Survey: Where Do You Mostly Sell Prints

Artists and fine art photographers are always asking us for tips to help them sell more of their prints. We find that most are selling their prints at either events, sometimes known as popups in their local art community but that could include such things as “First Fridays” which is an art and food even extravaganza that happens at various venues in our local market or it could be a non-art related overall but in which you were able to still get a table to showcase your work. The other choices are self explanatory.

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How to Approach a Gallery for Representation

At FinerWorks we have full-time on staff two people who are also actively involved in the art gallery business at night and on weekends. Zane Thomas is a successful screen printer and founder of both Black Moon Prints and Black Moon Gallery, based in San Antonio. Melissa Hernandez shuttles between Austin and San Antonio and works for multiple galleries such as Art on 5th in Austin and Tatum Originals in San Antonio. She also represents various independent artists as a dealer. At the same time, she is in the process of developing a new gallery in San Antonio’s Blue Star Art Complex. I had a chance to spend some time with both discussing what is the best way for an artist to find gallery representation. I thought it would be best to get some tips direct from them since they have had the fun and displeasure or having to both accept and reject artists and their work. Based on our discussion, this is what we came up with that we think will help and artist understand and better go through the process of finding representation.

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Increasing Art and Photo Sales

I want to provide you with another perspective that may change the way you look at every sold print you make. We can start by asking ourselves to think about how much is everyone who likes our art, worth. More specifically think how much did your print or even a painting fetch after someone DID NOT buy it. Did you also know these people that don’t buy or never will buy individually are worth something to your sales if they do not buy prints or decide not to commission you for some art or photo project? So, let’s discuss this different approach when viewing your sales.

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4 Things Successful Artists Do

How to become a successful artist is a question we have probably asked ourselves at one point. But what makes a successful artist? At a micro level there are a tons of things you can do to improve your chances of success. Many might be related to the art you practice, whether it be photography or painting. But too often artists get wrapped up in so many of the minor details without looking at things in a broader perspective. I have met a lot of artists and photographers over the past decade or more. Some have been incredibly inspiring in everything from their personality to their craft. Based on some of my conversations with them I like to think there are at least 3 things at a macro level that I believe anyone looking to become successful in a visual arts related field must do. These could likely be attributed to other aspects or professions in life but I will try to make this more relatable to those in the arts.

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Track Yourself as an Artist

Quite often I am asked for my opinion or if I have any tips to increase an artist’s potential when comes to selling prints either online, in galleries or at art shows. While I have had some personal success in the past as an artist, I no longer put energy in selling my past work or even seeking out commissioned work. Most of my experience now is from viewing the visual arts industry from the perspective of someone that has frequent contact with both struggling as well as successful artists or photographers. And many times I cannot explain why someone who I think is an incredible photographer or artist is struggling after years of trying to get their name out there while people just out of college have no trouble finding buyers of their work with what appears to be little work on their part. Without knowing what efforts have been made on their part I would simply be guessing.

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Making Buyers Happy

Making buyers of your giclee prints happy is all about communication. The other day a photographer stopped in to pickup a print. During his visit he mentioned how one of his very demanding clients had been testing his patience. Specifically for the print which he was picking up, it was the third attempt of a 16×20 portrait on canvas. He said first the client had waited forever in making a decision on the photo to be printed. And when it finally was turned into a print she noticed it had an error in the actual image which he had forgotten to remove. After making the correction and reprinting it, the customer decided she wanted a different photo from the photo shoot to be used. Because the new shot she had decided on was a little out of focus he suspected she would not be happy with that one either even after he had warned her of the potential problem. He had spent quite a bit of time correcting it the best he could, submitted it to be printed but as he was on his way to pick it up, she called him and said she was thinking about switching to a different image. His frustration with the client was obvious but fortunately this photographer is really good at putting on a good facade in front of his clients and he bends over backwards to satisfy them with the appearance of both grace and professionalism without a hint of his personal feelings being known. I knew that eventually this client would be a happy client as a result even if in the end the barely broke even as a result of the time and effort he had placed on this particular portrait session.

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How Much is Your Time Worth

One of the beauties of prints versus originals works of art is the simple fact it has the potential to pay dividends in the form of ongoing revenue that only stops when you decide it has to stop. If you sold a painting that took you 50 hours to complete and then turned around and sold it for for $1000, later prints have the potential to allow you to continue to resell the concept behind that original work over and over again. Let us assume that over the course of a few years you sold a hundred prints at $100 each, your total gross from that one painting would be $11,000. That is $220 per hour. Not bad! But in the real world it is not quite so simple. It may have taken you 50 hours to complete the painting but what about all the time devoted to placing those prints for sale, not to mention time it takes to fulfill or have the orders fulfilled.

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