorful, kind of immature, happy little things.  I’ve played with my mark up a little, and so far no change and I still have a steady trickle.  Should I keep marking up slowly to see if I find a cap?  Any and all advice is appreciated.  Everyone around me is kind of pushing, and I’m not sure if I want it or not, even though it does sound very appealing to maybe have my hobby pay for itself someday.

Here’s my redbubble

 

Here’s my facebook

 

[JCFindley]

OK, I will come back when I have more time, but you have very nice and very marketable work. You can certainly turn that into an income flow that will at least pay for some new toys and turn photography into an inexpensive hobby.

[cameraclicker]

Lots of nice macro/close-up/abstracts.   I saw your work before and liked it, still do.  If you have other images of similar quality, I would put them up as well and see if they sell too.  Why not!

 

edited 2013-06-16

edited with URL:  youarenotaphotographer.com/forums/reply/reply-to-selling-art-2/edit/

 

[cameraclicker]

JCFindley, I have only spent a few minutes at your web page.  I plan to look at it in much more detail.  Your gallery thumbnails are beautiful.

[JCFindley]

Thank you clicker….

OK, back to the OP.

 

IHF, your work is both high quality and marketable. IMO you should NOT start out with low prices as you build your name. The thing with art photography is you have to sell a LOT to get a name and many, if not most will never get there. But, as I said in the other thread, the art market is funny in its pricing. If people with money find your art, they will buy it so long as you are neither way under or way over priced. Yes, seriously, being under priced can hurt you as much or more than being overpriced. Along with that is a LOT of large wall art will go to interior design clients. These IDs or sometimes art consultants often have large budgets and will swoop in and buy a LOT of art in a single purchase. I saw one sale last week that was 29 large images and another that bought 80. Now, within both groups there were artists that made 25 bucks on a 48 inch print and others that made 350 on the same size. One of them can buy a few fufu coffees at Starbucks while the other is making a car payment. One artist sold 8 in the 80 image buy and he is not cheap.

Now, what you will have to do is work on getting people to see your art. That comes down to good keywords and descriptions for internet searching and then anything you can think of to lead people to it. (Twitter, business cards, perhaps hanging work in a local gallery or show or even a coffee shop etc..) There is a lot of good art on the net so you have to come up with a way to get seen. I tend to shoot a lot of subjects or places that are not overly done. For instance, I have a quite a few Brooklyn Bridge images but every photographer that has ever been in NYC shoots it and there are a gazillion of them online. I have sold a handful of cards with by Brooklyn Bridge images. Now, some of the lesser known NYC bridges make me MUCH more money because I don’t have nearly as many other images to compete with. That leads to a couple things. 1. it is easier to get them seen. 2. They have fewer choices. That is really how I built my name.

JC

[IHF]

I’m not very prolific with this.  I shoot a lot, don’t get me wrong, but only images that fit the mold so to speak get put up for sale.  When one makes the cut then I go through and take down an image or two as well.  It’s always been my goal to keep my port small and clean, and under 100.  I’ve even removed images that have sold just because they no longer suit me.  lol guess this means Im no business woman.  I don’t know if I can successfully turn off that compulsive part of me, and start posting and selling more.  But, I was thinking of blogging and posting more there.  That way, if someone interested happens along they could inquire, and i can still keep my port clean?  Each shoot I do ends up being at least a series of three, but I make myself only choose one Image.  lol I only have one series of photos up, and it’s been driving me nuts that they are all still out there.  I guess I can blame my hard ass photography teacher for that one.  His voice always rings “only your best!  Only your very best!”.

I also struggle with using my name.  I started out with “one good eye” (I thought i was so clever at the time because i had just suddenly lost my vision in one eye and discovered I was going to go blind.  now it makes me embarrassed that i ever did that) and an ugly eye watermark went on all the photos online. Oh no!!   I’m in the process of replacing all of them with watermark free images.  I’m doing it slowly so I can re share older images and get them looked at again, but as I have done this , it also makes me reexamine my older images and a lot of them aren’t making the cut for the second go around.  lol I’m my own worst enemy.I posted a lot more as “one good eye”, I believe now, it was a way for me to hide.

in person, I do much better, and I can easily see myself at art shows and local businesses selling my photos without issue, but I struggle with online, and I can’t push out here in the real world effectively without having a good solid online presence as well.  A business card without online contact information is useless, and I get that.  But, it’s so confusing.  Smugmug POD I could use my preferred finisher, but I don’t like the site, WordPress and self fulfill?  (I do eventually want to print myself.  thats a way in the future dream though) Fine art?  Or the other millions of hosting and pod sites?  I know some artists who juggle all of them, but that makes me feel like I would be competing with myself.  Too many choices.  It’s daunting.  And I never want my lookers and buyers to feel that way.

oh goodness, I rambled.  Looks like I might be in need of some photography therapy lol

[IHF]

Oh and thank you both, for taking the time to look, and help.  Seriously, I didn’t even know how much I needed some input until I asked for it.

and JC, going through your port really really helped.  Your pricing, your organization, bio etc and I really like a lot of your shots.

[JCFindley]

In general, more quality images of more subjects/places leads to more exposure when talking about the net.

If an image meets my standards, I put it up BUT will only put the best of a single subject or composition. I know a girl that has 23 images of a single ferris wheel with very slightly different angles and really only two compositions. That will confuse, bore or turn off potential clients. Now, I will put up different compositions of the same subject and sometimes BW and color, but as a pro, we should be able to choose the best if they are only slightly different.

I just went through all 1500 + of my images last weekend and removed about 30 that I felt didn’t meet my standards anymore. One of those had even sold but was a grungy HDR and I am not a fan of the grunge look and not even sure what kind of drugs I was on when I put it up.

I do know people that do quite well with fewer images but they market them hard. One friend of mine has about 100 but every single one is different within it’s genre and every one of them has that WOW factor. I probably have 100 or so that are on par with that, but find that for me, not every image has to be absolutely jaw dropping but if there is a good market for the piece it may well sell and even sell well.

[nesgran]

I really like your photos, they have a lot of whatever it is that makes photos work. I can certainly see a market for them like you are noticing. Ever been to a doctor’s waiting room or the waiting room of any larger companies? Pictures like that are what cover the walls because they are a) pretty b) colourful c) not distracting. Trust me, I’ve seen many a waiting room in hospitals and in clinics (though not as a patient)

 

While they all are very nice they are rather limited in scope and I can imagine it’d be fairly hard to make a living off just images like that. The problem is if you move away from a site like red bubble is that you probably won’t get the same traffic. There’s probably thousands of people out there who’d happily buy your images at triple the prices they are charging there but they will never find you. If you however can get your images up at a local gallery things might be able to go in a different direction. It’s all about options and marketing really. Have you contacted any galleries to display your work?

 

[IHF]

Thank you Nesgran and JC

You’ve got my brain thinking, and that’s exactly what I needed.

That’s exactly what I’m afraid of if I leave red bubble, (losing my small audience and my views) but.  IF I decide to make a go at being more serious, I really DO need to leave.  I’ve sold 76 items through them and I have only made a grand total of $60.53  FOR REAL!  Plus, their shipping and handling is pretty out there. (lot’s of people filling their carts but never checking out) and larger prints come rolled up in a tube.  This doesn’t make me very happy.  But I do like their ink and papers alright.  I don’t mind making them money, it’s been really fun, and a real positive experience, but if I do this and want to start making myself money, I can’t continue to bubble.

So far I’ve only found galleries (just looking online for what’s out there) that accept photography that you have to PAY to get your work displayed (ummmm no), most more legit galleries have begun to turn away photography all together.  Even some arts and craft shows no longer accept this medium (thank you fauxtography OK it’s probably more complicated than that, but don’t you think it plays a part in this?).  This summer/fall is going to be dedicated to looking in person at both galleries and art shows and just getting a feel of things.  I’ll either get a wild hair and decide I want to go for it, or just continue being a happy camper doing what I do, all comfortable, and content and risk free 😉

[JCFindley]

I sell primarily on FineArtAmerica.com and this is from a thread I made titled, “So I only made one sale today.” It basically lays out what I think I do to make sales. The toughest part about selling if you have quality work is getting it seen by potential buyers. At FAA and quite a few other sites proven sellers get pushed to the front of the search. The reason has a lot to do with the premise of this site and fauxtogs. There are more than enough of them in the art world as well and many can do vote and favorite and comment trading quite well so the only thing that generally shows marketability unfiltered is a sales record. Which can be a catch 22 when you need sales to be seen but you can’t sell well without sales, but that is only true if you are solely relying on internet searches for your marketing.

heh

OK, now that you came in to tell me to jump off a bridge or something and I have your attention…

A while back I posted what I think I do to make sales. I say think because it is strictly theory as anything I have actively done has produced virtually nothing where as the passive things I do seem to work. Since I have had a few people ask via PM I thought I would just do it here so anyone interested can read it. Much will be a repeat from the “I bought a car” thread.

Generally speaking I do not announce individual sales. Bear Bryant used to tell his football players he didn’t ever want to see a touchdown celebration because they should act as if they had been there before and fully expect to be there again.

That said, perhaps it is time for a little touchdown dance because the negativity is getting to me a little on here. I do get the frustration level, I really do. I have been there done that and when I get frustrated I adjust and adapt. I look inward to what “I” can do to change things. Change is not always in the right direction but if what you are doing isn’t working then change is required even if that change leads to more frustration you simply change again until you get it right. You continually adapt. You get better at your craft AND you get better at getting yourself seen. You need both quality AND visibility to sell.

Now, if I simply came on here to say the last few year has been beddy beddy good to me then I would be doing nothing more than a hollow TD dance in front of an audience so lets talk just a bit about HOW I sell enough to pay this month’s rent with one month’s worth of FAA royalties.

First of all, QUIT UNDERVALUING YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST! Was that loud enough or do I need to say it again? Seriously, that was the first change I made and it does not effect your number of sales one way or the other but it has a HUGE effect on your bottom line. Hey, my smaller prints are “market” priced with a 20 dollar markup. But my large prints are NOT cheap. People can buy cheap art at Walmart or Ikea. They do not come here for that. Art.com has cheap art. My grandma sells cheap art! Quit selling cheap art!

Second; You NEED quality. There are ten ZILLION artists on here and if you are playing in a popular category you had better be bringing something special to the game. You need to be at least as good as your competitors. It helps if you have some Heisman hopeful level talent in your backfield but a good solid team will work just as well or better than a solid player or two.

Third; You HAVE to be seen. And this really is the key once you get steps one and two down. There are infinitely many ways to get “found” on here and that is limited by nothing except your imagination and time. You have a full time job and have no time for marketing? Bull $hit! You mean you don’t know how and don’t want to learn or you mean that just isn’t you thing. Not all marketing takes loads of time but some does take a little imagination OR takes some research to learn how others do it.

Personally, I don’t spend a lot of time marketing but I do find my niches and it works well for me. I have spelled it out before but will rehash my Abilene theory once again. Go run a search for Abilene Texas on FAA. You get 21 results. (There were 7 when I came up with my theory) Five of those are animals that could be ANYWHERE so 17 images for Abilene. Now, do a search for the Brooklyn Bridge. I’ll wait……. OK, today there are 2113 shots of the Brooklyn Bridge. Even if you have the VERY BEST shot of the Brooklyn Bridge EVER shot, painted or drawn you will be LOST in a sea of anonymity. If you are seen you STILL have to be picked out of around 2100 images. Good luck! The same can be said for virtually ANY popular category; Flowers, eagles, various monuments, dogs, cats, cars, barns, general sunrises or sunsets and the list goes ON and ON!

Now, lets go back to Abilene. It is a city of 110K and they want art; they NEED art. what they REALLY want and need is local art. You make a connection with the buyer and the quality is there you WILL make sales. I am not saying drive to the middle of Texas and shoot Abilene for a week but find your own Abilene. Find YOUR niche. Find something YOU enjoy shooting/painting that is not shot to death and make it your BIT@#!!!!! (Note, Do not think of “Abilene” as a town; Abilene can be anything you want it to be so long as it is not done to death on here.)

Oh, and one last thing VOLUME of QUALITY INVENTORY. I have sold one image as related to Abilene itself but I have a LOT of Abilenes. They accounted for the VAST majority of my early sales. With those sales comes more recognition both on your local internal search AND the population at large. Having a large quantity of subjects that are underrepresented was my key early on. Once you have name recognition/your own “brand” and you fair well in the searches and by word of mouth in the real world, THEN you also start selling in the more saturated categories and the next thing you know, you are paying rent.

JC

[IHF]

Oh gosh JC!  I just saw this!

lol talk about implying you go jump off a bridge lol

Thank you so very much for this.  It’s exactly what I needed to hear.  I think this year will bring lot’s of changes for me, and I’ll be getting all my ducks in a row I’m going to start taking this all a little more seriously and put more effort into it with more confidence.  Especially with my online stratagy.  Why that intimidates me more than talking to local businesses and people in person about my art, I have no idea.  But it’s time for me to start valuing what I do more, otherwise in just a few short years I’ll find myself not able to afford to keep going.  I don’t think my family will or could understand new equipment as a NEED and not a want lol, and I’ve got to start paying my way through this.  Thank you for the encouragement and insight JC.  Seriously it means a lot, and kinda puts me in a more reasonable place in my head.

[Garrahmarie]

I really like your work! Definitely keeping you in mind for when I am searching for art work for my house!! Great job!

[IHF]

Thank you so very much Garrah.  Are you one of my new page likes I got today?  :). I sure do appreciate it.

[Garrahmarie]

I sure am! I am looking forward to updates 🙂

[Author]

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