Selling Art

There are many avenues for selling art. First, you have to decide what type of "product" you have to offer. Are you selling original works, or reproductions? Do you need a place to store inventory? How will the transactions take place? (In person, over the phone, on the internet are some examples) Will you be selling the art, or do you have a representative?

How much should you charge? What are you trying to accomplish? Recover your costs to help support your hobby? Trying to feed yourself and your family? Make a substantial income?

What does it cost you to produce a piece? You are a business, so start listing all of the expenses you encounter in one month in order to produce your art. If you do not produce art full time, keep track of your hours on a time sheet, just as if you were punching a time clock. Include trips to the art store for supplies, your gas mileage, shopping time, etc. Decide what your salary should be. Include that in your expenses and add them all together to figure out what it costs to produce a work of your own.

Trends change, people change and their interests and tastes in art change. Always keep your eyes open and be able to spot changes as they are occurring. Just because you like a particular piece or style doesn't mean it will sell well. If selling art is your goal, you need to produce what sells. Don't get so attached to something that you continue to defend it and try to market it even though nobody is interested. Don't take it personally--you may just be ahead of your time. For your more "unique" pieces, set a high price. Since you know there is not going to be much volume, if you do happen to get it in front of someone else who shares your view, they may be willing to spend more for that rare piece. Now you have just turned a negative into a positive.

There are three basic steps to selling art. First, you need customers. Second, they must be willing and able to buy, and third, money and art must change hands. Sure that is oversimplifying, but if you can boil all of the processes down to these steps, it may not seem overwhelming.

How do you get customers?--Marketing. Have a plan.

How do you know they are ready to buy?--Close the sale.

How do they pay?--Set up credit card merchant account, hire a representative, sell online...

The details have to be worked out, but it should be getting easier for you to see how you can go about selling your art. In this site we will explore many different ways you can sell your art. Please come back as our site is in its infancy and we will have many more features as time goes on.

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